Sailing Sans Souci

Uncategorized · April 17, 2021 2

First Survey (Or Trust Your Gut)

I’m going to leave certain names out of this since I don’t want any recriminations from this sordid episode.

You know that feeling when you gut’s telling you something isn’t quite right? I of course ignored it. 

My parents had been long-time members of Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport. They have made many friends in the boating world and my dad reached out to a friend to get a surveyor recommendation. My dad’s friend, a noted and respected retired marine surveyor himself, was able to connect me with  someone he liked for the job, I’ll call him “surveyor 1.” 

Here’s where I should have listened to my instincts. With the offer accepted and timing to decide if I would accept Wonder a little tight, I had to move fast. I left surveyor 1 a voice message to request we discuss the survey of Wonder. When he called me back about a day later, he was just sitting down for dinner (he called me, mind you) and he says a little gruffly, “what are we talking about here?” I reminded him that he had been recommended to me and that I needed a survey quickly to meet the deal deadline. When I began to describe the boat, he started questioning information that I was giving him. He had never heard of a boat’s deck having plywood coring, for example, a common and very good practice for building strong boats, with foam or balsa core being the alternative. He yammered on about how engine hours were the most important thing and that he was certain that after the survey he would get me a lower price. It was starting to annoy me that he seemed opinionated and was forming notions before he ever laid eyes on the boat. On top of that, he was clearly distracted throughout the conversation so we agreed that I should send him an email with the details. 

On survey day I very much wanted to be there but could not. I was changing my residency that day and was in South Dakota so I sent my dad to stand in for me. Another clue to the temperament of surveyor 1 was that he mentioned that he didn’t want anyone looking over his shoulder and he didn’t plan to wear a mask when working in the boat. At first blush, this didn’t bother me as I understand wanting the freedom of unhindered access and from second guessing by owners, current or prospective. While I was in SD, dad sent an email to me with news of concerning readings of moisture in the deck. I called surveyor 1 and he told me that his moisture meter was nearly pegged in spots all over the cabin top, foredeck, and side decks. I had expected to hear that there were a few spots of elevated moisture in the decks but this was way beyond that. He reported that the rest of the boat was in excellent shape but he nearly stopped the survey after encountering those readings. We planned to gather with surveyor 1, George my broker, and my dad on a Zoom call the next evening to discuss the preliminary findings of the survey. In the mean time, George spoke with the listing broker and the owners about the findings. The owner was surprised and mentioned that he never heard surveyor 1 use his hammer to sound out the decks (a process of using a mallet to bang decks to determine sonically if there is any delamination). If he had truly not done the sounding, it would be a major oversight in a marine survey and I had a tough time believing an experienced and recommended surveyor like him would skip that step. However, given my initial experiences with this surveyor, I was having deep misgivings about what he was telling me.

We all met on a Zoom call and surveyor 1 shared some photos of the readings. Since we had reports that he hadn’t, George asked if he had sounded the decks thoroughly which he said that he did. The reports of elevated moisture readings in the spots that he found them were quite perplexing. The Caliber 40’s plywood cored decks are made with 3″x3″ squares of marine plywood soaked in resin and sandwiched between two skins of fiberglass laminate. There can be some water intrusion around deck fittings but there isn’t any way for it to travel far in the wood before it encounters a resin wall. I asked if there could be something with the temperature of the decks or a differential between in and out (it was cold and the heater was on in the boat). That would not explain why the elevated moisture readings were limited to where they were. The current owner had been adamant that he didn’t hear surveyor 1 hammering the decks and this troubled me. I asked surveyor 1 to return to the boat to get a second set of readings. I also asked him to get me the preliminary survey report. This is where the story gets odd. He didn’t send me the report and he said he was called out of town on an emergency survey. The clock was ticking toward the acceptance deadline and I was stuck with a half-done survey and a surveyor who wouldn’t return calls or emails– not that he was a master communicator from the start. I waited another week and still no report or second trip to the boat. I was at my wits end. When I looked at the sum total of terrible communication, seemingly shoddy survey work, complete lack of a report, and a few weird comments along the way that made me think this guy spent 1/6/21 storming a certain capitol building, I decided I needed to exit this relationship and find another surveyor. 

I sent surveyor 1 an email explaining my frustrations and letting him know that I was ending the survey and that since he never sent me a report to not expect to be paid by me. That email was sent about 8 AM and I heard nothing from him all day. At about 10 AM the next day, he calls me complaining about what a pain in the ass I have been to work with and that he was quitting the survey.

Rather than correcting the record with him, I bid him adieu and started my search for surveyor 2. I was clear of surveyor 1 and George had secured us an extension on the acceptance date so we could get a second survey done. I had my fingers crossed that the moisture readings were related with something that surveyor 1 was doing. Next time, I’ll listen to my gut!

 

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2 Responses

  1. Eric Carlson says:
    April 18, 2021 at 10:15 am

    I feel your pain, Hugh. By the time you have the survey you are emotionally into the boat and it seems way down the path. The clock is ticking, financing has been arranged. Boat options, unlike homes, aren’t geographically close to one another so your second place boat isn’t in the next town over, it is in Baltimore. And then the surveyors themselves.

    I’ll on lt add that we had our survey done in Panama, and not Panama City, but Colon, one of the most corrupt and dangerous cities in the world…

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