Buying a boat with a loan, step by step from offer to closing

A financed boat purchase runs in a set order: line up your loan terms, make an offer that depends on survey and financing, pay the deposit, survey and sea trial the boat, accept or renegotiate, record the Coast Guard documentation or state title, bind insurance, then close. Lenders’ timelines decide how fast each step has to happen.

1. Line up the loan before you make an offer

Know the payment you can carry and which lenders will look at this boat before you put an offer in. Run the price, down payment, term and your state’s tax through the calculator, then check the model-year and size rules on the lender terms page. A 2015 boat, for example, is outside Truist’s 10-model-year rule for its secured boat loan.

Watch the clocks. Lenders publish how long a decision or a rate holds, and they differ (pages read October 24, 2026):

Lender	What the page says
Truist	90-day rate lock
DuPage Credit Union	30-day rate lock
Southeast Financial	Approved APR “is valid for 30 days from the date of approval”
U.S. Bank	Pre-approved amount “good for 60 days, only at our participating dealers”
Navy Federal	No pre-approval for boats; decisions within 24 hours

A 30-day window can close before a survey, haul-out and documentation are done. Ask the lender what happens if you need more time.

2. Make the offer subject to survey and financing

Make the offer contingent on a satisfactory marine survey (including sea trial) and on your financing, with dates for each. If either one fails, the contract terms decide whether you can renegotiate or walk away and get the deposit back. Read those terms before you sign; they’re the part that matters if something goes wrong.

3. Pay the deposit

The deposit amount, who holds it and when it becomes non-refundable are all set by the purchase agreement. We don’t publish a typical deposit; there’s no primary source for one. Get the refund conditions in writing, tied to the survey and financing contingencies above.

4. Survey and sea trial

With an accepted offer, book the surveyor, the haul-out and the sea trial. Navy Federal requires a marine survey on all used boats, and Trident Funding says the buyer usually arranges and pays for it. Use a surveyor your lender will accept and, if possible, one your insurer will also accept, so one report does both jobs. The marine survey guide covers SAMS and NAMS credentials and what the lender reads in the report.

The survey’s value figure feeds your loan-to-value. If it comes in under the price, you may need more down or a lower price; see down payment and credit.

5. Accept, renegotiate or walk away

After the survey you decide. Items the surveyor flags can be repaired by the seller, credited against the price, or accepted as they are. If the problems are serious, the survey contingency is your way out. Tell your lender about any price change; it changes the loan amount and the LTV.

6. Check the title and the paperwork

This step depends on whether the boat is documented with the Coast Guard or titled by a state.

Documented boat. Order an Abstract of Title from the NVDC ($25.00 under 46 CFR 67.550) to see recorded mortgages and liens. The bill of sale is form CG-1340, recorded at $8.00 a page; mortgages are recorded at $4.00 a page. All filings and payments go through the NVDC’s online eStorefront. For a new boat, a Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin isn’t accepted as evidence of build; the NVDC wants a builder’s certification on CG-1261 (67.99). The documentation and preferred mortgage guide has the full fee table and forms.

State-titled boat. Title transfer, registration and lien recording follow your state’s rules. We haven’t covered state titling offices here; check with your state’s agency for what it needs at transfer.

Either way, sort out how any existing loan on the boat gets paid off and released at closing.

7. Work out the sales tax

Tax depends on where the boat is bought, where it’s kept and where you live, and some states cap it. A $600,000 boat taxed in Florida, for example, owes $18,000 in state tax instead of $36,000 because of the state cap, before any county surtax. Decide whether to pay the tax in cash or roll it into the loan, since rolling it in raises the loan and the LTV. See the boat sales tax guide.

8. Bind insurance

Your lender needs proof of coverage before it funds. Truist requires physical damage insurance with a loss-payable clause in its favor, and Southeast Financial lists a copy of the insurance binder among the documents it needs to fund. Get the lender’s exact name and address for the clause, and give your agent enough lead time. Details in boat insurance for financing.

9. Close

At closing you sign the loan documents, the purchase money moves, and the lender’s lien is recorded: a preferred ship mortgage at the NVDC for a documented boat, or a lien under state rules for a titled one. For a documented vessel, Navy Federal lists the paperwork it collects: a copy of the application for the Certificate of Documentation, the new Certificate of Documentation and the First Preferred Ship’s Mortgage.

Keep copies of everything: the survey, the bill of sale, the recorded mortgage and the insurance binder. You’ll want them when you renew documentation, refinance or sell.

When you have a specific boat and price, ask at least two lenders for written terms and compare them side by side. If you have a question first, send us your numbers.