Drew555

To make a really long story short.... I hired a surveyor to look at a boat I was going to purchase . I had a land survey done, than a sea trial two days later that I attended and surveyor was aware that it would be a on sight closing. Sea trial went well. Did not hit top speed was told that it had 3year old gas in it. Boat was listed at 138 hrs from new. The boat is a 1998 35'fountain. Boat is really clean. No reason to think these hrs are out of line. I got to sea trail 200 miles from home to meet a nice older man and woman to own the boat.... Sounds great right..... They light the boat off I notice a little blue smoke...... Was told fogging oil... Whatever..... The surveyor looked at it. The surveyor finally shows up and go for a tide . Boat checks out.... He says it's a good boat..... Don't know why but I felt like I could leave my guard down and not go through this boat myself. It's the first time I every hired a surveyor. Regardless I bring the boat home. I take my wife and four young kids out on it with some fresher fuel topping off the shi t he had in there. But because my kids are young I didn't ring the nuts out of it. We had a great time. I backed it into my driveway and flushed it out. Then checked the oil......... I found a milkshake in the port motor..... Ugh! So I changed the oil and ran it again. Oil still golden after run but milk didn't steam off in the valve covers. At this point I'm thinking reversion but not sure. What's next.... Leak down ..... Best I got was 40% on port side and best was 60% on starboard side. So I guess my question is.... Is the surveyor in any fashion held responsible for not checking the oil after the run?
So here is the other problem, since I had land survey on Thursday and sea trial on sat. The surveyor left his notes at the office. I was told after I had the boat in the driveway of my house that the F-ing hour clock didn't advance..... Are you fuc$ing kidding me....if I had known that I would have never bought the boat.. God I'm sorry for writing this book but there is a lot of crap to say. Does anyone know about recourse with surveyors ?

Drew555

Accredited and insured

Waterdogs

Did he have E&O insurance?

Waterdogs

Call him and discuss your concerns. Follow up conversation with email outlining discussion to create paper trail. Did he provide copy of E&O?

BUP

iTrader: (9)

You had to recieved a report of all the inspections he did plus a list of the inspections he was going to do beforehand ?. He never even pulled the oil cap nor the dip stick, especially pull the oil cap while the engine(s) are running > Man even people who no nothing about engines do this for family runabout purchases before they slap down cash.

IMO most not all surveyors are a waste of time when it comes to all the mechanical aspects of the boat. How many bring a comp test or a leakdown tester or the current diagnostic equipment like Merc CDS or even Diacom or even a fuel pressure tester ? My point is you need to hire a marine tech as well and pay him for all engine, drive inspections on top of.

Sorry for the troubles and not pointing fingers at you as you hired someone to an indepth job or least thought so. I would look over the list of his inspections that he is supposed to perform and go from there. Good luck

JRider

iTrader: (1)

Saltwater boat? Being a 98 it may not matter how many hours are on it, I would suspect bad exhaust manifold/riser from corrosion.

Good luck, that sucks

Drew555

fresh water boat. But the leak down tells the tail of the bottom end. It's junk. When was the last time a boat lasted 138 hrs before the bottom end took a shi%

Drew555

I did get a report two days after closing !

blefever

IMO......... The only real way to know the condition of a motor is a leak down and maybe oil analysis, but a leak down is a must if you really want to know the condition. Sure, start the motor/motors and drive the boat, but you don't really know if the motors have the power they should have because you never drove this boat with these motors. They could have 30-40% leak and still run and sound fine. If it's going by the valves, most likely you'll never know looking at the motor or listening to it, again because you have heard it before. If it's rings, blow by should be a clue. Too, if it's going by the rings, why are they worn and what else is worn, pistons, bearings? For me blow by is a big red flag. So is baby **** oil.

Drew555

Is it that easy?