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Yachts and waterfront in Stuart, Florida

Stuart, Martin County, Florida

Yacht Survey, Haul-Out & Due Diligence in Stuart

Stuart is a serious service market disguised as a small town. The Manatee Pocket holds a dense cluster of full-service yards, including sportfish builders and a 150-ton travelift, within a very short distance of each other.

The two facts that shape a Stuart survey are the inlet and the waterway. St. Lucie Inlet has a documented shoaling history, and Stuart sits at the Atlantic end of the Okeechobee Waterway — which is why a yacht here may be mid-passage between coasts rather than lying at its home berth.

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Buying a Yacht in Stuart: What This Page Covers

Stuart calls itself the sailfish capital, and its yacht market reflects that: sportfish boats, custom builders, and a dense cluster of capable yards on the Manatee Pocket and the St. Lucie River. For a buyer, density is the real benefit. Several genuinely capable facilities sit within minutes of each other, which makes coordinating a lift, an independent surveyor and a specialist engine or rig inspection on the same day far more achievable than in a spread-out market.

Stuart is also the Atlantic gateway to the Okeechobee Waterway, so a yacht advertised here may be staged for a crossing or may have spent significant time in fresh water. That history is worth establishing before survey scope is agreed, because it changes what matters on the hull, the running gear and the cooling systems.

The constraint is scale and depth. Published lifting capacity in this cluster tops out well below the South Florida megayacht yards, and controlling depth on the approaches genuinely limits which vessels can reach which yard. Two well-known local facilities publish no lift specifications for their Stuart sites at all; this page lists them as dockage or service facilities rather than implying capability they have not stated. Every published figure below carries its own source and verification date, and lift, dockage and access limits are kept in separate tables.

Buyer snapshot

Stuart Yacht Survey — Quick Facts

Only figures with defensible sourcing appear here. Each value states what it measures, links to the exact page it came from, and carries its own verification date.

Largest published travelift

150 tons

Published by Hinckley Yacht Services for its Stuart yard, alongside a stated haul-and-launch limit of yachts to 125 ft.

150 tonsSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Published haul LOA limit

125 ft

The yard's own stated haul-and-launch figure. A third-party directory states 130 ft; both appear in the yard table rather than being averaged.

125 ftSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Second yard travelift

50 metric tons

A 110,000 lb marine travelift published by Sailfish Marina of Stuart — the practical option for mid-size survey hauls in the Manatee Pocket.

50 metric tonsSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Roosevelt (US 1) Bridge

65 ft fixed

Closed vertical clearance on the fixed US 1 crossing — a hard air-draft ceiling for anything heading upriver.

65 ft fixedIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

St. Lucie Inlet shoaling

2 ft reported

A reported depth at a specific position in a 2024 US Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners. Inlet conditions here change; treat any figure as dated.

2 ft reportedIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

Stuart Boat Show 2027

January 15–17, 2027

Dates published by the show organiser. Local surveyor, captain and yard availability tightens around show weekends.

January 15–17, 2027Source ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Planning a Survey in Stuart?

Tell us the yacht, its size and where it is lying, and we'll map the survey, haul-out and sea-trial sequence.

Plan My Due Diligence

Cost

Yacht Survey Cost in Stuart

Two separate classes of evidence. A published price from one local provider is not the same thing as national industry guidance, so InspectMyYacht never blends them into a single local 'average'.

Local published price

No local published tariff found

InspectMyYacht has not found a current public price list from a surveyor physically serving Stuart that can be cited directly. Rather than invent a local range, we quote your survey against the specific vessel and scope.

Request a Survey Quote

United States — industry guidance

U.S. Industry Pricing Guidance

Geographic scope: United States / general industry guidance

Pre-purchase survey guidance

approximately $20–$40 per footIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

General United States industry guidance, not a local rate, local average or quotation. Larger, older or more complex vessels commonly cost more.

What Does a Yacht Survey Cost in Florida?

Published provider pricing varies substantially with vessel size, age, construction, complexity, engine count, number of systems, agreed scope, haul-out, sea trial and travel. The figures below are each provider’s own published rate — presented as examples, never blended into a single “Stuart average”.

Published provider rate

Sun Coast Marine Surveying

Published Florida pre-purchase rate — one company, not a market average

Pre-purchase survey
$40–$60 per footSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

The company states the rate depends on vessel size. Treat it as one provider's published upper-tier pricing, not a Florida norm.

Published provider rate

CalypsoSea Marine Surveyors

Published rate for vessels up to 50 ft — one company, not a market average

Vessels 50 ft and under
$24–$32 per footSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026
Minimum fee
$450 minimumSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

A minimum fee matters on smaller vessels: below roughly 15–18 ft the per-foot rate stops governing the invoice.

Published provider rate

Wilson Yacht Survey

Published rate basis — figures quoted per vessel

Rate basis
Quote required

The company publishes how it prices — vessel length plus agreed scope — but no per-foot figure is published on that page, so InspectMyYacht publishes none.

Current published provider rates show a wide range, commonly starting in the mid-$20s per foot and reaching $40–$60 per foot depending on provider, vessel and scope. That range is deliberately not compressed into an average, because no defensible city-level average exists.

Haul-Out Cost in Stuart

InspectMyYacht does not publish a local haul-out price range for this market. Yards quote short-haul survey lifts against the specific vessel — LOA, beam, draft, displacement, underwater gear and lay-day requirements — and published rate cards are rarely available. Any per-foot figure quoted without those inputs is guesswork, so we ask the yard directly on your behalf.

Sea Trial Cost

No verified local hourly rate for captain or technical sea-trial support has been published for this market. Sea-trial support is arranged per vessel, and quoted once the engines, systems and trial duration are known.

Request Yacht Due Diligence Help

Related reading: what a yacht survey costs, what a survey actually includes and pre-purchase yacht survey scope.

Haul-out infrastructure

Yacht Haul-Out Facilities in Stuart

Stuart's yards are concentrated on and around the Manatee Pocket, with a further storage and service facility inland toward the St. Lucie Lock. Lift figures below come only from each lift's own source; storage and dockage figures are kept separate.

Hinckley Yacht Services — Stuart

4550 SE Boatyard Drive, Stuart, FL 34997

The largest published lifting capability in the Stuart market, with hurricane-rated storage that matters if a purchase runs into the Atlantic season and the yacht needs somewhere defensible to sit.

Haul-Out Equipment

Travelift

Capacity and LOA both published by the yard. A third-party directory states 130 ft LOA for the same lift — the yard's own lower figure is used here, and the discrepancy is disclosed.

Capacity
150 tonsSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026
Max LOA
125 ftSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026
Max Beam
Confirm with yard

Facility Capabilities

Storm storage rating
Category 5 storm storageSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026
Third-party reported LOA
130 ftIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

Facility and service information. These are not lift limits or dockage limits.

  • Haul and launch
  • Paint and varnish
  • Indoor storage
  • Systems work

Where the yard's own page and a directory disagree on maximum LOA, InspectMyYacht shows the yard's figure in the lift table and the directory figure separately, labelled as third-party.

Sailfish Marina of Stuart — boatyard

3565 & 3585 SE St. Lucie Blvd, Stuart, FL 34997

A full-service Manatee Pocket yard whose published travelift covers the majority of vessels changing hands in this market — sportfish, express cruisers and mid-size motor yachts.

Haul-Out Equipment

Marine travelift

Published by the yard as a 50 metric ton (110,000 lb) travelift. LOA and beam limits are not published — confirm for your vessel.

Capacity
50 tonsSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026
Max LOA
Confirm with yard
Max Beam
Confirm with yard

Facility Capabilities

Underwater gear service
Complete underwater gearSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Facility and service information. These are not lift limits or dockage limits.

  • Short hauls
  • Bottom work
  • Running gear
  • Full-service yard

Underwater gear capability is directly relevant to a pre-purchase haul: shafts, props, rudders and seals are among the items only visible with the yacht out of the water.

River Forest Yachting Center — Stuart

9150 SW Pennsylvania Avenue, Stuart, Florida

An inland facility on the St. Lucie Waterway just east of the St. Lucie Lock, built around hurricane storage buildings. Useful for a buyer whose purchase completes during storm season, and for yachts transiting the Okeechobee Waterway.

Haul-Out Equipment

Yard lift

Capacity reported as 82 US tons on an authorised reseller page, not on the operator's own site. The 25–90 ft figure published alongside it is a storage range, not a lift LOA limit, and is not shown as one.

Capacity
82 tonsIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026
Max LOA
Confirm with yard
Max Beam
Confirm with yard

Facility Capabilities

Hurricane storage buildings
Up to 90 ftIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026
Location
St. Lucie Waterway, west of StuartSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Facility and service information. These are not lift limits or dockage limits.

  • Hurricane storage
  • Service
  • Waterway transit staging

The storage-length range published for this facility is deliberately not promoted into the lift table. Storage capability and lifting capability are different claims.

Other Manatee Pocket yards

Manatee Pocket / Port Salerno, Florida

Whiticar Boat Works and Pirate's Cove sit in the same cluster. Neither publishes haul-out lift specifications for its Stuart site, so no lift figures are presented for them here.

Facility Capabilities

Pirate's Cove wet slips
50 wet slipsSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Facility and service information. These are not lift limits or dockage limits.

Travelift figures circulate online for Whiticar's Fort Pierce operation. Those belong to a different city and a different yard, and are not attributed to the Stuart site on this page.

Pirate's Cove is a dockage and resort marina in this dataset. Its slip count is a dockage figure and implies nothing about haul-out capability.

Market notes

Stuart's advantage is density: several genuinely capable yards within a few minutes of each other on the Manatee Pocket, which makes coordinating a haul, a surveyor and a specialist on the same day realistic.

Its constraint is scale. Published capacity tops out around 150 tons and 125 ft, so larger yachts move south.

Two facilities in this cluster publish no lift specifications for their Stuart sites. We list them as dockage or service facilities rather than implying haul-out capability they have not published.

Compatibility

Before Booking a Survey Haul

Travelift tonnage alone does not determine whether a yacht can be hauled. Give the yard the vessel's actual geometry and lifting characteristics before you book a slot.
  • LOA
  • Beam
  • Draft
  • Displacement
  • Approximate lifting weight
  • Hull type
  • Number of shafts
  • Propeller arrangement
  • Stabilizers
  • Underwater appendages
  • Known lifting points

A yacht weighing less than a lift's published tonnage may still be incompatible because of beam, sling position, underwater gear, yard geometry or lift configuration. Confirm suitability with the specific facility, for the specific vessel. See our haul-out guide.

Scope

What Should a Pre-Purchase Yacht Survey Cover?

Depending on the vessel and the scope agreed with your surveyor, an inspection may address the following areas.
  • Hull
  • Deck
  • Superstructure
  • Structural condition
  • Machinery spaces
  • Propulsion
  • Fuel systems
  • Electrical systems
  • Generators
  • Freshwater systems
  • Steering
  • Electronics
  • Navigation systems
  • Safety and fire systems
  • Bilges and pumps
  • Through-hulls and seacocks
  • Visible corrosion
  • Stabilizers
  • HVAC
  • Running gear

Not every surveyor includes every item. Scope is agreed in advance and varies with vessel type, size, age and accessibility.

Sea trial

Stuart Yacht Sea Trial Checklist

A sea trial is the one opportunity to observe machinery and systems under load before closing.
  • Engine start and idle
  • Acceleration
  • Cruise RPM
  • Operating temperature
  • Oil pressure
  • Exhaust behaviour
  • Steering
  • Transmissions
  • Vibration
  • Trim systems
  • Stabilizers
  • Thrusters
  • Generators under load
  • Navigation equipment
  • Autopilot
  • Alarms
  • Charging systems
  • HVAC under load

A general marine survey is not automatically a substitute for a dedicated engine survey.

Specialists

When Additional Specialists May Be Needed

Where a general survey identifies a concern — or where the vessel's value makes the risk material — buyers commonly add specialist inspections.
  • Engine technician
  • Engine diagnostic scan
  • Oil analysis
  • Coolant analysis
  • Generator inspection
  • Electrical specialist
  • Rigging specialist
  • Corrosion specialist
  • Thermal imaging
  • Composite specialist
  • Ultrasonic testing where appropriate

InspectMyYacht coordinates and plans these inspections with independent professionals. We do not perform surveying or engineering services ourselves.

Dockage

Major Stuart Marinas for Yacht Viewings & Sea Trials

These are marina and dockage records. They are not haul-out yards, and their vessel-accommodation figures are never presented as lift capacities.

Sunset Bay Marina & Anchorage

Downtown Stuart dockage and mooring on the St. Lucie River, and the usual staging point for a yacht being viewed or waiting on a waterway transit.

Slips
198Industry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026
Moorings
69Industry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026
Maximum LOA
Not publicly specified
Maximum draft
Not publicly specified
  • Downtown Stuart
  • Viewings
  • Waterway staging

Figures from a marina directory rather than the operator's own site, and labelled accordingly.

Pirate's Cove Resort & Marina

A sportfishing marina on the Manatee Pocket, inside the same cluster as the working yards and close to the inlet.

Wet slips
50 wet slipsSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026
Maximum LOA
Not publicly specified
Maximum draft
Not publicly specified
  • Manatee Pocket
  • Sportfish market
  • Near inlet

A dockage record. This marina publishes no haul-out lift specifications.

Geography

Where Yacht Purchase Activity Clusters in Stuart

Two functionally different kinds of area: places where yachts are marketed and viewed, and places where they are lifted and worked on.

Where yachts are lifted

Manatee Pocket / Port Salerno

The dense service cluster: Hinckley, Sailfish, Whiticar and Pirate's Cove all sit on or immediately off the Pocket, minutes from the inlet.

Where yachts are viewed

Downtown Stuart waterfront

Sunset Bay and the Harborage sit on the St. Lucie River near downtown, functioning as the market's viewing and higher-end berthing area.

Storage and transit

St. Lucie Waterway toward the lock

River Forest's Stuart facility serves yachts crossing between Florida's coasts and buyers needing hurricane-rated storage.

Sea-trial access

St. Lucie Inlet

The market's ocean access, and a documented shoaling location. Trial planning here is a genuine navigational question, not a formality.

Logistics

Stuart Yacht Movement & Access Constraints

Practical local factors that affect getting a yacht from its berth to a lift and out for a sea trial.

St. Lucie Inlet shoaling

2 ft reported at one position (2024)Industry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

A depth of around two feet was reported at a specific charted position in a 2024 US Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners, and a later crowd-sourced sounding overlaid on a 2025 USACE survey reported roughly 7.1 ft minimum at another waypoint. Both are point observations of a moving seabed. Anyone planning a sea trial or an offshore movement should treat current local knowledge as mandatory.

Roosevelt (US 1) Bridge

65 ft closed vertical clearanceIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

A fixed bridge, so its clearance is an absolute ceiling rather than a scheduling question. Anything with greater air draft cannot pass upriver, which determines which yards and marinas are reachable at all.

Old Roosevelt (Dixie Highway) Bridge

Bascule, opens on requestIndustry source ↗Third-partyVerified Aug 22, 2026

A bascule crossing on the same stretch that opens on request — a timing factor rather than a hard limit, but one that still shapes a same-day haul-out plan.

Okeechobee Waterway locks

USACE-operatedSource ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Stuart is the Atlantic gateway to the Okeechobee Waterway, so a yacht lying here may be part-way between coasts. Lock chamber dimensions and air-draft limits determine whether a cross-state transit is possible at all; InspectMyYacht publishes no numeric lock dimensions because none were confirmed from the official pages in this pass.

Workflow

Yacht Purchase Due Diligence in Stuart

An eight-step sequence from listing review to the decision made before closing.
  1. 1

    Review yacht and listing

    Specification, history, equipment and asking price.

  2. 2

    Collect documents and maintenance history

    Service records, invoices, engine hours and prior survey reports where available.

  3. 3

    Select an independent marine surveyor

    Experience with the vessel type and size, and no commercial interest in the sale.

  4. 4

    Determine specialist inspections

    Engine, electrical, rigging or structural specialists where the vessel warrants it.

  5. 5

    Confirm haul-out facility compatibility

    Lift tonnage alone is not enough — beam, draft and underwater gear all matter.

  6. 6

    Conduct in-water and out-of-water inspection

    Accessible structure and systems afloat; hull and running gear with the yacht lifted.

  7. 7

    Conduct sea trial

    Systems and machinery observed under operating conditions.

  8. 8

    Review findings before closing

    Commercial outcomes typically fall into proceed, renegotiate or walk away.

Possible commercial outcomes

  • Proceed
  • Renegotiate
  • Walk away

These are commercial options, not legal advice. What happens next depends on your purchase agreement.

Timing

Stuart Survey & Sea-Trial Seasonality

Calendar anchors that genuinely affect survey, haul-out and sea-trial scheduling in this market.

Stuart Boat Show 2027

January 15–17, 2027Source ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

A long-running regional show in downtown Stuart. Surveyor, captain and yard availability tightens around the show weekend, and brokerage activity concentrates immediately before and after it.

Atlantic Hurricane Season

June 1 – November 30Source ↗Verified Aug 22, 2026

Insurance conditions, yard availability, storm-storage demand and named-storm haul-out priority all shift during the official season. Build schedule contingency into any survey and haul-out booking made inside these dates.

Buying a Yacht in Stuart?

Tell us the yacht, size and current location. InspectMyYacht will help you map the survey, haul-out, sea trial and specialist inspections required before closing.

What do you need?

InspectMyYacht is not a surveyor, yard or marina. We help buyers plan and coordinate independent surveyors, haul-out facilities, sea trials and specialist inspections.

FAQ

Stuart Yacht Survey FAQ

Can a large yacht be hauled out in Stuart?

Up to a point. The largest published capability is Hinckley Yacht Services' 150-ton travelift, with a stated haul-and-launch limit of yachts to 125 ft. Sailfish Marina of Stuart publishes a 50-metric-ton travelift for mid-size vessels, and River Forest's Stuart facility is reported at 82 US tons. Above roughly 125 ft, expect to move the yacht to a larger southeast Florida yard.

Why does the Roosevelt Bridge matter so much here?

Because it is fixed at around 65 ft closed vertical clearance. Unlike a bascule bridge, no scheduling can get you through it. That single figure decides whether a sailing yacht or a tall motor yacht can reach the upriver marinas and facilities at all.

Is St. Lucie Inlet a problem for a sea trial?

It requires respect. A 2024 US Coast Guard notice reported depths as shallow as two feet at one position, and more recent soundings at other waypoints are deeper. The seabed moves. Confirm current conditions before committing a newly purchased yacht — or a survey sea trial — to an inlet transit.

Do Stuart surveyors publish their prices?

No. InspectMyYacht checked the published pages of several Stuart-area surveyors and found no numeric price lists — all of them quote per vessel. Rather than invent a local range, this page shows only general United States industry guidance of roughly $20–$40 per foot, clearly labelled as national guidance, and quotes your survey against the actual vessel.

What does the Okeechobee Waterway have to do with buying a yacht in Stuart?

Stuart is the Atlantic entrance to the waterway that crosses Florida. A yacht advertised in Stuart may be staged there for a crossing, or may have spent time in fresh water on the waterway — worth knowing when planning survey scope, and worth asking about when reviewing maintenance history.

Does InspectMyYacht carry out the survey itself?

No. We plan and coordinate independent surveyors, haul-out yards, sea trials and specialist inspections. We are not a surveyor, yard or broker, and we hold no interest in whether the sale completes.

Guides

Before you book a Stuart survey

Guide

How Much Does a Yacht Survey Cost?

How survey fees are usually structured, and the additional costs buyers forget.

Read guide: How Much Does a Yacht Survey Cost?

Guide

How to Choose an Independent Yacht Surveyor

Experience, independence, accreditation, insurance and report quality.

Read guide: How to Choose an Independent Yacht Surveyor

Guide

Do You Need a Haul-Out for a Yacht Survey?

Why underwater areas usually require a lift, and how haul-outs are arranged.

Read guide: Do You Need a Haul-Out for a Yacht Survey?

Methodology

Sources Used on This Page

InspectMyYacht separates haul-out equipment specifications from marina dockage limits and general yard capabilities. Every figure links to the exact page it came from, official sources are preferred over third-party sources, and where a value cannot be confirmed it is omitted rather than inferred.

There is no page-wide verification claim. Each value is verified individually against its own source page, and its verification date is shown beside the figure it belongs to.

InspectMyYacht does not own, operate, employ or represent any yard, marina or surveyor listed on this page, and is not itself a certified surveyor. More about our methodology

Other Florida yacht survey locations: Florida hub · United States

Nearby markets

Other Yacht Markets Near Stuart

Yachts move. If the vessel you are buying is lying in a neighbouring market, or would be hauled there, start with that market's constraints instead.

Fort Lauderdale

The deepest concentration of large-yacht lift capacity and refit yards in the state.

Miami

Bayfront megayacht berthing plus a working Miami River haul-out corridor behind bridges.

Palm Beach & Riviera Beach

Large-yacht service capability concentrated around Riviera Beach and the Port of Palm Beach.

Know What You’re Buying Before You Close

InspectMyYacht will help you plan the surveyor, haul-out, sea trial and specialist inspections for your Stuart purchase.

Plan My Due Diligence