By the late ‘70s and early ‘80s the industry (led by the mortgage and insurance companies) realized that being proactive with self- regulation would be good for the industry as a whole. There are now two major marine surveyor organizations in America that are both outstanding in their dedication and professionalism.


SAMS: Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors, founded in 1987 with its Accredited Marine Surveyor (AMS) designation to provide credentials to surveyors, and NAMS: National Association of Marine Surveyors introducing its Certified Marine Surveyor (CMS) designation in 1980. Since then, the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) was born in 1991 and has emerged as the leading worldwide professional body dedicated to excellence in marine surveying and offering professional qualifications to new surveyors. Additionally, it assesses each membership application intensely and wants to see objective evidence provided by the applicant of their skills and experience.


Though these professionals endeavour to uncover everything they can about the vessel being surveyed, there are things that just cannot be found in one day at the dock and a brief sea trial.


Marine surveys are a snapshot in time. They document the condition of the vessel AT THAT MOMENT. As one instructor at survey school noted “water is always working”. If the broker of the boat you are buying says “you don’t need a survey, the seller just had one done six months ago and you can read that,” smile politely and go have a survey done that will reflect the condition of the vessel AT THAT MOMENT.


We frequently find ourselves in the unique position of surveying a vessel, and then a short time later getting back aboard with the new owners


68 | ISSUE 107 | MAR 2024 | THE REPORT


for training, often while voyaging on the vessel to her new home. This certainly helps keep us focused on our surveying skills since we know any issues that we may have missed on the survey are likely to show themselves while we’re aboard, which at the least would be embarrassing. It also has provided us with an insight into those things that just cannot be found on a survey due to its brevity and nature.


Note that marine surveyors are precluded from certain action, due to the extreme liability and lawsuit potentials. As an example, here is some of the standard boiler plate wording you will find in most professional surveys: “This vessel was surveyed without removal of any parts, including fittings, tacked carpet, screwed or nailed boards, anchors and chain, fixed partitions, instruments, clothing, spare parts and miscellaneous materials in the bilges and lockers, or other fixed or semi- fixed items.”


When you buy your dream boat and have that “Best Surveyor in the World” examine her for you, be prepared to uncover a whole new set of problems once you start using the vessel. Here are some of the top examples that we have found. Note: Our focus is sailboats, so all of the examples are from sailing vessels between 30’ and 65’ long.


Fuel gauges: The Sea trial on a survey cannot run the vessel long enough to see if the fuel gauge moves. Also, very few fuel tanks have access ports on them, so it is unlikely the surveyor will be able to tell how much fuel is actually in the tank. At least half the newly purchased boats we get on for training have a fuel gauge that showed a reading when powered on but didn’t move when motoring a long distance. In almost all cases it was a simple fix of removing the float sensor from the tank, cleaning it and replacing it. Sometimes the gauge will move, but the reading is way off. On one particular boat we surveyed the Aux Fuel tank gauge showed empty, and the seller told us it was empty. A week later getting ready to go voyaging we went to fill the 18gl tank and it overflowed after only 7gl going in, surprise! When fuelling up for the first time on a boat new to you, always keep a pile of diesel absorbing pads handy.


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