From Hank Dawson's videosThe Used Trailer-Boat Inspection Book

Twelve photos before you drive.

Then twelve checks on the lot. One card for a used pontoon, bass boat, or small center console. Walk-away rules when a seller wants you to skip a step.

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  • A first used trailer boat under about $50,000: a family pontoon, a used bass boat, or a small center console.
  • You would otherwise skip the survey, skip the sea trial, and write a check on a Sunday.
  • Not for yachts, tournament rigs, or 35-foot coastal boats. Not a fishing lesson.
Hank Dawson
The Used Trailer-Boat Inspection Book

What the wrong boat costs.

Figures from dated pages cited in the book. Not an estimate of what you will save: what the page says the mistake costs.

A soft transom, priced by a marketplace inspection guide at $3,000 to $8,000, against the $15 to $25 per foot the same guide quotes for the surveyor who would have found it. Boatzon, Used Boat Inspection Checklist, 23 June 2026, accessed 2026-09-13 $3,000 to $8,000
The lines on the quote that are not the boat, the engine, or the trailer: one marketplace guide puts dealer prep, freight, and market adjustments at $2,000 to $5,000 on top of the advertised price. FindABoat, pontoon boat buying guide, accessed 2026-09-13 $2,000 to $5,000
The trailer the hull price leaves out: the builder lists the 2027 Party Barge 20 DLX at $32,995 with "Price Excludes Optional Trailer" on the page, and the tandem with brakes on both axles as an option beside it. Sun Tracker, PARTY BARGE 20 DLX, accessed 2026-09-13 $4,950

Listing prices move. Verify on the plate and the printed bid; none of these numbers is your quote. Corrections go on the corrections page.

Buy the book. $24.95 PDF

30-day refund. If the book does not earn its keep before you write a check, reply and we refund it.

What's inside

Book page: the card page, printed and folded, on a clipboard
Book page: the outboard chapter, questions and the compression line
Book page: the minute-by-minute script plus the walk-away list

Real pages from the book. Tap one to read it full size.

  • The twelve photos to demand before you drive. Ask for these before you spend a Saturday in the car. Hull or tubes. Transom, inside and out. HIN. Title. Trailer VIN. Engine hours.
  • The 12-point lot-day card. One card for all three hulls. Hull, deck, transom, outboard, trailer, title. Checkboxes. Room to write the HIN and the hours.
  • Water in the tubes. The 30-second test on a pontoon. What standing water in a bass or center-console bilge means. What an epoxy patch does not prove.
  • Transom rot without a hammer. Three signs you can see from the splash well and the engine bolts. Fiberglass bass and small center console. When to stop and walk.
  • The "just serviced" outboard. Five questions for the seller. One compression number. Hours vs a sticker on the cowl. The lower unit, on the stand.
  • Title, HIN, and trailer VIN. Hull HIN matches the title. Trailer VIN matches the trailer paperwork. Lien search. What a mismatch looks like.
  • Dealer pack, line by line. What is in the hull price and what is not. Trailer, cover, fees, as-is. Private party and dealer. Recourse is different. The checks on the boat are the same.
  • Sea-trial script and walk-away rules. Start, idle, reverse, on plane. What must happen on the water. The walk-away rule for each check on the card.

16 chapters, fifteen worksheets, one walk-away page. 170 pages, sixteen chapters in six parts, fifteen printable worksheets in Appendix A, and a one-page "Walk away if" sheet built for the lot.

See all 16 chapters and the fifteen worksheets

Decide first

Whether this book fits, and which hull.

  • 1. This is a lot-day book Six boxes that tell you whether this is your purchase at all, before you spend a weekend on it.
  • 2. Pick the hull for your water Pontoon, bass, or small center console, decided by your lake and your passengers instead of by what is on the front row.

Photos and pricing

What to ask for before you drive to the lot.

  • 3. Twelve photos before you drive The exact list to send a seller, in order, and the two missing shots that mean do not drive.
  • 4. Used versus new, and the dealer pack The line items that are not the boat, on a printed quote, with two totals instead of one.

On the lot

The checks you run standing at the trailer.

  • 5. The 12-point card What you actually do in the first twenty minutes at the trailer, same card for all three hulls.
  • 6. Pontoon: tubes, logs, patches The drain plugs, what comes out of them, and why an epoxy patch proves nothing about the log behind it.
  • 7. Bass and fiberglass: transom and stringers Three signs of a rotten transom you can see without swinging a hammer, and when an awl is a test instead of vandalism.
  • 8. Small center console: salt, through-hulls, T-top What salt does to hardware, what to ask about every hole in the hull, and the size that ends this book.
  • 9. Deck, hatches, and what you stand on Ten press points, the same ten on every hull, and what one soft spot means against two.

Engine and trailer

What moves the boat, and what moves it home.

  • 10. Outboard: hours, stickers, one number Five questions with written answers, and one compression number compared to the manual for that serial, not to a number I made up.
  • 11. The trailer is a second purchase VIN, frame, bunks, bearings, and tire date codes, plus the quote that moves the price when the trailer is done.

Title and terms

The paperwork, and the kind of seller you are dealing with.

  • 12. Title, HIN, trailer VIN, lien Twelve characters on the boat, seventeen on the trailer, and a third number on the engine. What a one-character miss means.
  • 13. Private party versus dealer As-is in writing, what recourse actually survives it, and what no federal rule gives you back.

Closing the deal

Sea trial, timing, and when to call a surveyor.

  • 14. Sea trial, minute by minute A printed script you hand the seller before you launch, and six things that end the trial on the water.
  • 15. Fall versus spring When to look, what a winter cover hides, and what a spring detail hides.
  • 16. When you still pay a surveyor The findings that stop being your job, what the credentials after a surveyor's name actually mean, and what has to be in your hand before money moves.

The fifteen worksheets

  • A1. Are you in this book?
  • A2. Your water, three hulls
  • A3. Twelve photos before you drive
  • A4. Dealer-pack line items
  • A5. The lot-day 12-point card
  • A6. Pontoon add-on
  • A7. Fiberglass and bass add-on
  • A8. Small center console add-on
  • A9. Deck press test
  • A10. Outboard: five questions and compression
  • A11. Trailer card
  • A12. Title, HIN, trailer VIN, lien
  • A13. Private party versus dealer
  • A14. Sea-trial script
  • A15. Offer sheet

What you get for $24.95.

The Used Trailer-Boat Inspection Book

170-page PDF, 16 chapters, every figure with its sheet and date, or labelled as an assumption.

Fifteen printable worksheets

Appendix A, one per topic, blank and ready to fill.

The "Walk away if" sheet

One page, twelve reasons to leave, built to carry onto the lot.

Public errata for this edition

Posted at UsedBoatBook.com/errata when a figure changes.

Buy the book. $24.95 PDF

30-day refund. If the book does not earn its keep before you write a check, reply and we refund it.

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FAQ

Is this a marine survey?

No. Hire a surveyor when the boat is worth the trip. This book is what you do before you pay someone to travel, and what you do on the lot so you do not buy the furniture and miss the transom.

I already have a free checklist. Why pay $24.95?

Use a free list if you want. This book is the photos of failures and the walk-away rule for each check. Those lists skip both. The 1-page card is free at the bottom of this page. The book is the photos and the rules.

I am buying from a dealer. Do I still need this?

The hull, transom, outboard, trailer, and title checks do not change. As-is still happens at dealers. A dealer pack can add a trailer, a cover, and fees after the hull price. The book walks those lines. We are not a dealer. We do not sell financing.

Does this cover my boat? Will it teach me to fish?

Pontoon, bass or fishing boat, and small center console. Same card. Separate notes where the hull differs: tubes, transom, salt and through-hulls. It does not cover yachts. It does not cover a 35-foot coastal bargain. It does not teach fishing.

Who is this from? Are you a surveyor?

A checklist with cited plates. Every figure in it carries its source and date, and a wrong number goes on the public errata page. The person on the videos is a presenter. We are not a surveyor or a dealer, and there is no captain or retired-mechanic story behind it.

The PDF opens on the next page. We may write when there is a correction or a new book; every email has a one-click way to stop.