Has anyone NOT bought a boat as a result of a survey?

Thepipdoc

Thepipdoc

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I'm sure the answer to this is yes but I wonder how many people, after investing time, money and effort into finding the boat of their choice, decide that as a result of the survey, they would not proceed with the purchase.
If the purpose of the survey is to detect any faults and get a good understanding of its providence, is it the norm to walk away from the future dream boat or is it more likely that further negotiations should take place between the buyer and the seller?
I (and I guess, so would others) be interested to hear examples!
 
Yes, I walked away from one. Needed hull work. Plenty others around that didn't.

I wonder if the seller got it fixed himself?
 
I have surveyed a boat that was so bad that 15 mins in to the survey I had given the prospective owner a summary, and asked if they want to continue or stop the survey and restrict their costs to buying me lunch,
I have also surveyed boats that were borderline and caused the prospective owner much heartache knowing what the problems would be but not wanting to give up on the dream.
About 2% of surveys have ended with the decision to walk away from this one.
 
Yes, I walked away from a boat that upon lift out and survey at a cost of £450 to me, turned out to be a complete shed. The owner was in denial that there was anything significant wrong with it, and I have little doubt he had more punters come along and suffer the same needless expense as I did.

In summary, it had severe osmosis, badly bent prop, delaminated rudder, exhaust manifold leak, leaking windows and a load of other things I now can't remember.
 
My first boat, a Fairline Carrera, was an error. And if I had listened to the between the lines bits of the survey I would not have lost a lot of money!

The engines were shot, and the new cylinder heads fitted by the now bankrupt Peters at Chichester lasted for one trip only.

However, clouds and silver linings, I replaced it with a brand new boat!
 
Yep.. second boat I wanted to buy... had a Survey, but there were so many major issues just looking at the engines and internals that we never got to Lift or Sea Trial - I pulled the plug beforehand... complete wreck. This was a 2003 boat. Just to confirm this, another prospective buyer did exactly the same thing on the same boat about a year or so later. The owner had clearly not responded to any highlighted issues....

Cost me 350 quid, but that was cheap in comparison to what I may have bought.
 
Yup. I walked away from a boat after an oil analysis taken during a survey showed that both engines were likely to need major repairs in the future. Saved me about £35k
 
Yes. Back in 1997 we were interested in a 1989 Fairline Sunfury with twin diesels that Peters had on brokerage. We paid for the lift, plus hull survey plus engine survey. The engine survey was carried out by Peter Savage (RIP) who found that it was fitted (in a manner of speaking) with one AQAD31 and one TAMD31. The installation was **** with both motors fitted to a heath robinson metal frame. We let it go, along with about a grand in fees.

Did the same again later that year with a 1990 Targa 27, with engine survey again by Peter Savage, who found both engines had cracked blocks. At this point I wasn't sure if there was a boat out there with a decent pair of engines. Another grand gone west, so I thought, but Peter Savage became my new best friend, as he helped "persuade" the owner to fit two brand new engines at his cost, and we got a great boat.

Moral of the story is that I wouldn't ever consider buying a mobo without a decent engine survey, and although I wasted a few bob, it ended up paying dividends.
 
Yes, in very similar circumstances to questor, had engine and hull surveys in the same day, wish we'd had engine surveys done first to give us chance to jump out half way through before the cost of lift-outs etc, lost about £1k in total but learned a very valuable lesson.

Found a boat with new engines so all worked out in the end.

Funny thing looking back through the replies, more people rejected because of engine problems than anything else so have them done first.
We have however rejected two boats with hull defects.
 
On the day of the survey we limped it round to the hoist on one engine and needed two hands and a good pull to shift the helm (luckily the knackered outdrive was on the knackered engine). Both O/D's full of mayo.
The list went on - I didn't walk ................... I ran !
Cost about £900 in all but better that than the alternative.
Going to do it all again a week today :rolleyes:
N
 
Didn't so much walk away more grabbed the deposit back and ran as fast as possible!!

Things were so bad the surveyor gave us the option to save money on the survey if he didn't finish it or write the report, needless to say with the deposit back he was stood down and we were off to try and find another boat that hadn't been taken through a gap roughly a foot narrower than its beam! :D
 
Persuaded by the surveyor to walk away from a boat with detached stringers and a "twisted" hull.
Wasn't a waste of £400(?) but a saving of £32k!
Seems a bit daft to pay someone for their expertise and then to ignore their advice.
 
No, but there are times when I sometimes wish I had!

That was 6 years ago and I'm still rebuilding!! I guess if I were a more hard nosed individual I would have gone after the surveyor, because even though he said a lot of work was needed, he obviously had not taken the job seriously. I knew, everyone knew that the marine ply superstructure was de-laminating, but thought that the steelwork was sound (Ultrasonic thickness check carried out, allegedly!) but we had to cut out all of the steel from fore deck and a lot of the hull, still I still love the old girl, I guess I always will. You never forget your first, do you?

Maybe I should give a little more detail, I bought a 48ft Steel Dutch, Twin Screw Diesel Yacht, but she had lots of quirks, for example why was all of the port side of the aft cabin wood, whilst the starboard side was steel, even had matching port lights!!
My web site needs sorting, I did ask my daughters partner, but he has done a runner so it is what it is :mad:
www.my-sultan.com

Mal
 
Last edited:
Sultans_Kapitein said:
No, but there are times when I sometimes wish I had!

That was 6 years ago and I'm still rebuilding!! I guess if I were a more hard nosed individual I would have gone after the surveyor, because even though he said a lot of work was needed, he obviously had not taken the job seriously. I knew, everyone knew that the marine ply superstructure was de-laminating, but thought that the steelwork was sound (Ultrasonic thickness check carried out, allegedly!) but we had to cut out all of the steel from fore deck and a lot of the hull, still I still love the old girl, I guess I always will. You never forget your first, do you?

Maybe I should give a little more detail, I bought a 48ft Steel Dutch, Twin Screw Diesel Yacht, but she had lots of quirks, for example why was all of the port side of the aft cabin wood, whilst the starboard side was steel, even had matching port lights!!
My web site needs sorting, I did ask my daughters partner, but he has done a runner so it is what it is :mad:
www.my-sultan.com

Mal
Click to expand...

I don't normally use the word "luck" but I have to say by the sound of it you've had more than your fair share of bad luck.
 
We turned down 2 different 44's mid-way through the surveys... Actually we let the surveyor do his thing and finish.... It was only right to do that, besides I wanted completed surveys in case anything got "hinky" later and a seller went round the bend wanting me to make good the contract....

Each of the refusals saved us very large amounts of $$, and in one case a later buyer of one of the boats made a really low-ball bid and got a yes.... The original surveyor called me and asked me if I wanted to sell my survey... (Here a finalized survey is considered property, so the surveyor cannot sell or use it without permission)....I said yes and got most of my money back on the one boat.....
 
Much the same story here. Looked at a Fairey and spent some time on it checking. Found a number of faults and eventually got the price from £49K to £30K. On a winner here I thought. Then the surveyor rang me en route to join him and suggested I went home! There was so many problems with the hull (which the previous owners had spent £60K on ) that it needed at least £20K spending, plus the usual out of date fire extinguishers, liferaft etc. Took my deposit and legged it. Funny tho' it is still fror sale at £49K. Is the broker/owner liable to tell a prospective purchaser about the survey? They both had a copy......:confused:
Happily the Fairey I eventually bought is a good 'un. Look out for the story and pics soon on Lady Fiona.:)
 
Questor said:
found that it was fitted (in a manner of speaking) with one AQAD31 and one TAMD31. The installation was **** with both motors fitted to a heath robinson metal frame.
Click to expand...

Wow, one outdrive and one shaft drive, I should very much have liked to have seen that! :D
 
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