Is There An Age Of A Used Boat Where A Boat Survey Should Be Done?i 'm Looking At A 89 Sea Ray 250 Sundancer And A 97 Sea Ray 250 Sundancer. Both Are In Very Good Shape And Wonder If The Survey Is Worth It. Thanking Anyone For Some Advice.
Hiring a surveyor and deciding if it is worth the money depends on your own skills. If you know what to look for then you could do your own survey of the boat. That's a big "if" though. I for example have been around boats for a long time and I feel confident in my abilities in inspecting a potential boat as long as it is an outboard powered boat. If it has an inboard, or I/O, I don't have enough knowledge and would probably enlist the aid of a surveyor. That's an example. Not knowing your abilities it would be very hard to recommend one way or the other except that the amount of money you are risking is either the surveyor fee, or the whole cost of the boat. As for age determining if a surveyor is needed, I would say that age shouldn't come into play. Newer boat can have a multitude of problems just as older boats can and the only way to know is to inspect yourself or have a surveyor do it for you. A surveyor should give you a detailed report of whatever he finds and could potentially save you a ton of money for the few hundred dollar cost of his service.
There is no set parameter(s) for when to get a boat surveyed. Even a '97 has had a decade to be abused. You can destroy a boat in one season if you want to. If you do not know a lot about boats, I would certainly spend $400-600 on a decent survey...well worth the money. Heck, even if you do know boats, it is still a great tool. It can be used as a barganing tool in negotiations. Go to different marinas to get referrals to a good surveyor. Do not use the seller's choice for obvious reasons. Make sure whomever you choose does a full survey to include dry (if slipped), wet (sea trail), and mechanical. A good surveyor will ask if you want chemical analysis on the engine and/or drive fluids. For the small additional cost ($20-50), I think they it's a good deal. Good luck!
Short story:
I've been around boats my whole life (50+ years) and thought I knew a lot. 4 years ago we decided to move up to a cruiser and after looking around for a few months, found a "really nice" one at a reasonable price. It was clean, very well kept, and had relatively low hours. After checking it out and getting all excited about our impending purchase, I decided to hire an independant surveyor -just to make sure everything was OK. I was present the day of the dry survey, which was done with the boat on land in about 8 hours. What he found astounded me. There was a long list of deficiencies. One item could have killed (an unsafe generator exhaust), and the others would have taken at least $7-8,000 to make things right. Every one of the deficiencies he found were completely missed by my (so-called) thorough inspection. I felt completely incompetent, but this guy did his job and did it well. I immediately got my deposit back and closed the deal. I spent $500 but saved waaaaay more. I learned a lesson- larger cabin boats are complex machines.
I eventually found the right boat- which I also had surveyed- but with much better results! As fishmen111 mentioned, we were able to use the survey results to negotiate a better price and actually saved more than the cost of the survey. And here's another reason to get a survey- it'll be required by your insurance carrier for valuation purposes.
What if your buying a boat (used) from a dealer? would you trust what they say? im looking at buying a boat right now i found this one but the price seems a bit high????
we all need to support iboats marine store when ever possible. you get, competitive prices. fast shipping, top notch customer service. also it provides us, this great FREE forum.
It depends on how much you can afford to lose. If you are buying a boat for $1K it is probably OK to skip the survey, you know you are buying a "project". If you are putting out substantial $, a survey is probably a good investment even if the boat is only a couple of years old. It can save you many thousands of dollars and countless headaches. A little cleaning and wax can cover up a multitude of problems.
Boat Survey For Used Boat Purchase
Linear Mode
