On Jul 17, 11:20*am, 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?

The answer depends on your level of expertise and if $10,000 is a lot
of money for you to take a reasonable risk. Some insurance companies,
even for liability only insurance will require some level of survey
although this may cost a lot less than a full survey. To insure my
homebuilt 20' Tolman cost only $100 and he did very little except to
verify I had the coast guard minimum requirements. A survey on my 28'
S2 years ago when I bought her for $19,000 was about $300 and although
it did not uncover anything I did not know was a confidence builder
for me.
I would wonder, Why is the boat cheap? is it cheap because it was
originally poor construction? Is it cheap because of damage? Is it
cheap because it is simply worn out?