English Speaking Person Buying In non-English Speaking Country

[IanCalling]

I bought a boat in Greece last autumn and wanted a reliable English speaking surveyor and I had to look no further than this forum to find one. In my case the bonus was the guy is a member of a recognised surveyors association so was also qualified to give me a tonnage measurement certificate as required by the Jersey Registry. So my advice is locate your boat first and I'd be fairly confident someone on here will recommend a surveyor they've used. Alternatively look on the UK surveyors organisations sites such as https://ydsa.co.uk/find/surveyors/. As regards brokers my advice is be careful and don't assume they know or care what they're doing because in my experience they don't. If I had a choice I'd avoid them like a rabid dog. I've just been through a horrendous experience with a broker who didn't appear to know his a--- posterior from his elbow and I only discovered that the names on the contract and bill of sale I received didn't match with the previous BOS when the Jersey Registry asked for the old BOS. I'd stupidly thought the selling broker would have done some reasonable checking before he sent me a contract. Bigger fool me.

Thank you for the tip. Note to self, see the BOS, registration, VAT payment before any offers.

 

[IanCalling]

Don't know about this specific boat, but some designs have the storage accessed from both inside and a locker lid in the cockpit which leaves the possibility of water entering the boat from a leaky or open locker lid. Hence the need for good sealing of both the lid (and not leaving it open or unlatched in heavy weather) and a good door into the cabin.

All doors, hatches to that storage area seem to be the same as for the starboard side. It appears that only internal changes have been made. Point taken that if you use that catch for routine access then that's an issue. I don't see the need to do that, at this point anyway.

 

[Angele]

All doors, hatches to that storage area seem to be the same as for the starboard side. It appears that only internal changes have been made. Point taken that if you use that catch for routine access then that's an issue. I don't see the need to do that, at this point anyway.

Looking at the picture, I think that is the normal 3 cabin version and all they have done is remove the mattress. The storage heater and other stuff looks like it is lying on the bed!

 

[wotayottie]

Looking at a cruising season, perhaps longer, in the med. Then entirely likely I would then sail back to Australia, taking a year or three. Also possible I could ship it back. Think it makes sense to buy second-hand there rather than here.

It concerns me that buying in, say, Spain or France, when I only speak the Aussie form of English, exposes me to all sorts of risks with a local surveyor. Things like:

1. Sweetheart deals between the surveyor, helping the seller rather than me and me being oblivious to what's being said

2. Report in a language I can't read - especially things that are not relevant to seaworthiness and insurance risk.

3. Surveyor trying to pad the report to garner work himself, or his "convenient associate".

In car road worthiness issues in Aus, a basic philosophy is that often, if an item just isn't essential then it need not be there. But if it is there then it must work. I reckon that the same must apply in sailing craft - if an aux outboard is there then it must be good, but if it isn't good just scrap it before survey. If language is a problem then lateral thinking, like this, could be difficult.

How do I best deal with these problems, divided loyalties and common sense with a language barrier in the middle.

Is it a viable option to, say fly in a surveyor from UK, who has no connection with the country the boat is in or is there another way - or am I worrying over nothing?

Also what are the likely costs of a local surveyor and a "fly in".

Anyone there that has thoughts on this?

How soundly do you sleep at night? Buying a boat where you do speak the lingo is fraught enough - how much worse when you dont understand what they are saying.

No reason to think that the worthy orientals on the other side of the channel are any less honest than people are in the UK, where you are just as likely to have the problems you mention. I've always found that the best surveyor is you yoursellf because you have lots of time to spend on crawling over every square inch of the boat and its kit.

I would buy back in Oz. First reason is that back home you have access to the law if you have a problem. Second is that to sail back you need a lot of extra kit on board that you would likely never use again. Third there are pirates between here and Oz and I dont just mean the French. Even nastier and more smelly than they are.

 

[dunedin]

Storage important because this will be my home for a while too, so "fitness for purpose" for me might be different for me. Can't see why the 'owner" version of this boat might be leakier that the charter version but still listening.

Bottom line is I cost each boat in terms of how much it costs to buy it and turn it into what I need. An overall optimising puzzle.

We bought in France and flew a U.K. surveyor out. Very happy with that decision and got a few things fixed as a result (mostly minor but hidden build defects since new, as with another boat we rejected - so probably worth a survey on a new boat as well).

We searched extensively for a proper 2 cabin owners version. As noted, quite a few 2 cabin version these days are petty half hearted bodges on the 3 cabin version. But a boat designed from the outset for 2 cabins can be a great long term investment. Typically massively more useful cockpit storage for all the long term cruising gear, and a good layout typically has more space for chart table, heads etc than the bed focussed 3 cabin. Unfortunately sometimes pushes towards Scandinavian and specialist cruisers than AWB for this.
Each to their own, but if cruising as a couple twin empty stern cabins is a waste IMHO