Log XII - Artemis 1 (Pre-Purchase Part 2)

The boat inspection report will contain the information of all the equipment and accessories on your boat, with the findings and recommendations for the defects. It will also give a valuation of your boat and you better keep your fingers crossed that the valuation is lowered than what you had offered so that you can use it as a bargaining tool for the final negotiation.

The most important component of your boat is of course the engines.

However the inspection will only cover visual checks, engine/ transmission oil analysis and a sea trial to test their performances. Any latent defects can only be found through thorough inspection by an experienced mechanic which is hard to find when you are so far away, unless you have contacts over there. So you will just need to rely on the limited information you have on the engines and take a calculated risk.

The visual checks are mainly for exterior corrosion. All marine engines will corrode over time. It is just how well you maintain them. For exterior corrosion, it can be quite easily rectified by painting a layer of anti-corrosion paint over. This shall be covered in more details in my post on protecting your engine against rust.

In my opinion, the engine/ transmission oil analysis is not that helpful. It shows the content of the various compounds found inside the oils and highlight which of them are excessive. However you cannot pin point where the problem is until you really use the engines. The excessive compounds detected may just simply due to an overdue engine oil change. You can save this oil analysis costs if you want to.

Before the sea trial, the inspector will do an engine compression test.

This will test whether the cylinders can hold sufficient pressure. If the pressure is too low, there are many implications. The solution can be as easy as replacing a damaged gasket or as complicated as replacing a broken piston. So if the compression test is not satisfactory, I will suggest that you reconsider your options as you do not know what engine problems you will be dealing with in the future.

The sea trial will give you an idea of what is the boat's maximum and cruising speed and at what RPM.

You can check this information against the engine manufacturer's specifications and see whether does the performance match. Take note that the performance will be lower than the specifications due to the engine age, wind and current conditions during the trial, and the condition of the hull. My boat engines were running at about 80% of the specified performance which I feel is good enough considering the age of 14 years and not to mention the condition of the hull with barnacles infestation.

The inspector will also highlight if there are any obvious problems during the sea trial such as excessive cranking during startup, excessive exhaust smoke, engine temperature and pressure consistency, steering transmission, etc. I will not be able to cover all the possible problems that can happen during a sea trial. If you are unsure of certain issues, you can drop me an email or comment below and I will try to help to the best of my knowledge, or you can ask Mr Google know-it-all.