Everyone has the right to chose the level to which they wish to maintain their
boat. (Unfortunately.)
I see examples ranging from:
1. Continuous owner inflicted damage (by those who believe they have skills they don't actually possess).
2. Zero
maintenance (by those who just won't do any).
3. Some
maintenance (based on what one wishes to do, new curtains instead of rebed chainplates). (Not that new curtains may not be necessary to protect
interior upholstery from damaging UV.)
4. Proper maintenance (all things repaired or replaced before they present a potential danger).
As others have mentioned, it is a crying shame what some people do to
boats.
I've been around
boats a long time.
I've counted on boats to get me home safe when I'm quickly running out of options.
I've had some of the best time of my life on boats.
On a boat is where I am most comfortable.
To treat a boat poorly is unseamanlike.
Neglecting a boat and not addressing maintenance issues promptly should be considered a sin.
If one can't be bothered or afford to maintain a boat properly, they should give it away or sell it (if it has any value left now that they are done with it) to someone else.
A proper independent
marine survey by a SAMs or NAMs accredited professional is the correct place to start.
It doesn't matter if the boat is worth $500 or $500,000.
The
surveyor will inspect the boat against
marine industry standards and best practices to which the
surveyor is intimately familiar, through reading, education, practice, and formal examination.
Reading "How to Inspect the Aging Sailboat", watching YouTube, and wandering yards inspecting derelict boats, does not make one a professional marine surveyor. Not even close.
A competent surveyor will spend several hours at the boat (dependent on size and system complexity). They will check and test construction and systems against standards that have been developed by industry professionals over many, many years, having the common goal to make boats safer.
They will prepare a comprehensive report, that indicates issues that urgently require addressing (and why), are due for addressing shortly, and that should be monitored. They will assess
current fair market value. The surveyor will not likely instruct "how" to perform the
repair, but should be called back to re-inspect any
DIY repair (and some "so called" pro repairs), to ensure the repair is sound and meets standards.
THIS IS THE BARE MINIMUM.
The actual level a boat should be repaired and maintained to, to ensure ongoing
safety, performance, and asset value retention is much higher.
Simple examples include:
1. Resin potting and rebedding all thru
deck fittings (after addressing existing moisture ingress).
2. Addressing manufacturer maintenance recommendations for all systems, especially the
engine. Way too many people wait for things to break, before addressing them. Performing proper maintenance SAVES
money rather than costs
money.
3. Updating
electronics greater than 10 years old (15 in freshwater only boats).
4. Rewire AC / DC
electrical system greater than 20 years old (30 in freshwater) or bastardized by DPO (more likely). In the mean time, technological advancements that improve
safety should be employed. For example, any vessel with an AC
shore power system that doesn't have an ELCI, should. IT IS THAT SIMPLE. It does cost, but not nearly as much as the anguish should someone die because they fell in the
water near your boat that unbeknownst to you (because nothing has broke yet) has developed a ground fault.
5. Full
inspection of standing and running
rigging every year, replace as needed. Complete replacement of running at least every 5 years, standing every 10, (double in freshwater).
6. Full
inspection of
sails annually or every 1000 hours, whichever comes first.
7. Professional, independent marine
survey every 5 years.
Every time I hear someone state, "If it ain't broke don't fix it" it makes me shudder. This is the mantra of the landlubber, who can step out of their house if the
plumbing fails and it floods, or the
wiring fails and it burns. Someone who does not have the skills to maintain properly and ends up causing more harm when they try to, so the solution is to avoid.
Some people think they can skip maintenance because, "Well we don't use the boat that much". WRONG! Some
parts of a boat less used wear out faster, AND the owner is less in tune with the boat to even know what is going on.
So back to the OP, if the surveyor says the bottom needs painting,
paint the dang bottom. Delaying is just hurting performance, increasing maintenance before it finally gets done anyway, decreasing fair market value, and making future remediation more difficult.
While you are at it, address ALL of the other maintenance and repair issues related to safety and performance. Then go through the engine owners manual and replace everything that the previous owners maintenance log (oh yeah, right) indicates hasn't been completed within the specified time. (Keep anything taken off as a known fitting and working spare.)
Hold off adding the (for example) new 1000 W stereo system (and any other "improvement" that is not related to safety and vessel performance) until ALL of the other IMPORTANT stuff is done. (Hopefully, you won't have enough money left over to do the stupid stuff you are contemplating.)
(When I inspect a boat for potential
purchase, about half the time is spent determining how well the boat has aged, and the other half is determining how badly previously owners have ruined it, either through neglect or good intentions.)
IMHO, replacing an inboard
diesel engine with an
outboard on a bracket, devalues a boat from a potential high FMV to a "free boat" (which means negative FMV), and is a darn shame.
The FMV
lost is greater than the savings gained by avoiding the repair,
rebuild, or replacement, and the vessel is far less safe and reliable.
The only way this can be justified is if the vessel has no FMV left, due to all the other issues resulting from chronic lack of maintenance. The few components of value it has left are far outweighed by the maintenance required to be sound and well found.
The boat has no real value, it is just waiting for loss of interest by the
current owner before ending up in land fill, some sucker who thinks they don't need a professional marine survey and are getting a "great deal", or if the boat is really, really, lucky, someone who feels its potential, addresses all professional, independent marine survey issues, and pours a boat load of money and/or sweat equity into it, to do what should have been done by previous owners all along.
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