I bought my last 2 Hatt's without a survey but there were extenuating circumstances involved. One was bought from a bank and I got a smoking deal. The engine hours were less than 700 on each 6-71ti's which were for real and there was lots of receipts etc for various services that had been performed before the bankruptcy took place. The boat itself was not bad and didn't need a whole lot to make it fine. The other boat was my present 48 MY. It too was on land when I bought it and it had documentation showing a new long block assembly on the port side and a major overhaul on the STB side, with about 200 hrs and about one year since overhaul by a DD dealer in Montreal. The long block was only installed less than a year later. The generator was brand new and only had about 10 hrs on it. It was a desperation sale and I bought it right, but it needed lots of rehab which has been done. Neither boat has ever had a survey... my insurance agent just let it go, but I don't get insurance to make money on a boat so I only covered these boats for what I paid for them in order to make myself whole in case of a total loss. I must confess however that the 48 ended well but cost much more than I had originally considered in time, labor and money. so in fact I would have been better off buying one that was "ready to go" for more money thereby working far less and enjoying it more. My problem was that I violated my better judgement and was emotional with the purchase of the 48 and that's why I agree with Scott that you need to remove yourself from self surveys in most cases. BTW. my first Hatteras as I recall didn't require a survey either since I was the first owner. I learned after that that it's far better to let someone else take the initial hit and would probably not buy new again.

Walt