Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 6:55pm

hello all, i recently had a 40ft liverpool boat surveyed at a boat yard next to aston marina, i picked a reputable surveyor from your ads, the owner had it advertised on apollo duck and on the aston marina website but selling it privately, it was as advertise as so " 40ft Cruiser Stern Liverpool Boats - £29,995 Very nice boat located at Aston Marina, definitely worth a look, trust me I looked at a lot before I found this little gem! Repainted in 2013 by the previous owner and blacked by Aston Marina in August 2016, also had full engine service and new auto bilge pump fitted. She ("Merlot") has been very well looked after and has had regular engine services". it was in wonderful condition on the water & inside , once out of water the surveyor discovered that it was actually a 10mm baseplate which seemed a bit strange seen as it said 8mm on the conformation of conformity, i thought that was great and that it was going to be the one, all side readings were satisfactory but then when the surveyor started scraping the base baseplate to get a proper reading he discovered lots of deep pittings, not just local ones but dotted all over the bottom and especially around the centre from bow to stern, the deepest he found were 4.7mm, with no guarantee of deeper ones, (i have included a picture) the surveyor was quite alarmed by this, he said to us that it would need a complete over plate, we were bit saddened obviously, anyway he carried on the survey , i decided to walk away from the deal & stopped the survey before he got to the electrics which was the last thing to do, it was a simple set up & we knew the electrics were good because of the recent bss which the surveyor read & the owner has always had it plugged into the shoreline when on board, he used it as a temporary place to sleep (2-3 days a week) for the last 13 months on told me there were no problems. As the owner was not present i had to then ring the owner to tell him that there was a problem with his boat and that i would request my deposit back, he refunded me the £500. I was advised not to reveal the problem to the owner so that he may agree to help with the cost of the survey, i had already spent £270 on a lift out etc, he agreed to pay half the survey, but he wanted me to send him the draft pdf copy before payment, i was advised not to by the surveyor but i did as i wanted to get it over with. he is now complaining that the survey was stopped short of electrics which he knows are fine and is now not replying to any of my messages & emails. the only URGENT survey recommendation was to over plate before use, yet the owner , seven days ago has it back on apollo duck for the same price £29.995 saying what a "gem" it is with no mention of the recent survey nor recommendation. so i suppose what i am asking you wonderful experts is where do i stand , is there any way of reporting this for the safety of everyone on the canals, i would hate to hear that boat 505101 had sunk with unaware people on board, its such a good looking boat that it wouldn't surprise me someone buying it with out a survey and sink , any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. thank you all

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 10:24pm

I am afraid as with most private sales the legal position is "let the buyer beware". You could try pointing out to Apollo Duck that the vendor has misrepresented the boat but I doubt they will be inclined to refuse advertisement fees. You seem to have had a luck escape so to save yourself a lot of stress probably for little effect just walk away and next time do not believe vendors descriptions. Sorry, now you know why I always advise a survey. There are lots of boats like that being used as homes around most major cities that have been bought by uniformed non-boaty people looking for a cheap home.

Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 12:03pm

thanks for your reply, i still think that what he is doing is criminal knowing that he knows the truth that his boat is unsafe for cruising, wondered if the c,r,t have a person to flag this to. thanks as always