THE MARINE SURVEYOR’S ROLE

Eur. Ing. Jeffrey Casciani-Wood C. Eng. FRINA, FCMS, HonFIIMS, FLLA, FIDiagE

When someone sets out to purchase a narrowboat, he is often advised, and quite
rightly so, to obtain a marine surveyor ’s report on her condition before parting
with the final money. This is usually done by the prospective purchaser making
an offer of so much money ‘subject to survey’. Having read many comments
on social media, the author has come to the conclusion that many folks do not
understand why a marine surveyor ’s report is essential, what the marine surveyor
actually does for his/her fee, his/her responsibilities, who pays for what, or even
how to interpret the document when it is in his/her hands.

The first thing that the prospective purchaser should The prospective purchaser can obtain a list of
realise is that there are a number of important pros and marine surveyors stationed within the area where
cons that he/she should understand before instructing he intends to buy the boat from one of the
a marine surveyor. marine surveying technical institutions such as the
International Institute of Marine Surveying. Persons
1. This document is written with English law in mind who have practising corporate membership of
and so applies to England, Wales, and Northern such an Institute are required to carry Professional
Ireland. It does not apply in Scotland where Indemnity Insurance and recommended to practice
Scottish law applies. Beware! Scottish law is very continuous professional development (CPD).
different to English law and is based on different Another, perhaps more subtle point, is that, not
fundamental principles. only should the prospective buyer ask the marine
surveyor about his PI and CPD position, but he/
2. He/she should never rely on a previous report she should also ask him/her about his/her personal
prepared for the seller of the boat as the marine experience of the type of boat under consideration.
surveyor concerned does not owe him/her, A marine surveyor who has spent his/her time
the purchaser, a duty of care. Furthermore, the surveying boats built of wood or FRP may be a very
content of such a report, in English law, remains good marine surveyor indeed, but may know next to
the intellectual property of the marine surveyor nothing about steel, its production, its peculiarities,
concerned regardless of who actually paid for and conversion into a seaworthy boat.
the document and in using such a survey report,
the buyer is breeching that marine surveyor’s The next thing that the prospective buyer should
copyright. ask for is a copy of the marine surveyor’s terms
and conditions. That is very important as they will
3. He/she should also never use a marine surveyor show the limits that the marine surveyor puts on
recommended by the seller or broker as that his/her work and possibly also what is expected of
may involve the marine surveyor concerned in a the purchaser. If they are published on the marine
conflict of interest. surveyor’s web site, the buyer should download

58 | The Report • March 2022 • Issue 99

a copy, write on it the date that he/she did that and
keep it in the boat’s file. In the event of the purchase
going awry and finishing up in Court, the Court will
assume, in the absence of any other evidence, that the
purchaser has read and understood those terms and
conditions.

Under English law, a marine survey contract consists of

three items. They are:

1. An offer which includes the marine surveyor’s

terms and conditions,

2. An acceptance of that offer by the purchaser,

The four areas where problems
3. What the law calls a consideration which is the are most likely to arise are:
marine surveyor’s fee and reasonable expenses.
1. The freshwater tank,
The buyer must understand that it is his/her 2. The rudder tube,
responsibility to get the boat to the place where she 3. The stern tube,
is going to be drydocked, slipped, or otherwise hauled 4. The cabin sole and bilge area under.
from the water. The costs of that and any extra shoring
and/or opening up work to give the marine surveyor On many narrowboats the freshwater tank is built
reasonable access to all parts of the boat are also into the forward structure of the boat, the top by the
down to him/her, together with the costs of returning flat forming the bottom of the forward well deck or
her afterwards in her original condition to her original cockpit and the after end by the lower part of the
berth. He/she must also ensure that the boat arrives forward cabin bulkhead. The latter is often built of
at the place where she is to be surveyed and on the only 3 mm thick steel plate. Access into the tank is by
agreed date. means of a bolted watertight hatch cover in the well
deck flat. The tank is regularly filled with tap water and
Again, under English law, the marine surveyor must emptied so that the water is replaced by air coming
use reasonable skill in carrying out the work and, most down the filling and/or overflow pipes. They are ideal
importantly, he/she owes the purchaser a duty of conditions for the steel internal structure to develop
care. If he/she knows before he/she starts work that the haematite rust. The tank lid is very rarely opened, and
purchaser intends to use the report to obtain finance the heel of the cabin bulkhead is usually hidden behind
to buy the boat or to cover her with insurance, then permanently fixed wooden linings. It is not unknown
he/she also owes the same duty of care to the financier for that bulkhead heel to rust through allowing the
and the underwriter concerned. That duty of care not water to leak into the space between the bottom plate
only is the actual work of carrying out the survey of the hull and the underside of the cabin sole. Marine
but also the reporting of the results. Care should be surveyors on a pre-purchase survey very rarely see
particularly taken, for example, in obtaining the hull the tank opened or that bulkhead lining taken down.
dimensions. They should be measured in accordance Even more rarely do they take UTS measurements
with ISO8666 and give the vessel’s overall length, of the tank top. Unless the tank is opened and the
the hull length, the overall breadth, the hull depth, lining removed from the bulkhead, it is not possible to
the draughts at each end of the vessel and her actual examine the tank’s internal steelwork, or to comment
freeboard amidships on both sides. He/she should on the condition of the bulkhead. The only means that
also report in full the boat’s name, the details of any the marine surveyor has of assessing the condition of
Registration Numbers, Boat Safety Certificate, and RCD the interior of the tank is a heavy hammer test and
Certificate of Conformity. closely spaced UTS readings of the side shell in way of
the tank. Incidentally, the side shell in way of the tank
is one of the few places where UTS readings are likely
to show meaningful readings.

To open the lid, take down the lining, clean and recoat
the tank and box up afterward costs money to the
buyer’s account. In the author’s opinion, however, such
a built-in tank should be opened, cleaned, recoated
and boxed up at no more than five-year intervals.

Most modern narrowboats have the fuel tank built

into the counter by a solid oil tight bulkhead built just

The Report • March 2022 • Issue 99 | 59

astern of the weed box in the counter. The rudderstock the loss of the boat. In the author’s opinion, the tail
passes through a solid drawn steel tube with the lower shaft should be opened up, the propeller and shaft
end in the uxter plate and the upper one in the after removed and given a close up, hands on, examination
deck. That tube is internally inaccessible, as it is not by a recognised, competent person at no more than
possible to open the fuel tank. After an initial painting two-year intervals and, in any case, the wear down of
when the boat is built, the inside of that tube also very the Cutless bearing should be measured and recorded
rarely indeed gets any attention as, without involving every time the boat is taken from the water. Again, an
the cost of removing the rudder, it also is inaccessible. extra cost to the buyer’s account.
When the boat is moving, the canal water moves up
and down inside the tube again giving ideal conditions The fourth area where problems may arise is the cabin
for haematite rust to develop. If the tube gets holed, as sole (often incorrectly called the floor by newbies). The
is sometimes the case, not only does the fuel leak into cabin sole should be cut with easily portable hatches
the canal but also the canal water leaks into the fuel. to enable inspection of the ballast, the inside of the
With the rudder and stock in place, it is impossible bottom plate and the steel floors that support it. It
for the marine surveyor to inspect or in any way test rarely is, so that inspection of the items in the space
that tube for leaks. That situation could be classed as underneath is impossible. Those spaces often get wet
a design fault upon which the marine surveyor is not with the water coming from various sources with the
in any position to comment, but, again, in the author’s inevitable rusting and corrosion of the inaccessible
opinion, the rudder should be dismounted, the tube steelwork and various forms of rot in any woodwork.
examined, dealt with, and boxed up every two years. There is no way that a marine surveyor can discover
That would be another item to the buyer’s cost. and report on such faults in those conditions.

The stern gear is another case in point. This usually What, then, is the marine surveyor’s responsibility?
consists of the propeller carried on the outer end of
the propeller or tail end shaft supported by a Cutless To those that he/she knows before he/she starts work
bearing with some form of gland inside the hull and will rely on his report, under well-established English
with the tail shaft connected by a bolted flange to case law, he/she owes a two-fold duty of care.
the after end of the gear box. A Cutless bearing is
a brass tube lined with hard, (cutless), fluted, butyl 1. He/she must use the best of his/her knowledge
rubber and entered by a push fit into the stern frame and ability to be careful in carrying out the actual
of the boat and secured there by some form of locking work of survey,
arrangement. The flutes allow the bearing to be canal
water cooled. The flutes usually get worn down by 2. He/she must be equally careful in reporting in an
the rotation of the propeller allowing the shaft end to easily read and understood manner, the results of
droop and increasing the water (and grit) inflow into that work.
the bearing. The simplest form of gland on the inside
of the boat consists of a stuffing box with three or four Marine surveyors have a duty of care to their clients
turns of abrasive packing rope held in place by a bolted and that is the result of a number of cases that have
collar. There are several variations on the internal stern been heard in the Courts and especially Hedley Byrne
gear arrangements. If the stern gland weeps, (it should and Co Ltd., v Heller and Partners Ltd [1964] AC 465
have a small drip once every 45 seconds or so but no where the House of Lords ruled:
more) then the bolts held in the gland ring should
be tightened evenly till the drip reached reasonable “ if, in a sphere where a person is so placed that
amounts. Frequently, the gland is overtightened with others could reasonably rely on his judgement or
the result that the packing rope is pushed hard against on his skill or on his ability to make careful enquiry,
the steel shaft, wearing a deep circumferential groove such a person takes it on himself to give information
into it. The author has seen such a tail end shaft with or advice to, or allow his information or advice to be
a groove so deep that he could lay his none too small passed on to, another person who, as he knows or
forefinger into it. A disaster waiting to happen which should know, will place reliance on it, then a duty of
would result in the loss of the propeller and, possibly, care will arise.”

60 | The Report • March 2022 • Issue 99

That is the starting point of the duty of care, and it
applies to all professionals including marine surveyors.
Not even expert witnesses have immunity from being
sued over matters arising in the course of proceedings
following a landmark ruling in the Supreme Court: Jones
v Kaney [2011] UKSC 134. That decision overruled the
four-century old protection that gave expert witnesses
immunity from suit for breach of the duty of care
whether in contract or negligence matters when they
are participating in legal proceedings. Professionals do
not have immunity in their everyday jobs and being an
expert witness is just another job. What, then, should a normal
pre-purchase survey cover?
In order to contain the risk of a discontented client
suing for whatever reason, the marine surveyor should, A good survey report for either pre-purchase or
inter alia: - insurance purposes on a narrowboat should cover
at least the following main parts of the boat, her
• Never give an opinion as a favour or do machinery, and outfit as appropriate:
a favour
• Stay professional at all times • Measurement of the boat’s principal dimensions
• Where applicable, use any necessary including the depth and freeboard,
caveats
• Always follow up such conversations • Hull structure, keel, shell plating or skin
in writing. Such written material is vital including ultrasonic thickness measurements
contemporaneous evidence of what was of the skin and all primary and secondary
actually said and/or intended, supporting structure, frames, beams, stringers,
• He/she should always make sure that he/ flats, bulkheads, stiffeners etc., etc., as far as they
she sticks to his/her instructions, are reasonably accessible,
• He/she should make sure that his/her
contract covers the work he/she is going • Ballast whether loose or fixed,
to undertake.
• Bottom and topside coatings,
The marine surveyor may often be tempted to go
outside his/her area of expertise. It is not uncommon, • The cathodic protection scheme,
for example, for a client to ask a legal question or to lead
the marine surveyor into such areas. Such a temptation • The deck, flats and their supporting structures,
must be resisted, and he/she should stick to providing
facts and/or an opinion that a marine surveyor would • Superstructure(s) and cabin,
ordinarily be required to provide in the circumstances.
He/she should not provide quasi legal advice such • Hatches, companionways, weather, or watertight
as an opinion as to whether a person or entity may doors,
be liable or negligent. That is for lawyers, barristers,
and the judge to determine in their conclusions based • Harpins and rubbing strakes,
on the facts that the marine surveyor has provided
combined with case law. That is their area of expertise. • Deck equipment and fittings,

Remember that anyone may have an opinion, right • Guard and grab rails,
or wrong, and may make a negligent misstatement
of facts. In practice, the marine surveyor accused of • Heating and ventilation system,
forgetting his/her duty of care is usually sued for
negligent misstatement. • Windows, ports and scuttles,

• An internal hull examination – compartment by

compartment,

• Skin fittings and sea valves,

• Steering gear, rudder, and hangings,

• Ground tackle and windlass if fitted including

the ranging and measurement of the cables,

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 • Non-invasive or superficial inspection of the main The reader should make himself/herself familiar with
engine and transmission and all other machinery the British definition of accessibility.
including the stern gear including the weardown,
shafts, propeller, and stern bush,
In accordance with ISO 10088 (E):
• Fuel tanks and fuel system,
Accessible means - capable of being reached
• Electrical system including batteries, fuses for inspection, removal, or maintenance without
or circuit breakers, master switches, wiring, removal of permanent craft structure.
navigation lights, internal lighting, sockets etc.,
Hatch covers are not regarded as permanent
• Nautical equipment, craft structure in that sense even if tools such as
spanners, wrenches or screwdrivers are needed
• Gas system including gas and smoke detectors, to open them. Hatches for the inspection or
a soundness test, lock off test and smoke test, maintenance of fuel tanks may be covered by
uncut carpet, provided that all tank fittings
• Fresh water system, can be inspected or maintained through other
openings. Carpets should be lifted where
• Sewage system, practical to ascertain whether or no there are
any hatches under.
• Firefighting equipment,
Readily Accessible or Normally Portable means
• Life-saving apparatus and safety equipment - capable of being reached for operation,
including bilge pump(s) and first aid kit. inspection or maintenance without removal of
any craft structure or use of any tools or removal
of any item of portable equipment stowed in
The marine surveyor is responsible to not only name and places intended for the storage of portable
describe all items examined but also to list accurately equipment such as lockers, drawers or shelves.
all recommendations where those items require
renewal, renovation, or repair. The recommendations -
and any suggestions - should distinguish between the He/she should also advise the purchaser to arrange for
levels of urgency and state the times within which they a lightweight check and to carry out a rolling test every
should be carried out. That time should, for example, five years. For guidance: It can be shown that, if the
distinguish between recommendations which must rolling period from fully out port to fully out starboard
be done before the vessel is refloated, those to be and back again in seconds is numerically greater than
done within a stated period, and those which may be the waterline breadth of the vessel in metres, then her
safely left to the purchaser’s convenience. Checking metacentric height (the measure of the boat’s stability)
afterwards that such recommendations have been is doubtful and her stability suspect. The cost of such
completed should require a return visit (for an extra checks is negligible. The lightweight check keeps an
fee) by the marine surveyor to the boat. eye on weight creep.

62 | The Report • March 2022 • Issue 99

The next thing for the owner to consider is the in the yachting press, by far the most important
interpretation of the marine surveyor’s report. reason for shell plate pitting is galvanic action often
combined with a poorly designed, inadequate,
The most important items in the report are the UTS cathodic protection scheme. An anode fitted fore
readings and it is essential to realise the limitations and aft on the swims each side of the hull does not
of the machine’s use. The UTS readings are an protect either the side shell or the bottom plate
addendum to a hammer test of the steelwork from such action. Anodes fitted in shell boxes along
NOT the other way round. The timbre of the note the side of the boat are neither use nor ornament.
emitted when the steel is struck by a hammer will When defects are found in the shell, it is common
tell the properly trained marine surveyor far more practice to overplate the defective area. Although
about the condition of the steel than any number it is poor practice, there is nothing basically wrong
of UTS readings. The hammer test on the steel with that as long as the person instructing such a
hull is essential. A UTS reading only gives the spot course of action has taken adequate account of the
thickness of the steel at the point measured and law of unintended consequences and allowed for
nothing else. It does not give the mean or average such things as the increase in weight, the loss of
thickness of the plate under test nor, unless the freeboard, increase in draught, negative change in
plate is locally ground clean of coatings, does it stability, effect on the RCD, and so on. That is rarely
give the marine surveyor any idea of the surface the case in the author’s experience.
condition of the steel either inside or outside. A
hammer test will also often find holes in the steel The marine surveyor should understand all those
plating that cannot be found by a UTS test. UTS points and explain them to his/her client verbally or,
machines are virtually useless on heavily pitted better, in writing before the issue of his/her report.
areas of shell plate. The marine surveyor should use
the Classification Society’s standard for allowable Another point which often leads to error is the
steel losses or minimum thicknesses. Where it is language used. A boat is not a house and the names
accessible, the bottom or base plate should also for items in a building ashore do not transfer to
be hammer tested. For totally unscientific and similar items on a boat, in fact, they often have a
incorrect reasons, that plate is often neither painted totally opposite meaning to that assumed. Both
nor fitted with anodes and is, therefore, subject marine surveyor and purchaser should understand
to very heavy galvanic, electrolytic or microbially that point and, to avoid misunderstanding, use
induced (MIC) corrosion. the correct terminology when referring to parts of
the boat’s structure. The figures below gives the
Despite many scare stories about mill scale, correct names for the midship section of a typical
electrolysis, nearby moored boats, and hot marina modern narrowboat.

The Report • March 2022 • Issue 99 | 63

 C L C L
Cabin Top Plate Deckhead Lining Deckhead Lining
Cabin Top Plate
Beam Tumblehome
Beam Tumblehome

Plate Cabin Side Plate

Deck Deck
eck Deck Edge Edge
Cabin Side Stiffener Cabin
Cabin
Side Side Lining
Stiffener Cabin Side Lining

Top Board Top Board

Top Board Lining Top Board Lining
Rubbing Strake Rubbing Strake
Overall Breadth Overall Breadth
Freeboard
Side Shell Plates Side Shell Plates

Stringer Stringer

W L L
Hull Side Lining Hull Side Lining

Draught Cabin Sole Cabin Sole Chine Chine

Limber Hole Limber Hole

Floor Bottom
Flooror Base Plate Wear
Bottom orEdge
Base Plate Wear Edge

Figure 1 - Structural Midship - Section of a Modern Narrowboat

Figure 1 - StructuralFigure
Midship
1 - -Structural
Section ofMidship
a Modern Narrowboat
- Section of a Modern Narrowboat

Narrowboats are usually described

Cabin Sole Bilge
Cabin SoleSpace Bilge Space structurally by the thicknesses
of the plating and, for example,
for that in the Figure as 10/6/3
where 10 is the thickness of the
bottom plate, 6 the thickness
Floors Floors of the side shell plate, and 3 the
thickness of the cabin side and
top plates. Thicknesses are always
in millimetres.
Floor Spacing Floor SpacingBottom plate Bottom plate
The depth of the hull is from the
underside of the bottom plate
to the top of the deck plate and
should be measured and reported.
Figure 2 - Bottom Structure

Figure 2 - Bottom Structure

Figure 2 - Bottom Structure
64 | The Report • March 2022 • Issue 99
A boat is sometimes said to be wall sided. That is not should not be called the floor, it is called the cabin sole.
because the sides are called walls. They are not! It is It should be fitted with easily portable hatch covers
because the side shell plate, like the wall in a house, to give access to the bilge space under but rarely is.
is flat and upright. If the tops of the side plates lean That difficulty and the fact that the bottom plate, the
outwards, the boat is said to be flare sided and, if the floors, and the ballast cannot be maintained without
hull sides lean inwards at the top, they are said to be such access, should be made clear to the purchaser by
tumbled home. the marine surveyor.

The corner where the deck meets the side shell plate The floors are the steel angles welded to the inside of
is sometimes called the gunnel. That is incorrect. The the bottom plate and the spaces between them form
word gunnel is a corruption of gunwale. [Note, not the vessel’s bilge and usually contains the ballast. The
gunwHale. A whale is a rather large cetacean. A wale ballast is there to control the boat’s stability and trim.
was an extra thick piece of a wooden warship’s side The corners of the floors are cut off to allow continuous
planking, and the gunwale was such an extra thick welded of the side shell plate to the bottom plate. The
piece of planking fitted under the ship’s gun ports and hole that leaves is correctly called a limber hole but is
it was fitted there to take the weight of the gun barrels often referred to as a rat hole.
when the warship ran out her guns and ‘showed her
teeth’. Narrow boats, these days, are rarely built of The height on the centreline from the top of the cabin
wood and are not usually fitted with cannons.] The sole to the underside of the deckhead lining should be
correct name for that corner is the deck edge or deck 1.90 m and the maximum overall breadth across the
at side. outside of the rubbing strakes or anodes, if such are
fitted along the hull sides, should not exceed 2.095 m.
For reasons of economy in
construction, the rubbing
strake is usually fully welded
along the top edge but only
stitch welded along the
bottom with often quite large
distances between the stitches.
The same usually applies to
the whisker harpins round the
bow and the trailer harpins
round the stern. That leaves
a small air gap between the
inside of the rubbing strake
and the outer surface of the
side shell plate. If it rains, the
water is drawn by the effects
of surface tension round the
bar and into that gap which
leads initially to crevice
corrosion. Over time that
slowly develops into haematite
and then jacking corrosion
forcing the bar off the plate
into clearly observable loops.
The corrosion eats into the
back of the bar and the face
of the plate. The loops can be seen by looking along Photograph 1 – Bottom Leak
the length of the bar which should be heavily hammer
tested along its length. The marine surveyor should be Photograph courtesy of Elliott Berry FIIMS FIDiagE
aware of that defect which can have serious results and
report it to his/her client.
The vessel in the photograph had a box swim platform
The top of the cabin is not called the roof but the cabin welded to her transom. The top plate had a cracked
top plate. The upward round of the centre of that plate weld which, over time, had let in rainwater. The shell
- usually about 30 to 40 mm - is called the camber. UTS readings were all acceptable and the plating
looked good, but, noting a small, welded patch, the
The space between the lining and the inside of the area was heavily hammer tested. The patch dislodged
plating is often filled with some form of insulation. with the result that the water inside the swim platform
The wooden lining upon which the owner can walk leaked out. Beware!

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