Survey Day!

We had our survey the other day.  We were lucky enough to find a surveyor that seemed to be reputable and had surveyed this boat at least two other times.  When he came he brought the previous survey's and owners rep agreed it was ok to share he was kind enough to let me read through the previous issues that had been identified over the years.  Fortunately the issues had been pretty minor  which told us that the boat had been well cared for over the years.  This also gave him possible problem areas to check on this time ensuring they had been addressed correctly.   Unfortunately it was raining on the day of our survey and the surveyor didn't want to do any of the outside stuff, instead just focusing on the inside parts.  He elected to come back the next day to do the outside parts like deck soundings, testing the AC units, generator capacity, lights, etc.  This worked in our favor as the boat was out of the water when he arrived and being right before the holiday weekend the yard was busy putting boats in and would not have time to get the boat back in the water until that evening.  It was also nice that we had a very steady rain that day which allow us to look for active leaking around the windows.  For the most part there were few leaks.  We found one on the main hatch which the owners rep fixed right away with a new o ring.  Then both of the windows on the teak doors were leaking slightly.  This will be a bigger fix as some of the wood around the window might be bad but still not something I considered as major.  I'm sure I can reseal the windows for now to stop the leak and then replace the wood when we get back and can take the doors off and work on them in the garage at home.

The good news is that the boat looked really clean out of the water.  The zinks looked new, bottom paint looked good, and we did not see any signs of significant damage in the past.  It was also nice to be able to walk around the boat seeing it up close vs only seeing the boat from the dock.  Both the rudder and prop shaft seemed good.  It was interesting to see that they had designed the keel to fill with water for ballast.  The surveyor questioned if this was a mistake in the build or a design feature?  Seems the previous owner had drilled a hole and put a plug in it that would allow the keel to be drained but this was not included in the original design.  This was only the 4th 42ft Nordic Tug built so there might have been a running change in the design later?  I'll have to ask some other owners about that sometime.  I've heard of using water for ballast but am not sure of the pros and cons of it.

After the first day of the survey we were still excited about our choice and talked about all the things we had both noticed since first seeing the boat on our two hour drive home.  I had also taken the time to stick my head in about every nook and cranny on the boat that I could and came away pretty happy.  So far the only things we had seen were cosmetic issues that we wanted to change vs things worn out or used up like the green carpet that while not warn out felt really dated and who puts carpet in a boat where it will get wet?  The other big unknown at this point is what exactly will come with the boat.  The owners have not cleaned the boat out of their personal stuff and the broker was not sure what would stay and what would go.  I guess I'm not to worried about it but it would be nice to get things like the Magma Grill, the charts, guide books, fenders, anchors, etc.  Looking back as I write this I should have specified what we wanted to stay establishing some sort of inventory vs assuming most of it would stay since we were told the current owners were done with boating and moving on to RV adventures.

We got up early and drove the 2hrs north back to the boat for the second part of the survey.  It was a really nice day, the boat was back in the water, and overall it went pretty well.  The surveyor found some moisture in the swim platform and around the top deck where it joins with the pilot house.  Walking on it we did not feel any soft spots so for now its something to keep an eye on and ensure the seam is caulked well.  He also found a few other really minor things like no trap in the sink plumbing, no pressure gauge on the propane tank and he did not like that the propane tank locker was vented.  All of these are really small items and we did not see them as deal breakers.

After the survey was done the owners broker asked what we thought and I pitched a new price at him due to the findings and valuation the surveyor was going to put on the boat.  Up until this point we had not negotiated on price.  With the market as hot as it is right now I figured we needed to get it "under contract" and I would have better luck with negotiating a better price once once we had a survey.  Up until this point we still had done this deal on a hand shake and no contract had been drawn up or deposit provided.  After a little back and fourth we agreed on a new price which was much closer to what we thought the boat was worth in this over priced market.  Even though the boat is a 1997 I'm sure it will still depreciate more and in any other market we probably would have been able to get it for 25k less but the markets hot right now so I guess we will roll the dice and see how we come out in the end.  Bottom line the boat met most of our requirements, is really clean, well cared for, and close to home.  We believe it will pretty much be a turn key boat for us.  I'm sure we will run into some issues along the way but in its current condition we can leave for the loop today and deal with the rest as it comes.

As part of the sale we asked for a mechanical inspection and contacted a local mechanic that was supposed to come look at the engine the next week.  So we agreed to close on the boat that next Monday after the mechanical inspection.  I don't expect any issues and am hoping everything goes well with that this week.  When we took it out that first night an oil pressure light had been going off so I would like to figure out what the story is with that!