Q. What are the most significant and critical changes you have witnessed during your time in the surveying profession?


A. The change from wood construction to fibreglass was not too swift so most of us had ample time to adapt. As so often we “learned on the job” and helped each other. Now there is a shortage of surveyors who really know wood problems and how to survey wooden craft. The increase in electronics has made difficulties partly because sea-water and electricity do not mix. I am slow to state in a survey report that all the electronic “toys” are in good working order - they may be on Monday, but not by the next Thursday.


There are now more types of boats, such as 40 knot RIBS for instance. This means there are more chances and opportunities for a surveyor to specialise and make an income.


Q. I read somewhere that you have completed 10,000 surveys and then at that point stopped counting. Can you give a couple of examples of some of the most challenging or troublesome surveys you have undertaken?


A. I was inspecting a 60 foot [18 metre] wood yacht and my secretary had booked me on a non-refundable flight. As soon as I started work I realised that I was either going to have to skimp the job, or miss the flight and lose the cost. By luck [an essential requirement for all surveyors] I found so much rot in the


which is now in its 7th edition. Every surveyor needs this book because it has masses of technical information. For instance most yachts have inadequate ground tackle, but this book has all the information needed in that and many other fields including rigging, winches, seacocks, fastenings and so on.


boat I was able to phone the buyer and tell him the vast cost of the needed repairs. He said to forget that boat, and I offered to survey a second one for a modest discount, as he had wasted the money looking at the current one. So I made it to the booked flight, and got a second [slightly less profitable] survey as well. But I never now book a fixed return flight. On another occasion I was surveying a catamaran when I realised it was impossible to see the structural parts joining the hulls to the bridge-deck. The report was going to be an inadequate document. Then by a great stroke of luck I had a chance to sail the vessel, and found she was virtually unsteerable as the rudders were so tiny, and so lacking in depth. One does need a guardian angel who is always wide awake. He [she?] is called “Attention-to-detail”!


Q. You are acknowledged as something of a prolific writer on the topic of marine surveying, having had many books published over the years. What first drew you to writing and which book has given you the most pleasure to publish?


A. When I was apprenticed my starting wages were £1.25 A WEEK! Even allowing for inflation that was too little, so I started writing for the technical magazines to supplement my income and still do. I have my own column in “WATER CRAFT” which covers design and survey problems. My best book is “BOAT DATA BOOK”,


Q. I am always impressed when I see your hand drawn sketches that are a feature of your publications. Were you a natural artist and do you put your artistic skills to other uses for pleasure at all?


A. I am not a natural artist but during the Second World War, when I was at school, in between lessons there was plenty of time for sketching as there were no TVs and no computers and so on. Also when in the air raid shelters waiting for the German bombers to go home or get shot down, I drew boats and fittings a lot. I use my sketches for my lectures and when I retire - any decade now - I plan to take up painting, partly because so few artists can do a good job illustrating boats!


Q. It was a delight to see your son collect a well-deserved award on your behalf last year at the IIMS Awards for Excellence at the Silver Jubilee conference in London. How did the accolade and public recognition make you feel?


A. It was a delicious feeling after working 71 years in the industry. I thought back to some of the occasions when I have been doing an outside survey in mid-winter with driving sleet wetting the notepad and melting snow sneaking down my neck with the coffee flask empty and home 6 hours driving time away in the dark. Surveying in the Med or Caribbean is OK for softies, though there is a good chance of getting sunburn. But in Britain, we must make sure that delicate people stay out of the profession.


The Report • September 2017 • Issue 81 | 81


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