Marine Surveys for Boats on the Intracoastal

A lot of the boats I survey are not from here. They are passing through, on a schedule set by weather and bridges, and the survey has to fit that rather than the other way round.

Where I Can Meet You

Anywhere along the North Carolina coast between roughly Wilmington and the Pamlico. That includes Wrightsville Beach, Southport-adjacent stops, Morehead City and Beaufort, Oriental, New Bern and Washington, plus the yards in between.

North of there I cover Hampton Roads in Virginia and south to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, which between them bracket a decent stretch of the waterway.

Surveys for Boats in Transit

The practical problem with a transit survey is time. You have a weather window, a yard slot, or a closing date, and a surveyor who cannot come until next week is no use at all.

Tell me your arrival window when you first make contact rather than when you get there. Your report is delivered the next day. Not next week, which is generally the constraint that matters when you are trying to leave.

Boats that have been running the waterway tend to show a consistent set of things: shoaling contact on running gear, bottom paint scuffed in the specific pattern that says grounding, and wear on ground tackle from anchoring somewhere different every night. None of that is alarming in itself. It is worth reading properly.

Buying a Boat on the Waterway

Boats change hands on the waterway constantly, often between people who are both a long way from home. That makes an independent survey more important than usual, not less, because neither party has a local relationship to fall back on.

If you are buying a boat that is mid-passage, be realistic about haul-out availability. Yards along this stretch book up in season and the survey is often gated on the lift rather than on me.

Get in Touch Before You Arrive

Call or email with the boat, the stretch you are running and roughly when you expect to be in range. Scheduling ahead is usually the difference between a survey happening and a passage waiting on one.