The cost is published, if you know where to look. The timing is where people get hurt.
Surveyors publish their rates, so you don't have to guess.
Boston Marine Surveyors lists $28–30 a foot. Maritime Surveyors lists $28–35 a foot for a pre-purchase condition and valuation survey. Two firms, two coasts, the same band. On a 42-foot boat that's roughly $1,200–1,500 for the hull-and-systems survey alone.
Notice what that band is for. Maritime Surveyors charges $24–28 a foot for an insurance survey and $28–35 for a pre-purchase one. The pre-purchase survey is the more thorough job and it is priced that way. If someone quotes you an insurance-survey rate, check which one you're buying.
The engine survey. BoatUS: "Expect an engine survey to cost you about $500 per engine (at the time of this writing)." Twin engines, two of those.
The haul-out. Yards bill it separately, and some list a survey haul as its own line. Oasis Boatyard in St. Augustine publishes $10 a foot up to 45 feet and $12 a foot over, including a half hour in the slings.
Travel, if you're bringing someone good to a boat that isn't near them. Not everyone charges it — Boston Marine Surveyors says there are typically no travel fees — but ask, don't assume.
Put it together and BoatUS's own figure for a day with all the surveys done is $3,000. That's the number to budget. It's theirs, not ours.
BoatUS is direct about it: "If you're buying a powerboat, especially one on which the engines make up a major portion of the boat's value, hire a mechanic trained in that particular type of engine to perform a mechanical survey."
On a Loop boat the engines are a major portion of the value. That's the whole argument.
There is a real credential here: the American Boat & Yacht Council's Marine Electrical Certification, covering AC and DC systems against ABYC standards including E-11. ABYC says the course is built for professionals with "at least 3 – 5 years' experience" in marine electrical design, installation or repair.
We don't know what an electrical survey costs. Nobody publishes it, and we're not going to invent a number. What we can give you is the question: ask your surveyor whether they hold that certification, and if they don't, ask what their electrical inspection actually covers. The answer is free, and it tells you what you're buying.
BoatUS: "the acceptance date on your purchase and sale agreement should be stretched to at least a week after the survey."
A seller wants to close quickly — they want their money out of the boat. That pressure lands on you as a scramble, and a scramble is how people end up with whoever was available rather than whoever was good.
Win the time in the offer, before you know you need it. By the time you're calling round, the date is agreed and the leverage is gone.
It also settles an argument buyers have with themselves — whether to line up a surveyor before you make an offer, or wait until you have one accepted. BoatUS's answer: "As soon as your offer on a boat is accepted, get the survey process rolling." If you've negotiated enough time, you don't have to pre-shop.
A pre-purchase survey hauls the boat. Bottom paint hauls the boat. If the bottom needs doing anyway, that's one lift, not two — and it puts the survey, the running-gear inspection and the paint on the same day.
It's also the right moment for it, because whatever the lift uncovers — shafts, props, transducers, thru-hulls, thrusters — surfaces before you own the boat rather than after.
A survey tells you what is working, what isn't, and what condition the boat is in on the day. It is not a warranty. On a used boat most things will eventually break regardless, and a clean report doesn't change that.
And a related heuristic worth carrying: a boat that has seen recent, regular use is generally a better bet than one with low hours that has been sitting. Low hours reads as low wear and often means something else.
Published rate cards from two surveying firms — Boston Marine Surveyors and Maritime Surveyors — and from Oasis Boatyard and Marina in St. Augustine, which lists a survey haul as its own line. BoatUS for the day-rate, the engine figure and the timing advice. ABYC for the electrical certification. We haven't surveyed anything ourselves — and where there is no published number, which is the electrical survey, we've said so instead of estimating.
If we've got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — support@caniloop.net. A correction from someone who has actually run it is worth more than anything we can write.