Frequently Asked Questions

Is VAT and travel additional to the quoted price?

The price we quote is the price you pay, unless we agree that expenses are to be added to the invoice. This would generally occur where flights, ferries, hotel, and additional transport is needed, or where we need to charge for mileage. If we need to charge expenses, we always keep our expenses to a sensible level and try and agree them with you before the survey if possible.

What payment types do you accept

We only accept payments by bank transfer, and online via credit cards.

Can I attend the survey?

By all means you can attend the out of water section of the survey, but not for the parts of the survey on the boat. During the survey we need to be able to concentrate on what we are doing. There are numerous systems and structures to be inspected and we need to be able to work without interruption in order to do the best job for my client. In order for us to provide you with an effective survey, we do not have other people on the boat during the survey. That way you will not get in the way, or distract us which may cause us to miss items. In this time of Covid-19, if you do board the boat during the survey, we will terminate the survey there and then for the protection of our staff.

You will have plenty of time to enjoy it when you own it.

Cancellation

After the survey has been verbally agreed a cancellation fee of 50% applies until the 7 days before the survey date after which the full survey fee is due on cancellation.

What are the YDSA, the IIMS, and RINA?

YDSA stands for the “Yacht Designer’s and Surveyors Association”. It is the only professional association purely for small craft surveyors. The members are assessed for their competence and standard by their peers and only those who’s competence is deemed good enough are accepted as members. I am a Fellow Member of the YDSA, and have been on the management committee as chairman and on the management council as President.  There are less than 200 members of the YDSA. The YDSA is a certifying authority, recognised by the Marine and Coastguard Agency for both Tonnage and Small commercial vessel coding.I have also been the chairman of the YDSA Certifying Authority.

The IIMS (International Institute of Marine Surveyors) is similar but covers a much larger range of ships and boats. The surveyors cover everything from tankers and container ships to small craft. There are around 1500 members of the IIMS covering every type of ship and boat. I am a Fellow Member of the IIMS.

Both the YDSA and the IIMS have specific Professional Indemnity requirements for their surveyors who survey small craft.

RINA stands for The Royal Institution of Naval Architects. I am a Naval Architect by training, and have been a member of RINA since 1994, and I am a Chartered Engineer through RINA. I am also a Fellow Member of RINA.

Can you do valuations for finance/insurance companies?

Absolutely.

Either this can be done as a standalone valuation, or on the back of a pre-purchase or insurance survey. There is an additional charge for valuations that are carried out on the back of a pre-purchase or condition survey

I need to register the boat to get a mortgage. Can you help?

Yes, we can.

The mortgage company will probably want the boat registered on Part 1 of the British Register of Ships, as they can register a charge against the boat on this register. To do this you will need a tonnage survey – effectively a known pair of eyes seeing that the boat exists, registering hull numbers and engine serial numbers, and taking a few measurements of the hull to identify the boat.

We can carry out the tonnage survey for you and guide you through the tonnage survey process with the certifying authorities.