[csloseago]

I have more questions than answers to your thread on marine surveys. I need the advice of some knowledgeable sailors!

A young friend of mine bought a boat last summer and made all the mistakes:
fell in love with a 27 foot fixed keel Scandanavian boat, '70 hull, bought it rapidly, then started discovering what everyone tried to tell him. He doesn't really know how to sail, and this is a big boat to learn on unless you are in very open waters.
It's hard to afford insurance if you have a bad driving record.
You have to get a boat surveyed in order to be able to insure it, but it's trickly finding someone who will pull and survey an uninsured boat.

Actually the boat he picked has proved to be fairly solid, but recently his friends and family have done an intervention and tried to get him to sell it to one of us so we can get it insured, pulled and cleaned up, and either sold or sold for salvage.

trouble is, it's hard to find anyone who wants to pull an uninsured vessel.
which, you have to get done to survey for insurance purposes!
I want to ask questions locally, but there are only so many marine yards here, and I don't want to ruin any chance of finding someone who will work with us. Has anyone else had any similar experience, or can you offer any advice on how to proceed? Even if the boat (bought for $5000) is not really worth anything, everyone and the environment would be better off if we could move forward, rather than leaving this uninsured situation to deterioriate. Any wisdom would be much appreciated.