After the initial "I want to buy this boat", how long do I have to arrange the pre-purchase survey?

[Ancisace]

I'm currently in the process of looking for a boat to buy. Assuming I've had a look around and agreed in principle to buy one, how long do I have to find and arrange a survey? In an ideal world I would have sounded out a few surveyors in advance, but I don't really know when or where I'll start the process yet so it seems difficult to pre-arrange anything.

 

Additionally, someone showing me their vote mentioned that it was VERY difficult to find a marina with capacity for out-of-water surveys at the moment - "everyone's booked up until September at the earliest". Is that the case? If so, would an in-water survey be enough to be reasonably confident in what I was buying?

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Ancisace said:

I'm currently in the process of looking for a boat to buy. Assuming I've had a look around and agreed in principle to buy one, how long do I have to find and arrange a survey? In an ideal world I would have sounded out a few surveyors in advance, but I don't really know when or where I'll start the process yet so it seems difficult to pre-arrange anything.

 

Additionally, someone showing me their vote mentioned that it was VERY difficult to find a marina with capacity for out-of-water surveys at the moment - "everyone's booked up until September at the earliest". Is that the case? If so, would an in-water survey be enough to be reasonably confident in what I was buying?

 

You cant have the hull properly surveyed with the boat in the water.

 

Thats the only thing I personally would have surveyed.

[Alan de Enfield]

The acceptable time period will be whatever your 'seller' will accept.

 

In these times of a 'sellers paradise' it is not unknown for a buyer to agree to the purchase, arrange a surveyor for (say) 2 months hence and then for the seller to get an offer "for a quick purchase and no survey" and the boat is sold to them.

 

The major component to a steel boat is the condition of the hull - this cannot be measured properly in the water so it is entirely down to  your own comfort levels - have a 'proper out of the water survey' or have no survey at all.

 

What sort of budget are you talking about ?

 

Anything less than £40,000 is quite likely to need work and I'd recommend a full survey, above £80,000 and you'd hope for a newer boat with less issues. Anything in between is a risk that only you can decide to take, or not,

[Tracy D'arth]

Buying an expensive boat or a cheap old boat?

You will miss buying if you wait, there are people buying as seen without survey for a price reduction at the moment. You stand to get gazumped.

 

If buying old and cheap, get someone who has some experience to have a look and only spend what you can afford to lose in a year or so if it turns out to be almost sinking.

 

Buying an expensive boat say over £40K then get it surveyed but remember that there are so many get-outs in a survey report that it is worthless as a means of getting compensation if you buy a pup.

[mrsmelly]

My last boat I first saw at 11 am. I paid fully for it at 1120am. It was a great boat, another forum member bought it from me last year and loves it, still a great boat. Buying anything has an element of risk thats personal to each of us. I bought this house last year, put an offer in less than half an hour after first seeing it, no survey, its a great house. I have saved many many thousnads of pounds by not having surveys ever. These days its deffo snooze and you lose. Property and boats are selling same day they go up, unless they are dogs.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

My last boat I first saw at 11 am. I paid fully for it at 1120am. It was a great boat, another forum member bought it from me last year and loves it, still a great boat. Buying anything has an element of risk thats personal to each of us. I bought this house last year, put an offer in less than half an hour after first seeing it, no survey, its a great house. I have saved many many thousnads of pounds by not having surveys ever. These days its deffo snooze and you lose. Property and boats are selling same day they go up, unless they are dogs.

 

Dogs are selling quickly too......

[mrsmelly]

1 minute ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Dogs are selling quickly too......

And motorhomes.

[OldGoat]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

My last boat I first saw at 11 am. I paid fully for it at 1120am. It was a great boat, another forum member bought it from me last year and loves it, still a great boat. Buying anything has an element of risk thats personal to each of us. I bought this house last year, put an offer in less than half an hour after first seeing it, no survey, its a great house. I have saved many many thousnads of pounds by not having surveys ever. These days its deffo snooze and you lose. Property and boats are selling same day they go up, unless they are dogs.

Wot he says above. It's difficult to insure your own competance and though difficult to say - you must be prepared to take a hit - espicially in areas of which you have no knowledge.

Easy - to some extent if buying a car as there is some safety (!) in buying a car  - MOT, or a house. But a boat is a can of worms.

I'm selling at the moment and an getting frustrated because I don't know what buyers want (nor do they...)  thus I can't say why my boat is better than the rest ? what is better?

Its full of the best 'technology' - but what sells is painted white with no built in furnitire, so nobody come to look...

Bummer

 

[Ancisace]

That all makes sense. Thanks for the advice. Sadly don't have a convenient grown-up I can drag along with me so keep an eye out for amputee bunny rabbits cause I'll need all the luck I can get, I suppose.

[enigmatic]

1 hour ago, Ancisace said:

That all makes sense. Thanks for the advice. Sadly don't have a convenient grown-up I can drag along with me so keep an eye out for amputee bunny rabbits cause I'll need all the luck I can get, I suppose.

It should be pointed out that typical process when buying from a broker (i) expects a survey (ii) expects you to pay a deposit "subject to survey" to take the boat off the market and (iii) after you've given them some money, won't be that fussy how long it takes for you to find a surveyor (though since they'll tell you when their dry dock or crane facilities are available and give you a list of surveyors in their area, it shouldn't actually take that long)

 

If you're buying from a private vendor they may or may not be sympathetic to the fact you've also potentially got to figure out where the survey gets done as well as find the surveyor which will take long, may or may not also want a deposit, may or may not be bothered that you can't book anywhere immediately and may or may not want to avoid a survey altogether (for good reasons or bad). Really depends on how rushed and fussy they are, and whether you're giving them a good price and possibly even a deposit

[MtB]

4 hours ago, Ancisace said:

Assuming I've had a look around and agreed in principle to buy one, how long do I have to find and arrange a survey?

 

 

I'd say the more you are over-paying for the boat, the longer the seller is likely to be willing to wait while you find a surveyor, book a survey slot etc etc. 

 

Any boat that looks sensibly priced seems to sell with no survey. Similarly with houses. Yes a survey will often throw up all the trivial faults that can be used to negotiate the price of a house or a boat down, but houses falling down and boats sinking from serious, fundamental faults are both incredibly rare events.

 

SO in summary in the current climate a buyer either buys a sensibly-priced boat (or house) 'as seen', or pays enough over the odds for it to be worth the seller waiting for the buyer to finish faffing about getting a survey done.

 

[LadyG]

You can't really be sure, if it is a private sale then they may have a deadline for your cash, or they don't want hassle of negotiating after survey. Each transaction is unique.

It should not be too difficult to find a yard which has a crane booked. The surveyor may or may not be proficient. 

The hull condition is the main reason for surveying, it has to be out of water and he has to be qualified and have a pro quality ultrasound gadget. A hammer may well be employed.

If handing over a deposit subject to survey read the contract. You may not be able to negotiate, or get your money back. They wrote the contract to benefit the vendor or broker.

Edited May 26, 2022 by LadyG

[Murflynn]

12 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Dogs are selling quickly too......

 these days the "owners" like to sell them on quickly before the dog police can catch up with them.  

[Arthur Marshall]

15 hours ago, Ancisace said:

That all makes sense. Thanks for the advice. Sadly don't have a convenient grown-up I can drag along with me so keep an eye out for amputee bunny rabbits cause I'll need all the luck I can get, I suppose.

I'd find one. Join the local canal or river society and get to know the members. Most owners like talking about boats and you should be able to find at least one willing to come and hit a hull with a hammer for you. Walk the towpath and talk to boaters. Go and look at boats you know you don't want to get the hang of what you do.

Everyone I talk to, who knows I have a boat, tells me of a friend who lives on one, or has restored one - check your friends. An expert, experienced boater is,  in my opinion, worth ten surveyors.

[sigsegv]

For an anecdotal point of data, my wife and I just put in an offer for a boat and our terms of purchase/sale gives us 28 days from laying down the initial 10% deposit to get the survey etc done. Now, I'm sure that's just their bog standard template but it's also from a broker that operate out of a marina with a crane, so you're a bit less pressed for time if you can find a surveyor available. As it happened we only went with an in-water survey, as we have the results of the hull survey from only a year ago (sept 2021 to be accurate).

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, sigsegv said:

For an anecdotal point of data, my wife and I just put in an offer for a boat and our terms of purchase/sale gives us 28 days from laying down the initial 10% deposit to get the survey etc done. Now, I'm sure that's just their bog standard template but it's also from a broker that operate out of a marina with a crane, so you're a bit less pressed for time if you can find a surveyor available. As it happened we only went with an in-water survey, as we have the results of the hull survey from only a year ago (sept 2021 to be accurate).

 

Thanks for the report!

 

Buying a boat moored in a marina with docking facilities is a totally different kettle of fish from buying privately on ApolloDuck. In the marina, the staff there have an interest in getting the sale done and the facilities to get the boat out. With the private sale it could be a day's cruise (or a lot more) to the nearest yard for docking, and who is gonna do that? The seller is unlikely to want to spend several days of his or her time taking the boat there and perhaps back, but nor are they likely to want to hand the boat over to the potential buyer to make the trip. 

 

Net result of this is buyers who are determined to get a full survey are sort of locked into buying from a marina with a broker. I never see this explained on threads discussing whether or not to get a survey. 

 

 

[pearley]

6 hours ago, sigsegv said:

For an anecdotal point of data, my wife and I just put in an offer for a boat and our terms of purchase/sale gives us 28 days from laying down the initial 10% deposit to get the survey etc done. Now, I'm sure that's just their bog standard template but it's also from a broker that operate out of a marina with a crane, so you're a bit less pressed for time if you can find a surveyor available. As it happened we only went with an in-water survey, as we have the results of the hull survey from only a year ago (sept 2021 to be accurate).

We knew we were putting our boat on brokerage as soon as the new wide beam was ready. It was due for blacking in October 2020 so we had a Hull survey done at the same time. 

It was delivered to the broker at the beginning of June last year and was sold and the money in our bank in 10 days. The buyer had an in-water survey in that time.