What the Survey Will and Can't Do for You


By Bert W. Quay, AMS ©2001

One key to getting the most out of your survey is having a prior understanding what the survey is and is not. Most buyers have heard something about surveys from scuttlebutt along the docks. But my experience is that too many of them don't have an accurate or complete picture of it. And that leads them to expect either way too much or not near enough from the survey.

New skippers in a purchase situation often assume that a survey by any surveyor is identical to a survey by any other surveyor. But there is no standard procedure that all inspectors use. So getting a survey is not like buying a commodity, where all versions of the "work-product" are the same. Surveys are like any type of consulting. The survey product is no better than the surveyor's ability to see, to understand the nature and extent of what he sees, and to put his observations into a practical perspective.

The Survey Is. . .

A normal survey has a basic format that fits the type of boat, but can be customized to fit the circumstances of the boat and your particular concerns. Please see the sections below on sea trials, mechanical surveys, and rigging inspections aloft.

Most surveyors organize their examination of a stock fiberglass boat into a single day of 5 to 8 hours for the onboard work, plus the report writing, that's performed for a "per-foot" fee. The typical survey is:

  • A non-invasive, non-destructive visual inspection of the normally-exposed exterior surfaces of the vessel's accessible components, with sounding, probing, and moisture meter testing of those structures where appropriate. A "turn-on" test of its electro-mechanical equipment. Made while the vessel is afloat and/or hauled out ashore, depending on a variety of circumstances.
  • Without any preparation and re-commissioning of the boat, or troubleshooting of any inoperative equipment.
  • And without the removal of any liners, coverings, mounted equipment, cases or enclosures, fasteners, paint or coatings, or stowed heavy gear. A narrative report of the vessel's construction, configuration, and primary equipment, plus a list of expectations to the standards that it be in as-built, properly repaired, or normally operational condition.
  • An appraisal of its most likely, current, local market value to an informed buyer.

You can see why the typical survey is often called a "hull and equipment" or a "condition and valuation" survey. This format of survey is accepted by buyers and by professionals (experienced, knowledgeable, and objective brokers, lenders, insurers, adjusters, repairers) throughout the boating industry as necessary and sufficient to establish the vessel's general condition and to support its appraisal.

The Survey Is NOT. . .

People are naturally concerned that they don't buy a bad boat. So they are looking for protection against a "lemon." And they put themselves almost passively in the surveyor's hands for some kind of guarantee against all problems. But the hard news is that the survey is not a guarantee of the boat's current condition or an extended warranty against any breakdowns in the future. Some uptight buyers are very aggressive about wanting to know everything that's wrong with the boat. Everything! But discovering every single fault takes much more work than what is necessary and sufficient for the valuation survey, and may not be possible without teardowns that the seller will reasonably prohibit. To the extent that such an extensive inspection is permitted and can be practically conducted, it can be performed as an extended survey at an hourly fee. In a similar vein, perfectionist buyers occasionally want a "standards" inspection that evaluates the boat against the Code of Federal Regulations, The American Boat and Yacht Council's (voluntary) Standards and Recommendations Practices for Small Craft, and the National Fire Prevention Association's standards, etc., etc. Again, that clearly is beyond what is necessary for the Valuation Survey on a boat that the survey client doesn't own yet. And that kind of work can be ordered from a consulting marine engineer. As it happens, in 23 years, I've had only one survey client who wanted additional inspections done after seeing what went into the standard Valuation Survey. The normal, one-day survey is not:

  • A safety and construction standards check. A forensic search for latent builder flaws, sub-surface, post-construction deterioration, or hidden damage. An engineering evaluation of the vessel's original design, material specs, construction quality, and equipage; of its current condition; or of its future serviceability. An inventory of completely detailed and precisely accurate specifications of the boat's equipment. An investigation into the boat's history of usage, damage, repairs and rebuilds, or running time. A judgement of suitability for any specific or possible future use. A certificate of seaworthiness or market value.
  • Either a guarantee of reliability or extended warranty against repairs.

Trials and Specialty Inspections

    WATER TRIALS:
    The sea trial serves to satisfy your subjective concerns about the boat's speed, handling, and sailing abilities, usually as the first contingency of an offer to purchase. Most of us want to try it before we buy it, to be sure it feels right. Many buyers conduct water trials with the seller before (and occasionally after) the survey. Power boat buyers sometimes have the engine surveyor aboard during their run trials, before the hull surveyor is scheduled.

    Sometimes the weather or the circumstances of the boat's storage or state of commission will not allow trials to be conducted on survey day. And sometimes the scheduling and sequencing of the engine or rigging surveys may make it difficult to have the surveyor aboard for trials. There are only so many hours allotted to the survey day, and only so much room aboard, especially when the engine deck needs to be raised or opened for the mechanic. While there are several areas of concern that the hull surveyor can see only while underway, sea trials are not necessarily or automatically a part of the normal survey. The surveyor's attendance of trials is usually scheduled and charged as an addition to the normal survey. And the relatively small extra fee is definitely worthwhile. ENGINE SURVEY:
    The hull and equipment surveyor is not a mechanic. The surveyor will look over the engines, gears, and genset for basic things like fuel, oil, coolant, exhaust, and mounting problems. But he doesn't have the tools, training, or experience to do a compression check and other types of specialized tests, or take oil and coolant samples. And if he does a careful, complete job of his inspection, he doesn't have time to do a mechanical survey. So get yourself a qualified mechanic and talk to him about what he does in his survey. Because, as with most things, you can get as intensive a mechanical inspection as you're willing to pay for, within whatever limits the seller imposes on you about taking his engines down.

    RIGGING ALOFT:

    Very few hull surveyors go up the mast. It's not something to be undertaken casually, especially on old halyards or old winch fasteners that can't be checked before loading them up with your life. Looking at the rig with binoculars is not an equal substitute for a close inspection from a bosun's chair. So a separate rigging inspection aloft can be ordered from the local sailmaker, rigger, or boatyard. Again, the small extra fee is certainly worthwhile.


"Types" of Surveys

People typically talk about and request the survey by a "usage" label that they believe indicates a specific type of survey:

  • Pre-purchase Insurance
  • Financing or Appraisal

    Unfortunately, there is no clear and certain agreement among surveyors about what these terms mean. And obviously, even less agreement among boaters about the labels. Yet everybody goes about their purchase business acting as if the meaning was carved in stone and everybody shared it. . . without ever asking the surveyor! The general consensus of mis-information is that a Pre-purchase survey is the longest, toughest, and most expensive. But that an Insurance survey is just a "quickie" that doesn't cover so much or go into great detail, so it doesn't cost so much. And finally, that an Appraisal is something that anybody can do right out of a book, at almost no expense. But hold up! The primary element of value is the boat's condition. So condition must be fully established before an actual (rather than book) value can be determined.

    Multi-Use Report

    People commonly use a survey for several purposes, so classifying a survey according to its end use doesn't make much practical sense. Too often a survey done "just for insurance" ends up a month or three later in the broker's file as a sales tool, which it was never intended to be mis-used as. Requests for "special use" surveys, at reduced prices of course, invariably come from owners who don't really want the survey at all, but just need the report for the insurance company or bank. My insurance surveys and appraisal surveys are just like my purchase surveys. So I call them all "Valuation" surveys, because the appraisal that's based on the boat's condition is the bottom line that everybody expects the surveyor to give them. This type of survey is called a C&V, or Condition and Valuation survey by some old-timers.

    You can call the survey anything you want. Anything you request will get you the same tough inspection that covers as much as possible in the day allotted to it. You're welcome to cut corners all you want. But I'm not going to at Carolina Yacht Surveys, not when my name is signed at the bottom.