Seema Cklen
Marine Surveyor

Services

Four kinds of survey. One standard of work.

Vessels up to roughly 65 feet, sail or power, fiberglass, aluminum, or cold-molded wood. Small commercial work — lobster boats, six-pack charter, launch & tender — where the scope is clear and the yard can haul her cleanly.

Pre-Purchase Survey

This is the full workup. Out-of-water inspection at the haul-out, sea trial with you aboard, and every accessible system examined and photographed. Tramex Skipper on the hull below waterline and on the deck core, percussion sounding with a phenolic hammer, rigging inspection where applicable (tip-top to chainplate), engine observation under load at cruise RPM and WOT, and a fair-market valuation built from three arm's-length comparables — actual closed sales, not the asking prices that BUC and NADA print for the brokers.

Expect to block out a full day at the yard plus a morning on the water. Pressure-washed bottom before I meter it, please — asking a surveyor to read moisture through antifouling slime is asking for wrong numbers. Draft report within five business days, often sooner.

What's always included: oil analysis kits handed to the yard for engine and transmission sampling; compression or borescope observation where the engine and the owner permit; a rigging load-test note where the mast is stepped; a through-hull inventory with every seacock operated.

Insurance Survey

Underwriters want to know the vessel is seaworthy and valued honestly. This is typically an in-water inspection focused on safety systems, structural integrity, machinery condition, and documentation. Reports are formatted to meet the common underwriter templates — Allianz, Travelers Yacht, Markel, Chubb, and the inland-marine desks that write the working commercial hulls. Every recommendation is labeled A, B, or C so the carrier's surveyor-report reviewer doesn't have to interpret.

If it's a C&V renewal on a boat I surveyed before, the second pass is typically faster and priced accordingly. I keep the file.

Damage Survey

After a grounding, allision, fire, lightning strike, or a line-squall knockdown, somebody has to determine what happened, what's damaged, what it will cost to repair, and — where relevant — whether the vessel is a constructive total loss. I work these for owners, insurers, and occasionally attorneys. Cause-and-origin analysis is included when the scope calls for it; I will coordinate with a marine electrical specialist or a diesel mechanic where the work is beyond a surveyor's defensible scope.

For lightning in particular: I'll pull the electronics boxes, check the chartplotter and autopilot heads on the bench, sample through-hull fittings for pinholes, and document the bonding system end-to-end. Lightning is never as simple as "replace the masthead unit."

Appraisal & Valuation

A standalone valuation — no condition survey — for estate settlement, charitable donation (IRS Form 8283 work, boats over $5,000 qualified value), divorce proceedings, or financing. Based on a physical inspection and a documented comparables analysis pulling from closed broker sales, USCG title transfers, and, where appropriate, auction data. Appropriate when the condition is not in dispute but the number is.

How an engagement usually runs

  1. 1

    Scoping conversation

    We talk through the vessel, the reason for the survey, and the deadline. I tell you if I'm the right surveyor for the boat. Sometimes I'm not — I don't do megayachts, I don't do steel above 50 feet, and I don't survey boats I've worked on as a rigger in a prior life.

  2. 2

    Written engagement

    A short agreement confirming scope, fee, and the date. You arrange the haul-out and the sea trial through the yard and the seller. I will call the yard myself if you want me to — I know most of them between Eastport and Cape May.

  3. 3

    Inspection day

    You are welcome and encouraged to attend. Most buyers learn more in those six hours than in six months of shopping. Dress for the yard: closed-toe boots, no good clothes, a headlamp if you've got one.

  4. 4

    Report

    Delivered as a bound PDF within five business days. I'm available to walk through findings by phone once you've read it cover to cover — not before.

What falls outside scope

A marine survey is a visual and non-destructive inspection. It is not a warranty and it is not a teardown. Specifically out of scope unless separately engaged:

  • Opening sealed structures, removing tabbing, or cutting cores.
  • Fuel tank pressure testing or ultrasonic thickness on aluminum tanks (specialist work).
  • Refrigerant-system charge, AC compressor disassembly, inverter bench testing.
  • Diver's bottom inspection on vessels I cannot haul (I can coordinate one).
  • Electronics software integration, NMEA 2000 backbone troubleshooting.

What makes a boat un-surveyable

  • Seller won't permit haul-out on a vessel being sold. Walk away.
  • Engine compartment packed with gear the owner "doesn't have time" to clear.
  • Batteries disconnected and dry on a pre-purchase. No power, no systems check, no survey.
  • No clear title documentation. That's a lawyer problem before it's a surveyor problem.