Southern Marine Surveying

The bulkhead forward of the engine room on this Regal Commodore is rotted, as you can tell by just looking at it in this instance. Further testing revealed the stringers under both engines were also rotted. This turned out to be a bad day for our customer. We were hired to do an insurance survey,...

Here is a great example of why you should hire a surveyor for a pre-purchase survey before you buy that next boat or yacht! What you see here is a rotted bulkhead and upon more investigation it was found the stringers were also rotted by using percussion testing technique and then following up wi...

In the list of things that could sink your boat, this is among the top. Ever take a big wave over your boat? Wonder where the water drains to when you wash your boat? These deck drains are made to scupper the water back over the side. If the hoses are not connected the water will drain into and q...

We are in business and currently performing surveys on yachts and small craft.

Can you spot the problem? If you see water staining like this it should be a huge red flag. This particular boat was leaking water through the stanchion rail and anchor windlass above, and now the bulkhead you see is partially rotted, and the upholstery is soiled. The anchor locker bulkhead i...

You'd never know by just looking at it, but the deck surrounding the chain plate on this 36' sailboat has delaminated and the coring is saturated, as evidence from the percussion (hammer) test which produced a distinct "thudding" sound, and then placing a moisture meter on it. The chain plate is ...

Here is a big no no. The exhaust hose in the picture has been repaired with duc-tape. Instead of replacing the cracked hose the owner decided to try to fix it cheap. It's imperative that exhaust hoses and components are kept in good working condition to avoid carbon monoxide leaks that could make...

The swim platform on this old Carver was soft from core rot. I bet you can guess why! The rust stains around the boarding ladder mounting bolts is a tell-tale indicator that water has been leaking into the swim platform causing the core material to rot and the platform to get soft. A new swim pla...

We recently found this fuel filter on a survey of a center console fishing boat. Be sure and replace your fuel/water separators yearly! This one was 7 years old and rusted so bad it developed a pin hole leak and was leaking gas into the bilge. All it takes is one spark to cause an explosion! Call...