Teadaemon

There's a lot written on blisters on boats, much of it not very well informed. In the case of old boats used predominantly in fresh water, then quite a few have a few blisters on them, and normally (unless they're very extensive or there's delamination extending into the layup of the hull) they're not a great concern. Having said that, I recently surveyed a 35' GRP cruiser and couldn't find a single blister on her, despite her being 49 years old and spending virtually all of that time afloat. Finding lots of blisters (and delamination) on a boat that's only a few years old is more of a worry, as it strongly suggests problems with the layup of the hull (voids, resin-starved areas, etc). Checking a hull for blisters and voids is done by having a good look (in theory taking all of the antifouling off to check the gelcoat, but in practise I'm only going to remove test patches, and if there's only a thin layer of hard antifoul then that's probably going to cause more issues than it will detect), and tap testing the hull with a mallet or other instrument (this allows me to spot voids, delamination, or areas of filler by listening for the change in sound as I tap them compared to the areas around them). If the hull has been out of the water for a while and stripped back to the gelcoat then I can take moisture readings with a moisture meter (if the antifouling is still present then I can't tell if the moisture is in the paint or the GRP underneath it, and if I take moisture readings on a boat that came out of the water a few hours ago I'll find that unsurprisingly it's pretty wet). Even in a best case scenario, moisture readings on a solid GRP hull won't tell you very much - there are loads of boats that have high moisture readings that have no problem with blisters. As far as survey costs go, I normally charge around £10 per foot LOA, with travel expenses if necessary. Other surveyors may be a bit cheaper, many are more expensive. Part 3 registration (the Small Ship Register) is not proof of ownership, for that you need Part 1 registration (which is expensive and involves tonnage measurement by a suitable surveyor, which I'm not at the moment. You're unlikely to find many small cruisers that have gone to the trouble of obtaining and maintaining Part 1 registration. A BSS certificate is not a survey, and does not denote anything other than the boat has been checked to see that it complies with the minimum requirements of the navigation authority to obtain a toll or licence, and that it passed those checks at the time it was examined. If you're interested in a boat, then it pays to give it a really good look over yourself, and if you've got a friend who knows boats, then take them along as well. Surveys aren't cheap, and if you can spot something yourself you can hopefully make sure that the boat you get the first survey on is the boat you end up buying. I really hate giving people news they don't want to hear, even though I know I'm potentially saving them a lot of heartache and money further down the line.

As has been mentioned, the RCD applies to new builds (or conversions to recreational use) when they're first placed on the market within the EU. How old is the boat in question?

Well if it has a petrol tank installed then it might come under check 5.4.2 Are all outboard and portable combustion engines with integral petrol or LPG tanks stored to ensure that leaking fuel or escaping vapour will not enter the interior of the vessel?

I see Mike beat me to it with the obvious comment about drinking canal water. Seriously, even if you aren't going to go to the trouble of getting ultrasonic thickness testing on the hull, now would be a really good time to go around with a hammer (2lb ball pein engineer's hammer is my instrument of choice), and give the hull a good whack. If there's a hole all the way through the baseplate, I really wouldn't be surprised to find other areas that are far too thin for comfort. That probably wasn't what you wanted to hear, was it? Sorry.

I do indeed cover Cambridgeshire, and the diary for June is reasonably empty at the moment. PM me if you'd like to discuss things a bit further.

The first thing that I noticed is that there is very limited opportunity for viewing, basically two half days, and thus it doesn't look like any potential purchaser will have the opportunity to see them out of the water or to check the thickness of the hulls, condition of stern gear, etc. So, if you bid on one you could be taking quite a chance, particularly as I don't see any mention of previous surveys being available (and even then, if they've been sat in salt water for a couple of years, the condition of the hull could have changed quite a bit). So, if €55,000 (about £47,500) is the going rate for an unconverted one sold in Belgium with (presumably) an out of the water survey and an acceptable hull thickness, what's the going rate for one in London but with a hull of unknown quality? More to the point, will placing five on the market at once drive the price down by flooding the market? edited to add: I also note that there's a 16% buyer's premium to be paid on top of the bid price.

I'll do a bit of asking around for you, but I know a lot of people locally use Kingsley Farrington. Having seen (but not yet surveyed) the boat in question, going by sea is not an option. Whilst the hull is of a design that has been fitted out for use at sea, the boat in question has been fitted out and equipped for use on inland waters and getting her fit for even a one-way trip by sea would take a lot of effort and expense.

If you're worried about the provenance of a survey, then when you take a deposit subject to survey, make it clear that you'll only accept a survey by a qualified surveyor who carries professional indemnity insurance and is a member of a recognised industry body (although these do seem to be springing up with alarming regularity - when I started training there were basically two in the small craft sector, IIMS and YDSA, with a few people members of IMarEST or RINA, now I can think of at least four more, all claiming to have been set up with the intention of improving standards). It's not unreasonable if there are issues raised which affect the price to ask who conducted the survey and to contact them directly for clarification (after all it's in their interests that their work is not misrepresented by a buyer).

I'm not sure whether it's worth replying here, but there's a few points that might be worth discussing for the benefit of others. 'Dealer prices' - if you sell your boat to a dealer for cash, then you almost certainly aren't going to get the same price you would if you sold it directly to another boater on the open market. That's because the dealer is going to have their cash tied up until they manage to sell the boat, and will have the responsibility to moor, insure and maintain the boat until they sell it. I'd expect that most dealers would offer 20-30% less than they thought they would get on the open market (which may not be what the seller thinks the open market value of their boat is). How exactly is a surveyor going to 'falsify' a survey report to reduce the value of a boat? A surveyor looks at the boat, and writes their observations in the report. If they're writing about problems that don't exist, then sooner or later they're going to be caught out. Of course it may be that a surveyor finds things that a seller isn't aware of, or views the seriousness of a particular problem differently to the seller, but isn't that why people pay them money to do their job? Whilst I have friends and acquaintances who own boatyards and act as brokers (it's difficult not to, when these are the people I meet on a day to day basis working as a surveyor), if they commission my services then they get exactly what everyone else gets, an honest report detailing my observations and considered opinions on the boat in question, with an honest valuation if required (which may or may not bear any relation to the asking price, depending on how realistic that is).

Now that's a proper little ship. When it comes to getting close to the bank, remember that she's got a round bilge and probably at least a shallow keel, so she'll only draw 5'6" along her centreline. If all else fails, she does come with a tender. Of course, I notice that the date on some of the external pictures ranges from 2006 to 2010, and there aren't any pictures of her out of the water at all. If her last survey was 2006, then most insurers would probably want a new one, particularly if she's going any distance offshore, and of course a pre-purchase survey would always be recommended.

From a BSS point of view, there is no check that prohibits the presence of a flueless water heater, though the ventilation requirements will be considerably larger than for one with a flue (2200 square mm per kilowatt of input rating rather than 440 square mm per kilowatt for an open flue and 0 for a balanced flue).

Ah, a proper gamer. All my kit's sat in boxes in the garage 'till my son and his mates are old enough for me to contemplate running a game of something for them, including my Call of Cthulhu dice set (black marbled with glow in the dark green numbers).

As has been mentioned, at your price range it should be possible to find a decent hull that hasn't been overplated and is thick enough not to require overplating now. Having said that, it may be that you find a boat that fits your needs in every other respect, but has been or needs overplating. I'd avoid any boat that's just had the thinnest patches overplated, for the reason you mention. Anything with patches on top of patches is an absolute no-go. If on the other hand it's had the whole bottom and/or the hull sides around the waterline done as whole sections, neatly, with decent welding, then it might be a decent job. Bear in mind that overplating can add significant weight to the hull and therefore lower the freeboard by several inches. If there are vents in the hull sides, they may need to be raised to compensate, and the gas locker vents might now be below the waterline (potentially a BSS fail if they're not large enough to have sufficient area above water). Having the hull blacked does not mean that the hull thickness has been checked, and as has been mentioned, a newly blacked hull on a boat up for sale, particularly at this end of the market, is something I'd view with suspicion (it may be that the seller has nothing to hide, but why would they spend several hundred quid on a boat they're trying to get rid of?) Lots of people talk a lot of crap about steel quality. Whilst there can be issues with the quality of modern steel produced primarily from recycled scrap, on an older boat the environment it's been kept in and the maintenance it's had over the lifetime of the boat will have much more of a bearing on it's current condition. If a seller lets you see a previous survey, by all means read it, but take anything it says with a large pinch of salt. Your only chance of comeback against a surveyor is if you've commissioned and paid for the survey yourself, and it's not unknown for unscrupulous sellers to doctor survey reports (or even write their own, if they're really dodgy). If they show you a survey and claim that all the recommendations have been carried out, ask to see the invoice(s). Actually, as a general rule, the more paperwork you can look at for a boat (bills of sale, invoices for work done, dry docks, old BSS certificates, etc) the better. If the boat was built after 1998, it should have a HIN/CIN aft on the starboard side (although location can vary somewhat from builder to builder). It should also have RCD paperwork (declaration of conformity and owner's manual), and a builder's plate indicating the maximum number of passengers and the intended area of operation. Before 1998 and it probably won't have any of this. As far as engines go, there's no substitute for a proper inspection by an experienced engineer. Before you get that far though, take a look in the engine bay - if it looks like the black hole of Calcutta, then chances are the owner doesn't go in there very often. On the other hand, if it looks like you could eat your dinner off the cylinder head, that's normally a good sign. Similarly, have a look at the electrical wiring (probably best not to touch, just in case) - Shelob's lair with added chocolate blocks is bad, neatly labelled with plenty of cable ties and crimped or soldered connections is good. The current BSS checks can be downloaded here, print them off and take them with you when you look at a boat, and see if you can spot anything that's obviously wrong. The link you posted is for a boat that's a little out of my normal patch, but if you find yourself looking for a surveyor for a boat a bit further East, then feel free to ask me to quote (I do BSS examinations too, but as I know you're going to live aboard I can't do a BSS unless there's a bubble tester in the gas locker, as I'm not Gas Safe registered). I hope that helps, good luck with your search.

It's perfectly possible to get a foam lifejacket (not buoyancy aid) in children's sizes, my son's got one (a Crewsaver, a make I'd definitely recommend based on experience).

By the look of the bows and stern, somebody seems to have copied the Springer look, at least above the waterline. I suppose it makes a change from washer joshers...

That's a difficult one. As a surveyor I tend to leave considerations of style or 'character' to the buyer or boat owner. They are after all the ones paying for and using the boat. In this case I certainly wouldn't suggest the replacement of a speed wheel and separate gear change with a Morse control, but if directly asked by the person commissioning the survey I'd have to cover it. I'd probably recommend discussing the matter with an engineer, and I may comment that it might adversely affect the value or desirability of the vessel.

True. I didn't write the check, I just have to perform it. For those purposes, I interpret the check to mean that a 380mm diameter circle perpendicular to the line of motion must be capable of passing through the hatch.

Providing that the outboard is secured to prevent any potential for damage to the gas bottles or associated pipework, regulator, etc, and it and any associated petrol containers don't obstruct the scuppers, then there's no problem with storing the outboard, petrol containers, and gas bottles in the same locker. Putting the batteries in there as well is likely to fail check 7.4.4 Is the cylinder locker clear of any items that could damage the LPG equipment or ignite leaked LPG? The batteries also require their ventilation to be at the highest point of the compartment, rather than the lowest point (as the risk is from hydrogen, which is lighter than air, rather than LPG or petrol vapour, both of which are heavier than air). The list of examiners who say they cover Humberside can be found here, I don't really know any of them well enough to make a recommendation, unfortunately.

In a word, no. The check in question is 5.4.2, and you've correctly interpreted it to mean that a stored outboard engine with an integral fuel tank must be stored in such a way as to ensure that leaking petrol or petrol vapour is directed overboard. The requirements for a locker are similar to a gas locker, and given your proposed storage arrangements, I'd note the text of check 5.4.2 which specifically states that the locker may not open into the engine space. The other alternative is to store it on deck somewhere, in a position where any petrol vapour will not be able to get inside the boat. Whilst the wording of the check does state clearly that if an outboard engine is in use or otherwise not stored at the time of examination, it must be recorded as being compliant, I would also draw your attention to the conditions of your license or toll, which will require you to maintain your boat to the standards of the BSS in between examinations. A 380mm circular hatch would also not comply, due to insufficient area. I would guess that the requirements to pass a 380mm circle is there to prevent somebody attempting to get around the requirements by using a wide, thin hatch of sufficient area but that did not allow the average person to climb through.

As far as the escape hatch goes, I don't think there's much that needs clarifying, the second means of escape must have an area of at least 0.18 square metres and accommodate a 380mm diameter circle. Yours has an area of 0.126 square metres and will not accommodate a 380mm diameter circle, so it's going to fail check 6.3.1. This is an advisory check (assuming we're talking about a boat being checked to the 2013 standards, so not a hire boat, managed share boat, or one used for a business where members of the public will be permitted to board), so failure will not prevent you from getting a BSS certificate. Having said that, I know I couldn't fit through at hatch that size, so if you do want to replace it with one large enough to be useful, it sounds like now would be the time to do it. What other issues are you concerned about? Unfortunately, Goole is a bit far for me to go just for a BSS, I'd have to charge too much for travel expenses to be competitive.

GRP sheathing of wooden boats - it can be done, but there's a right way and a lot of wrong ways, and far more people have got it wrong than have got it right. Most of the time, if somebody's taken an old wooden boat of traditional construction and slapped on a layer or two of GRP using glass cloth and polyester resin, it's because there are problems with the underlying structure (rot, loose or corroded fasteners, etc) and they want to eke out a bit more life from the hull without doing the major repairs that are probably required. Polyester is not a glue, and doesn't stick well to wood (or indeed anything really, even cured polyester). So, in use it's relatively easy for water to get between the wood and the GRP, where it can sit and rot the wooden part, and you won't know until the rot is so advanced that the wood is almost falling apart. Personally, I would avoid a wooden boat sheathed in GRP in most circumstances, and in any circumstances if the sheathing was with polyester resin ripping it all off (it won't be that hard) would be my first job. Where is this boat, is there a link to an advert? (PM me if you don't want to put it on the open forum for some reason). Ordinarily, I would be suggesting a survey (although I am a little biased, being a surveyor), but unless she's a particularly good boat, a survey might well be a waste of money as you'd almost certainly be better off finding one that hadn't been sheathed.

It is possible to make a folding, sliding, or even (if appropriate) fixed canopy to replace the canvas, but it's not an easy job to design one that looks good and works properly. I know quite a few owners of wooden Broads cruisers, and one thing they all have in common is that they give their boats plenty of regular preventative maintenance, either DIY or by paying suitably qualified and experienced boatbuilders (who're fairly common in this part of the world, but possibly not so easy to come by in London). Personally, I wouldn't recommend a wooden cruiser as a liveaboard unless you have loads of money, are experienced at looking after wooden boats, or fancy an incredibly steep learning curve and have somebody to learn from. There are plenty of Broads cruisers with GRP hull and wooden top if you like the look but want something that's easier to maintain and more tolerant of a novice owner.

a long time ago, in a city far, far away, I used to be a pharmacy technician (don't ask how I ended up as a marine surveyor and BSS examiner, it's a long, long story). Whilst you'd definitely want to check the specific formulation of insulin you use, IIRC most if not all insulin was fine for up to a month at room temperature. Keeping it refrigerated vastly increases the shelf life (to a couple of years), but it doesn't suddenly become unusable just because it's got above 8 degrees C for a few hours. If you want to check, the data sheet that should be supplied with your insulin will probably tell you, but if it doesn't or isn't clear, ask your pharmacist, and if they're not sure, ask them to check with their local drug information service. If you do store more than a month's supply, then obviously that needs to be refrigerated, and a 3-way fridge isn't a bad idea for reliability. It's not going to be draining your batteries if it's running on gas, and the option to run it on 12V from batteries or 240V from shore power or a generator should mean that you can keep it running reliably. If you do go for a gas fridge, then it needs to be suitable for use on boats, and to comply with the BSS it needs to have a flame failure device on the burner (check 8.7.1), I'd also draw your attention to the ventilation requirements (check 8.9.1) and the requirements for flues (checks 8.10.1 and 8.10.2). If you want to store petrol and/or a petrol generator with an integral fuel tank on board, then there are BSS requirements (checks 5.3.1-3 and 5.4.2), these are basically the same as the requirements for gas lockers. Where I've mentioned BSS checks, these are the ones I think are most relevant, but others do apply. I'd strongly recommend reading all of parts 5, 7, and 8 before you come to a final decision on what to do (in fact if you're planning to do any significant work on the boat it's probably best to familiarise yourself with all the current BSS checks, although you can probably skip section 4 (electrically propelled vessels)). Since you're planning to live on board the gas system comes within the scope of GSIUR, and therefore all work on it will need to be done by somebody who's Gas Safe registered.

As far as I'm aware, each navigation authority decides for themselves which boats require a Boat Safety Scheme certificate. Best thing would be to check with the navigation authority in question if there is any doubt.

Possibly. I'm still not the cheapest BSS examiner on the Broads.