Insurance vs. Pre-purchase Survey

[boatpoker]

Far too many generalities in this thread. I, and many surveyors I know do not differentiate between insurance, C&V and pre-purchase surveys, I do only one level of survey and charge the same fee for each type.

Valuation - The only part of my job I dislike, see why at How Much is She Worth ?

Never accept a survey from a seller, How do you know he and the surveyor are not related.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Far too many generalities in this thread. I, and many surveyors I know do not differentiate between insurance, C&V and pre-purchase surveys, I do only one level of survey and charge the same fee for each type.
...

Have a good surveyor friend of the same opinion, he also only does one type of survey.

Funny story re valuation. There used to be an old corrupt surveyor in Belize who did valuations for import duty purposes...and for a nice tip of course. As a friend said..."he had a good eye for the inherient defects in a boat"...despite the fact he never actaully saw many of the boats he valuated.

[jkindredpdx]

I know you didn't ask this, but I recommend a good look at repair records and have an extensive test sail. There was little wind the day we were scheduled and everything went fine. . . turned out after the purchase that the hydraulic steering lost pressure on starboard tack. It only cost $500 to replace the head pump, but I should have known about it. I don't think the (really nice) PO knew because he did things like scrub fuel, replace a mast head bulb, and replace an exhaust tube after I made the initial offer. And he had a file box full of manuals and records.

To be honest I would have purchased with those problems. The surveyor valued the boat in private 40% higher than my (accepted) offer price. I found someone independent on the society of accredited marine surveyors site then asked friends for referrals from that list... BTW, it was the surveyors suggestion that I scrape and bottom paint while the boat was in the yard, said it was ok but whenever you have the boat dry it should be done.

Also, sorry for running on, my dock neighbor asked if he could have his Coast Guard Auxiliary trainees do my boat's safety check. That was some more free security of mind.