Clients and Underwriters need to know
The following seven pages are an example of the procedure and the information you can expect from various
marine surveys provided by our members. All members do not use she same presentation format, but do provide the
suggested information that clients and underwriters need.
There are basically two types of marine surveys available, the Pre-Purchase survey and the C&V survey.
Clients, finance companies, and lending institutions have, over time, indicated what information they expect to find on
a marine survey report. More importantly, you, as the client can review a sample of the report contents and
procedures that ACMS recommends.
If your survey report is not accepted by an insurance or finance institution, chances are it does not comply
with their standards. That means there is not adequate information in your report for the underwriter to make an
educated decision regarding the condition and/or value of the vessel.
The marine surveyor should be kind to the underwriters and clients and present a document to them that
includes all the information they need and is in a decent format. The format of a marine survey should be written in
reasonable sequence and in language that is understandable by the average person.
The underwriters prefer paragraph type written reports rather than the line-item format. Many of the line item
reports I have reviewed simply indicate the presence of items without a good description or advice about the
functionality and condition of the item.
Incidentally, it is appropriate to use marine terminology when it should be used. It is also proper to work in a
fair amount of every day English when possible.
There is a sequence and description of information that I have compiled after speaking with underwriting and
financial institutions over the past many years indicating what they would like to see on an acceptable survey report.
The information that follows in this example, is current, and reasonably complete.
The following paragraphs include the necessary information and sequence of the report format that we have
garnered from various underwriters over the past many years. Please note that this advice is adjusted for a standard
power vessel of approximately thirty-five feet in length. A good example would be a thirty-five feet long Sea Ray
sedan. This example does not include a fly bridge. Most underwriters like to see a fair number of photos which they
can use to verify what is being presented on the survey report.
The Survey information suggestions
Page one - Cover page: Always use normal size font with single spacing. Do not try to cram four pages of
text into a twelve-page report.
Header: The survey report header should include the following information: your name and the name of your
company, address, phone number, and email contact information, web site name and URL address, logos, and
credential logos.
Date:
Client: Name and address
Subject: Vessel, Manufacturer, Model, Size, Year, and Name on vessel. Dear Sir:
Paragraph one: Type of survey: C&V, Condition and Value, primarily used for the purchase of insurance and/or re-
finance by the current owner of the vessel.
Next type: Pre purchase which is used by three users: The client in order to make an educated decision to purchase,
and his financing, and insuring providers. The pre-purchase survey will be covered in a the next issue.
Page one should include a photo, complete side profile of the vessel.
Page one should include the disclaimer. The disclaimer should not include language that would absolve a surveyor
from liability due to inaccurate, misleading, or missing information. Be advised that if your report is poorly written, or
miss-represent, or omits obvious important information, the surveyor can be held responsible.
Page one; bottom of page (last paragraph) should include a description of the vessel: Manufacturer’s name and
address. Description of the vessel, including type, date of manufacturer, model name, length, width, draft,
displacement, hull number and Official number.
Page 1 of 7
ACMS recommends the following contents and procedures of a C&V Marine Survey to its members
