The transom that wasn't.
Vessel: 1987 28' center console, outboard-powered, fiberglass with plywood-cored transom.
Finding: Tramex readings along the transom inboard face ran 22–30% wet in a band roughly 14" above the engine well. Percussion was dull over the same zone. Fasteners from the last repower had been bedded in 5200 but the bracket backing plate was aluminum — galvanic corrosion had wept down the inside face and the core had been wicking for years.
Outcome: Buyer walked. Seller relisted at $12k under after a yard estimate for transom reconstruction came in at $18k–$24k.
Lesson: If a boat has had more than one repower in its life, I assume the transom is lying to me until the numbers say otherwise.
Lightning, but not where you'd look.
Vessel: 41' sloop, fin-keel, wintered on the hard. Reported strike the previous August, cosmetic damage repaired, insurer wanted a follow-up.
Finding: Masthead unit replaced, VHF antenna replaced, chartplotter replaced. All obvious. The subtle damage: pinholes at three bronze through-hulls (galley sink, head intake, cockpit drain port) where the strike had arced to ground. None had leaked yet. The head-intake seacock handle snapped off in my hand under normal operation.
Outcome: Supplemental claim. Four through-hulls and two seacocks replaced. Bonding system tested and corrected at two bonding-wire terminations that had been loose since the hull was built.
Lesson: After a strike, pull every seacock. Every one.
A boat too clean.
Vessel: 36' sedan cruiser, twin gas inboards, advertised as "turnkey."
Finding: Bilge was painted the week before the survey. Fresh white bilge paint over active rust on the engine stringers. Fresh gelcoat-colored paint on the inside of the anchor locker over a crack at the deck-hull joint. Oil analysis came back with elevated copper and iron on the port engine — bearing wear, consistent with the tick I'd noted at idle.
Outcome: Buyer passed. Boat sold two months later to someone who didn't survey.
Lesson: A boat that shows up too clean for her age is hiding something. The question is only what and how much.
Grounding on a charted ledge.
Vessel: 42' sloop, owner aboard, familiar harbor, falling tide.
Finding: Hit the ledge at roughly 3 knots. Keel-stub junction displaced 3/8" to port — measurable against the original fairing line. Floors cracked transversely at frames 5 and 6. Mast step depressed 5mm. Rig was never loaded after the grounding, which was the right call.
Outcome: Report supported a constructive total loss. Insurer settled. Hull went to a yard that specializes in rebuilds; I'm told she's back in commission now under a new name.
Lesson: Soft groundings aren't soft. A 42-foot boat at 3 knots is throwing a lot of kinetic energy into a very small area of fiberglass.
File 24-128
September 2024
The surveyor who came before me.
Vessel: 31' trawler, surveyed by another AMS two years earlier; owner requested a re-survey for a refinancing.
Finding: Prior report was clean and honest. Everything flagged Category B had been addressed. The items that had aged in two years — the exhaust riser on the starboard side, the Racor bowls, the steering ram seals — were textbook consumables. Found one thing the earlier report had missed: a hairline stress crack at the flybridge ladder foot-weld, which had opened over a winter.
Outcome: Report accepted by the lender. Ladder weld repaired at the owner's regular yard.
Lesson: A good previous survey is a gift to the next surveyor. I tell clients to keep every survey their boat has ever had. They tell the next story.
File 25-014
February 2025
A lobster boat's honest winter.
Vessel: 32' working lobster boat, single diesel, hauled for winter maintenance, insurance renewal due.
Finding: Hull was exactly what a working boat ought to be — scarred, serviceable, and sound. Wiring in the engine box was below current standard: non-tinned copper, undersized for the alternator output, single conductors zip-tied against the exhaust elbow.
Outcome: Category A recommendation for the wiring. Owner rewired over the winter with tinned, correctly-sized conductors in proper loom. Re-inspection in April cleared. Carrier renewed without adjustment.
Lesson: Commercial boats get judged against the wrong standard by surveyors who only know yachts. The standard is the work the boat does, done safely — not the teak.