[Public-List] Surveying older boats? Determining if they are seaworthy...

[Gordon Laco]

Hello Randy - 

When you say ‘inspector’, I assume you mean ‘yacht surveyor’.  The reason a surveyor experienced with older yachts is important, is that such a professional is more likely to understand what is normal.

What you don’t want is someone who inspects cars and motorboats for insurance companies, who does not understand what normal is for a yacht built in the 1960’s or 70’s.

I had a so-called inspector examine my wooden yacht once… he applied a moisture meter to the planking and pronounced her ‘rotten through and through’.   Well the truth is that after months afloat, she certainly did absorb about a fifth of a ton of water, but that’s normal for a plank on frame wooden yacht.  Moisture in the bottom planking of a wooden yacht is normal and good.  He didn’t know that.

Similarly, I had an episode with TD Insurance regarding my 1978 MGB sports car.   They quite reasonably requested a survey of the car in relation to the renewal of the policy.   The accredited car inspector did the job and filed his report.  The problem that developed from that was not the surveyors fault, it was idiots at TD.   

They rejected the report.  After days of emails to and fro, it transpired that the report was on legal sized paper, and someone there had copied it on letter sized paper, thereby losing the bottom of every page, including the signatures.

Once we got that resolved, there were more problems.  Finally I got to the root of the matter.  I was told by a rather arrogant person on the phone that the survey report made no mention of the condition of ‘rear doors, rear upholstery and rear side windows’ and was therefore incomplete.

I asked the person to look at photos of the car… it is a two door, two seat car…. there are no rear doors, no rear side windows, no rear upholstery to report.   This threw them into a spin of confusion that I eventually resolved by cancelling the policy myself and moving to Hagerty.    

So… imagine my delight when every year or so I get a call from TD, who still insure my ’normal’ car, who ask what they can do to get my business back for the MG.   I can visualize the phone centre caller recoiling as the tale unfolds… but I make him/her hear it…  haha   Funny now, not so funny then.

So, that’s why it’s important to deal with a surveyor AND and insurance company who understands what they’re dealing with.

Gordon Laco
www.gordonlaco.com
#426 Surprise



> On Aug 28, 2020, at 10:53 AM, Randy Katz via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> Greetings, Fellow A-30 Owners,
> 
> I've written recently because an interested party is having an
> insurance person inspect the bottom of my 1967 A-30 next Wednesday to
> determine if it's insurable. If not, no sale.
> 
> Someone during the insurance discussion mentioned being sure the inspector
> has experience with older boats. What about that? What difference, I
> wonder, would one allow for a boat being older?
> 
> I know of two methods of hull assessment. One is tapping the entire surface
> with a plastic hammer to listen to the sound and being sure there are no
> "soft spots." The other method could be the dreaded moisture meter, which
> seems to offer wildly varying outcomes depending on the type of instrument
> and experience of the user.
> 
> While the boat had around 10 blisters 20 years ago, since ground out and
> epoxied, I know the hull to be sound and the survey back then confirmed it.
> I guess no one knows this for sure, but what will be the ultimate fate of
> 50+ yr. old fiberglass? Does it eventually develop soft spots & at some
> point fail? Does that make it wise to check each year in order to avoid
> surprises? Or does the stuff simply last and last and last?
> 
> Alberg owners, who possess some of the oldest fiberglass hulls around, are
> among the pioneers with regard to this experience. I suppose some of us
> will be around to witness and learn from the final outcome.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Randy Katz
> #249 Simple Gifts
> Bellingham/Seattle
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