[boatpoker]

No dog in this fight about owner being on sea trial but... as surveyors Sharon and I refuse to discuss the vessel if the owner shows up for survey or sea trial. We politely inform the owner that we work for the buyer and will not discuss the boat with them. We've seen too much acrimony from sellers. We are there to find fault to a degree and they are there to tell us we are wrong.

There are a few owners here that know their stuff and know their boats but lemme tell ya you are rare. Most don't have a clue.

 

[boatpoker]

Would you as a surveyor take all responsibility f I certainly don'tor any damages or personal liability? Our insurance requires us on board during operation. If we aren't, then any damage isn't covered, so at a minimum we have to be onboard.

Besides, I trust no broker, buyer, or surveyor to have the skills to operate a complicated boat. It is unlikely they even know where many of the controls are.

Mark

Surveyors are there to observe. Any surveyor that operates the boat in a sea trial is an idiot.
I know one surveyor who ran a large boat aground during a survey. It cost him his livelihood. He was an idiot.
This article on our website shows how we approach sea trials.
Sea Trial ... It ain't Just a Boat Ride

 

[boatpoker]

SOP is to run the engine at maximum continuous rated RPMs for at least a minute…would that be a problem for y’all?

only under load

 

[boatpoker]

You shouldn’t have to actually sail, a surveyor should be able to tell by inspection if the boat is sound. If you need to sail with a rail in the water it sounds like you’re not familiar with the boat and want to test its capabilities, that’s not what a sea trial is for, when you decide you want to buy the boat is when you should know what is capable of.

I'm never surprised in the hundreds of sea trials i've done with what fails under moderate stress that should be within the capabilities of the vessel. I've seen shaft flanges disintegrate with a short burst of full throttle (that one I warned them about). I've seen motor mounts that looked fine at the dock but showed broken bolts when the engine moved 1" off the beds under heavy loads in reverse. I've seen exhaust manifolds leaking profusely at high RPM under load which showed no leaks at hull speed RPM. I've seen rudder stock knees move 1/2" with a hard turn of the rudder. I've seen autopilots that had conniptions if you used the jog at hull speed.

If the owner will not permit a little stress what is he afraid of ?

 

[boatpoker]

I was unaware of the WOT "test". It hardly seems like a "little stress".... but I don't know much about engines. I do know that my MD17D which is quite old has a recommended OEM "RPM operating range.". As I noted in an earlier post that I never have had a need to even run at the high end of this range because I can achieve hull speed as lower RPMs.
Perhaps there are times when a burst of full throttle may be called for. I'd like to hear of some examples. But surely not for 15 minutes WOT.
My naive sense of this matter.... is that if the mfg gives a recommend max operating RPM, the user should observe it.

WOT seems to be excessive stress. Who knows, it may cause some damage.

MFG's don't just state their max, their diesels are goverened to it. Only way to go over is if you have an oil runaway.

 

[boatpoker]

Thanks for the comments.... they are somewhat helpful.
I don't know what WOT is on my engine. I do know that 2100 RPM is what is needed to reach hull speed. I have pushed the RPMs to high 2000s at times for very brief periods... perhaps needing to give a burst of speed for some reason. The engine did not suffer. Actually I am not sure that the throttle can add more fuel... it seems to be limited by the morse cable installation travel. As I said mine may be limited to the high 2000's RPM.

What is WOT technically?

Running the engine to the max rpm to which the engine is governed by the mfg.