Good surveyor in the Nanaimo, BC area

[Jvancul]

We are looking to purchase a Ranger 27-29 from around 2009-2011. There are now a couple we are serious about so are now planning the inspection / survey / sea trial phase. A few questions:

Besides the obvious systems, is there anything else we should be inspecting and looking into for boats of this type/year?
Anything extra to check during seal trial or when boat out of water?
Can anyone a recommend a good surveyor in the Nanaimo, BC area?


Thank you – any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[scross]

We used Lachlan Mackenzie at Meadows Marine Surveyors.
https://www.meadowsmarinesurveyors.com/
five years ago when purchasing our Sidney based R25 Classic. Very detailed and complete survey. He didn’t miss a thing!
Office in Victoria but I know they covered the south end of Vancouver Island when we used them.

 

[Gunner065]

We purchased a 2010 R25SC in Sidney in June 2020.

Our survey was conducted by Pacific Coast Marine Surveyor based out of Brentwood Bay. I initiated contact via email and asked him boat load of questions before hiring him. The questions/answers were free until I hired him. Very thorough marine surveyor with lots of references. He sent me an e-copy of the report and mailed me a bounded copy. Would highly recommend him.

If you PM me I can send you a comprehensive checklist I used during the sea trial/survey.

Although the boat was in outstanding condition for a 10 year old boat, I wanted to do my due diligence to ensure that I wasn't buying a lemon. Much like home inspections, marine surveys are professional opinions and do not constitute warranties (implied nor expressed).

From reading comments on this site, I would stay away from cummings engines. I do have a YANMAR engine, it's easy to maintain yourself (for the most part), parts/service is readily available in Canada and lots of information is available either here or other online blog sites.

Is this your first boat purchase? If yes, than do you have some boats in mind in your area? The current owner should be able to provide you with an itemized list of maintenance conducted over the years (both DIY and by a Yanmar-certified tech). On purchase, I received a copy of the previous owner's logbook with frequency of parts being changed, maintenance conducted and associated cost, how to winterize the boat (from the fresh water system to the engine), etc.

And finally, welcome to this very active community. These boats are well designed/built, sea worthy and lots of fun.

 

[dgiles]

I would disagree on the Cummins engine comment. Very reliable, in many, many boats, parts are readably available and cheaper than Volvo, etc, etc.

 

[scross]

The OP is looking at R27s and R29s so the Cummins engine comments are all irrelevant. The Cummins was only an option in the R25 Classic.

 

[Grey25]

I do not recommend The Marine Butler.
They were fast and just took a lot of pictures, they would not even let us be in area when they were doing survey - very bad. Fortunately we did not pursue that vessel