The hull, the deck and the rig are where a deposit goes. Walk round in a fixed order with the base's technician, sort what you find into what is fixed before you leave and what goes on the form, and only then sign.
1 · The walk-round
A fixed order, the technician beside you
How do I record existing damage on a charter yacht at check-in?
Write what it is, how big and where, take a wide and a close-up photo, and have the base's technician initial it on the check-in form. Notes you make alone are your word against the base's.
Start outside, from the quay: the hull from bow to stern on both sides, then the deck, then the rig. A fixed order is how nothing gets missed. Keep the technician with you: a mark goes on the form's boat outline with him present and initialling. Notes you make alone are your word against the base's on Friday.
One mark, written properly
What: gelcoat chip 3 cm, star cracks
Where: port bow, 40 cm aft of the stem
Photo 1: wide, to place it on the boat
Photo 2: close up, a coin for scale
Initialled by the technician
Write what it is, how big and where. Star cracks mean an impact, so write cracks, not scratches: you sign for the boat as the form describes her, and 'general wear' describes nothing. Whatever happens before your signature goes on the form too. A gap noticed next morning is added, dated and initialled at the office before you sail.
Rule
On Friday the signed form counts, not the technician's memory.
2 · Hull, keel and rudder
From the quay, the dinghy and the bilge
How can I tell if a charter yacht has run aground before?
Look at the keel: rusty keel bolts or fresh paint at the keel joint are signs of a grounding. Ask for a keel check, because a keel scuff missing from the form becomes your grounding at check-out.
What you see
What you do
Weed at the waterline, an old sound repair
The base's: note them with a photo
A list with both tanks full
Have the bilge and lockers opened: often it is water
Rusty keel bolts, fresh paint at the keel joint
Signs of a grounding: ask for a keel check, not 'keel OK'
Rudder blade moves sideways with a clunk
Bearing play: noted, and the base passes it as safe
Cracked sealant on a hull window
A hose test while you watch inside
Toe rail lifted, bolts missing
The hull-deck joint is open: refastened before you leave
A keel scuff or a chipped rudder missing from the form at check-in becomes your grounding at check-out. If you do touch bottom during the week, check the bilge and keel bolts, photograph the keel and call the base the same day. Salt water in a locker only when heeled points to the deck joint: report that too.
3 · Deck and cockpit
Fix it now or write it down
What must the charter base fix before I leave, and what just goes on the form?
Anything that can hurt someone or endanger the boat, such as a loose stanchion or a slipping winch, is fixed before you leave. What is worn but safe goes on the form with a photo.
Sort every finding into two piles. What can hurt someone or endanger the boat is fixed by the base before you leave: an entry on the form does not hold a guardrail. What is worn but safe is written on the form with a photo, so it stays the base's on Friday.
Fixed before you leave
On the form, with a photo
Cracked ladder rung; hatch that will not seal
Play in the platform hinge; cracked hatch lens
Loose bow cleat, chain stopper without its pawl, leaking stanchion base
Soft spot in the deck, initialled
Winch that slips back, clutch that will not open, missing handle
Chafed halyard cover, worn self-tailer jaws
Slack steering, stiff throttle, loose tiller head
Wheel lock that slips
Locker lid that will not latch, blocked cockpit drain
Broken table-leaf support
The chain stopper, not the windlass, takes the anchor load. A winch's pawls stop the drum running back under load. Steering play that grows during the week, with a knock under the cockpit, is a cable or quadrant going: call the base and motor gently to the nearest harbour.
4 · Sprayhood and bimini
Light tube and soft vinyl
Should a torn bimini be repaired at check-in or just noted on the form?
Repaired: a tear, an open zip or a missing strap is fixed at check-in, because a tear grows in the first blow. A scratched window or a bent frame goes on the form.
At check-in a tear, an open zip or a missing strap is fixed, because a tear grows in the first blow; a scratched window and a bent frame go on the form.
During the week
Why
Nobody pulls themselves aboard by the bimini frame
It bends; the pushpit and grab rails take a body's weight
Salt on a window: rinse with fresh water, dab with a soft cloth
Dry salt scratches clear vinyl
Strong gusts forecast: fold the bimini and lash it
Left up, it tears or bends: damage from your week
5 · Mast and rigging
What you can check from the deck
How do I check the mast and rigging when taking over a charter yacht?
Sight up the mast from its foot for a straight mast and level spreaders, check the masthead with binoculars, and see each shroud's turnbuckle has a taped split pin. A broken strand or slack shroud is for the base's rigger.
At the mast foot, sight up the groove: a straight mast, spreaders level with their end boots on, the deck flat round the foot. Binoculars from the quay show the masthead: wind vane and cups turning, antenna upright, light lenses whole. Each shroud ends in a turnbuckle with a split pin, so it cannot unwind, taped so sails and hands do not snag.
Ask for the base's rigger
Broken strand at a swage
Cap shroud slack on one side
Spreader drooping, its boot gone
Rust streaks below a chainplate
Backstay ram leaking, forestay sagging
None of these is a form entry or a job for you: the rigger puts it right before you sail, and the base gives you its backstay setting in writing. On the boom, a worn gooseneck pin is looked at now, and you ask for a line long enough to rig a preventer; a rigid kicker carries the boom without a topping lift. If strands break during the week, do not load the rig: call the base, and stay or motor back, sails down, as they decide.
6 · Catamaran
Two hulls and some parts of her own
What extra should I check when chartering a catamaran?
The inner hull faces and bridgedeck underside from the dinghy, that each wheel moves both rudders, both legs of the forestay bridle, the trampoline lacing, the davit welds, and that the saloon door locks.
Part
What to check
Hulls
The inner faces and the bridgedeck underside, from the dinghy
Two helms
Each wheel moves both rudders at once; at rest the rudders are parallel
Forestay bridle
Both legs carry the forestay: no broken strand at either
Trampoline
Lacing whole all round; nobody lies on it until it is relaced
Davits
No cracked weld before the dinghy and outboard hang there
Saloon door
Stays on its track and locks: a loose door slams under way
Practice questions
Questions from this topic, as the app asks them. Open one to see the answer.
16:30Check-in, Lefkas
Technician: 'Engine first, then inside'
Form: boat outline and a remarks box
Three more boats waiting for him
It is 16:30 at the base in Lefkas. The technician hands you the form and says he will start with the engine. How do you run the walk-round?
Engine and inside first, the hull from the quay once he has left
Whatever order he prefers, as long as the engine runs before you sign
Outside first from the quay, bow to stern on both sides, then the deck, then the rig
Deck and rig first while it is light, the hull from the dinghy tomorrow
Show the answer
C. Outside first from the quay, bow to stern on both sides, then the deck, then the rig
A fixed order — hull both sides, deck, rig — is how nothing gets missed; the hull is the deposit.
All 50 questions of this topic are in the app: practice by topic with the reason after every answer, your mistakes brought back, and a timed mock exam. Free, no sign-up, in the browser or in Telegram.
