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Virgin Island Surveyors

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  cardiacpaul 
#1 ·
I've contacted a yacht broker in St. Maarten regarding a possible offer on a boat there. I am in California and would be there for the survey. He suggested to me that I can go ahead and have a survey performed and then I could put an offer in.

This seems like a good idea to me, as I would be out the money for a survey anyway should the vessel not be acceptable or we couldn't come together on a final purchase price.

What do you think? Does his offer sound "shady" in any way or is he really trying to work with me on this?

Also...has anyone had or heard of anyone who has had dealings with
Caribbean Marine Surveyors (BVI) Ltd. : British Virgin Islands & the Caribbean?

They charge $17.00 per foot with a $500.00 minimum. The boat is 34' LOA.

Thank you for any help or guidance you can give me.
 
#2 ·
BWWB....I see no probem with a survey being done prior to an offer being made. As a seller...I would not do this...but as a buyer it is to your advantage. One thing I would suggest is that you SEE the boat before you arrange for a surveyor to fly in. You might also want to check with whoever will be insuring or lending $$ for the boat that a survey by a BVI company will be acceptable rather than an ABYC/Sams surveyor. If ABYC/Sams is desireable...there are several guys in Fajardo PR that are accredited and AAirlines has flights from SanJuan to St. Maarten.
The Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors (SAMS) - Members in Puerto Rico
 
#3 ·
I agree that you seeing the boat personally before committing to anything is the first step. If you see the boat and hate it or find something grossly wrong with it... or it feels hinky to you... you've saved yourself the cost of the survey.
 
#7 ·
Hi...we're somewhat new to this process but have spent 1 year looking, made a few offers and are about to close on our boat. With that disclaimer...I agree that you need to see the boat before spending the $$ on the survey. But I don't see the advantage to surveying prior to an offer, as you have no idea if you can even reach agreement on price at this point, or if you even like the condition of the boat, etc. Plus, once you've invested in the survey you're in a bit of a weaker negotiating position, I think (i.e. from a seller's perspective you've already invested some $$ in the boat, and are a bit more inclined to make the deal happen??). I'd negotiate the purchase price based upon the condition & equipment listed; see if you can come to agreement, and then arrange a surveyor for a few days after you arrive. That way you can still cancel the survey (if that works for the surveyor) if the boat is not to your liking, and not be out significant $$. (You'd be flying there anyway for the survey, right?) And, it's standard for the price to be renegotiated if anything major comes up in survey anyway.

Re: the survey, we bought our boat in the Caribbean and used Henry Mustin, Mustin Marine Surveys, Miami, Florida, USA from Florida. It cost a bit more than using the local surveyor as we had to pay his flight, etc. but it was actually cheaper than flying someone from a neighboring island. And, he was excellent, thorough (went aloft & inspected rigging..many don't) very knowledgable, (he wrote a book on the subject) and gave us a fair price for his services.

As an aside, I thought it helped a lot to have a knowledgable broker that we trusted making the initial inquiries as they'll tend to get a bit more of a straight answer on boat condition, etc. And the help with the search and advice/experience, etc. could save you $$, time, hassle, etc. The disadvantage we experienced is that an unethical listing broker may favor a buyer he/she is representing, so if there's activity on the boat you could be at a disadvantage. We talked with a lot of brokers before finding two we liked - Mark Davenport at San Pedro Yachts 310-547-4415 and Bernie at RogueWave Yacht Sales & Services, LLC. (Annapolis, MD). (We went with Mark). What he suggested on one remote boat we offered on was to hire a surveyor to do a walk through and give us an unbiased verbal report on the condition, etc. It would save us the flight/trip if the report wasn't too our liking, and the cost was nominal, so that might be a good alternative? It didn't end up working for us as we really needed to see the boat & make that personal connection regardless, but it might be a good alternative for you?

Anyway, hope that's helpful. Good luck in your search!

Janet
 
#8 ·
Everyone...excellent input and advise!! I contacted a "major" surveyor in Florida and the price was $17.00 a foot (35'). Not bad I thought. Then I asked him how much to fly to St. Maarten...he said $1,000.00 for the flight (it's cheaper from Calif. roundtrip), plus $250.00 personal spending allowance, plus 2 nights hotel, plus taxi (ground transportation), plus food.

This to me sounds like I'm paying for him and his family for a weekend vacation!!!!!!! If this is what they charge..they're absolute RIP OFFS!!!

Opinions???
 
#9 ·
For our recent survey we purchased the surveyor's flight, covered his expenses & paid for travel time (i.e. he could be getting paid to do a survey instead of spending 1/2 day flying to Curacao, so he charged us some money for that.). He was very budget-consious - roomed with my fiance, charged less than he originally quoted, would have slept on the boat but that wasn't an option, etc.. His survey per foot price was similar to your guy's, but there was no "personal spending allowance". We booked flight, hotel, rented a car (which we needed anyway) so we shopped around & kept expenses down. All-in-all we thought it was well worth it to hire someone we had confidence in as the boat was a major purchase for us.

Anyway, I think you could spend less than the figures you were quoted (flights are available for $450+/-), but it seems reasonable to cover a surveyor's expenses & pay him some money for travel time in addition to the actual survey cost. Actually, looking back, it doesn't look like your guy charged for travel time...although maybe that's built into the $1,000 flight?
 
#10 ·
blue,
offer to book & pay for the flight and hotel, plus maybe, maybe a 50.00 per day "incidental" stipend.
 
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