[DRFerron]

I agree with what everyone else said.

Our survey and sea trial were done at the same time and that worked out perfectly. And, as I mentioned in other survey threads, we were able to trail behind the surveyor and ask questions.

The surveyor crawled in, around and under while underway and was able to find a rudder shaft leak that only happened when we motored at full throttle. He detected a small CO leak (people with diesels don't usually think about CO emissions) and some other stuff that would have gone unnoticed at a dockside-only survey. Our engine is 30 years old and the issues the surveyor found while it was running were exactly the problems we had later so we knew they were coming and could plan accordingly.

The boat was kept in a yacht club slip so we motored and sailed to a nearby yard where it had been arranged to have it pulled so the surveyor could look at the hull and thru-hull fittings and whatnot. On the return trip we raised the sails so he was also able to see them under those conditions. Back at the slip he went aloft and checked the rigging.

Overall, I think we spent about 5 hours with the surveyor. Not all that time was underway, there was down time waiting for the boat to be hauled (where we bought him lunch and continued to ask questions) and then when we returned to the slip. Before we parted (away from the owner) he then told us what other Catalina 30s in the same condition that he had surveyed had sold for so that added to our negotiating powers.

Since the owner was on the sea trial/survey with us, he was able to hear what the surveyor said and know what issues were pointed out to us and we could also ask him on the spot for background info. But another advantage to that was that there was nothing that the owners could get wishy-washy about (if they were that sort) because we all heard and saw the same things under the same conditions.

It was the best $300 we could have spent on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and a week later we were emailed a detailed 40-page document that we used as our starting point for our To Do list. The surveyor also allowed us 30 days to contact him with any additional questions after reading the final document. I imagine after 30 days his memory wouldn't be as reliable.