Useful Marine Surveyors in Portugal

[Perrycas]

Might need one to look at a boat in the Azores. A recommendation or even a suggestion would be nice.
Perry.

 

[andyc352]

Might need one to look at a boat in the Azores. A recommendation or even a suggestion would be nice.
Perry.

There’s a Canadian called Geoff Skinner based here in Portimão. He gave me good advice during my teak deck replacement and is highly recommended by others I know of who have used his services.

Hope that’s of some use and good luck with the boat.
Andy

 

[greeny]

There’s a Canadian called Geoff Skinner based here in Portimão. He gave me good advice during my teak deck replacement and is highly recommended by others I know of who have used his services.

Hope that’s of some use and good luck with the boat.
Andy

Geoff's a good guy if you need a surveyor. I've not personally used him but seems to be well respected down in Portimao by those that have. He lives up in Lisbon at the moment and splits his time Porto, Lisbon and Algarve. Last time I spoke with him he is relocating to Alentejo as more of his work is down the south now.

 

[srm]

I had a survey done by Skinner and was totally unimpressed.

Confusion reigned with parts of my report being cut and pasted, or just left in his proforma, from other unrelated boats.

He insisted I had a 'shaft anode' when there is no room on the shaft to fit one (he was refering to the hull mounted anode which to be fair is electrically bonded to the shaft and prop). Kept referring to the sintered bronze cooling plate for the fridge as an anode, despite having been told what it was when inspecting the boat and subsequently by email. All my halyards are cleated at the mast yet he saw them led to the cockpit and described a none existent alloy mast step as being in good condition. He was supposedly 'told' that my gas instalation was inspected in Finland when I or the boat have never been there. The hull to deck joint that he reportedly saw was totally different to the one on my boat. There was a confused email discussion after I got the report about these points and a none existent 'babystay' that turned out to be the removable masthead forestay for hank on sails. There were more mistakes, but these examples should make the point.

Based on my training and practice as a hydrographic surveyor, his report was both unprofessional and unforgivable. He was a pleasant guy to talk to but I would not recommend him as a surveyor.

 

[greeny]

I had a survey done by Skinner and was totally unimpressed.

Confusion reigned with parts of my report being cut and pasted, or just left in his proforma, from other unrelated boats.

He insisted I had a 'shaft anode' when there is no room on the shaft to fit one (he was refering to the hull mounted anode which to be fair is electrically bonded to the shaft and prop). Kept referring to the sintered bronze cooling plate for the fridge as an anode, despite having been told what it was when inspecting the boat and subsequently by email. All my halyards are cleated at the mast yet he saw them led to the cockpit and described a none existent alloy mast step as being in good condition. He was supposedly 'told' that my gas instalation was inspected in Finland when I or the boat have never been there. The hull to deck joint that he reportedly saw was totally different to the one on my boat. There was a confused email discussion after I got the report about these points and a none existent 'babystay' that turned out to be the removable masthead forestay for hank on sails. There were more mistakes, but these examples should make the point.

Based on my training and practice as a hydrographic surveyor, his report was both unprofessional and unforgivable. He was a pleasant guy to talk to but I would not recommend him as a surveyor.

Interesting experience then. It's good to hear from someone that has actually used him in a professional capacity. I hadn't heard of any similar reports from people here in Portimao. Lunched with him a couple of times as friend of a friend and he seemed to know what he was talking about regarding boats.

 

[Perrycas]

I communicated with Mr Skinner, which is why I asked if anyone knew of a surveyor. He got my name wrong in two mails; told me he was going to spend 8-9 hrs on the boat (32ft cat up on the hard); didn't show that he had understood what I had asked him and offered to charge me €950, just for the survey.
I've had a few surveys done here in Australia. They took a max of 4 hrs. including boat lift. A current survey by a qualified guy here is approx €300 + lift.
Maybe €900+ is the going rate in Portugal and for all I know Europe. What do I know?

In Indonesia a car smash repair shop is called Ketok Magik (hammer magic ). And its a secret art - they won't let you in to see what the magic is.
Now 8-9hrs on a 10m boat on the hard and €900 sounds like a bit of Ketok Magik to me.

 

[greeny]

I guess you won't be using Mr Skinner then. That sounds mighty expensive to me too. I've heard no adverse comments about his pricing before, so like you, am surprised at the price. Maybe he just didn't want the job and priced it accordingly. It would probably be a 3 day trip for him.
Out of interest did the 950 include travel time etc or was that survey cost plus travel on top. As you know, Azores is a long way from Portugal. I suggest you source a local surveyor out there for best value.

 

[Perrycas]

no it was survey only and he sounded happy to do it. travel costs accomodation extra. There appear to be no Surveyors over there. At least I haven't turned one up. I did get a quote from one other, and a website that quoted similar . Maybe its a standard fee.

 

[Perrycas]

FYI. Had a mail from a Keith Willis, surveyor. He wants €1400 - survey only. Travel, accommodations extra.
Really curious now - are these prices really what one pays in Europe for a survey?

 

[greeny]

I've not had one done for years so I don't know. I was surprised at 950, and even more surprised at 1400. Looking at the Willis website it seems they are based in France. Pictures mainly of "superyacht" and big powerboats. Maybe the owners of these are not worried about the odd 1000 here and there.
Have you tried John Venner who works out of Portimao. I have no experience of him but he's been around for a long while down here and again I've heard no bad reports. No doubt someone will be on soon to knock him too.
One of the reasons I haven't had a survey for a long while is that the last one I had done was full of the inaccuracies and copy paste errors described by others on here. It was wishy washy and very general without factual accuracy in some important areas. Many parts of the survey were suffixed by get out clauses and excuses for not being able to complete areas of survey fully. For this reason I decided to do my own in the future. I felt I knew more than the surveyor in many cases. I would only pay for a survey now if it was required by insurance or finance companies.
I know your situation is different and you can't do this.

 

[Graham376]

FYI. Had a mail from a Keith Willis, surveyor. He wants €1400 - survey only. Travel, accommodations extra.
Really curious now - are these prices really what one pays in Europe for a survey?

As all Portuguese registered boats have to have mandatory surveys carried out (IIRC) by Policia Maritima. Will they do foreign boats for a fee?

 

[srm]

As all Portuguese registered boats have to have mandatory surveys carried out (IIRC) by Policia Maritima. Will they do foreign boats for a fee?

Good idea in principle but possibly not in practice.

A friend, dual national US/Portuguese owns a Portuges flagged sailing boat (an old Moody 33) and keeps it in Praia. Only classified for local sailing. It came up for re-inspection a year or so back, so he went on line and obtained the list of what was required and ensured it was all there. When three Policia Maritima officers came down they wanted a few extra things not on the official list, including a lift out to check for osmosis.

They also noticed that the VHF and GPS were not connecting to give a DSC position. He pointed out that the system had not been changed since the previous inspection under the last owner, so was presumed to have been accepted. The answer was to the effect that it might not have been looked at last time. In fact the two instruments were incompatible and he had to fit another GPS.

Incidentally, the owner of a local yacht charter company advised me that under no circumstances should I transfer my boat to the Portugues registry.

 

[srm]

One of the reasons I haven't had a survey for a long while is that the last one I had done was full of the inaccuracies and copy paste errors described by others on here. It was wishy washy and very general without factual accuracy in some important areas. Many parts of the survey were suffixed by get out clauses and excuses for not being able to complete areas of survey fully. For this reason I decided to do my own in the future. I felt I knew more than the surveyor in many cases. I would only pay for a survey now if it was required by insurance or finance companies.

Spot on - on all counts.
Unfortunately, I needed a survey and new valuation to continue insurance cover.

 

[nortada]

Good idea in principle but possibly not in practice.

A friend, dual national US/Portuguese owns a Portuguese flagged sailing boat (an old Moody 33) and keeps it in Praia. Only classified for local sailing. It came up for re-inspection a year or so back, so he went on line and obtained the list of what was required and ensured it was all there. When three Policia Maritima officers came down they wanted a few extra things not on the official list, including a lift out to check for osmosis.

They also noticed that the VHF and GPS were not connecting to give a DSC position. He pointed out that the system had not been changed since the previous inspection under the last owner, so was presumed to have been accepted. The answer was to the effect that it might not have been looked at last time. In fact the two instruments were incompatible and he had to fit another GPS.

Incidentally, the owner of a local yacht charter company advised me that under no circumstances should I transfer my boat to the Portuguese registry.

The owner of a local yacht charter company advised me that under no circumstances should I transfer my boat to the Portuguese registry - I received exactly the same advice.

As it is the insures who require the survey, could they recommend a surveyor?

See surveyors charge of travel costs & time so would it be worthwhile get somebody from the UK?

Here in Portugal, John Venner enjoys a very good reputation.

Best of luck with your quest.

 

[greeny]

One more thing to say.
If it's a survey for insurance or finance purposes I would take the cheapest option, i wouldn't care about the quality of the report. It would just be a means to an end to satisfy others.
If however it was a pre purchase survey that I was depending on to give me a quality assessment then I would be more concerned about who was doing it and their reputation.

 

[Perrycas]

Thanks All for the advice here.
I managed to dodge the issue by fortuitously bumping into someone very competent, who in my absence, took comprehensive Hi Res photos and supplied objective descriptions that tallied with the photos. Problem solved. I will say that your Hi Res image can be more useful at times than a face to face. Or at least should be employed with an actual visit. Sitting around with a good photo program you can study images at your leisure. I found a lot of things, some of which I might have missed if I didn't have such good images.

 

[[3889]]

FYI. Had a mail from a Keith Willis, surveyor. He wants €1400 - survey only. Travel, accommodations extra.
Really curious now - are these prices really what one pays in Europe for a survey?

I paid 1k Euros, survey only, in France this year on a 42 footer. Could only get 2 quotes and that was the cheaper. Surveyor was there 4 hours but I have to admit nothing unexpected has turned up...yet?

 

[Sandyman]

I communicated with Mr Skinner, which is why I asked if anyone knew of a surveyor. He got my name wrong in two mails; told me he was going to spend 8-9 hrs on the boat (32ft cat up on the hard); didn't show that he had understood what I had asked him and offered to charge me €950, just for the survey.
I've had a few surveys done here in Australia. They took a max of 4 hrs. including boat lift. A current survey by a qualified guy here is approx €300 + lift.
Maybe €900+ is the going rate in Portugal and for all I know Europe. What do I know?

In Indonesia a car smash repair shop is called Ketok Magik (hammer magic ). And its a secret art - they won't let you in to see what the magic is.
Now 8-9hrs on a 10m boat on the hard and €900 sounds like a bit of Ketok Magik to me.

Money for old rope.
John Venner did a survey on my oppos 12m boat last week here in Faro. £250 + 50 quid travel costs. Good geezer.
Talk money he might do a deal ? 00351 969 997 7804

 

[mafdss]

Hello all,
I'm looking for someone to take a look on a boat in the Azores (Sao Miguel). The option to take a surveyor from the mainland Portugal seems a little too extreme in terms of costs, so a local would be perfect.
Does anyone recommend a name? Thank you

 

[srm]

Does anyone recommend a name?

Perrycas had this problem in Terceira. I took a lot of high res photos for him and a short factual description of what I observed. However, Sao Miguel is around a hundred miles away so ideally you need to find someone on the island who can do the same. See above posts for comments about the one surveyor who has been out to the islands.