Getting A Pre Purchase Survey

[rustymember]

Hello, noobie landlubber/soon to be weather worn pirate here,

So Looking at purchasing a boat in the next 2 months and one of the options available is skipping the broker and going for a private sale- this could either be a boat found moored nearby or something online.

Obviously I need to view the boat before i commit to anything. My Russian mailorder bride being a big butch toothless drunkard by the name of Vladimir is testament to that fact.

I'm also aware of what paperwork I should ask for.

Now it comes to making sure I don't spend a mini fortune on something that sinks a week later.

The likelihood will be that the boat would be in the water.

I enquired about pre purchase surveys with a company and they gave me a quote of £10 per foot and this comes with a written report.

Would any forum members suggest that I just befriend someone who knows their boats and drop them a tonne to jump in a car and come along for the day to give me a less formal survey?

Just wondering what people think.

I haven't got money to fritter away but not getting any opinion or inspection before i buy a boat could very well be doing just that

[Roy]

Hi Paul,

It's always wise to get a pre-purchase survey done..

If you are going for a wooden hull boat then you really do need to.
At least with a professional surveyor, I would think you would have
some sort of comeback.

After saying that, we have had three live-aboard boats, the first was steel
and the other two including our present boat are grp.
We never bothered with a survey, I don't know much about boats but I did
have a good look round in the bilges etc.
checked that the overall condition was good and spoke to people who
knew or who had past dealings with the boats.
That's what I did.. but I am not recommending anyone else to do that.
We have been lucky on all 3 accounts and they have all turned out to
be good sound boats.

Might be worth asking if the seller has any previous survey reports
that they can show you.


PS.
With regard to your Russian wife Vladimir, sounds to me like you have a bargain.

[billy]

Hi Paul,

Always wise to get a good surveyor to do their business. They don't always find everything and they do seem to put in a load of caveats to cover themselves but they can still save you a lot of dosh. You will probably need one for insurance anyway depending on the age and value.

Like Roy says, old surveys are helpful and if you get a good feeling that things have been looked after all well and good. BUT a lot of stuff can happen between surveys and stuff can be covered up.

Just do your homework first and make sure it's the boat you want. That way you can avoid paying for too many surveys.

billy

[rustymember]

well we'llsee what happens. Maybe I'll find someone on here closer to the time who happens to be in the area that wants some pennies just to have a look at it for me. Yeah understand the survey for insurance purposes but will probably be looking at quite a few closer to the time and cant be forking out for each one.

I will give everything a once over myself and ask for previous surveys etc.

I'm just a bit impatient waiting for my Vladimir to get over here so I can go shopping