QUESTION 7 How important is it for a marine surveyor to be a member of a professional body such as IIMS and what part should such an organisation play in today’s modern world?


To answer the first part of the question: Very important indeed. Practising surveyors should be encouraged to attend the various training events and strive to move up the membership scale. They should also be encouraged to write articles for The Report and to share their knowledge with others. They should be very proud of being an important part of the engineering profession.


The second part is more difficult to answer. I think that one of the things that should be considered is that organisations such as IIMS bring to the attention of the public at large and, perhaps more importantly, the Members of Parliament and Government, the importance of the various branches of the engineering professions, especially marine surveying.


QUESTION 8 Given your extensive experience, what are the three best bits of advice you can pass directly on to the current generation of surveyors and those just making their way in this game?


Whenever you leave a job to go home ask yourself “What have I learned today?” and answer it honestly.


Learn as much as you can about the material from which the boat is built.


If it is wood, start learning


about timber from the moment the seed that yields the tree falls into the ground. Similarly, for frp, steel and ferro-cement. You should be able to identify quite accurately


whether a boat is built of iron or steel manufactured by a particular method by the grinding method. That knowledge helps not only to know where to look for defects in a structure but also to know WHY they are there.


Build yourself a good library of reference books and technical papers on all types of boats, boatbuilding practices and materials, and do not scorn it because the book was published before you were born. I learned why steel made in a Bessemer converter is not allowed in sea going classed ships from a book that was published when my mother was just eight years old!


108 | The Report • September 2020 • Issue 93


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