Dave,
There are those who do recommend new boat surveys--even in the 35 to 40
foot range.  Generally you have a warantee on a new boat, and you may not
find problems until you have run the boat.  Also you may want a survey for
insurance purposes.

I will give an example:  I purchased a new 35 foot sailboat from the

preproduction plans.  I ordered hull # 3 thinking that at least some of the
"bugs" would have been fixed:  The following items happend in the first two
months: The hull  bottom became distorted in the aft 1/3--too large an area
of unsupported fiberglass, with no bulkheads or frames--the manufacteur
tried to pawn it off as "speed bumps"--When we hauled the boat, to look at
these out of the water, we noted that the keel had dropped down abut
1/2"--even though the Keel bolts seemed tight, the plywood under the glass
had crushed.  Solution: , reglass with several layers of mat and roving the
area carrying the keel load---about 8 feet long, which meant removing the
molded cabin sole, then putting in U pieces of SS to carry the load of the
keel bolts.  The aft section had more glass added inside, and "H" foam
frames, with several plywood cross frames added.  A month after the boat was
relaunched, the push pull Morse steering cable failed--the bend as it went
out of the pedistal, through the engine room was too sharp. (Thats nothing
compared to an new Winnebago Motor home I purchased!)

I am not sure that a pre purchase survey would have discovered any of

these items, since they developed over use.

Bob Austin

I havent quite got htis straight in my head yet. Maybe
osmeone can help. A battery charger needs 110/120
volts AC to produce its rated amount of DC output. OK,
no problem there. But.. it also must need some amount
of AC amps to run im assuming. Im also assuming larger
chargers like 40 amp DC need more AC amps to produce
said DC power than do lower DC chargers such as a 20
amp. What is the relationship here between AC amps
input and DC amps output, or isnt there one? Anyone
care to take a stab at this.

Dan

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I would like to weigh in with some observations  on this issue.

I worked for a Carver dealership who sold something like 100 new boats per
year out of a total of about 300 ( combined new and used ) boat sales.

This dealer would usually sell half a dozen  of the big 53 footers  and as many
45 footers plus many dozen of the forty foot plus models as well as the smaller
stuff.

I was sent to Florida to investigate a major problem with hull number 4  in the
53 foot series.  My report amounted to six pages of deficiencies, some of
them basic design, the rest assembly workmanship.

My report was forwarded to Carver and  eventually engineering change orders
were circulated to all the CArver dealers about retrofits.
Of the sixteen notices that arrived in a single package  twelve  stemmed
directly from my report on hull number 4.

Now these boats sold for an amount in excess of $1.2 million Cdn so the price
must have been close to  $850,000.00  US.

While at Poulsbo I got to talking to the surveyor  who  supervised  the
Aleyeska project.  He invited me to have a look  on board and even showed
me  the insides of  cabinets not normally  open to the public.

Then he challenged me to find anything he had missed.
And I did!

Admittedly, it was not a major  issue but  my background experience with
Xantrex products and installation  procedures gave me a better insight than
the skilled workers employed by the builder.

It highlights the importance of  close liaison between  the installers and the
equipment manufacturers and their customer support people.

The better builders  know about such pitfalls and try to cover all contingencies.
But there is a limit to how much time an installer can spend on the phone
trying to find out if he has overlooked something.

I am currently  involved in doing  the electrical inspection of a brand new build.
I had specifically asked the electrician to call me the day they were going to
wire in the Iso-Boost  transformer.  I live ten minutes driver from the yard so
timing is not an issue.

On a hunch I decided to drop in although no phone call had been made.
Sure enough  they were half way through installing the transformer. The
location was such that any subsequent  inspection would be  much more
difficult and  less thorough.  This was not a wilful oversight. The yard workers
start at 6:30 Am and the delivery of the transformer was delayed by several
weeks so when it finally arrived the production foreman  promptly  pushed the
guys to get it done. There was no time to call me and I arrived before the
morning coffee break.
A similar situation  occurred with the rudder posts and tiller arms in the
lazarette.  I gave them a thorough  inspection while the hull was empty.
By now the whole area is completely  filled with  the crew cabin and a shower
stall plus fuel tanks plus several other pieces of equipment.  It is no longer
possible for me to crawl in there to have a good look.

However, I know  that the bonding  wires are installed correctly and the cable
runs are secured properly.

More than once I have probed the electrical boxes and found a loose
connector or poor crimp.  Visually they looked good but up close and with
some tension  on it  . . . .    That is what I'm paid to find.

The crew do not mind  me finding these things. They take pride in their work
but realize that foremen sometimes make unreasonable demands, sometimes
they are called away to tend something else and at the end of a nine hour day
they can be fatigued and things happen. So they welcome a second critical
look which helps keep them on their toes.

What  you have to realize is that  in many areas where semi -custom build
yards proliferate, much of the labour force is contract people who come and
go with each project.  As soon as the job is done, they are let go to find the
next yard and project.  These are skilled trades but too expensive to keep on
staff full time.

Regular production yards  on the other hand  prefer  to hire young eager
people who are trainable - and much cheaper!
Trouble is who trains them?  The foreman who  is running all over the  shop
supervising every aspect.  Not likely.  So that leaves  the lead hand.
In many shops I have visited the lead hand is the one with the most
experience but how much is that?
Could be a couple of years or a couple of decades, but it varies.

My experience in dealership yards suggest the amount of quality control on
the production line is minimal.

I was recently asked to do a service call on a brand new Krogen  that had left
the Seattle dealer yard and headed up to Vancouver.
The original problem was one workmanship deficiency and one design
oversight.  However, the owner was lucky that it only resulted in a some
charred equipment instead of a big fire.  Krogens are neither che4ap or
shoddy in either design or construction.  But things happen!

So form your own opinion.  I would submit that  if you  are spending big
dollars on a boat, the added cost of surveying during construction is well worth
it.  How much will the insurance premium be?  How does that compare with a
survey which actually prevent a problem rather than  making a payment after
the disaster.  Sometimes the problem  show up when you are well away from
convenient help and service facilities.

Declaration of interest.
I make a good living fixing screw-ups after the fact  and I also do some
surveying of new builds.

regards

Arild Jensen
The Electronic Navigator