OK. It was a 330 Sundancer, and fondle is a bit light...maybe terrorize it is more appropriate. And terrorize it he did. 1998 330 Sundancer, Twin 454 MPI's, V-Drives.
I picked up Al at 10:00 AM (and I don't care what he says, Delta got him there REAL early, I was not late!!!) We were at the marina by 10:45. The boat was on the hard and as soon as I had the car in park, Al was out the door and digging in his tool kit. A walk around and a lot of pictures later and Al introduces himself to the owner asking forgiveness for his being rude for not stopping in mid walk around but he was in a process that he did not want to interrupt. After a little small talk, Al shows us his research on the factory specs and mentions that he certainly hopes the boat meets those specs because she was pretty. Al goes back to his tool kit and the owner and I chat. Al starts banging on the hull with a mallet. The owner gets a cell call. The owner answers a question with..."Dave flew this guy in from New York to survey the Dancer and the guy is beating the sh!t out of my boat with a hammer!!! I've never seen anything like this!"
The hull checked OK. Sea trial went well. Oil analysis on all machinery goes out tomorrow. Every nook and cranny was inspected and photographed.
Al had me look at everything behind him and told me to not be afraid to rip into the boat myself as two sets of eyes were better than one and do not hesitate to ask questions. It was a real learning experience and a very enjoyable one at that.
If one was to ask me if the price was reasonable, I would have to say honestly that, this being my first survey, I do not know as I have nothing to compare it to. On the flip side, if one was to ask was it worth it, I would have to answer in one word...YES. I have met too many people over the last several decades who have spent a lot more on repairs after the survey on "stuff" not noted in the survey than I
spent on "A Prisco Survey".
So just how good was the infamous Al Prisco? Even the current owner was impressed at the end of the survey. Questions like 'what would cause that to happen?' 'Is this normal wear and tear, or something I need to be concerned with?' were frequent and courteous. To me, this was a sign of sincere respect to Al and his profession. To paraphrase a piece of a conversation I overheard between Al and the owner. 'From one businessman to another, whether you and Dave negotiate a deal on this boat or not, you know you are going to have to fix the problems before you sell her.' The owner shook his head and said 'I know. I don't want to sell anything to someone that would not be meeting my expectations.'
Al's approach to surveying is that his results do not tell one to buy or not buy the surveyed boat. The report is a tool to use in the negotiating process. I shall not see the final report until this weekend. If the report is as good as what I saw today, this RO says his approach is very successful.
I picked up Al at 10:00 AM (and I don't care what he says, Delta got him there REAL early, I was not late!!!) We were at the marina by 10:45. The boat was on the hard and as soon as I had the car in park, Al was out the door and digging in his tool kit. A walk around and a lot of pictures later and Al introduces himself to the owner asking forgiveness for his being rude for not stopping in mid walk around but he was in a process that he did not want to interrupt. After a little small talk, Al shows us his research on the factory specs and mentions that he certainly hopes the boat meets those specs because she was pretty. Al goes back to his tool kit and the owner and I chat. Al starts banging on the hull with a mallet. The owner gets a cell call. The owner answers a question with..."Dave flew this guy in from New York to survey the Dancer and the guy is beating the sh!t out of my boat with a hammer!!! I've never seen anything like this!"
The hull checked OK. Sea trial went well. Oil analysis on all machinery goes out tomorrow. Every nook and cranny was inspected and photographed.
Al had me look at everything behind him and told me to not be afraid to rip into the boat myself as two sets of eyes were better than one and do not hesitate to ask questions. It was a real learning experience and a very enjoyable one at that.
If one was to ask me if the price was reasonable, I would have to say honestly that, this being my first survey, I do not know as I have nothing to compare it to. On the flip side, if one was to ask was it worth it, I would have to answer in one word...YES. I have met too many people over the last several decades who have spent a lot more on repairs after the survey on "stuff" not noted in the survey than I
spent on "A Prisco Survey".
So just how good was the infamous Al Prisco? Even the current owner was impressed at the end of the survey. Questions like 'what would cause that to happen?' 'Is this normal wear and tear, or something I need to be concerned with?' were frequent and courteous. To me, this was a sign of sincere respect to Al and his profession. To paraphrase a piece of a conversation I overheard between Al and the owner. 'From one businessman to another, whether you and Dave negotiate a deal on this boat or not, you know you are going to have to fix the problems before you sell her.' The owner shook his head and said 'I know. I don't want to sell anything to someone that would not be meeting my expectations.'
Al's approach to surveying is that his results do not tell one to buy or not buy the surveyed boat. The report is a tool to use in the negotiating process. I shall not see the final report until this weekend. If the report is as good as what I saw today, this RO says his approach is very successful.