Yacht survey on epoxy treated steel hull in La Coruna, Spain

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TLagerback

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Hi,

I am about to buy a steel hulled sailboat in La Coruna, Spain. My insurance company requires a yacht surveyor inspection including ultra sound of the hull. I´d be grateful if anyone have advice on where to find a good (and hopefully reasonably priced) inspector close to La Coruna.

The boat is treated with epoxy. The current owner does not want (neither do I) to remove the epoxy in small areas for the examination (this would break the barrier). What is your experience in ultra sound hull thickness examination on an epoxy treated steel hull?

Yours sincerely,
Tobias
 
TLagerback said:
Hi,

I am about to buy a steel hulled sailboat in La Coruna, Spain. My insurance company requires a yacht surveyor inspection including ultra sound of the hull. I´d be grateful if anyone have advice on where to find a good (and hopefully reasonably priced) inspector close to La Coruna.

The boat is treated with epoxy. The current owner does not want (neither do I) to remove the epoxy in small areas for the examination (this would break the barrier). What is your experience in ultra sound hull thickness examination on an epoxy treated steel hull?

Yours sincerely,
Tobias
Click to expand...

Not answering your question BUT the outside is usually not the issue, they rust from the inside. I ended up in Bruces Yard in Faro when I first went south. There are loads of nice blokes there with steel boats. They spend a lot of time grinding and welding them and having seen the inside of a lot of them soon realised that they rust from the inside out!
 
Tobias, I think that you probably should have a survey carried out for your own peace of mind, never mind the insurance company - unless you are very familiar with steel boats and know how to inspect them thoroughly.
Can you give us some more background re the boat please? For example type / size and (especially) age and general condition?
Have you had a good look around in the bilges? Are they dry and pristine, with no signs of recent re-painting (that might hide a multitude of sins)?
 
Dear Bajansailor,

Thank you for your reply. The survey is for sure also for my own peace of mind. The boat is a JNF 38 (11,95x3,8m) and was built on the Weco shipyard, New Zeeland, in 1991. She was first launched in 2001. According to the current owner she was treated with epoxy before first launch. I will visit the boat in two weeks so I have not yet seen it in real life. In the pictures (I have received a lot) she looks to be in good condition. The idea is to lift the boat when I visit and hopefully have a surveyor there to inspect her at the same time.

Best regards,
Tobias
 
It would probably be prudent to wait until you have had a look at the boat yourself before committing to a survey. Although the photos might all look very nice, you might well find that when you see the boat in three dimensions, there is something that does not appeal.

Re surveyors, here is a list of IIMS members in Spain
https://www.iims.org.uk/iims-member...&listingfields[19]=-1&listingfields[2][]=&kw=

And SAMS surveyors in Spain
http://www.marinesurvey.org/other-countries/spain.html

The YBDSA appears to only have one surveyor on the west coast of Iberia - he is in Lisbon, so not too far relatively from Coruna.
http://www.portugal-spainmarinesurveys.com/

It might be easier in the long run to fly out a surveyor from England - there is a good choice on the YBDSA website
https://ydsa.co.uk/find/surveyors/
 
TLagerback said:
The boat is treated with epoxy. The current owner does not want (neither do I) to remove the epoxy in small areas for the examination (this would break the barrier). What is your experience in ultra sound hull thickness examination on an epoxy treated steel hull?
Click to expand...

The better ultrasound meters can measure through paint so no need to get to bare metal. If you can find someone with one.

https://www.tritexndt.com/product/multigauge-5650-surveyor-thickness-gauge
 
Further to GHA's comment above, the additional cost of having your own ultrasound meter in relation to the cost of the boat you want to buy is insignificant, yet it will be of immense value to you in the future, so it would be well worthwhile investing in one of your own.

I found two JNF 38's for sale on Yachtworld, one of which (I presume) is the one that you are interested in - she does look rather nice.
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1991/Jnf-38-3147312/Spain

Re how she was built in New Zealand, it would be worthwhile if you get definite confirmation from the Seller that VAT has been paid on her in Europe, if you plan to keep her in Europe.

In contrast, the other vessel for sale (in Italy) is very tatty in comparison, but her asking price is half of what the price for 'your' boat is.

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1995/Amateur-JNF-38-Steel-Cutter-1801707/Roma/Italy
 
Bajansailor said:
Further to GHA's comment above, the additional cost of having your own ultrasound meter in relation to the cost of the boat you want to buy is insignificant, yet it will be of immense value to you in the future, so it would be well worthwhile investing in one of your own.
Click to expand...

Certainly well worth considering in you're in it for the long haul.

I'm doing the entire hull slowly at the moment and drawing it all up in cad, not guaranteed to catch every possible little problem spot but good chance it will flag up problems. You really need to get a good look at the inside.

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Thank you all for your answers.

I have reached out to several surveyors, hopefully they will respond.

It is indeed the above one of the JNFs I am looking to buy. I am thinking of buying an ultrasound meter, if I by the boat, but nevertheless my insurance company requires the measuring (this time) to be done by a certified surveyor.

GHA, you seem to have some experience with steel hulls, are there certain points you would inspect extra or just a general careful inspection? What is your view on steel hulls (I have never owned a steel hulled boat before but several GRP)?

Best regards,
Tobias
 
TLagerback said:
GHA, you seem to have some experience with steel hulls, are there certain points you would inspect extra or just a general careful inspection? What is your view on steel hulls (I have never owned a steel hulled boat before but several GRP)?
Click to expand...
There is actually quite a bit of wisdom hidden away on this thread between the bickering..
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...(in-a-warm(er)-climate)&p=6382041#post6382041


But IMHO and ideal ideal steel boat for a long maintenance easy life would have no holes in it at all. You want a dry dusty bilge boat all the time with not the slightest leak anywhere.
Obviously not possible but welded on fittings, cleats, guardrail stantions helps loads, bolted through will leak sooner or later. Any wood attached to steel will leak eventually as well. Those are 2 areas where a home build can actually be better design than factory.


Near the top of the list thing to look at straight away I would say is get to every possible inch of the bilge and look for dust with no sign that there's been water sitting in there.

HTH
 
The Italian one looks like a Finot designed Reve de Antiles. I once worked on one. The skeg was incredibly flimsy, being only lightly attached to the 1/8th inch hull skin, with almost no reinforcement inside. I replaced it with a skeg run right thru to the cockpit sole, giving it two point support, the only way to get adequate strength on a high aspect skeg. The structural design was abysmally poor design, making the oil caning in the hull almost unavoidable, and severely cramping the interior needlessly, showing an abysmal lack of understanding of the material.
Yes get a look at the hull before hiring a surveyor. If it is spray foamed, you can find the hollow spots where the foam has come away from the hull, by dragging your finger nails over it, and listening for the hollow sounds., That is where you should dig the foam out and check for rust .If you see thick epoxy on the steel, you are probably OK.
If you can whack the low point of the keel, or any place water can sit, with a centre punch and a hammer, without denting it, you have plenty of steel thickness there.The only reason any steel hull would rust from the inside out is lack of epoxy inside. Don' know why they keep believing thick epoxy is not needed inside, despite so many good boats being constantly lost that way.
The guy building one of my 36 footers here ,lost his last boat that way, and has no intention of foaming, before getting at least 9 coats of epoxy tar inside this boat .
Avoid any steel boat with a lot of wood on the outside .
 
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