Survey before sea trial?

[MarioG]

I'm currently interested in a boat that is winterized and out of the water. I have an offer in and if accepted, sea trials and surveys to come. boat appears to be in good shape with supposedly O/H engines. the problem being that the boat cannot be placed back in until it starts to thaw. Would any of you do a survey before a sea trial? My gut feeling is to wait until the ice goes away and sea trial first. How is it normally done in this situation?

[SeaEric]

I would encourage you to engage a surveyor now to look at as much as you can with the boat right where it is. Obviously not much in the way of equipment or machinery can be run now, but a lot can be accomplished. Much of a hull survey is visual inspection. If in this first round you don't find any show stoppers, then proceed to seatrials and engine surveys when appropriate weather-wise. If you find big ugly stuff in an initial look, then move on to the next boat without delay. Just remember that if you do commission any system (or even launch the boat for that matter) in the off season, it will probably be your financial responsibility to re-haul and re-winterize if you don't buy the boat.

[Liquid Asset]

I too think it would be a good time to contact the surveyor and see what he has to think. With the boat winterized, you can't obviously launch the boat, but you could do the boat survey and see if there are any deal breakers which would let you proceed to the next boat without delay if it was necesary. This way you would not miss any time in finding a boat.

[Pascal]

normally i'd like to do a sea trial before spending any $ on survey, just to make sure all system are working and the boat is even worth surveying.

now, in your case, it's very different. I agree the with the other replies... contact a local surveyor and see how he suggest handling this. Indeed surveying the hull and everything that can be done now, maybe at a portion of the full survey rate, woudl be possible. then proceed with the sea trial and the rest of the survey when the ice melts and pay the second part then.

that woudl avoid paying for the whole survey if the first part reveals some deak breaker...

it also lets you recover the deposit and look for something else...

[ThirdHatt]

I agree 100% with all three responses so far. Assuming there is shore power to the boat, your surveyor can examine the electrical system as well as most other systems out of the water.

You could even go so far as hooking up a garden hose to the A/C's and run them one at a time to check those out. Then all you would not be sure of is mains, driveline and gen. You could even take a few oil samples yourself and send them off for around $15/each. That way you would know alot about the mechanicals before you spend money on the engine survey after the vessel is back in the water.

GOOD LUCK!

[Trojan]

Survey it yourself first. You should be able to tell if the boat is worth going any further on. If you like what you see then get it surveyed by a pro. You will need the boat on the hard to survey the bottom anyway. When I bought my boat I and a friend surveyed it first. It was December, 28 degrees with 6 inches of snow. I liked what I saw. I made an offer pending the final survey. Before the boat went in the water and the snow was gone. I had the bottom surveyed. The same surveyer that will do the final survey. After it went in the water I had the survey finished. I only paid the surveyor for the bottom first then the final.
Worked for me.




BILL

[mstailey]

MarioG,
I've recently purchased a Hatteras that is on the hard for the winter. If this is any help, what I did was go ahead with the hull survey and had written into the purchasse agreement an escrow for the pending engine survey and sea trial in the spring. Also written into the agreement, the seller was responsible for launching the boat in the spring as well.

Good luck.

[MarioG]

Thanks for all the responses. Sound like a good plan to get part of the survey completed early and the balance of the survey once the boat is in the water. good Idea to specify whose is responsible for what before launching time. yes, I will survey the boat myself initially then proceed with the professional survey after. good idea Pascal, partial survey now, then sea trial and if everything goes well the rest of the survey after.

[spartonboat1]

Now that I no longer have stars in my eyes, you could say I am a hard-eyed realist about the boat evaluation/survey process.

The great advantage of the out of the water survey, before the sea trial, is that a "good" surveyor will be able to evaluate the hull, use a hammer to thump it for soft spots, delaminations, etc., and check the running gear, such as struts and rudder gear.

Any more, I am not sure what a sea trial really proves, other than whether the boat planes, i.e. makes the power as it should, and whether it overheats, when run faster than cruise speed, which it shouldn't but probably often does. Otherwise, I would almost be more interested in a dock side set of tests, such as starting (see good posts on this) of the mains and genny. If you have never experienced a Hatt ride in a sea, then the sea trial would be mis-leading, as it will be great, vs. other craft. It is the systems checks at speed that are meaningful, vs. purely "go for a ride".

The list of items to check for is long, as the many knowledgeable owners on this site can attest.

P.s., this is written by a formerly pure novice, when first purchasing, and an obnoxious, good surveyor pointed out many faults. I had no clue what to look for in the sea trial...never got off idle..yeesh. This is written in beautiful, 100% accurate hindsite!

[Pascal]

the reason of a pre survey sea trial isn't to go for a ride but make sure the boat is worth surveying and that all system work.

I'd be really upset to make on offer on a boat which appears in great shape, bring in the surveyor only to find out that the genny doens't start or that one of the engine overheats at 1500rpm or that the boat has a wicked vibration... all things you won't find until sea trial. by then, you're already out $1000 on the survey.

when i bougt my 53, i skipped the initial ST because of nasty weather that day. didn't want to push the survey back and I coudl tell the boat was used regularly by the seller. so i fgured i wasn't taking much chances.

otherwise, iwoudln't take the risk.