[dsdphoto]

Hi everyone,

First off, my apologies. I did check out the local boat buying assistance thread, but I'm not able to send PMs yet and didn't see anyone listed for this neck of the woods (it's a good hour south of Tampa/St Pete.)

I'm heading down to Englewood, FL (in between Sarasota & Ft Meyers) on the weekend of the 10/17 to take a look at a Bristol 35 for sale that will hopefully be my first boat and new home. She's on the hard, and I already know she needs paint and cushions, and a lot of cleaning, but otherwise she's supposedly in good, solid, seaworthy shape.

However I don't have much experience checking out boats, and can't really justify paying 1/4+ of the cost of the boat for a full survey. So, I have my copy of Don Casey's Inspecting the Aging Sailboat, but I'm really hoping to find someone with more experience whose brain I can pick.

I'd love to either find someone who's willing to come along and lend me their eyes & experience in exchange for gas/lunch/bar tab/etc, or barring that I'd be grateful for any recommendations of someone trustworthy I could hire in the area who would do a decent inspection with me for something reasonable (say under $500).

If anybody's in a position to help or can recommend somebody that I should reach out to I'd appreciate it.

Happy sailing!

Darren

 

[svHyLyte]

Re: Boat inspection trip to & help wanted in Englewood FL (Port Charlotte/Sarasota)

Rather than spending a minor fortune on plane tickets, rental car, hotel et al, (even though you may be curious enough to want to see the boat first hand) it might be wiser to have a "valuation survey" by an independent surveyor beforehand. This is not a complete detailed inspection but enough of one to give you an idea of whether it's really worth going forward or not; and, if so, a follow up can get to the more detailed items without much additional cost as much of the work will already have been done. A valuation survey in the area currently runs in the range of $12/ft such that a survey of the boat you have in mind would be, roughly, $420.00.

A good local surveyor is Mike Davenport, AMS, P.O. Box 5486, Sarasota, FL 34277. Phone: 941-366-0888, Toll free: 800-417-0888, Fax: 941-955-5661. He can be reached at [email protected]. Mr. Davenport did our most recent insurance survey and did a good (if somewhat picky) job for us and is often employed by other surveyors for inspection of their own boats.

Think about it....