Swanley Brokerage always recommend that you have a pre purchase, out of the water boat surveys completed, as this will give you peace of mind. It may highlight areas that need attention or even make suggestions for future maintenance or modifications.

If you make the decision to have a survey carried out you can make the arrangements directly yourself if you already know of one. Alternatively, surveyors can be found online or in trade publications. All surveyors are totally independent and will work on your behalf.

Most surveyors offer two types of survey, a hull survey and a full survey. Both need to be carried out on dry land to check the thickness of the steel and structural soundness of the craft. A hull survey is normally around £400 to £600 and a full survey is anything from £450- £800. Every surveyor is different so we advise you speak to them directly and discuss what options they offer and establish what they charge in advance.

Boat Survey at the Marina

If the narrowboat is in the marina then you will incur a slipway charge of £130 Inc VAT to move the vessel onto our purpose built yard ready for the survey. Alternatively if the vessel is stored in the marina, on our brokerage hard standing, you will only incur a movement charge of £55 to move the boat.

When booking a surveyor, you will need to liaise with us closely to enable us to fit any movements into our weekly work schedule.

After the Boat Survey

Once the survey has been completed your chosen surveyor will give you a comprehensive written report of his findings normally including photographs. This can take a few days dependent upon the surveyor. The document will then be sent to you directly from your surveyor. However, if you are available to be on site on the day of the survey your surveyor will normally be happy to give you a verbal run down (prior to a written report) of his findings and this can speed the process up slightly.

We can also help you to understand the report explain any recommendations noted in the survey. It’s important to keep in mind that a survey is meant to report on most items on a vesse, therefore some items will be more important than others and some will be easily solved and some will be recommendations. For example, the surveyor may make certain maintenance recommendations such as blacking, anodes and  engine service. These are seen as recommendations only and as such would not be included in any re-negotiation of the price. You will then be in a position to get you quotes from independent and qualified marine engineers as necessary.

To keep the buying process simple, through Swanley Bridge Marina we are able to offer slipway services to allow for marine survey inspections.

We are open 7 days a week and Andy & Malcolm will be delighted help and they can be contacted on 01270 524855.