How to prepare your boat for a survey

Surveyors are not allowed to dismantle your boat, and they will not cut out joinery to see behind it. That single constraint means the quality of your report is largely decided before anyone arrives — by how much of the vessel can actually be reached.

Why preparation changes the report

Every area that cannot be inspected is recorded as exactly that: not inspected — access not available. Those lines are honest and necessary, but each one is a part of the boat whose condition remains unknown. Nobody benefits from a report full of them.

An hour or two of preparation typically converts several of those lines into actual findings. If you are the owner arranging an insurance survey, that means fewer unresolved questions from your underwriter. If you are selling, it means a cleaner report and fewer reasons for a buyer to hesitate or discount. If you are buying, it means you get what you paid for.

Getting the lift out right

For a pre-purchase or insurance survey the vessel needs to be ashore. Three things to get right:

• Book early. The yard's crane diary is usually the longest lead time in the whole process, and in spring it can run weeks ahead of the surveyor's availability.
• Pressure-wash immediately after lifting, while the growth is still soft. If it dries and hardens the yard will charge more to remove it, and the gelcoat or plating underneath cannot be assessed properly either way.
• Check how she is chocked. The surveyor needs to get round the whole hull, look at the keel and keel joint, and reach the stern gear. Slings or pads sitting over an area of interest, or a cradle jammed hard against the turn of the bilge, can block exactly what matters. A word with the yard beforehand usually sorts it.

Allow enough time ashore. A rushed relaunch while the surveyor is still working helps nobody.

Access: the hour that matters most

This is the checklist. Most of it is unglamorous and all of it pays for itself.

• Empty the lockers — especially any giving access to the hull, bilges, skin fittings, chainplates or structure. Not shuffled to one side; emptied.
• Pump and wipe the bilges dry. Standing water hides precisely the areas most worth seeing, and on a wooden or steel boat the structure beneath it is the whole point.
• Lift sole boards and removable panels, and leave them off. If anything is screwed down, unscrew it beforehand.
• Clear the engine bay of stowed gear, fenders, spare oil and warps.
• Open access hatches to the steering gear, stern tube and rudder stock.
• Clear berths and the forepeak so hull sides and the stem area can be examined from inside.
• Unlock everything, and leave keys for lockers, hatches, cabins and the engine.
• Remove the sail cover and lash the boom on a sailing vessel; make the mast heel and deck collar accessible.
• Leave a torch-friendly boat — if headlining panels are designed to come out, take them out.

If you are around on the day, stay contactable rather than hovering. Questions come up, and being able to say "that patch was done in 2019, here is the invoice" is genuinely useful.

Systems and equipment

The surveyor will want to see things work, or see clearly why they do not.

• Charge the batteries, and connect the shore supply if there is one. Flat batteries mean the electrical system, pumps and instruments cannot be assessed.
• Turn the gas on at the bottle and make sure there is gas in it, so the installation and its shut-offs can be checked.
• Leave the seacocks accessible and, where practical, workable. Seized seacocks are a finding in themselves, but the surveyor should be able to try them.
• Have the safety equipment out and visible — lifejackets, flares, extinguishers, first aid kit — so it can be listed with its expiry dates rather than recorded as not seen.
• Make sure bilge pumps and float switches are connected and can be tested.
• Note anything you already know about. Do not hide known defects; volunteer them. It builds credibility and lets the time be spent looking for what you do not know.

Paperwork to leave out

Documents routinely explain what the surveyor finds, and they make the report more useful.

• Registration — Part 1 or SSR — and any bill of sale history
• Previous survey reports, even old ones. Being able to compare moisture readings or plate thickness against a survey from eight years ago is extremely valuable, because the trend matters more than any single figure.
• Engine service records and hours
• Invoices for major work: osmosis treatment, re-rigging, plating, deck repairs, engine rebuilds
• Rig replacement date, and gas installation certification if held
• VAT paid status and any RCD or CE documentation
• Insurance history, and any previous claims

If you are the buyer, not the owner

You cannot do any of the above yourself, so ask the broker in writing, well in advance, and be specific rather than saying "please prepare the boat":

Please could the vendor empty all lockers, particularly those giving access to the hull and bilges; pump and wipe the bilges; lift and leave off sole boards and removable panels; clear the engine bay; ensure batteries are charged and shore power connected; leave keys for all lockers and hatches; and have the hull pressure-washed immediately after lifting. Please also leave out registration documents, previous surveys and service records.

Most brokers and vendors will cooperate. If access is refused, take note. There is a difference between a vendor who is away and cannot help, and one who does not want the bilges looked at — and the report will record the restriction either way, which is information you can use.

What not to do

• Do not antifoul just before the survey. Fresh paint hides gelcoat condition, blisters, previous repairs and plate pitting, and it will limit what the report can say. Survey first, antifoul after.
• Do not paint or fill anything else either. Fresh filler over a crack reads exactly as it looks: an attempt to conceal.
• Do not deep-clean to the point of removing evidence. A wiped bilge is helpful; a freshly painted bilge on an older steel boat is a red flag and will be treated as one.
• Do not rush the yard. Give the surveyor the time they have asked for.
• Do not conceal known defects. They tend to be found anyway, and once one thing has been hidden the surveyor reasonably assumes there may be others.

A prepared boat gets a better survey. Not a more flattering one — a more complete one, which is what you are actually paying for.

Related reading

• Pre-purchase survey: what to expect on the day
• How much does a boat survey cost in the UK?
• Boat insurance survey requirements explained
• Frequently asked questions

This article is general guidance, not advice on a specific vessel, and does not replace a survey. Cost figures are indicative UK market ranges as at August 2026 and are not quotations.