2002 Beneteau Oceanis 393 "MAYARI", Berkeley, CA 94710

Will you permit a full moisture-meter survey of the entire deck with the boat hauled — coachroof, side decks, every stanchion base, every winch and cleat and every hatch frame — and will you accept a re-negotiation or walk-away if wet core is found?

The deck is balsa-cored, it is 24 years old, three hatches already leak by your own account and no fitting has ever been recorded as rebedded — this is the largest single financial unknown on the boat and an out-of-water survey settles it outright.

The title records show the boat was built for Sunsail Worldwide Sailing Ltd and transferred to Marakery LLC shortly after completion. What was its actual operating history from 2001-2008 — charter service, private use, management program or something else — and where was it physically based? Are there maintenance, grounding, hurricane or insurance records from that period?

The documents establish Sunsail-linked provenance, but they do not by themselves prove charter use or where the boat physically operated. Actual usage history matters for rig cycles, groundings, engine-hour interpretation and laminate wear.

Produce every available engine service/repair record, especially the last 2,000 hours: oil/filter changes, coolant, mixing elbow, heat exchanger/oil cooler, injectors, valve clearances, mounts and any internal work. Has the engine ever had a top-end, bottom-end, rebuild or replacement?

The Yanmar 4JH3E is the right engine for Pacific support, but the meter reads 5,450.3 hours. Documented maintenance and a specialist condition survey determine whether this is a sound high-hour engine or a major capital risk.

Will an underwriter quote a San Francisco to Brisbane passage on this specific hull with a two-person crew, and what conditions do they attach — rigging documentation, liferaft specification, EPIRB, storm sails, minimum crew experience, or a delivery skipper?

On a design Practical Sailor explicitly rates as coastal rather than ocean-going, the insurer's conditions frequently become the real refit scope, and the answer is worth having before you make an offer rather than after.

What sails come with the boat, who made them, and what year was each one built — check the tack for a date stamp. Are they the original Neil Pryde Series 2000 Dacron? And is the mainsail an in-mast furling sail or the optional classic slab-reefed arrangement?

I have deliberately not costed replacement sails, only a loft inspection, so this answer decides whether a fourteen-thousand-dollar risk fires or retires — and the furling-versus-classic half moves a storm-canvas decision and a jam-at-sea risk with it.

Will you allow a sailmaker aboard to inspect and measure the sails before closing, and will you accept the loft's written condition opinion as a basis for re-negotiation?

A few hundred dollars of loft time is what converts the largest unpriced uncertainty on this boat — whether the sails are serviceable or scrap — from a fourteen-thousand-dollar guess into a number.

The shallow 5.08ft keel is documented. Has MAYARI ever grounded or struck anything, and when were the keel joint, bolts and structural grid/sump last inspected? At haulout, photograph the joint continuously on both sides and the accessible keel fastenings inside.

Draft is no longer an uncertainty; structural condition is. A shallow cast-iron bolt-on keel is fully workable for the route, but grounding damage or corrosion at the joint/grid can be expensive and safety-critical.

What happened to MAYARI from the 2015 purchase to today — where was she physically berthed, when did she move to California, how often was she hauled or sailed, and what significant maintenance or insurance claims occurred?

The listing says the boat was little used for roughly a decade. A physical-use timeline is much more probative than USCG hailing-port history.

The title chain now shows the boat was built for Sunsail Worldwide Sailing Ltd, transferred to Marakery LLC in 2001, sold to Christopher Parsons in 2008, then to Michael Bettencourt/John Zito in 2015. What was the actual operating/charter history from 2001-2008, where was she based, and are there Sunsail/Marakery maintenance, grounding, hurricane or insurance records?

Early Sunsail/fleet involvement is no longer speculative. The unanswered issue is intensity of use and whether the 5,450 engine hours and structural wear were accumulated in charter service.

Does the boat leak anywhere in rain, beyond the three hatches you have already disclosed? Has any part of the hull-deck joint ever been rebedded, resealed or through-bolted, and has any deck fitting ever been pulled and rebedded in 24 years?

Practical Sailor records this model's hull-deck joint as through-bolted only at chocks, stanchions and cleats with machine screws on 6-inch centres elsewhere, and a working joint is both the route water takes into the deck core and genuinely hard to fix once it starts.

At the haulout: is there measurable play at the rudder stock when the blade is levered, does the blade sound solid when tapped along its lower third, and is there any evidence the bearings have ever been inspected or replaced?

This is an unsupported spade rudder with no skeg and no recorded work in 24 years — the bearings and stock are the entire safety case, and a wet blade discovered in the Marquesas ends the voyage rather than costing money.

As a condition of the re-rig quote: pull at least two chainplates — one cap shroud, one forward — dye-penetrant test them, and inspect the backing and the deck seals. Also inspect the babystay attachment and the deck-step area with the mast out.

The mast is coming out anyway, so the marginal cost of doing this is small; crevice corrosion in 24-year-old stainless happens exactly where nobody can see it, and a chainplate failure at sea is a dismasting rather than a repair bill.

Is the standing rigging original 2002 wire, or has any of it been replaced? If any work was done, by whom and when, and was it wire only or did it include chainplates, tangs, toggles and turnbuckles? Was the mast ever unstepped?

You have already told me it needs replacing before an ocean passage, so this is not about whether but about scope — and scope is the difference between an eight-thousand-dollar job and a sixteen-thousand-dollar one, which is exactly the number that should come off the asking price.

Will you agree to a proper sea trial — at least two hours, motoring hard for twenty minutes under load and then sailing on both tacks — rather than a run around the basin? What RPM does she reach at wide-open throttle, what does the coolant temperature settle at, is there smoke under load, and what does she actually burn per hour?

Most of the faults that a decade of standing produces announce themselves the first time a boat is genuinely worked, and the burn rate is what sizes the jerry-can capacity you will need to cross the doldrums behind a 36-gallon tank.

The raft is a six-person Transocean manufactured 10/2001; visible label shows service 08/2005 and next service 08/2006. Are there any later repack/service certificates, and will an authorized raft station inspect it and state in writing whether it remains economically/serviceably suitable for offshore use?

Age and visible service history make zero catalogue credit the correct default. Only a current professional inspection could justify keeping it.

The installed control head is Raytheon ST6000-series and manuals aboard cover ST6000 Plus and Type 100/300. Photograph the actual course computer, fluxgate/heading sensor, rudder-reference unit and — most importantly — the steering drive. What drive type/model is fitted, when was it serviced, and can it steer under sail for several hours without alarms or excessive current draw?

The control head is legacy but known. The expensive reliability question is the below-deck drive and whether any part of the old system is useful as a backup after the centrally-budgeted offshore autopilot is installed.

The boat has legacy 12V architecture and at least one Duralast 27DC-DL flooded auxiliary battery; Dolphin charger documentation is aboard. Photograph every battery and date code, the actual charger label, alternator, shore-power inlet, AC/DC panel backs and main fusing. Is there an inverter, galvanic isolator or isolation transformer?

The broad architecture is now known; the question is what is actually current, safe and reusable versus what will be displaced by the central lithium/solar refit.

Is there a dodger or sprayhood at all, and a bimini? If so, how old is the canvas and are the frames sound? How does a dodger clear the mainsheet traveller in front of the companionway?

No canvas of any kind is mentioned, and on a boat where the traveller sits right where a dodger wants to be this is both a cost and a design problem worth solving before the solar mounting is specified.

One photographed valve is a Groco bronze ball valve. At haulout, inventory every through-hull and seacock by location/material/brand, exercise each one, inspect backing and hose condition, and identify any gate valves, plastic fittings or dezincified bronze.

The Groco fitting is good evidence for one penetration, not the entire boat. The remaining risk is distribution-wide condition after long periods of low use.

The fixed VHF is a Standard Horizon Matrix AIS/GPS unit and legacy ST60/ST6000 equipment is evidenced. Photograph/model every remaining installed display, radar, chartplotter, wind sensor and transducer; confirm whether the VHF's AIS function is receive-only and perform a DSC/GPS/VHF radio check.

This evidence is useful but does not satisfy the central catalogue's AIS transponder, modern radar/chartplotter or complete instrument-pack requirements.

Photograph every berth, and the engine access with the companionway steps out. Which two berths would actually work as sea berths on a twenty-day passage, and is there anywhere to fit lee cloths with through-bolted padeyes?

The two-cabin layout is a genuine advantage of this boat, but a large open salon and a deep aft double are both poor places to sleep at heel, and where the off-watch sleeps is a habitability question no refit budget fixes cheaply.

Is there an emergency tiller aboard, does it physically fit and can it be shipped with the cockpit table and helm seat in place? When were the steering cables, sheaves and quadrant last serviced — and can the surveyor confirm the rudder stops are sound and the quadrant cannot over-travel?

An emergency tiller that does not fit is discovered at exactly the wrong moment, and there is an unread forum thread specifically about a rudder stop problem on a Beneteau 393 that I could not open and cannot dismiss.

How many hatches and opening ports are there in total, what make and series are they — Goiot, Lewmar or other — and which three are the ones needing repair? What is wrong with them, and are the acrylic lenses crazed?

You have disclosed the defect, so the question is only scope: whether these are repairable frames with available seals or discontinued units that have to be replaced whole, which is the difference between fifteen hundred dollars and seven thousand.

Is there a windlass aboard, and if so what make, model and gypsy size — imperial or metric? What anchor and how much chain comes with the boat, is there a second anchor and rode, and will the bow roller take a 55lb Rocna?

None of this is mentioned so I have credited nothing, and a metric gypsy turns a chain purchase into a windlass replacement — a decision that must be made in the Bay Area, since chain ordered in Papeete takes months to arrive.

Factory documentation shows two 250L freshwater tanks and a 6-gal heater. What material are the tanks, are both still installed/usable, and how old are the potable and sanitation hoses and holding tanks? Inspect inside each tank if access exists and confirm actual usable capacity.

Nominal capacity is now a documented strength; contamination, hose condition and any lost capacity are the remaining boat-specific issues.

The dead refrigeration is a Frigoboat 12V Series 2000 Twin-era installation. Have a refrigeration technician identify the compressor/evaporator/controller, determine whether the fault is controller, compressor, refrigerant leak or insulation, and quote repair versus replacement.

The hardware is now identifiable, so a diagnostic can retire a large part of the replacement-cost uncertainty.

French build is confirmed; factory manual says 150L (~39.6 US gal) and the vessel sheet says 36 US gal. Photograph the actual tank label and inspection access, identify tank material, determine fuel age/contamination, and confirm usable capacity.

The former 63-gal US-build branch is retired. The remaining 36-versus-39.6 difference is minor for valuation but the tank's material, cleanliness and inspectability matter offshore.

Where will the boat be berthed and registered during the fifteen-month refit? Berkeley's combined rate is 10.25 percent, which is among the highest in California — confirm the applicable district rate with CDTFA against a marina in a lower-rate district before closing.

California use tax on a private-party vessel purchase is assessed on where the vessel is principally berthed and registered, and on a $69,500 boat the spread between district rates is worth well over a thousand dollars for a decision you control entirely.

The dead HVAC unit is a Dometic ECD9-HV-RMT-417A. Confirm whether the seawater pump/intake/discharge are dedicated to it, whether the unit has any refrigerant/compressor fault diagnosis, and price both removal and repair before deciding which route to take.

The plant is now specifically identified. Keeping a dead 115V seawater-cooled HVAC system adds weight, maintenance and through-hulls; repair is optional rather than passage-critical.

Confirm the Standard Horizon VHF's full nine-digit MMSI, DSC registration and FCC ship-station licensing status. The photographed paperwork/notation shows only '33824', which is not a complete MMSI.

The fixed radio can be useful, but DSC/AIS identity must be programmed and licensed correctly for an internationally cruising US-flagged vessel.

CE Category A is now confirmed for this actual hull. Is there a published STIX or AVS for the Oceanis 393 or this hull in any Beneteau stability booklet/certification annex? If not, leave AVS and STIX null.

The hull-specific CE-A evidence improves confidence, but it does not supply an AVS or STIX and those should not be invented.