surveyor recommendations for southern Vancouver Island BC

[seatotaler]

It's time again for a survey on my 42 foot cruising boat, according to my insurance company. I've had it done twice over the last 10 years. The last time was done by a surveyor who I'm sure got his certificate out of a Crackerjack box. He misdiagnosed several things as well as missed seeing things that were right in front of him like a forward birth 5 lb. fire extinguisher, which was at eye level and about 6 inches from his face as well as a boarding ladder that was lying right on the aft deck for him to see or even trip over.

This survey will be for insurance purposes only, and I'd like to know your bad experiences preferably over your satisfactory experiences with particular surveyors, so I won't be inclined to choose the wrong surveyor again.
Thanks for any comments.

[desodave]

We bought our current boat about 3 1/2 years ago ... boat in Ladysmith, broker in Mill Bay, and us in Courtenay. We ended up using Frykas Marine Services from Victoria and it was a good experience for a variety of reasons, not a bad one.

The boat was scheduled for the out of water survey in Maple Bay on a Monday, but the lift dropped a 45ft cruiser on the previous Friday ... lift out of action for month+. The surveyor came to Ladysmith on the Monday and did all he could with the boat in water. We then scheduled a lift in Sydney about 2 weeks later and he completed the job. We really appreciate dhis flexibility.
In searching for the surveyor, we learned a couple of things. First, what is the competence of the surveyor? Do they work regularly on sailboats? Or just power? Or commercial? Particular expertise counts. Second, the ones readily available are probably not busy for a reason. We got Frykas only because he had had a cancellation that day ... otherwise a 3 month wait. Our broker gave us a list of surveyors that he knew to be reputable and capable ... that helped a lot.
I also found that our insurance company maintained a list of surveyors (online) that they had accepted surveys from ... said nothing about their capability re sailboats but, at least for insurance only purposes, said who they'd accept surveys from. Might be useful in your situation.