A recommendation is the part of a survey report that someone acts on. The buyer prices it from the report, and the insurer may make it a condition of cover. The NAMS guidelines for writing yacht survey reports put the aim simply: each finding and recommendation should stand on its own without begging further questions.
What a recommendation must say
NAMS describes a substantive recommendation as one that describes the problem, suggests the potential hazard if it isn't corrected, and recommends a means of correction. All three, every time.
| Weak | Usable |
|---|---|
| Hose clamps not to ABYC standard. | Engine raw water intake, below the waterline: single hose clamp on the hose to the seacock tail, band corroded. A clamp failure here lets the hose slip off and floods the engine room at the full bore of the fitting. Replace with two all-stainless clamps before the boat is next used. Grade A. |
The usable version gives the owner a job and a deadline, and gives the underwriter the reason it matters.
Put the standard in context
NAMS warns that canned comments and recommendations copied from standards may not explain enough to the lay reader, and that a good report presents the standard and then discusses what it means. Its own example: noting that a boat carries eight lifejackets says little. If half are Type III and the boat is a sailboat bound offshore, the boat is underequipped, and that's the recommendation.
The same goes for what's missing. NAMS asks surveyors to consider what isn't on the boat and should be, such as a liferaft, AIS or an EPIRB on a boat intended for passage making. See the standards library for the rules surveyors cite most.
Recommendations become policy conditions
Insurers read the recommendations section closely, and some write it into the policy:
- GJW Direct requires surveyor recommendations to be carried out in the timescales given, and ongoing recommendations to be complied with for the whole period of insurance.
- Craftinsure requires a survey with all recommendations complied with.
- Jackline (Gowrie Group, for Markel) lists a detailed section of recommendations affecting safety and seaworthiness among its report standards, and asks rigging reports to say what remedy is recommended, such as monitor, service or replace.
So write each recommendation as something an owner can complete and prove: a clear action and a clear deadline.
Give each one a priority
A priority tells the owner what comes first and the underwriter what affects the risk. Many surveyors use three grades. The scale Axsail uses is:
| Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A | Safety or seaworthiness. Before the boat is next used |
| B | Within about 12 months, or before the next haul-out or long passage |
| C | Routine maintenance or an improvement, at the owner's convenience |
Whatever scale you use, define it in the report and apply it the same way every time. The findings library shows graded example write-ups for more than 70 common defects.
Urgent findings don't wait for the report
NAMS advises an emergency notification to the owner and anyone who can take immediate action, such as a repairer or the marina, for any condition that could lead to personal injury, sinking, dismasting, fire or explosion. For an underwriting inspection that finds the boat unseaworthy, it recommends a bold statement that the vessel be placed on port risk.
NAMS is also clear on the limit: an underwriting inspection never comments on whether the boat is a good risk. That decision belongs to the underwriter.
On board, while it's in front of you
The easiest recommendation to write well is one you dictate at the defect, with the location and the reading in front of you. With Axsail each finding gets its recommendation and a suggested grade as you speak, and the phone asks for the reading or location you left out. See also the marine survey report guide for the rest of the report.