5 Things You Should Make Sure Get Checked on Your Sailboat Survey
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- Опубліковано 27 січ 2023
- It’s always best practice when you buy a sailboat, or any boat for that matter, to get a complete survey done. Thought this will give you a good overall idea of the condition of a sailboat, it wont always give you the full picture. Through my experiences and talking with others, I have found five things that your surveyor will probably not completely check. Not knowing this, and missing these things myself, has cost me thousands of dollars and put me way over budget trying to get it all fixed. I’m not putting this video out to bag on surveyors, but rather call attention to some of the small things that can become big over-sites.
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Surveyor here.
So, lets review this list quickly. (I know, it is over a year old, still...)
.
Windlass.
Standard practice (minimum requirement) is to check that it works, period. Next the surveyor might engage the clutch a little and press the unit into service again, but that cannot be full load as he would likely lift the bow fitting with a strong windlass. No surveyor will actually set an anchor during a normal "fix fee" survey. As a side note, dislodging the anchor with the windlass is bad bad practice.
Leaks.
If you are facing a boat where the wood has been re-painted or the owner is deceiving (consciously or not) by erasing the evidences, there is little that can be done. One might look at areas that are hard to reach and might not have been cleaned. The hose trick is a toss, it might take a day or more for water to travel from an entry point to an exit point in the boat. I use a small awl in the usual suspected areas to see if the wood is soft. Painted wood around port holes (especially poorly done as at 04:26 ) is a sure red flag.
Pests.
Again if the evidence has been removed it can be difficult to find the condition, if tell tale signs (like at 05:31) were present during the survey yes it should have been caught, by you or by the surveyor. If you found that damage and did not know what it was you can ask your surveyor for his opinion.
Tankage.
Yep, tankage is taken from builder's published spec. The only exception is the fuel tank where the surveyor should make an effort to find the label to confirm the tank is an approved tank. The surveyor will look for leaks, for hoses and clamps condition, how the tanks are secured to the vessel and the general condition of the tanks. Installing a second holding tank also suggest heavy usage, chartering or liveaboard condition.
Engine.
Well no, if a vessel doesn't have a gauge, or the gauge appears to have been replaced, or the digits on the gauge do not closely line-up, this could have been tempered with. On a 50 year old vessel, in the general condition that I see here, I would almost expect the gauge to have been installed at a later date, tempered with or not working. More recent engines are more difficult to temper with, a mechanic can plug the ECU to his/her laptop and give you exact diagnostic. Other solution is an oil sample where the oil has at least 70hr of working time, that can tell you if there is Chr in the oil (piston rings), Cu (main bearing wear), St (soot in the oil), etc. So no, if the gauge is missing or looks dodgy the comment will be something like "investigate further". The surveyor will look at the general condition of the engine, might check for injector leaks, belt dust, engine mounts, stringers, oil leaks. He/she could also go as far as checking the oil to see if it is milky, or scraping the coolant canister for debris, making a crude test for blow-by, but at that point he is above and beyond what is required. As a side note: 1,000hr with no maintenance the engine might be on its last leg, 4000hr will all maintenance done and documented as per OEM recommendations, that engine might have another 4,000hr of service life.
.
Asking a lot of questions to the current owner and all documentation, yes. You can ask in advance of the survey for the surveyor to look at what you might have found while talking to the owner, or in the documentation provided or during your own inspection. I suggest that my clients do the best inspection they can on their own, it is pointless to pay me to go look at a big hole at the bottom of the boat, you should have seen that yourself. Try to assist your surveyor, it is not a game 'got ya', if you saw this damage like 05:31 point it to the surveyor, don't wait to see if he will find it on his own. There is a limited amount of time available and you want your surveyor to cover as much as the boat/systems as possible.
.
Make him do what you want. Actually no. Prior to the survey you can ask what the surveyor will do, you can ask if he can do a specific task that is important to you and see what he says. Then hire him, or not.
.
It is wise to ask in advance if you can interrupt the survey to ask questions. Some surveyor go through a process and do not want to be interrupted, keep in mind that if the surveyor spend an hour answering your questions this is an hour he is likely not spending surveying the boat.
.
Last words, a survey reports the general condition of the boat. If you want specifics on the engine, that is a mechanic's job, sails, sheaves halyards, shrouds, that is a rigger, fiberglass repair/wood repair that is a shipwright, electricals = electricians. The surveyor will likely review those items for flaws or deviations from the applicable standards and may recommend you hire one of the above professionals to go "a step further". Surveying is not a regulated industry therefore, protect yourself, and hire an accredited surveyor from a recognized organization.
Cheers,
a.
Awesome tips! Thanks!
I use to buy used cars a lot, one of the things I learned is you can figure out if a car is burning oil by rubbing your finger inside the exhaust pipe, so I'd think that the same thing might work on a sail boat.
Thanks for the great video 👍
I recently bought a sailboat. As always I did my own survey but was sent a copy of the most recently done survey on the boat. This survey was done for the previous owner and was only 3 years old. Here are some of the things the surveyor got wrong.
The length, listed as 32ft when in fact it is 35ft OD
The weight, listed at 17,000lbs actually 24,000lbs
The engine, listed as 30hp when it actually states on the engine that it is 21hp
I did not put any reliance on that survey but it was an interesting eye-opener!!!
Unfortunately it seems we must micromanage the suppliers/providers for most of the services that we buy, or what we get is less than what we need, and we pay more than we should.
Excellent useable advice!!
Thanks!
Have a friend with an Amel 46. Termites were missed during survey and vessel was declared a total loss. 5 years of legal battle with the seller/broker/surveyor to get (some of) their money back. Its a slimy industry - these people had to have known the boat was infested and chose not to disclose it. That's criminal behaviour in my opinion.
A standard test should be to take an engine oil sample and have it analysed, any metal particles in the oil will show engine wear
A great way to analyze oil yourself is with light use a bright light shorts like a flashlight shine it on the oil squish it between your fingers while under bright light and look for any metallic reflection if it looks like stars it's bad that ain't the night sky
Thanks very practical advice.
Thanks! They are all things I wish I would have known earlier. Glad you enjoyed!
@@northstarsouth all common sense things which I "thought" would be covered naturally by a survey, which I found out were not really covered at all.. I got more out of talking to the surveyor as he did the survey than from his report... Your bonus point is a very good one as well. Ask the neighbours! This really applies to a home inspection as well.
Use a high pressure washer Kärcher typr
Great video, but you can check for engine wear, remove spark plugs and inspect for usual problems. Dark burnt substance is carbon and oil build up from being too rich, to lean is harder to see but if you rotate one cylinder to top dead center which is the pistons highest point in its travel then youll be able to see the piston and therefore its condition. Any pitting indicates a serious lean condition exsisting the more pitting the higher hours are likely to be. Generally the condition of hoses and fittings are also indicative of age so good to look at. After looking at all these things plus the engins accessories like the starter and alternator should be checked as well since low hour engines as you say dont generally have rust so too with worn belts hoses pistons ect so check em all. What your really looking to see is if the owner or seller is honest and the books are up to date by checking condition vs claimed hours.
spark plugs??? Marine engines on sailboats are almost always diesel!
Check the pistons
👍
That’s a gooder 😂
get the engine oil tested .
So the owner wants 50k , I give him an open offer of 25k along with my number and half will call me after a couple of months.