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Old 03-05-2012, 17:25   #16
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

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Excellent point. And on an older boat, all tanks should be considered suspect all the time. And yet, if there's one thing we hear being complained about with surveyors, over and over on this forum, it's a tank problem that was missed.
Agreed - one of most common problems as is inadequate tankage in most producion vessels.

How often is long distance crusing dictated by fuel resupply.
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Old 03-05-2012, 17:40   #17
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

mine missed all the big things. focused on hoses and thru hulls. missed the tank problems and defective battery installation and rigging problems and some wiring issues. pretty much was a waste of time.
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Old 03-05-2012, 17:45   #18
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

Lee Creekmore surveyed my Nonsuch in Mobile Al., and imho did a very nice job--no surprises!
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Old 03-05-2012, 19:04   #19
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

I found mine to be very good at his vocation...I have a nice boat with very few problems,the water tank being about the only thing I...uh, I mean, he, missed...Ok I didnt have a survey done by a pro. But I did get a good boat that was just in need of a little cleaning and the removel of old outdated electronics...the cockpit sole was a little soft and the sail covers a little worn...My first boat was a different story and I had a pro. do it for free as I was 19 yrs. old and the boat was a 40 ft wooden,beautiful Queen Ann Alsmer(sp?)yawl... we went below , he told me to look at the rear mast.He asked me"what do you see wrong"?..I said that the mast was crooked and he told me it was that way because the center timber(spine) was broken in two and that I should leave the boat where it was and walk away...I didnt listen to him and the boat sank in Masonboro inlet a few days later after I was told to get it out of the marina...The best part about the whole ordeal was Walter Cronkites boat was in the slip next to mine,that meant that it had to be a good boat,right?He felt sorry for me because I was so ignorant,not Mr.Cronkite the surveyor....I learned alot about boats in those few weeks on Masonboro Inlet and have heard it echoed several times on CF that free aint a good thing when it comes to wooden boats...DVC
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Old 04-05-2012, 06:57   #20
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

Funny thing about mast steps. We are currently rebuilding one on a Tayana 37. Apparently the folks that had the original stick replaced, had the yard build a new step. This was some of the worst work I've ever seen on a boat. It was two chunks of wood crossed over a third vertical piece that wasn't even centered under the mast. I don't know how it stayed together. We also dug out a rotten cockpit coaming extension where the winches were not even bolted through the wood backing blocks. I have no clue how they didn't tear completely off the boat.
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Old 04-05-2012, 12:03   #21
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

Went to buy a 30 Bayliner with a friend and we used a surveyor recommended by the borker.
He spent a lot of time tapping the hull.
He found nothing wrong and charged us $500 for a $18,000 boat.
On the sea trial, my buying partner thought one of the motors was steaming, so backed out. Broker said , well it is a used boat.

Learning my lesson, the second boat I bought myself without any surveyor nor buddy buyer tagging along. I pretty much did not care as I am competent mechanic and prepared to fix anything that could come up, not an idiot buyer.

Plus we are not talking about a mega yacht, just a boat that cost me $8000 ten years ago.
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Old 12-05-2012, 00:14   #22
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

Mine cost a bit under 900$ including the required haulout for a 30' sailboat.
I found the survey was not good. Missing things like a supposedly brand new engine being over 15 years old with an oil leak and putting in writing that it was a 2011, with the caveat that the surveyor couldn't be held responsible for engine related complaints didn't start off my first boat owning experience on a very good foot.
Would I get a survey again, if I found a great surveyor, at a decent price since I need a survey for insurance, and had already investigated the boat myself entirely and decided it all looked in order to me, and was otherwise ready to put down cash? Probably. Would I get one before having the much more open eyed look I had last week, a week after the sale, or trust one ever again? NO.

I relied on mine to advise me, and help me avoid exactly where I have found myself now. Most surveyors here charge about 60% of what I paid him, but he came highly recommended, and I wanted no mistakes on my first boat, since I couldn't afford a project boat that I couldn't live on, and since I was buying a boat that was small inside for it's length when moorage is 20$/ft.
Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be able to walk inside without a respirator on at least.
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Old 12-05-2012, 02:38   #23
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

I have a pretty mechanical back round and knew that because of the price range of boats I was looking at I would not have an official survey done. I instead looked at several surveys of friends and online and decided to do it myself. So far so good. I just replaced all the standing and running rigging over the winter. All things I noticed would have to be done when I bought the boat. I really urge people to look at the boat themselves. I realize a survey is needed for some types of insurance but nobody will have as much interest in what your spending your money on as you do...
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Old 12-05-2012, 02:47   #24
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

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Would I get a survey again, if I found a great surveyor, at a decent price since I need a survey for insurance, and had already investigated the boat myself entirely and decided it all looked in order to me, and was otherwise ready to put down cash? Probably. Would I get one before having the much more open eyed look I had last week, a week after the sale, or trust one ever again? NO.

I relied on mine to advise me, and help me avoid exactly where I have found myself now.
Experience is a wise teacher. Having been warned to get a good surveyor rather than someone who used a checklist (Is there a boat? Yes. done) I did so. I learned a lot from him and about my boat. Where things went wrong was the insurance company taking his "do sometime in the future Priority II" items and made them mandatory Priority I items.

At this point I will always look for the "is there a boat? yes. done" surveyor for insurance. For my own use I will find a good surveyor if I ever need one.
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Old 12-05-2012, 03:28   #25
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

X2 on Lee Creekmore in Mobile area. Enjoys his work and good at it. We're both around 70. How many can still pull themselves up the mast for an inspection and sails Sunfish on a national level. Did mine and have recommended to several friends. All satisfied. Phil
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Old 12-05-2012, 07:22   #26
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Re: How Good Did You Discover Your Surveyor Had Been? (After Boat Purchase)

After a lot of checking we used Gail Browning of HartoffMarinwSurvey and were amazed. On a winter day she crawled around and in that boat from sun-up to sun-down, I was starting to think we were going to be there after dark! She tested everything, every valve, every switch, looked at every fitting and even found a leaky water tank that had been superficially patched prior to the survey. When she was done we had a freaking book of defects, listed in order of importance, to take back to the negotiations, and it did indeed help. That was the first survey for me, and it wasn't until I attended other surveys that I realized what a great job she did.
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Old 12-05-2012, 08:09   #27
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Re: How Good Did You Discover Your Surveyor Had Been? (After Boat Purchase)

My experience with Surveyors did not have a great first impression. I took a crew position on a boat heading north along the US Eastern seaboard. Before shoving off, I read the survey to help asses the vessels seaworthiness. The survey was about two months old. The survey was "good" across the board with exception of a first aid kit. During the week long voyage, every system on the boat failed: electrical system didnt use marine wire, some running rigging was polyester rope (very cheap stuff), some bilge pump hoses not connected, mainsail was 6' too tall, propane system was heavily corroded, navigation lights were shorting out, alternator bracket sheared it's bolt head off, sea water leaked in at about 2.5 gallons per hour, tiller had about 20 degrees of slop in rudder, diesel stalled at more than 50% throttle, direct discharge head. I was stupefied and and highly pissed off from having to deal with all these failures on someone else's boat while 50 miles off-shore.
The owner said he needed to get the survey for collision insurance, so suppose its possible the survey was pencil whipped. But Why? All of the actual issues could have been remedied cheaply while still on the dock. Instead I had to improvise and rig systems while under-way.
I think now looking back, that it was a great experience to test my metal. But, it sucked at the time, and if the survey would have been accurate I would have stayed on the dock and waved.
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Old 12-05-2012, 08:51   #28
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Re: How good did you discover your Surveyor had been? (After Boat Purchase)

Quote:
Originally Posted by jgbrown View Post
Mine cost a bit under 900$ including the required haulout for a 30' sailboat.
I found the survey was not good. Missing things like a supposedly brand new engine being over 15 years old with an oil leak and putting in writing that it was a 2011, with the caveat that the surveyor couldn't be held responsible for engine related complaints didn't start off my first boat owning experience on a very good foot.
Would I get a survey again, if I found a great surveyor, at a decent price since I need a survey for insurance, and had already investigated the boat myself entirely and decided it all looked in order to me, and was otherwise ready to put down cash? Probably. Would I get one before having the much more open eyed look I had last week, a week after the sale, or trust one ever again? NO.

I relied on mine to advise me, and help me avoid exactly where I have found myself now. Most surveyors here charge about 60% of what I paid him, but he came highly recommended, and I wanted no mistakes on my first boat, since I couldn't afford a project boat that I couldn't live on, and since I was buying a boat that was small inside for it's length when moorage is 20$/ft.
Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be able to walk inside without a respirator on at least.

Ouch!
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Old 12-05-2012, 16:10   #29
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Re: How Good Did You Discover Your Surveyor Had Been? (After Boat Purchase)

My surveyor came highly recommended. he sucked. missed a lot of stuff and valued the boat at the high end of the range leaving me no room to negotiate. Thanks CD
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Old 13-05-2012, 02:45   #30
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Re: How Good Did You Discover Your Surveyor Had Been? (After Boat Purchase)

This link has probably been posted before but it makes for salutory reading...

The saving of WhiteBird
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