A marine survey can mean a lot of things, but on most occasions, it describes a condition survey. Sometimes it is used as an “all-rounder” term for different types of vessel survey. As an instance, a singular marine survey can mean ‘yacht survey’, ‘yacht appraisal survey’ or ‘damage survey’.

A marine survey is most times conducted when a party who is interested in buying a vessel wants ‘peace of mind’ before spending their hard earn bucks on it. As everyone knows that the capital required to procure a boat is huge, no investor would like to invest on a crappy one. This is where marine survey comes in handy. This type of survey ensures that you know before-hand, the condition of the boat, the repair likely needed, the seaworthiness and the maintenance.

It is a known fact to sailors and boat owners around New York and New Jersey, as well as Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania that open water can sometimes turn treacherous and this happens most times due to bad weather conditions. On other occasions, faults developed by vessels can be held responsible for such mishaps. You can therefore reduce the chance of this happening significantly by ensuring your vessel doesn’t have any defect.

More so, a marine survey is always a requirement when you want to finance or insure your boat. There is no way around this! This means you can’t escape the need for one and moreover, why would you even want to? The peace of mind on your investment is very crucial and essential.

 Why would you need boat appraisal inspection survey? There are really primary three reasons.
 
The first is if you have boat that you are looking to donate, and you'd like to be sure you value it correctly so that you don’t get into trouble with the IRS.
 
Another reason is if you're looking to settle an estate. In this case, an accurate appraisal will be needed in order to assign an appropriate value to the vessel for tax and distribution reason.
 
Thirdly, if you are getting a divorce, a boat appraisal survey will determine what your spouse might get out of that boat. Think about it, if you're in a divorce battle, and you have a boat, you will want to actually know what that magic number of what the boat is worth.
 
Every little bit helps in the world of non-profits, but if you are thinking of donating a boat to one, you probably already know that. For some causes, money is the donation accepted. For others, the tools and equipment for doing the organization's work are just as important. Boats an serve as emergency transports, transportation to areas that can only be reached by water, and specialty equipment that may be needed by some volunteer fire departments that can't afford to purchase such things on their own budget.
 
It all boils down to this, if you intend to donate a boat, and you think that boat might be worth $5,000 or more, it has to be appraised. It doesn't matter if you are in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or anywhere else in the US as it is a federal tax issue with the IRS.  When trying to assess the value of your boat, it should go without saying, a clean and well-kept vessel in with all of its systems in operational condition is going to be worth more on the market than a vessel in good condition with some systems that don't work.
 
An appraisal inspection survey is used to determine a vessel's fair market value, and but it isn't just for the above-mentioned reasons. Certain legal cases will require a ship’s value to be determined. As will a bank when one is applying to obtain financing to purchase the boat. Determining a vessel's value is important when buying as the bank needs to know the correct amount of financing to provide and they buyer wants to make sure the asking price is in alignment with recent comparable sales.
 
During an appraisal survey, the entire vessel is inspected from stem to stern, top to bottom. Though the report isn't completed to the same level of detail as an insurance inspection survey, the vessel's overall condition, how well it's operating, and the condition of all of its systems, are all factors that are taken into account when determining the value of boat.
 
So, in short, if you're intending to buy a boat, sell a boat, inherit a boat, donate a boat, or you're in a legal battle over a boat, you need to know what that boat’s market value is. Which means you will need a boat appraisal survey.
 
If you're in need of an appraisal inspection survey, give us a call or send us an email.

​We’re happy to help.