2026Edition · Command Kit · 3 documents
The Boat Buying Command KitInspect, Sea Trial & Price, Complete
A boat buying checklist in three records: the inspection, the sea trial log and the cost of each finding before your offer. Fillable PDF, A4 and US Letter.
FreeBoat Viewing Day Card for the day you see her, fillable. Get it free by email
One payment. Yours to keep.FreeDay Card, fillable. Get it free by email
A survey costs about US$800 to US$4,000 in published 2026 guides, extras included. Your record helps you arrive with better questions, and gives your surveyor a clear place to start. Estimate your survey
Guarantee: if this kit does not give you questions you did not already have, or you simply change your mind, tell us within 14 days of your order and we refund you in full.
- Instant download
- A4 and US Letter
- Works offline
- Links never expire
Instant download. You can change your mind within 14 days of your order for a full refund. After that, we do not refund a change of mind. A file that is faulty or not as described is always replaced or refunded. Refund policy
The Boat Buyer's Due Diligence Kit
Section 04 · Propulsion & engine
Sailboat Sea Trial Log
RPM ladder
Boat Purchase Budget Worksheet
Cost basis
- documents
- 3
- pages
- 169
- live fields
- 3,514
- models
- 22
Look before you buy
Real pages of the delivered PDF. Open a page to read it full size.
The page, blank As delivered
Kit Guide page 5 as delivered; printed example row, invented figures.
Every date of the purchaseOpen Kit Guide page 5
The page, filled Example
The first four lines, example entries; Acrobat Reader calculates the rest.
Not a real boatOpen the filled page
Replaced or refunded Section 3
If a file
- will not download
- will not open
- is corrupt
- is missing pages
- does not contain what this store said it contains
Email us your order number and a short description. We look into it and, at your choice, supply a working file or refund you in full.
Faulty or not as described: a working file or full refund.
No time limitRead section 3
What you walk away with
What does a used boat buying checklist need to include?
1 · inspect her
214 points, in walking order
The Due Diligence Kit gives every finding a place, a photo reference and the severity you assign.
2 · run her
Figures, not impressions
The Sea Trial Log records each RPM step on both headings. An engine that smoked at half load becomes a line.
3 · price her
An offer the seller can follow
The Budget Worksheet turns severities and sea-trial lines into a costed offer, with your walk-away figure set first.
3 documents
The Boat Buying Command Kit
- Pages
- 169
- Fields
- 3,514
Instant download
Instant download. You can change your mind within 14 days of your order for a full refund. After that, we do not refund a change of mind. A file that is faulty or not as described is always replaced or refunded. Refund policy
Your purchase
The whole purchase, in one order.
- Instant download
- Working file or full refund
Instant download. You can change your mind within 14 days of your order for a full refund. After that, we do not refund a change of mind. A file that is faulty or not as described is always replaced or refunded. Refund policy
Technical specification
- Documents
- 3
- Size
- 169 pages, 3,514 fields, 22 models
- Formats
- Fillable and Pencil & Print, each in A4 and US Letter
- Calculated in
- Adobe Acrobat Reader on computer, iPhone and Android
- Delivery
- Instant download, links never expire, no account needed
What it is not
- Not a survey: the documents organise what you find, a surveyor judges.
- No generic thresholds and no published prices: every figure is one you enter.
- Not a verdict on the boat: severities are yours, on the day.
For the careful buyer
Read it all before you decide
5 sections · about 4 minutes · the full brief, nothing held back
01In shortThree documents, one sequence: look at her, run her, price her. Most buyers do all three and keep the results in three…1 min
Three documents, one sequence: look at her, run her, price her.
Most buyers do all three and keep the results in three different places: a phone note, a memory of the engine sounding fine, and a number they arrived at on the drive home. The Boat Buying Command Kit is the whole cluster bought at once, so that what you found on the inspection becomes a line in the sea trial and then a figure in the offer.
What is in the kit
The complete buying cluster, in the order you will use it
- The Boat Buyer's Due Diligence Kit, 214 numbered inspection points across 11 systems, in a fixed sequence, 77 pages
- Sailboat Sea Trial Log, the RPM ladder, timed and recorded in figures rather than impressions, 43 pages
- Boat Purchase Budget Worksheet, defect register to costed offer, with a walk-away figure and escrow sizing, 49 pages
02Why the three together beat the three apartThe defect matrix in the Budget Worksheet takes its rows straight from the severity you assigned on each due diligence point.1 min
The defect matrix in the Budget Worksheet takes its rows straight from the severity you assigned on each due diligence point. The sea trial figures go into the same matrix, so an engine that smoked at half load stops being an impression and becomes a quoted line. By the time you sit down with the broker you are not negotiating on feel, you are reading from a document the seller can see the arithmetic of.
03Where to start, by what you are buyingA first boat, under twelve metres.1 min
A first boat, under twelve metres. Work the due diligence sequence in order and resist skipping to the engine. Buyers who start at the engine buy hulls with problems the engine never showed them.
A boat you are buying from a distance. The sea trial log is the page that matters most, because you may get one afternoon aboard and no second visit. Timed figures survive the journey home; impressions do not.
A boat you already want. Fill in the walk-away figure before the viewing, not after. It is the only part of this kit that has to be written while you are still capable of being objective.
The rule every document in the kit obeys
Not one published tolerance, threshold, rate or acceptable figure anywhere in 169 pages + 9-page Kit Guide. A moisture reading or a wear limit belongs to the manufacturer of the component in the revision that matches your serial number, and a figure printed in a general document and applied to a vessel it was never written for is worse than no figure at all. You supply the reference values; the models set out the arithmetic, step by step.
04What you receiveEvery figure, edition and format, in one table.1 min
| Kit reference | AML-KIT-BUY |
| Documents | 3, the complete Boat Buying cluster |
| Extent | 169 pages across the three documents, plus the 9-page Kit Guide |
| Interactivity | 3,514 live PDF form fields across the three documents, plus 246 in the Kit Guide; results calculated in Adobe Acrobat Reader on computer, iPhone and Android |
| Models | 22 calculation models |
| Files | 17: a Start here page, then the three documents and the Kit Guide, each Fillable and Pencil & Print, in A4 and US Letter |
| Kit Guide | Included: the order of work across the three records, and every date of the purchase on one page, sorted for you in Adobe Acrobat Reader |
| Which file to open | Fillable in Adobe Acrobat Reader or Apple Files; Pencil & Print in GoodNotes, Notability or on paper; A4 or US Letter by the paper you print on |
| Tested in | Adobe Acrobat Reader on Mac, iPhone and Android, Apple Files, GoodNotes, Notability |
| Offline | No app, no account, no connection required once downloaded |
As a kit, the three documents cost less than bought one at a time (the price block on this page works out the exact figures from current prices), and you get the cluster in the order a purchase actually happens.
05What it is notThese documents record and organise.1 min
These documents record and organise. They are not a marine survey and not a substitute for one. They are designed to make you a far better-prepared client of a qualified surveyor. Nothing in the kit is a valuation or professional advice.
Instant download. Your links appear on screen the moment payment clears, and a copy arrives by email, usually within a few minutes. They do not expire.
2026 Edition, Revision 2.1, AML-KIT-BUY. Apex Marine Labs designs the organisational process behind good seamanship.
You already know what to check. What's missing is the order.
Walk aboard with a record, not a memory.
- Instant download
- Fillable or pencil
- Working file or full refund
- One payment, yours to keep
Instant download. You can change your mind within 14 days of your order for a full refund. After that, we do not refund a change of mind. A file that is faulty or not as described is always replaced or refunded. Refund policy
Questions
Before you buy the Boat Buying Command Kit
The five questions asked about every document, answered for this kit.
How do I decide what to offer after the viewing and the survey?
The kit does not value the boat. It turns what you found into figures you can show: each finding, the cost you gathered for it, and the total you set beside the asking price. Market value comes from your broker, comparable sales and your surveyor.
Which file do I open first?
Open the Start here page, then the Kit Guide: it sets the order of work across the three records. Every document and the Kit Guide come in two editions, each in A4 and US Letter. Type in Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is free, or write by hand in GoodNotes, Notability or on paper.
Does it calculate on iPhone or Android?
Yes. In Adobe Acrobat Reader on iPhone or Android every document in the kit calculates as it does on a computer, and the Kit Guide sorts every date of the purchase for you. Entries are saved into the files: no app of ours, no account, no connection.
What does it deliberately not contain?
A survey or a valuation. The three documents record and organise; they make you a far better-prepared client of a qualified surveyor, and nothing in the kit is professional advice.
Does the kit suit a power boat?
Yes for the inspection and the budget, written for sail or power. The sea trial log is written for a sailboat; its dockside, under-power and systems parts work on any boat with an inboard.
A4 or US Letter?
Both, for every file in the kit, in both editions. Choose by the paper you print on: A4 in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, US Letter in the United States and Canada. The pages and fields are the same in each.
Before you start