The surveyor is also just a more (very important word "more")
knowledgable person. He is not psychic. If he was, he would be
making millions on Wall Street instead of crawling around the bilges
of old boats.

The surveyor is also struggling against the fact that, if he did the
job every buyer wants him to do, he wouldn't get enough work to stay
in business. It's the same kind of bind many professions are in. The
airline pilot isn't supposed to endanger his passengers by flying in
very bad weather but the dispatcher is telling him, "If you don't take
this flight, we'll find someone who will."

Most survey referrals come from brokers and boatyards who like to see
boats move. My brief surveying career came to an end because I
thought the owner should end up with a complete list and plan for the
first couple of years of upgrades and fixes. My goal was the the
buyer have no surprises during the honeymoon period. I'd say, "This
is a great boat, here are the things it needs done." The yardowner
would come out screaming, "You trashed a perfectly good boat. Don't
expect me to recommend you again."

In the sunken boat case, forget about suing the surveyor. Your job as
a boat buyer was to hire someone competent. You screwed up. Picking
the right surveyor is actually harder than picking the right boat.

However, if you find an obvious scum line in the boat, start asking
around, and someone tells you that the surveyor was onboard just after
it was raised and he was recommended by the yard that raised it, it
might be worth pursuing. You've got to have some evidence of
intentional wrongdoing or utter incompetence; not just
something missed. Otherwise, you will just be one of the people
pushing us closer to the day when boating will be like aviation and a
lot of other things, there either won't be any surveyors or surveys
will cost $5000 for a 30 foot boat to cover the surveyor's malpractice
insurance.

--

Roger Long



"DSK" wrote in message
...
My wife & I were very serious about buying a trawler that turned
out to have been sunk.


Wayne.B wrote:
And of course the seller just sort of forgot to tell you...


I don't think he forgot, but I think he didn't know the whole
story... in fact I think 'deliberate ignorance' would cover his
approach, since he is not required to disclose what he doesn't
"know."

Actually the shiftiness of the broker was already setting off alarm
bells.

This boat did sell, two or three years later. I sometimes wonder who
bought it.



My biggest concern is that the surveyor will miss a major problem
that
doesn't surface until after the deal has closed. You really don't
have a lot of recourse other than suing the surveyor, seller and
broker but it will take a long time to resolve and in the end you
may
collect nothing.


I don't think the surveyor is liable, quite frankly. If there was
something major and that would be extremely obvious to a competent
professional, you might take a swing at it.

Another thing is, most people are already reluctant to pay a
surveyor for a full day of inspecting. And most people are more
interested in whether the hot water works. So if you don't write a
blank check & say, "take as much time as you need to thoroughly
inspect absolutely every single thing on the boat," then the
surveyor can rightfully say that the buyer did not cover his bets.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King