Marine Surveyor in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The Grand Strand is an unusual piece of coast for boating. The Intracoastal runs behind the beach for its whole length, but natural ocean access is limited, and that single fact shapes almost everything about the local fleet.

The Grand Strand Fleet

Boats concentrate around the inlets and the waterway: Little River at the northern end, Murrells Inlet to the south, and the marinas along the waterway between them. Sportfish and center consoles where there is access, and a considerable number of cruisers and Loop boats using the waterway itself.

Because ocean access means running to an inlet rather than stepping out of the back door, boats here tend to accumulate waterway hours rather than offshore ones. That produces a different wear pattern: more running gear contact with shoaling, more time at displacement speeds, less structural pounding.

Local Conditions

Shoaling is the defining local issue. Sections of this waterway shoal persistently, and boats that run it regularly show it on props, shafts, struts and rudders. I look specifically for contact damage and for repairs to it, because a bent shaft that was straightened rather than replaced is a finding worth having.

Water varies from brackish in the waterway to full salt at the inlets, so corrosion and growth depend on where a boat actually lives rather than on the town. I ask which berth and which inlet before I start.

Myrtle Beach is the southern end of my range. It is a real drive, so surveys here are worth booking with some notice, and I will usually try to schedule more than one trip’s work together.

Book a Survey in Myrtle Beach

Call or email with the boat, where it is lying, and your timeline. Your report is delivered the next day. Not next week.