On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:20:07 -0700 (PDT), wf3h
wrote:

The gospel is that one gets a survey done. Has anyone found this
useful, apart from your own experience looking at a boat, especially
for cheap ($10K) boat? Is it worth it to get a survey done since on a
28' boat this costs about $600 in the NY area.

Well, let me put it this way. I'm pretty familiar with problems and
such as far as the hull goes and I'm handy around engines - know what
to look for in a general sense.

A few years back, I became really interested in a early model Topaz
28' sportfisherman - twin 350s. I looked that boat over for three
days before I committed to buy it - put the 10% down and called a
surveyor, set up an appointment and off we went.

He spent a whole five minutes before the $13,000 deal was off.

That should tell you something.

Do what you will, but it can be money well spent. And they aren't as
vague as you seem to believe - their rep is on the line and they have
to tell it like it is or they are going to get insurance companies on
their asses if something happens.