Pre-survey boat inspection poll

Recently I inspected a boat for a fellow forum member. I was glad to do it and it got me thinking about the feasibility of offering this service outside of this forum. The idea is provide more info than a broker might post on YW including things a broker may choose not to post. It would give the prospective buyer a better idea of weather or not to consider a boat that is not local to him/her. Not too much detail like a survey may provide but enough to decide to move forward with a full survey.

The inspection would include the following:

- Drive up rating
- Complete set of hi res(12mp) photos
- Areas of concern
- General state of maintenance
- Deal killers
- Approximate value of boat
- Anything else you can think of?

Please answer the poll so I can gauge possible demand. When answering consider the cost of travel to inspect a boat yourself. Personally I have wasted quite a bit because of inaccurate listings.

BTW, poll is confidential.

Thanks

Great idea,

What about those of us who don't live on the coast?

Perhaps a list including photos what it should look like.

Perhaps people could send in photos of their boat and the photo could be evaluated? Sort of a VR survey.

Enjoy your web site, check it often for new information. Really appreciate your analytical approach.

I am restoring e35II. I use your photo for my desktop...keeps me going.

If you have ever thought of changing colors, here is is in Scupper's blue.

ml

Thanks Dog.

Nice photoshop work. That is an old photo. It still has the prior name from 2006.

inspection poll

Its a good idea, I actually did this a couple of months ago for a guy named Marshall on this site who was looking at an E23 in San Diego, Altho I dont think he bought the boat (he had his own logistics issues) It was in much better shape than what I was expecting to see It did have issues, and I was able to give him an Idea of how much it would cost to fix them and what priority should be given to each. I didnt take any pictures though and I did not charge him for my time (other than the 25$ he paid my diver to look at the bottom)

The problems come in when you start talking about money, both in charging for the service itself and in estimating market values and repair/service costs. Once you charge a fee then you are basically a surveyor, even if its a cursory "should I travel to see/invest my time? survey or a full blown condition/valuation survey. Its a survey. Lots of legal disclaimers if you are going to charge money. As a favor for a friend its another story. Hell the list I gave Marshall probably put him in sticker shock, especially if he took it over to West Marine

John

Interesting idea. In fact, Loren once mentioned to me that if Chicago were a bit closer to the Twin Cities he would have liked to have arranged some way for me to travel there to evaluate a 38 that he was interested in. In his situation I certainly would have been willing to pay someone with experience and no vested interest to take a look before the cost of travel or a survey. I would think the price would have to reflect the amount of travel required.

Seems to me this could soon be as much as a survey, if travel is involved. locally it seems a great idea. The bigger the boat The better the idea, more cost effective. for small boats like mine E27 the survey was $500.
priceing is the key.

This sounds like a good idea. It absolutly never hurts to have all the information possible when making any investment. It also can save money and time on more in depth surveys if a "deal breaker" or other issue is found early. I would take steps to protect myself from legal tangles that can happen if you being paid for a service.
Good luck!
Frank
E28 "Valinor"