Captain Yogi of Woodstock wrote:
On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:34:58 -0400, H the K
wrote:

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.

I know they're legally on the hook for certain things, but most
surveyors I've talked to don't do mechanical surveys apart from a sea
trial. (On my first boat, I had a mechanic do a compression check on
the engine). They have enough caveats built into the report to enable
them to avoid unpleasantness.

Having the boat pulled from the water and looking at the hull seems to
be their main focus, along with tapping the hull with a small hammer
looking for soft spots. I have seen blistering and patching on hulls,
etc.. The also turn on and off various systems...but so what?

opinions?
I don't think it worthwhile to get a survey done on a $10,000 boat. What
would be worthwhile is taking along a boating/mechanic friend for a boat
ride during which he or she checks out *all* the systems to find out
what is working and what is now, and also spend some time checking out
the engine, transmission and exhaust, and if you can get to it, the fuel
tank. Repairing any of the latter may cost big bucks.

If there is structural wood in the boat (in the transom, under the
decks, et cetera) you need to check for rot.

What can go wrong on a boat? Everything.

And that's really the point isn't it. $10K is $10K and is it's a
mispent and totally blown $10K, that ain't a hell of a lot of fun.

6% of the purchase price isn't a high price to pay. Plus, he might
need it for insurance if it's older than 10 years old - I had to have
the Halman surveyed to insure it and next year, the Ranger will have
to be surveyed to insure it on renewal.


Do you need a survey to get liability coverage?

When I sold my 25' Parker a few years ago for a price above $50,000, I
asked the buyer if he wanted to arrange for a surveyor. He didn't.

Whatever happened to that Halman...that was one sweet boat.