How Good Did You Discover Your Surveyor Had Been? (After Boat Purchase)

[David_Old_Jersey]

Good and Bad (not just after the horror stories - but if you must ).

Am talking not simply about the stuff he spotted (or missed ) but also how accurate he was on the degree of any defects and on the cost / work involved to rectify.

And any lessons learnt / things you would do differently (next time!).

[barnakiel]

I give our surveyor a 100% positive grade. He found ALL issues. There were no nasty surprises in the 10 years we have had the boat now.

I cannot say equally good thing about the guy who was supposed to use whatever the surveyor found there to get us a lower price. The seller simply said: 'dont't like my boat? oh, just go find another!

So we took her as she was and we paid what was asked.

The boat is still a fantastic purchase ten years and 40k Nm further down the road.

b.

[bstreep]

Mike Firestone was spot on. After almost 5 years of boat ownership, I wouldn't recommend anyone else on the Texas Coast.

[zeehag]

surveyed my formosa my self. 2was right on. there are no deal breakers in buying garden ketches, and no deal breakers in buying cheap. i knw what to look at and for and i know the book value on most boats.

[CharlieCobra]

Of the three boats a Pro surveyed and I surveyed as well (without seeing the survey), only one was dead on. The others missed stuff I didn't.

[sailorboy1]

Current boat I have no issues.

First boat I found that the 1 though was frozen open another (1.5 inches) as only being held in by caulking! Guess the valves weren't on the check list.

[psneeld]

Every surveyor I had missed the big stuff...but not all their fault. You can't tell what is truly going on with a FRP hull unless you core it or grind down several laminates in several places.

Some decks are not what they seem either...what they tell you or what you have heard about some manufacturers.

[Mimsy]

We really liked our surveyor but he did miss stuff. Fortunately, much of what he missed my husband picked up. The surveyor also picked up things my husband missed.

Nobody is ever going to be able to find every tiny last detail. My husband works with some of the brightest engineers in the world and even they miss stuff and make mistakes.

Do we think we got value for the money we spent on the survey? Absolutely. it was well worth it to have another set of unemotionally attached eyes on the boat.

[Doodles]

We've had three surveys in the last five years and all by the same guy. Basically, we were pleased. He found all the big stuff and saved us a bunch especially on a deal we walked away from. There was one or two small items missed but nothing material. I'd use him again for sure.

[F51]

Originally Posted by bstreep

Mike Firestone was spot on. After almost 5 years of boat ownership, I wouldn't recommend anyone else on the Texas Coast.

+1 on Mike Firestone. We were blind to the beauty of the Bill Garden design. Mike found the hidden issues and helped us get a MUCH better deal. Nobody better on the Texas coast.

[bobconnie]

I have found one in my area, That can do a good workman like job of surveying. On the Defever we bought 2 yrs ago, he found some things I had missed, that saved me about 10,000 bucks!! I was able to rearange the price to cover the other work I had missed in my inspection (altho he did not pick up the engine problem I did, but did say an oil survey should be made) there are some great surveyers out there but read the other thread on here about surveying 101, and save yourself some money by being able to spot some things and walk away and save some money !!Then when ya see a good one, ya can call a surveyer!! just a thought

[decktapper]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Good and Bad (not just after the horror stories - but if you must ).

Am talking not simply about the stuff he spotted (or missed ) but also how accurate he was on the degree of any defects and on the cost / work involved to rectify.

And any lessons learnt / things you would do differently (next time!).

Three surveys, three surveyors, the first two the surveyors were great. The surveyors found enough problems to run us off screaming into the night. The third found nothing wrong with the boat worth mentioning. He said leaks were old that were still active, (by the bucket). The stern tube was broken off, and stuck in place with an extra hose clamp. I could go on, but it would take a book to list all he missed. The bad part was I was in love and could not see how bad her faults were. The worst part was that we had a good broker, and I intentionally picked a surveyor that he did not recommend. My wife still reminds me of this whenever the word survey comes up.
The best part is God blessed us with a bad survey so we bought a boat we had a ball with. It felt like I was breaking up with a great girl friend when we had to say good bye.

[Wench'sCaptain]

Originally Posted by bstreep

Mike Firestone was spot on. After almost 5 years of boat ownership, I wouldn't recommend anyone else on the Texas Coast.

I second Mike is the Best!

[Cheechako]

Some good , some not. I think it helps if you talk to him beforehand and ask him to focus on the things that are most important to you. ie: if you are capable of determining some things like "fire extinguishers out of date" etc. Have him focus on the big expensive things! They tend to like to tap hulls and decks.... but how many look close at things like mast support footing, etc. Anything not in use is suspect always: I've bought two boats, both surveyed.... that had one of the two fuel tanks empty when surveyed. It turned out both those tanks were leaky! How likely is that?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Anything not in use is suspect always: I've bought two boats, both surveyed.... that had one of the two fuel tanks empty when surveyed. It turned out both those tanks were leaky! How likely is that?

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.