insurance and surveys
I strongly anticipate a lot of pushback on my opinion of surveys but here goes. I know that insurance companies require it,,,in most cases...it makes them comfortable...Have you ever bought a house which also requires a inspection?? most are done by inexperienced people with little prqctiql knowledge. Their reports are a pile of cut and paste snippits designed to elevate them from any and all liability that they missed. I believe that the samesitultion exiwts within the marine industry.
Don't get me wrong, you need to know what you are buying but I think a person who is looking for a boat should himself be capable of recognizing deficiencies within the boat. Think about it, how hard is it to tap the whole boat down with a small hammer himself and to ue a meter that recognizes moistures within panels. Engine is another story but that two you can do yourself as you should have some knowledge. How hard is it to check your circuit breakers, adequacy of fire extintuishrs, number of pads, if you have propane do you have alarms in the tanks separate locker, etc, etc, There are books written on how to do it.
By doing it yourself you acquire a hugh amount of information that you can apply to emergency situations in the future. The payback will be continuous.
