I'm looking at purchasing my first yacht.
I'm wondering because I have been looking at the different boat inspections and stuff.
Is a current or couple of years old survey good enough or should I be getting the full inspection with oil tested level of inspection for about $2500 plus slip fees .????

My question I suppose is what is the recommendation for boat inspection before purchasing.

Call at least one insurance company before buying a boat in order to understand exactly what they will require for insurance. The guy I spoke to was super helpful in relation to what would be needed and explaining the way things worked.

I paid for a survey because I when I rang round a few surveyors I found one who was particularly knowledgeable, credentialed and helpful so I went with him. He ended up picking up one issue which was really good to get sorted out during the purchase and a few things that I've been sorting out myself.

Are you confident you can identify whether a boat is a "walk-away" on your own. I came to the conclusion that it was my responsibility to get to this point and that a surveyor was about protecting my investment and preventing me having the boat out of the water for extended periods after I'd just put all my money into it.

Have you been and looked at a few boats yet? You really ought to be crawling all over them every weekend, seriously, make yourself an expert by going and looking at heaps of boats, especially cheaper ones that you can learn to identify "walk-away" problems like soft decks, structure cracks etc etc.

Have fun!

Imho those are very good summary points by JonE.

The veracity of the survey depends on the surveyor doing it and the time available to do it. Obviously it must be done on the slips as you indicate. Some surveyors are very thorough.

What size of yacht are you talking about, and construction? GRP single skin? GRP sandwich (foam or end grain balsa)?, steel?, aluminium?, timber?

For $2500 guess you are looking at ~40-50ft?

I assume you are a competent sailor with suitable on the water experience and would have picked up a lot of yacht problem issues through this journey.

There are numerous survey report examples and templates on line eg;

fieldhouse-yacht-surveys.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FYS-REPORT-Beneteau-435E-issue-1.pdf

To put what was said above another way, you could spend a shed tonne of money on boat inspections if you were relying completely on them. As JonE said, become the expert yourself and only commission a surveyor on the boat that you have concluded 'is the one' (but still prepared to walk away from).

I bought my last boat based on a survey 12 months old. Maybe I got lucky.

I would like to think with no false modesty that whatever i inspected would be on pare with a paid for inspection. I have the trades and experience plus I have the knowledge of seabreeze.
Thats priceless.
??????????

I like the idea of the insurance aspect.
never thought of that.
it's just l do see better bang for your buck out of Sydney so im thinking about paying people to inspect for me if that makes sense in other places.
I have no trouble going there and sailing it back if it's the right boat ????

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actiomax said..

it's just l do see better bang for your buck out of Sydney so im thinking about paying people to inspect for me if that makes sense in other places.

When you say "better bang for buck" have you looked at those boats and checked them over?

Sydney has lots of boats for sale that would be landfill in Melbourne for example because there there are lots of moorings in Sydney where old boats can sit for years gathering bird**** at relatively low annual cost.
In Melbourne you're looking at nearly 10 grand a year for marina and insurance so at some point, your 30 grand boat that you know needs a new engine and a new rig is going to have to get cut up.

it's like this big open secret that nobody talks about - most boats (under 50 grand) for sale are completely worthless.

No I haven't looked them over it's the whole point of paying someone to do it for me.
My reasoning is it would be cheaper than flying & having a look myself.
How do others do it?

My 10c. always source your surveyor through other sailors as to reputation. Don't let the broker recommend or instruct the surveyor. Plenty of honest brokers but best to avoid possible conflicts of interest. Try to attend on the day; preferably as the surveyor is finishing up so as not to distract him. Get him to show you the issues. Have the hull waterblasted and if it has dried out, wet it again with the hose so you can sight the fairness of the shiny wet bottom. Osmosis repairs can be spotted.

get a mechanic to look at the motor or talk to the mechanic who services it as to likely longevity or future maintenance issues.

and don't forget your buying a second hand boat, it will have had repairs and it will need repairs. That doesn't mean its bad boat, they have all had and they will all need ongoing repairs.

My view is aim to get a suitable design for the mission and good construction type that has been well built and still in good order, the rest is just refitting equipment as needed and purchase price is reflected accordingly.

Cammd .
That's always been my view of purchasing a used boat.

If it floats and the water stays on the outside, what's the issue?

I have one you can buy actionman.

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Mark _australia said..
If it floats and the water stays on the outside, what's the issue?

The 3 rules. Keep boat on water, keep water off boat and keep boat off land.