Marine Surveying
When you are planning to purchase, insure, finance a boat or if it has been damaged it is wise to engage the services of a marine surveyor. Here are some reasons why:-
- A surveyor will provide you with a professional opinion of the vessels condition, identify damage, defects and make recommendations.
- The information from a surveyors report will allow you to make informed decisions before purchasing a vessel and may be useful when negotiating the price.
- Knowing the condition and fair market value of a vessel prior to purchase often saves you money; in most cases the survey fee itself can be saved.
- When a vessel has been damaged there is often damage in areas other than the obvious, an experienced surveyor will be able to identify these.
- Insurers normally always require a survey before they will provide cover.
- Finance companies will want to know that the vessel is a safe risk to lend money against.
- Safety, a survey will highlight any potentially dangerous aspects that may impact on the safety levels on board the vessel.
Types of Survey
Pre-Purchase Condition Survey
When you are purchasing a boat we recommend a pre-purchase condition survey. With a full pre-purchase condition survey we will look over all aspects of the vessel and report on our findings and provide recommendations about any work that may need doing. Insurance Survey To insure a boat, or renew your existing policy your insurance company will require an insurance survey in order to determine the condition of the vessel. The main objective of the survey is to reassure underwriters that the vessel is in a condition that warrants the vessel being considered for insurance. Valuation Report A valuation report provides a realistic assessment of the fair market value of the vessel at the time of the survey. Sea Trial A sea trial allows the surveyor to test all of the systems on board. Engines can be tested and bought up to operating temperature, sails can be hoisted and a full evaluation of all the systems carried out and the boats overall performance determined. Damage Survey Damage to a yacht happens to the best of us, whether professional or private skippers, owners or crew. It might be caused by a collision between vessels or a stationary object or it might be from lack of maintenance or vandalism. A surveyor is usually requested by the insurance underwriter to assess the extent and cost of the damage and repairs. Other Services As well as the surveys described above we are also available to provide advice on any particular aspect of your vessel. We have the tools to take moisture readings; should be drying out your yacht for osmosis treatment we can accurately monitor the drying process for you. |
Instructing a Surveyor
In order to carry out a survey the surveyor will require information from you about the vessel. If it is being purchased from a broker they are able to supply most of the information required. We have a document that we will email to you for completion; this document is the instruction for survey and contract document. This document is also available to download.
To provide a price for a particular survey we need to know the type of survey you would like and what vessel is to be surveyed. When we have received the completed instruction for survey and contract document arrangements are made to carry out the survey with the current owner; normally this is done via the yacht broker. The survey is then carried out and the survey report will be sent to you via email; hardcopies are available on request. When the survey has been carried out we will phone you and provide a verbal assessment of our findings. Please visit our downloads page where you will find an example survey, our terms and conditions, our instruction for survey and contract document, information on preparing your boat for survey and details of the types of survey we offer. Please do contact us to discuss any specific requirements you may have. |