Offer/ Deposit refundability

The way I have always understood this, is we as the buyers can at any point up until the BUYER ACCEPT/REJECT date decide to REJECT the purchase in writing and the deposit is fully returned to us. Am I correct on this?
I have been a broker since 1977. Yes, reject the boat within the dates and deposit is returned the same way it was paid by wire.

If it is a Florida broker/dealer you can access the DBPR website and check their license for complaints. If you see a long list of clients complaining about loosing deposits hold off on the wire

I m no legal expert but I don’t think this is accurate

if the contract includes

personal inspection by date X
Sea trial by date Y
Survey (hull and machinery) by date Z

if you don’t do the personal inspection by X, you can not just say “ I reject the vessel”. Same if you don’t get the survey done by Z, you will loose the option to reject.

You can reject the boat at any time before the accept/reject date, no cause needed and the deal is dead and your deposit returned. You can reject because of odor, rumor does not matter.

Do NOT sign the Acceptance of Vessel until after you have received all written survey reports and oil analysis and have had time to study them. If the broker hands you an Acceptance of Vessel at the end of the survey, raise your antennae with big red flags waving. Regardless of contingencies or whatever the contract might say, once you sign the Acceptance of Vessel, you are at risk of forfeiting the deposit if you do not close on time.

Sounds a little vague and open-ended to me.....

Not really. Not when the entire contract is considered. It means boatyard, surveyor, mechanic, etc, pertaining to the buyer's inspections, contingencies, and due diligence. The seller's responsibilities for providing the boat, operator, and time to accommodate the process is typically spelled as well. But none of us has seen the entire contract in this case so all anyone can do is generalize and speculate.

Here is an example of where it is appropriate: Boat gets hauled out for survey; zincs showing some wastage. Buyer says " she might not need zincs today, but she'll need new ones at some point, so let's put them on now and it will save me from hiring a diver later." Yard puts on new zincs, boat gets launched. Buyer decides not to buy the boat. Owner is stuck with a bill for zincs he didn't order. That was "expenses incurred on Buyer's behalf."

I don't ever recommend a client spend money on a boat they haven't bought yet. They would have to do it over my very strong objections. Most yards that I use for survey haul & hold will allow a haul out credit if the buyer comes back in a reasonable amount of time for out of water work.
I had a buyer who is an attorney that wanted to have mechanical work done on a boat before sea trial. The seller refused as he had already given a major mechanical allowance to the buyer. So the buyer said he'll pay for it. The seller said fine. I made him sign a document that said I told him not to do it. He signed it and he did it anyway, and he bought the boat too ...lol.

Appreciate your clarification for others, but that's sort of a "duh." I should have been more specific, but that was the fastest, and I thought easiest example to give.