survey technology

[swift1894]

Is it true that surveyors no longer need to grind off hull coating to get down to bare metal, in order to carry out hull thickness?

[Sea Dog]

It is if they invest in a meter capable of resolving thickness of the coating. These are available, but not all surveyors have them, hence the practice of removing "tickets" of antifouling/blacking.

[stegra]

I've never understood why they don't measure the thickness with the coating in place then use a paint thickness gauge and deduct the difference. Am I missing something? 

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, stegra said:

I've never understood why they don't measure the thickness with the coating in place then use a paint thickness gauge and deduct the difference. Am I missing something? 

Yep - incentive. Why bother when you can use a relatively cheap meter and scrape some blacking off (or, worse still, 2-pack epoxy)?  Personally, I'd look for a surveyor who has bought himself a decent meter so won't need to scrape off any "tickets".