SURVEYS… THE OTHER PERSPECTIVE

Rebecca Hayter penned an excellent article recently, outlining the benefits of a Marine Survey when buying, and ongoing LTMP advantages created by that report. A pre purchase inspection is now required by all Recreational Boating Insurance Providers.

During my many years of masochistic service to the buyers and sellers of recreational craft, this survey requirement has undergone significant change. Going from what was essentially a general condition report to today’s pages long, exhausting breakdown of missing screws, UV damage, rust stains and recommendations based on comparisons to ‘as new’. The only thing longer is the disclaimer provided with that report exonerating the poor surveyor from any liability for missing said screw hole. This, an inevitable consequence of increased litigious activity by some buyers looking to share the cost burden of a refit.

Early surveyors were almost always older boat builders who viewed each boat with a pragmatic eye, complete with prophetic comment like, ‘not bad condition for her vintage’ or ‘full of pox but it won’t kill her’.

I recall my despair when the late Jack Taylor, a fearsome chap, pronounced to my buyer of the famed old bridge deck launch ‘Crusader’ he was surveying… ‘This boat has been extended, looks like it was done by an apprentice!’ After a pregnant pause, he cackled ‘it was me, I did it when I was apprenticed to …?’

The next generation of surveyors were more professional in their wording, and started to specialise.

Mike Menzies, a good FRP boat builder specialised in surveying FRP craft, mainly looking for Osmosis (Boat Pox, or Marine Acne). Brokers and sellers lived in fear of his eagle eye. Even boats he had built himself were not spared, as the pox was mainly a consequence of building techniques at the time, not bad boat building. Not unlike the leaky building fiasco! In those days, he also ran an Osmosis repair and consultancy business, a possible conflict of interest that would not be allowed nowadays. Well known designer and boat builder, Ray Beale was another who morphed into survey. He was almost too good, missing practically nothing. Even though he was my Brother in Law at one time, his reports cost me a few deals over the years. He and his peers were by this stage carrying significant insurance in case of litigation, and the courts sometimes blinkered view of fair and reasonable. This increased legal scrutiny inevitably lead to the demise of quite a few part timers, and those offering any input on things mechanical. It is very difficult to get any reputable engine supplier and/or repair mechanic to offer even a comment on the possible condition of an engine. Len Gilbert stated the only way to precisely offer a report on a motor was to dismantle it, measure it, then rebuild it. Not totally practical for the buyer or seller. Len himself stopped doing mechanical appraisals after one $80.00 visual inspection resulted in the buyer suing him a year later for the cost of rebuilding two motors. A couple of days prior to the court sitting, this litigation was discontinued, as it was discovered the litigant had failed to advise that in the interim before suing, he had clouted a reef causing significant damage to gearboxes and props. When the props were repaired, he had the pitch altered, which overloaded the engines. A minor omission!

By this stage surveyors were a united part of the Marine Industry Association, some even with capital letters after their names. Then some bastard invented the modern moisture meter!!

For the life of me, I still cannot understand how this evil invention can detect the difference between a rain soaked deck or antifoul which has been immersed in water for a year, and the unseen subsurface moisture levels of a craft which spends its whole life exposed to water. Be that as it may. Sellers quake in their boots when this contraption appears in the surveyors’ hand. One yacht I was selling had a re-deck a few years previous, yet on survey the moisture meter advised the decks were holding more water than a Slurpex sponge. The buyers ran, and the distraught sellers shut the boat up with a dehumidifier running for a short time. A month later the boat sold with flying colours. It has long been known that recreational boat insurance is not very profitable to the Insurers. The costs associated with insuring your craft now are much higher than the good old days. Many Insurance companies don’t do marine at all, and those that do, now demand comprehensive surveys for all purchases. Even almost new craft, built by reputable companies have to be surveyed. I recently sold a craft insured with a well-known offshore Insurance Company. This craft had been comprehensively surveyed 4 years ago when purchased, and new rigging was installed, as per their demands. When the buyer approached this same Insurer, they demanded a new full survey, and proof that the rigging had been replaced, even though they held cover with that proviso attached. Pity the poor surveyor. Every time they do their job well, at least one party is usually going to be unhappy with them.