Even when it goes well, buying a boat can be a stressful experience. Anyone planning to purchase over the next five years should attend our Boatbuyer’s Survival Guide at TrawlerFest-Anacortes in May. A team of experts will help buyers make sound decisions and save money–much more money than the price of admission.

The seminar will be conducted over two mornings, Thursday and Friday, May 14-15,, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The venue is Cap Sante Marina. The in-water portion of the event runs Thursday through Sunday, May 14-17.

Author and boatbuilder George Buehler, father of the Diesel Duck series, begins the first morning with a discussion of why hull form matters, with a look at full-displacement, semi-displacement and planing designs and what type of cruising suits each. This is a fundamental first decision for a boat buyer.

Buehler has been designing boats since 1978. The author of Buehler’s Backyard Boatbuilding, lives on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, where he collects “old boats, stray dogs and interesting machines.

After Buehler, Steve Zimmerman will discuss fiberglass boatbuilding techniques. Zimmerman, himself a cruiser, is the owner of four boatyards in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina and builder of the Zimmerman line of power cruisers. Zimmerman marine has been in business for more than 34 years. Dylan Bailey, steel boatbuilder and surveyor, briefs the audience on the merits of metal construction, and the morning ends with a discussion of epoxy/wood boat building with one of its greatest practitioners, Sam Devlin.

The next morning Brian Krantz, founder of Inside Passage Yacht Sales, will brief attendees on how to chose the right broker and the elements of a good sales contract. Jeremy Paulus of the Boat Insurance Agency joins Krantz for a behind the scenes look at marine underwriting–how it is regulated, who the main players are–and choosing the best policy for cruising.

Then Zimmerman and Bailey return to the stage to discuss surveyors and how to choose the right one.

The seminar ends with our entire panel in Q&A setting with the audience on the importance of the KIS principle. The virtues of simplicity are often invoked in boatbuilding and buying, but it is unfortunately, a principle more observed in the breach. And there will be time for any other audience questions.

For information about TrawlerFest call our dedicated number 954.703.4789 or email us at [email protected]