A marine survey is an independent inspection of a boat by a marine surveyor, who writes a report on its condition and usually its value. BoatUS calls it the boat version of a home inspection and appraisal. Buyers order one before they pay, and insurers and lenders ask for one before they cover or finance a boat.
What a marine survey includes
A full pre-purchase survey has three parts. BoatUS lists them as an in-the-water survey, a haul-out for the out-of-the-water survey, and a trial run. The late surveyor David Pascoe described the same three: the static inspection afloat, the haul-out to inspect the underbody, and the sea trial.
Afloat. The surveyor works through the boat system by system:
- hull, deck and structure, with a moisture meter and a sounding hammer;
- through-hulls and seacocks, steering, bilge pumps;
- electrical systems, AC and DC, batteries and charging;
- fuel, gas and exhaust systems;
- rig and sails on a sailing yacht;
- safety equipment against the rules that apply to the boat.
Out of the water. The hull below the waterline, keel and keel bolts, rudder, running gear, anodes and antifouling. See the out of water survey report template for how that part is written up.
Under way. The engines run under load, steering and controls work, nothing overheats, nothing leaks. Pascoe's sea trials ran at least an hour, longer for larger yachts.
The report. Each finding with its location and a recommendation, graded by urgency, and usually a market value. BoatUS says a typical pre-purchase report may run to 30 pages. Our guide to the marine survey report goes through it section by section, and the yacht survey checklist lists what gets inspected.
Engines get a look in every survey, but a detailed engine survey is usually a separate job. See the marine engine survey guide.
The main types of marine survey
Discover Boating, run by the US boat builders' association, lists five:
| Type | Who orders it | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Condition and value (C&V) | A buyer of a used boat | The whole boat and its propulsion. The most common survey |
| Insurance C&V | An owner, for the insurer | Less comprehensive, a list of specific items the insurer cares about |
| Appraisal | Courts, executors, lenders | The value. Usually for divorce or estate settlements |
| Damage | Owner, insurer or claims adjuster | What happened, how bad it is and what the repair costs |
| New yacht | A buyer of a new boat | Build quality and the builder's list of faults to fix |
More on each: pre-purchase survey, condition and valuation survey, boat insurance survey, and the damage survey report template.
How long a marine survey takes
Discover Boating puts it at anywhere from a couple of hours for a small boat to a couple of days for a large yacht. BoatUS expects a long day for a pre-purchase survey, and a small outboard powerboat to take about half the time. Pascoe booked an entire day for every survey, even on a 24 footer, because nobody knows how long it will take until the boat is opened up.
The report comes after. BoatUS says writing it takes three to four days. That gap is why buyers' contracts set a deadline for accepting the survey.
What a marine survey costs
Discover Boating suggests planning on around $20 to $25 per foot of boat, with a minimum charge on small boats. On top of that come the haul-out, which the buyer usually pays the yard for, and any specialists. BoatUS puts an engine survey at about $500 per engine and a rigging survey at $400 to $600, and says a day with every survey type can reach $3,000.
The boat survey cost guide breaks the fee down, and the survey quote calculator works one out by length.
Who does the survey
A marine surveyor, independent of the sale. BoatUS is blunt about who they answer to: the surveyor works for you alone, independent of the seller, the broker and your lender. Discover Boating recommends a member of NAMS or SAMS, the two US surveyor associations, and BoatUS notes that some insurers only accept one or the other. In the UK, Yachting Monthly notes that insurers may expect YDSA or IIMS membership.
Is a boat survey worth it?
On a used boat, almost always. Discover Boating notes that many lenders won't finance a used boat that hasn't been surveyed, and many insurers won't insure one. The survey also pays for itself if it finds one wet deck, a set of tired keel bolts, a seized seacock or failed engine mounts: each of those is a figure you can take off the price. The findings library gives repair cost ranges for the defects surveys find most.
A survey describes the boat on one day. It doesn't guarantee what happens next, and it can't see inside sealed structure. Read the scope section of the report to see what was and wasn't inspected.
For surveyors: the day on board is the short part
If three to four days of report writing follow every survey day, the report is where your week goes. Axsail lets you talk through the boat as you survey it, places your photos on the findings they show, and drafts the report in your own format before you're back on the dock. See how it works, or read how voice to text works on a survey.