A good marine survey can find problems even experienced boat owners overlook. But how much do we know about the person carrying it out?
Most boat owners understand why a survey is worth having, particularly when buying an older vessel. What receives less attention is the person doing the inspection.
In the September 2026 issue of Boating New Zealand, marine surveyor Dean Kennedy asks whether New Zealand needs to raise the standard of recreational marine surveying.
His concern is straightforward. Unlike commercial marine surveying, there is no statutory licensing system for recreational surveyors in New Zealand, no nationally recognised training pathway and no minimum competency requirement before someone can offer their services to boat owners.
That leaves owners and buyers to do some checking of their own.
Kennedy recommends asking about qualifications, practical marine experience and familiarity with the type of boat being surveyed. Professional indemnity and public liability insurance should also be part of the conversation.
The survey itself can uncover everything from moisture and structural deterioration to failed bilge pumps, navigation lights and ageing safety equipment. Some faults are expensive. Others are remarkably simple, yet have gone unnoticed by an owner who may have known the boat for years.
For anyone buying a boat, our Tradeaboat NZ article What a pre purchase boat survey can tell you before you buy looks at the practical side: what surveyors inspect, the problems owners often miss, what may require a separate specialist and how to make sense of the report.
Kennedy goes considerably further into the New Zealand surveying question in “Recreational marine surveying in New Zealand: Is it time we raised the standard?” His full article is in the September 2026 issue of Boating New Zealand, available now from your local bookseller.
