The boat you like may be in another city, or in another country. Before you set off you can learn a great deal about it from photographs, video and documents. This first screening doesn't take the place of the survey. It shows which boat is worth surveying. We plan with you which pictures and which documents to ask for.
What listing photographs don't show
Listing photographs show a boat from its best angles. For screening, we ask for current pictures of the places that are seldom seen:
- the engine room and the space around the engines
- the bilges, hoses and wiring
- the hull out of the water, the propellers and the rudders
- the flybridge and the helm
- in the cabins, the ceilings, the window surrounds and the insides of lockers
- the teak deck and the upholstery
- the electrical panel, the generator and the engine hours displays
We also ask when the photographs were taken. A mixture of pictures from different years doesn't show the boat as it is today. The right angles are easier to get if the technical areas are photographed by the boat's captain or by the engineers who maintain it.
Video of the boat running
Video shows what a photograph can't. We ask for a recording made in a single take, with the engines started from cold. The exhaust in the first moments, the gauges and the warning lights are in the picture too. The generator, the air conditioning and the stabilisers, if fitted, are shown running. An edited promotional video picks out the boat's good moments. An uncut recording tells you more. The sound on the recording is information as well, and an unusual noise tells us what to look at in the next inspection.
Going round together on a live video call
The live tour is usually given by the boat's captain or the seller's broker. We agree the order beforehand so that no time is wasted. The camera moves slowly, hatches and lockers are opened and there is enough light. If something can't be made out clearly on screen, we ask for a photograph of it afterwards. You ask whatever comes to mind as you go. When a question can't be answered on the spot, we note it and put it to the other side in writing.
Checking the pictures against the papers
Along with the pictures we ask for the registration certificate, the maintenance invoices, the equipment list and any earlier survey report. Then we check whether they agree with each other. The year in the listing should match the registration certificate, the hours on the display should match the service records, and the equipment list should match the photographs. The engine serial numbers should be the same as those on the registration document. We also expect to see the main items on the list in the photographs.
We read the documents and ask the seller's broker in writing about anything that doesn't match. A detail that doesn't match is not always a problem, but it does need explaining. An old survey report is a good source too. Still, it was made at another time and for someone else, and it can't stand in for a new inspection.
Where screening stops
A look from a distance can't measure moisture in the hull, see inside the engines or tell you how the boat behaves at sea. The survey and the sea trial do that. So even for a boat that comes through screening well, the survey condition stays in the sale agreement. The questions asked from a distance are not wasted, though. They become the list of answers you will look for when you see the boat in person.
It is normal for the seller's side to share some information only once it has seen serious interest. If a reasonable request goes unanswered for a long time, we take that into account as well.
When the screening is done well, you travel only for a boat that is a real candidate.
