Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. After years on express cruisers and runabouts my wife and I finally decided to take the plunge and look for a trawler type boat. After looking at some classic trawlers my wife fell in love with the Europa design and we set about trying to find one in the northeast where they are not so common.
A few weeks ago we went to see a 1983 Ocean Alexander Europa, put in an offer, and did the survey yesterday. Since I was driving in from eastern CT down to Long Island, I left extremely early to avoid traffic and got to the boat a few hours before the surveyor and broker. The first thing I noticed when I was walking to the boat was a steady stream of water (not a drip) coming from a small crack in the fiberglass of the extended flybridge that is above the cockpit. The stream eventually did become a drip and ultimately stopped. As soon as the surveyor arrived I had him check it with a meter and hammer.
The moisture meter rang all around the hatch from the cockpit to the extended flybridge. This area was approximately two feet of deck around the hatch in all directions. Past that area where the meter rang there was moisture detected but it was low and didn’t trigger the alarm. The only area that showed an issue with tapping was about a 1 foot area around the intrusion point which is a loose railing; the rest of the deck that rang the meter had very clear and crisp taps. I should also point out that even though it did rain the night before the deck was dry and it did not have any standing water or dew that could have set off the meter. If I hadn’t seen the steady stream of water coming out of the crack I wouldn’t be terribly concerned with the meter reading, and probably would not have noticed the soft spot because of where it is.
I’d love to get some opinions here. The surveyor and I were both very concerned about this especially because there was a soft spot. The broker and the marina owner were adamant that this is not uncommon for a boat of this age, is a minor issue, and didn’t think the seller would address this.
On a scale of 1 – 10 how concerned would you be if this turned up on a boat you were surveying. Would you overlook this, require it to be fixed, ask for a price reduction, or just walk away?
There were some other issues on the survey but I’ve rambled on long enough. Thank you for taking the time to read it and would appreciate you sharing your experiences.
A few weeks ago we went to see a 1983 Ocean Alexander Europa, put in an offer, and did the survey yesterday. Since I was driving in from eastern CT down to Long Island, I left extremely early to avoid traffic and got to the boat a few hours before the surveyor and broker. The first thing I noticed when I was walking to the boat was a steady stream of water (not a drip) coming from a small crack in the fiberglass of the extended flybridge that is above the cockpit. The stream eventually did become a drip and ultimately stopped. As soon as the surveyor arrived I had him check it with a meter and hammer.
The moisture meter rang all around the hatch from the cockpit to the extended flybridge. This area was approximately two feet of deck around the hatch in all directions. Past that area where the meter rang there was moisture detected but it was low and didn’t trigger the alarm. The only area that showed an issue with tapping was about a 1 foot area around the intrusion point which is a loose railing; the rest of the deck that rang the meter had very clear and crisp taps. I should also point out that even though it did rain the night before the deck was dry and it did not have any standing water or dew that could have set off the meter. If I hadn’t seen the steady stream of water coming out of the crack I wouldn’t be terribly concerned with the meter reading, and probably would not have noticed the soft spot because of where it is.
I’d love to get some opinions here. The surveyor and I were both very concerned about this especially because there was a soft spot. The broker and the marina owner were adamant that this is not uncommon for a boat of this age, is a minor issue, and didn’t think the seller would address this.
On a scale of 1 – 10 how concerned would you be if this turned up on a boat you were surveying. Would you overlook this, require it to be fixed, ask for a price reduction, or just walk away?
There were some other issues on the survey but I’ve rambled on long enough. Thank you for taking the time to read it and would appreciate you sharing your experiences.