Re: Benfits of a marine survey
since it is winter here in the north east could a marine surveyor tell with a degree of certaintly how a boat will run by testing it on the muffs?
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NO!---
From my experience, a
proper pre-purchase survey must include the following:
- an inspection on land (dry survey), where he will check the hull and all underwater parts. Multiple hull soundings will be taken to check for integrity, and he will note the condition of the bottom and/or antifouling paint. All thru-hull fittings will be exercised for operation, all running gear visually inspected and any deficiencies noted. Also, pictures are normally taken.
- a sea trial (wet survey), where he will first visually check the engines and transmissions before firing. He will check all fluid levels, noting any unusual condition. If the visual inspection of the mechanicals are OK he will ask for the engines to be started. NOTE: the surveyor will NOT operate the boat, so pre-arrangements are needed to aquire a competent captain for the wet survey (often the seller will do this). While idling at the dock, he will note any unusual gauge readings, sounds, or leaks. Upon warm-up, he will request the boat be put in gear (F and R) while still secured to confirm basic function. After this, the boat is un-tied and taken to an appropriate waterway to undergo performance testing. Enroute, the surveyor will carefully monitor the mechanicals for anything unusual. When clear of other traffic he will instruct the captain to run the vessel at its maximum speed for performance testing, checking the gauges- particularly noting the RPM's and temperatures. He will request maximum speed for at least 2 minutes to check for possible overheat conditions.
At some point during the wet survey, the surveyor will check the operation of ALL boat systems- water, waste, electrical (AC and DC), valves, pumps, lighting, etc. etc. The larger the boat, the more he has to check.
The bottom line- a competent surveyor is not going for a joyride; he'll be working his tail off for the potential buyer, making sure anything unusual is noted and included in his report.
Does a compression test reveal any issues an engine could have?
The short answer- maybe. One example would be a hairline crack in a cylinder wall, which a compression test may not discover.
FYI- Unless it's pre-arranged, a surveyor will
not normally perform a compression test as part of a pre-purchase survey. That kind of test is typically included in an engine survey, which is completely different from a pre-purchase survey. In my experience, very few surveyors are qualified to perform both pre-purchase and engine surveys, but some may do specific mechanical testing (like compression tests) if discussed in advance.
Get more info from the SAMS website:
http://www.marinesurvey.org/
