Anyone Know of a Good Surveyor in Queensland? (Preferably Closer to Bundaberg)

[TrevC]

Hello everyone,

There's a Kendall 32 that we're quite interested in. It's an old (early 70's) heavy-displacement fibreglass cruising design and the precursor to the Westsail 32, for those that didn't already know. I have the Westsail service manual and other materials to study. This alone will greatly help with our own inspection. I'm aware of many common issues to look for with these vessels.

I've found a couple of surveyors, but they weren't even interested in providing an example of a past survey. One had terrible grammar and spelling in his emails (not like I'm perfect myself, but these were really worrying). Hopefully someone on here knows where to look or who to talk to.

Many thanks for any suggestions. We don't mind paying travel costs for the surveyor if they're known to be really good.

Cheers

[Boracay]

I had a look in the net. Not a lot came up.
There is a Marine Surveyors Association that listed three surveyors in Queensland.

Unless you really need to buy a boat soon (not a good position to be in) I'd suggest backing off on your purchase. Some boats can take a long time to sell, and an almost 40 year old boat would need to have a lot going for it.

My suggestion is to look at a large number of boats and to keep looking for a surveyor. It will all come together. Don't rush.

[TrevC]

Hey Boracay, thanks for the link.

The two boats we're keen on arrive in several weeks. One is a Kendall, and the other a Westsail 32. Our budget is $65k for the boat itself, so that's why we're looking at cruisers from the 70's. Both of these have their own lists of "to-do's", but seem in decent enough shape for off-shore passages. They're both cruising around PNG/Solomons. The Kendall 32 has sailed from Fiji.

The Westsail/Kendall seems like a good choice for our "live aboard, head offshore soon" plan. Everything is compromises of course, especially with boats and budgets.

If you have any suggestions for local boats in that price range, I'd love to hear them. I know North American designs a lot better than Aussie/NZ ones.

[Boracay]

If your plan is to cruise, and you have the experience and skills to start from one of the major boat selling locations then I would venture to suggest that would be the better course of action.

For example: A quick search on Yachtworld came up with a 15 year old Beneteau 351(Puerto Rico) and a 10 year old Beneteau 361(British Virgin Islands), both well within your budget.

I would not expect an experienced surveyor to find major issues with either of these boats.

[TrevC]

Unfortunately sailing back from the US isn't an option. We simply don't have enough experience and confidence yet.

Not a big fan of fin/bulb keels. They don't seem very good for bumps and scrapes. Those spade rudders look like they'd snap right off. Sometimes it seems like there's no water in the Broadwater up here Even just anchoring and motoring around in our sheltered waters, you'll surely meet up with sand at some point.

I do like the Valiant boats (especially the 32), and the Crealock/PC 31 and 34, but they're rarely (if ever) for sale in NZ/Australia, especially under $85k.

We've moved out, sold everything, and ready to move aboard. Just need to find something suitable.