Owner's guide
Guide to passing your yacht survey
Whether you're selling and want a clean pre-purchase, or renewing insurance and need a smooth C&V, preparation is everything. Here's how to give your vessel the best shot at a clean report.
Whether you're selling and want a clean pre-purchase, or renewing insurance and need a smooth C&V, preparation is everything. Here's how to give your vessel the best shot at a clean report.
A surveyor can only report what they find — so the goal is to present a vessel where the good condition is obvious and nothing is hidden or inaccessible. Most survey "failures" aren't catastrophic defects; they're small, fixable issues that signal neglect. Here's how to avoid that impression.
The single most common cause of a poor survey is the surveyor being unable to see what they need to see. Clear out personal gear, unlock every lazarette and machinery space, remove cockpit and sole hatches if they're stiff, and make sure the bilge is reachable. If we can't inspect it, we have to flag it as a limitation.
A clean boat reads as a cared-for boat. Wash down the hull, scrub the waterline, clean the bilges (a dirty bilge hides leaks and suggests skipped maintenance), and tidy the engine room. You're not fooling anyone with a deep clean — but you're showing the vessel has been looked after.
Before survey day, run through every system yourself. Every through-hull should open and close. Every seacock should move. Every pump should pump. Lights, gauges, sanitation, refrigeration, air conditioning, electronics — power it all up. Fix the cheap failures now, or they become line items in the report.
Make sure engines start readily and reach operating temperature without alarms. Check fluid levels, look for weeps and leaks, and replace tired belts and hoses if they're due. If you have service records, lay them out — documented maintenance is one of the strongest signals a surveyor (and a buyer) can see.
Never try to conceal a known problem — a weeping seal, a soft deck spot, a non-working generator. Surveyors find them anyway, and concealment destroys trust fast. Disclose honestly; it nearly always lands better.
Check expiry dates on flares and fire extinguishers, confirm lifejacket count and condition, test bilge alarms and high-water alarms, and verify the date on your EPIRB. Expired or missing safety gear is a guaranteed finding — and an easy one to fix in advance.
Gather your paperwork: registration or documentation, proof of any recent refit work, equipment manuals, engine hour logs, and service invoices. A vessel with a paper trail surveys better and sells better.
Charge the batteries fully. Make sure there's fuel for the sea trial. Confirm the haul-out is booked and the lift can handle your vessel. Have a captain or someone capable aboard for the sea trial if you can't run her yourself. And be on time — yard and travelift time is expensive and often inflexible.
We welcome owners and buyers attending the survey; questions are encouraged during breaks. But during the inspection itself, the most helpful thing you can do is let us work without hovering. We'll give you a full verbal debrief before we leave.
So every system powers up on demand.
Every hatch, lazarette, and machinery space open.
No standing water, no oil sheen, no hidden leaks.
Logs, manuals, and recent invoices laid out.
Flares, extinguishers, EPIRB, lifejackets checked.
Yard booked, lift capacity verified, tide checked.
