Boat Inspection, conflict of interest?

badrano

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I've got my eyes on a boat that is being brokered by the marina that have mechanics on-site. They seemed hesitant (they also need to confer with the owner) to allow me to take the boat up the lake 15-20 minutes to another marina for one of their mechanics to look over the engine/stern drive.

I would also like to take the trailer out on the road (around the block) to ensure the brakes work correctly since home is 4hrs away. Either way, I'm still having a surveyor coming out to look over the boat as a whole.

Any opinons on letting the broker marina mechanics look at the boat? Could one argue that there is a potential conflict of interest? Also, I just confirmed that the owner did all the maintainence and that the boat was never maintained by the broker marina.
 

tpenfield

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IMO, if you have your own surveyor, independent of and not referred by the broker, then It would be OK to have the local marina mechanic do some specified tests, like compression test, etc. (I tend to look over their should while they do the tests. :) )

As far as testing the brakes, that could be done on premises, particularly if they are disc brakes.

I can see that the owner/broker/marina might be hesitant on doing things the way that you have specified.
 

ahicks

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There are RV deals, large motor homes in particular, where agreements are made to have the current owner drop the MH off at a local dealer of the buyers choice, for an inspection the buyer pays for. Any issues are handled, or not, from that point.

I don't think it unfair to ask the current boat owner to drop his boat off at another dealer for inspection. If he can't see you're simply trying to arrange for an arm's length transaction, then he's hiding something.
 

roffey

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I understand why a owner would not let you take the boat with out him or her close by, I wouldn't. They are liable for anything you do to or on the boat. If you run it up on a shoal will you buy it unconditionally? You hit a boat or god forbid a person they would be in big trouble and end up paying for the rest of their days.

So my 2 cents are if you want a independent survey, have it completed at the marina. It does not have to be the marina, could be an independent. If it pass muster then arrange for the owner to take you out for a test drive. You can ask the owner to pay for the survey as it their boat and makes it much easer to sell.

Good luck, there is still time left in the boating season to enjoy.
 
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badrano

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In this case the owner has officially moved out of state and that's why it's being sold. I just talked with the broker and since their season is coming to an end they won't have the staff to support a "long" outting up to the other marina. Sounds like they rely on a lot of high schoolers to handle all the little stuff and now the limited full time staff has to handle everything.
They agreed to allow me to drive the trailer around the property (they do have a decent size plot of land based on Google Maps).

To tpenfield's point, I've already have a surveyor of my choice on standby so maybe that would give me the better warm and fuzzy feeling.
 

Tassie 1

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Apr 13, 2018
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check with your surveyor whether he actually does a full mechanical diagnosis, compression etc etc blah blah,
Here in Tassie a surveyor mostly checks the stability of the hull, deck and fittings,

the motor/s?
yeh, had one, had rust blah blah on the hydralater thing..needs replacement

unless he is a qualified marine mechanic they dont generally look real hard at the motor,

but you probably know that anyway,
 

badrano

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The surveyor will do a sea trial which will include a WOT run, temp check of risers, etc. My hands seems a little tied in the fact I can't find a mechanic other than the mechanic at the marina where the boat is located for a mechanical inspection. The marina supposedly doesn't have the staff to allow one person to ride up the lake with me to another mechanic.

The local mechanic thinks there's no need to waste the money on doing a compression check. He and along with other people (including the other mechanic at the other marina up the lake) I've talked to have said that if there is a problem, the boat won't reach WOT RPMs. The marina has stated that they took the boat out for a run with no obvious issues....for what ever that's worth.
 

roffey

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if I were purchasing that boat I would be more inclined to take it for a test drive , check for rot and other imperfections then settle on a price. In my neck of the woods a boat survey will cost $20 per foot (http://www.maritimesurveyors.com/what-is-a-marine-survey/rate-card/). I know I will likely get flamed for this but... a 2005 Chaparral will likely be in decent condition or the problems should be condition related like rot. Follow the sticky at the top of this from and I bet you will be ok.

Chaparral makes a nice boat and with a newer 5.0 should be a good setup. Good luck hope all works out for you.
 

badrano

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if I were purchasing that boat I would be more inclined to take it for a test drive , check for rot and other imperfections then settle on a price. In my neck of the woods a boat survey will cost $20 per foot (http://www.maritimesurveyors.com/what-is-a-marine-survey/rate-card/). I know I will likely get flamed for this but... a 2005 Chaparral will likely be in decent condition or the problems should be condition related like rot. Follow the sticky at the top of this from and I bet you will be ok.

Chaparral makes a nice boat and with a newer 5.0 should be a good setup. Good luck hope all works out for you.

I driving down to the boat today after work and will be taking out tomorrow on the lake. If everything looks good, I'll be making a contingent offer pending the results of the servey. Based on the pics, the boat and trailer are really clean.
 

roffey

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Nice, I bet she will pass with flying colors. You must be getting excited. If you buy.... you will have a nice boat, Chaparrals are a upper level boat, IMO.
 

jkust

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Curious how much does a survey from a true certified marine surveyor cost in your neck of the woods. Had one done one time a few years back and the min price was $2000. There were only two in my state which is odd as everyone owns a boat.
 

roffey

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I read $18-$20 per foot but I have never had one for my boat. I put a link for a surveyor in the States. He has all the particulars in his web site.
 

badrano

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Curious how much does a survey from a true certified marine surveyor cost in your neck of the woods. Had one done one time a few years back and the min price was $2000. There were only two in my state which is odd as everyone owns a boat.

I'm in NJ and the boat is in VA (a bit north and west of Richmond. There were only a couple of surveyors in the Richmond area. Including a sea trial, the cost is $500. This seems to be in line with a couple of surveyors I looked at in NJ when I thought I was going to get a boat in state. ($18 per foot plus sea trial) One of the surveyors in NJ did provide add on services like compression testing, etc, but that would have been additional costs.
 

jetboater

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Jan 13, 2004
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Agree Chapparral is a great boat but I’d also want to know the circumstances around the newer engine—-

For example, when was it done, who did the work, was it a new, used, or rebuilt engine, what was replaced (the entire engine or just the long or short block), etc.

Also try to find out what happened to the old engine that caused it to need to be replaced.

These are questions an owner of a repowered boat should be prepared to share the answers to.

The answers probably wont raise any red flags but you won’t know unless you ask.
 

badrano

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Nice, I bet she will pass with flying colors. You must be getting excited. If you buy.... you will have a nice boat, Chaparrals are a upper level boat, IMO.

I can agree with that. Everytime I went surfing on boattrader or boats.com, I always seemed to come back to Chaparral's. There is another 2004 204 SSi for sale in NJ for about the same price, same clean pictures, but the one in VA is a 2005 that has the newer helm layout which I find more appealing....it also has the swim platform that the NJ boat doesn't have.
 
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