Boat survey advice

Nautibusiness said:
Hi Allan

I have a feeling I know the boat in question? ;-)

I would always advise a survey for anyone purchasing through a broker or privately.
That said, as has been pointed out, these can be quite pricey, but will provide peace of mind and whilst a surveyor isn't fool proof, any good one will have PI insurance so you can sue his rear end if he does get it wrong.

My first thoughts in this instance, and knowing the situation, would be to take a look at the original survey from early in the year and to go through the key points that the surveyor raised to check if there was anything showing additional wear and tear since April.

I do know that the boat has spent the entire season bobbing around on a swinging mooring and has gone out no more than a few times. As has been discussed previously, the buyer is simply selling as he has realised he wants to remain a raggy!

If you have any doubts, get a second survey.
If you don't have the doubts, but want to see for yourself, go through the previous survey bit at a time.

Give me or Charlie a shout if you need any help.

Tom

PS: I have some bits and bobs in an envelope to get to you. Will I be seeing you on Thursday (next) evening?
Click to expand...

Tom, two points, as i'm sure you know, PI insurance will not apply to someone elses survey. As a broker, you should also know that a prospective purchaser should not use a surveyor recommended by the vendor or the vendors broker. So why should he accept a second hand survey ? You always advocate that buyers have a survey, i see no reason to deviate from that advice here.
 
There is a boat kicking around on Ebay at the moment that has been up for sale for about a year, technically it should have sold easily at the price of asking, especially as it had new engines installed with only 50 hrs run.

It is now back up showing a recent survey from 2 months ago.

If you do the maths this boat is advertised privately but at a price that is well under what you would expect to purchase it from through a broker, to the extent that the owner could pay commissions and still walk away with more than he is asking for.

The boat looks pretty but doesn't add up, especially given the amount of time it has been for sale.

would anyone buy the above boat on the strength of the owners survey? I wouldn't

Now see it as first time noticed, just advertised pretty boat that needs a quick sale, the temptation under this circumstance maybe to buy on the survey presented.

If you know the boat or know someone who knows the owner then maybe. If it is cold and especially if it is private I would go with a new survey.
 
PaulGooch said:
Tom, two points, as i'm sure you know, PI insurance will not apply to someone elses survey. As a broker, you should also know that a prospective purchaser should not use a surveyor recommended by the vendor or the vendors broker. So why should he accept a second hand survey ? You always advocate that buyers have a survey, i see no reason to deviate from that advice here.
Click to expand...

I haven't...

I said I always recommend a survey.

As it was, I thought (wrongly) that this was a chap I had been speaking too privately about a purchase he was making.
The situation was very similar to that described by the OP - right down to the same name!

In this situation the vendor had bought the boat to retire from sailing and then realised that MOBOs just were not his thing. The boat had then spent the entires season getting grubby on a swinging mooring, but had not been used.
I had seen the survey, seen the boat and knew both purchaser and vendor and had been helping with tidying their paperwork to make the sale happen.
The boat is out of the water and the original survey had highlighted a couple of under water items that may need attention in the future. This had worried the purchaser and he was considering his own survey.

Without the actual words in front of me I mentioned that if he was in anyway concerned he should get a survey of his own.
I did mention PI insurance in my third sentence. The sentence was clearly relating to a survey that he "may" commission himself.

Paul, I suggest you put your reading specs on next time ;-)

Tom
 
Nautibusiness said:
I haven't...

I said I always recommend a survey.

As it was, I thought (wrongly) that this was a chap I had been speaking too privately about a purchase he was making.
The situation was very similar to that described by the OP - right down to the same name!

In this situation the vendor had bought the boat to retire from sailing and then realised that MOBOs just were not his thing. The boat had then spent the entires season getting grubby on a swinging mooring, but had not been used.
I had seen the survey, seen the boat and knew both purchaser and vendor and had been helping with tidying their paperwork to make the sale happen.
The boat is out of the water and the original survey had highlighted a couple of under water items that may need attention in the future. This had worried the purchaser and he was considering his own survey.

Without the actual words in front of me I mentioned that if he was in anyway concerned he should get a survey of his own.
I did mention PI insurance in my third sentence. The sentence was clearly relating to a survey that he "may" commission himself.

Paul, I suggest you put your reading specs on next time ;-)

Tom
Click to expand...

Sorry Tom, but i don't see anything in the above that would suggest the prospective purchaser should rely on a second hand survey.
 
Bilgediver said:
Depends on the circumstances and boat etc...I expect the survey report has a clause on it saying it was prepared for " John Smith " only or words to that effect and so although you can use it for guidance you get no protection from it in the event of a dispute. The choice is yours!!!!
Click to expand...

I agree entirely with this observation. I have just had a survey for insurance purposes on a boat that I have owned for 16 years. It is the third survey (and most expensive by a factor of 3) of my ownership and appears to say that if I show it to a third party i.e. an insurance company, it absolves the surveyor of any liability! The net result is that I paid a monstrous amount of money to have someone tell me that my 35 year old boat does not comply with current EU directives. I was stunned at this revelation!
Do your own examination out of the water to satisfy yourself whether the boat is worth the money but you'll have to have a "professional" produce a report for insurance.
 
myquest said:
Do your own examination out of the water to satisfy yourself whether the boat is worth the money but you'll have to have a "professional" produce a report for insurance.
Click to expand...

Exactly...I guess we all have a level of risk that we comfortable with, but I am always surprised by the "he may have crashed" it stories.
Yea, he may have.. but what leads you to think that.. because he is selling it?
For the sake of £100 lift, I would like to have a peek about the bottom of the hull. Should be pretty obvious if he has hit something so hard that he wants to dump the boat onto someone else.
The previous survey def does have value.. it gives you a professional opinion of the overall condition of the boat a short while ago. I couldnt care whether that surveyor isnt liable to me. Take the survey, go round the boat, see if there is anything that worries you.
Sometimes it seems people are less interested in the observations in a survey as being able to blame someone else if something goes wrong.
This isnt some extremely complex boat.
 
sounds about right, have a survey for insurance purposes but if you show it to the insurance company you have no right to claim if the survey fails to pick up something that could have saved your boat.

Then again I suppose the insurance company would pay and then pursue the surveyor.
 
The boat I hope to collect on Monday had a survey 18 months ago and I don't intend to pay someone to have a professional survey done on her... why? the paperwork showing the history (from last trip out to the first time she got her bum wet) is immaculate right down to an itemised log being kept by the present owner showing distance travelled, fuel used, mean speed etc for each trip.... she looks loved and I can see the engine and leg has been serviced annually with the leg having just undergone a major service.. I am fairly handy with engines and electrics so will check those things over myself too now she's out the water. Finally, the seller comes across as a decent sort and has agreed to record on the Bill Of Sale that she is being sold without any major defects.

from a risk management perspective, the risk is increased I guess but it's acceptable to me...

in short, I don't think there's a stock answer as there's so many variants to come to a point where a decision is made to survey or not
 
Last edited:
If the survey you have looks reasonably thorough, then phone whoever did it and ask how much they would charge to check the boat and re-issue it to you. You ought to get a bit of a reduction plus the surveyor will be able to assess if anything has deteriorated.
 
With respect, for the sake of what a survey costs, get your own. You have to remember that one day you will be selling it and to have an additional survey will help as background information. I once bought a boat and commissioned a survey prior to buying it, the problem was that the surveyor I used missed that the hull had been painted and the seller never voulounteered the information, Anyway after taking possession of the boat I noticed things which should have been spotted were missed so I commissioned another survey by the most qualified surveyor I could find, and to my horror he said that he had previously surveyed my boat 3 years before and had recommended that the hull be REPAIRED and painted, which as I said nobody mentioned. So one of the things you have to also consider is you look at the qualifications of the surveyor who did the survey which has been given to you and you try and find one with better qualifications and then make an informed decision.
 
Out of interest did you successfully claim against the surveyor?

I have not heard of anyone who has and if this is the case what good is the PI?
 
What boat is it ?

ian38_39 said:
There is a boat kicking around on Ebay at the moment that has been up for sale for about a year, technically it should have sold easily at the price of asking, especially as it had new engines installed with only 50 hrs run.

It is now back up showing a recent survey from 2 months ago.

If you do the maths this boat is advertised privately but at a price that is well under what you would expect to purchase it from through a broker, to the extent that the owner could pay commissions and still walk away with more than he is asking for.

The boat looks pretty but doesn't add up, especially given the amount of time it has been for sale.

would anyone buy the above boat on the strength of the owners survey? I wouldn't

Now see it as first time noticed, just advertised pretty boat that needs a quick sale, the temptation under this circumstance maybe to buy on the survey presented.

If you know the boat or know someone who knows the owner then maybe. If it is cold and especially if it is private I would go with a new survey.
Click to expand...

I have been looking at a boat that fits this description but didn't know it was on ebay (and can't find it ) can you tell me the ebay URL ? The one I am looking at is in Weymouth, is it likely to be the same boat ?

Thanks

Mog
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

steved
Original boat paperwork
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
steved
steved
T
Notices to Mariners - Week 4
Replies
0
Views
174
tillergirl
T

Share this page

Top