What the broker didn't tell me. What the yard charged me for. Every mistake I made across thirty years and four boats, written down so you don't make them too.
The problem
The $2,200 repair that a $180 maintenance item would have prevented. The survey that missed three things because the surveyor wasn't looking for them. The yard that billed four hours for a two-hour job because they knew I didn't know the difference. I paid for all of it.
The broker had no incentive to tell me what ownership actually costs. The yard had less reason still. The right information existed — it was just buried across forums, scattered across decades of other people's hard experience, and nobody had written it down clearly in one place.
Inside are nine sections and 160 pages of everything I know: the specific numbers, the maintenance intervals, the exact questions I wished I'd known to ask. Most readers earn the $47 back the first time they walk into a yard with chapter three in their head.
What's inside
One-time payment. Instant PDF. 7-day refund.
What readers say
"Chapter three alone saved me $1,200. I walked in with the parts cost written down. The service manager quoted four hours. I asked him to walk me through each one. We settled on two and a half. That one conversation paid for this book about twenty-five times."
Dave M., 42ft Grand Banks, Annapolis MD
"The pre-purchase checklist found three things my surveyor glossed over. One was a raw water pump on its way out. A $4,000 repair at the yard. I had it knocked off the purchase price instead. The book paid for itself eighty-five times before I took delivery."
Tom K., 46ft Nordhavn, Beaufort NC
"I bought my Defever two years ago and made every single mistake in this book before I found it. I give it to every new trawler owner I meet now. It should come with the boat."
Susan T., 38ft Defever, Sarasota FL
One-time payment. Instant PDF. 7-day refund.
Put $47 in perspective
| One hour of yard labor | $150 |
| Average avoidable repair bill | $2,200 |
| A single missed service item | $400 to $800 |
| Trawler Truth, everything in this book | $47 |
One informed conversation at the yard covers the price of this book many times over. Most readers get there on the first visit.
About the author
I've owned four trawlers over thirty years and logged tens of thousands of nautical miles on the East and Gulf Coasts and in the Bahamas. I've been overcharged at yards, surprised by repair bills, and handed surveys that missed things I later paid to fix.
I don't have a television show or a brand deal. I have a boat, a logbook, and more receipts from boatyards than I'd like. This is the book I would have handed myself the day I signed the papers on my first trawler. I read every email at ray@rayharlow.com.
Read the entire book. Work through the checklists. Use the yard chapter on your next service visit. If you don't feel it was worth ten times what you paid within 7 days of purchase, email me directly and I'll refund every dollar. No form. No question. No waiting. In three years of selling this book my refund rate is under one percent.
Secure checkout. Instant PDF delivery. rayharlow.com
Questions: ray@rayharlow.com