Gordon Wedman wrote:
Considering the purchase of a boat in San Diego and am looking for
recommendations on surveyors.

One outfit I would *not* recommend is Christian & Co. They have a big
name and may have been good long ago, when Kells Christian himself did
did the small pleasurecraft C&V surveys, but later I learned he's
moved on to bigger and better things (commercial craft) and I had a
disappointing experience with them. Sort of a "bait and switch" con.

I needed an SAMS(?) accredited marine surveyor, and Kells has been one
since '94, so I hired him. Imagine my surprise when a local guy who
makes his living "workin' on boats" around the harbor showed up, not
listed as SAMS certified on the SAMS site. When I inquired he said,
"That don't mean a surveyor is any good."

Should have put a stop to it right there, but to make a long story
short, he erred on my boat's dimensions, engine horsepower, identified
my alcohol stove as a propane stove, labelled the deck coring material
as "unknown" when it was easily visible by unzipping any headliner,
listed one engine blower when there's two, miscounted the winches and
their sizes, miscounted the anchors, etc., etc. And the boat is a
common design whose manfacturer was located 50 miles north of San
Diego.

He even had the gall to ask, " Hey, you've got a lot of sails on this
boat, could you list them and their condition for me?" He then
couldn't even transcribe my list correctly and misreported the sail
count and types. Also took almost a month to get around to finishing
the survey. When I got it, it was also obvious he wasn't in command of
the English language, so I complained (to the phone secretary) and she
requested I correct the errors, send the edited version to them, and
they'll revise the survey. I'm acting as their free QA/QC service?
What am I paying $350 for? Version II was still messed up (apparently
I own no mainsails and am missing 2 winches), but I gave up and moved
on. Didn't hear from the insurance company so I guess I passed.

Unlike other surveys I've had done in the past, the final product was a
pile of hazy fluff with only 3 recommendations like "Paint rust spots
on engine." During the purchase survey I had done, Peter Britton, the
surveyor, spent 4 hours going through every inch of the boat (requested
I remove as many non-CG required items as possible from lockers prior
to survey), dragged a hunk of sail out of every bag, and was one dirty
tired guy when he was done. His survey actually described the boat
completely, with dimensions (right down to chain lengths, halyard
materials, etc., etc.) and equipment manufacturer's names, locations of
gelcoat crazing, caught a cracked lifeline swage, etc.

His recommendations list was 28 items long, divided into 3 sections -
Mandatory, Recommended, and Suggested. A lot of them were quite
incisive and news to me. He also sat down with me, answered all my
questions, and chit-chatted with me about this particular model of
boat, of which he had surveyed several dozen of over the years. That
survey was money well spent, although cleaning up after him was a
chore; if something was in the way, he threw it on the bunks or cabin
sole.

Obviously, the Christian guy spent less than an hour, didn't crack open
a locker or spend much time on the paperwork. Tried to discuss the
situation with Kells, but he didn't give a sh*t and said it was
standard industry practice. Waste of my time and money.

Sorry I don't have a surveyor to recommend; Peter Britton up in
Fountain Valley is getting on in years and doesn't like to travel much
anymore. Might even be retired now for all I know.