Does a boat need to be lifted out for a survey?

For a pre-purchase or full condition survey, normally yes. The hull, keel, rudder, skin fittings and stern gear cannot be properly assessed afloat, so the vessel is lifted, pressure washed and inspected ashore. A limited scope survey of, for example, electrics or machinery may not require it, but the YDSA warns such a survey may not be adequate to support an insurance application.

Who pays for the lift-out for a pre-purchase survey?

Usually the buyer, since the buyer is the one who wants the inspection, and the yard invoices it separately from the surveyor's fee. This is market practice rather than a rule, so agree it in writing with the vendor or broker before booking and confirm the yard's charges with the yard directly.

Can a moisture meter prove a boat has osmosis?

No. A moisture meter is a screening tool that tells a surveyor where to investigate further. Readings are affected by time ashore, temperature, humidity, the coating system and the instrument. Where a laminate problem is suspected, a limited scope investigation is a separate instruction and a separate fee.

Guide

Lift-out, osmosis and moisture testing: the costs around the survey

Updated 2026-08-15

The surveyor's fee is rarely the whole cost of a survey day. The yard, the crane driver and any follow-up investigation are separate lines, and knowing that in advance stops the budget moving after the invoice arrives.

Why the boat comes out of the water

A hull, keel, rudder, skin fittings, propeller and stern gear cannot be properly assessed afloat. For a pre-purchase or full condition survey, the vessel is normally lifted, pressure washed and left in slings or on the hard while the surveyor works. That is why survey bookings are usually arranged around a yard's lift schedule rather than the other way round.

Who pays for the lift

The yard invoices the lift, the pressure wash and any time ashore. This is separate from the surveyor's fee and is normally the buyer's cost in a pre-purchase situation, because it is the buyer who wants the inspection.
It is a matter of agreement, not law. Confirm with the vendor or broker who is paying before booking, and get the yard's charges from the yard directly.
Mast unstepping, if required, and any crane time beyond the standard lift are further separate charges.
If the boat is already ashore for winter, you may avoid the lift entirely. That is the cheapest survey slot in the calendar, which is one reason surveys cluster outside the sailing season.

The allocation of lift costs described above is standard market practice rather than a published rule, and we have not found an official source that fixes it. Treat it as the normal starting point for a conversation, and settle it in writing with the vendor, the yard and the surveyor before the day.

Moisture readings and osmosis

Moisture meters are a screening tool, not a diagnosis. A reading tells the surveyor where to look harder; it does not by itself establish that a laminate is failing. Readings are affected by how long the boat has been ashore, ambient temperature and humidity, the coating system and the meter used, which is why a survey report should record the conditions at the time of inspection alongside the readings.

Where a laminate problem is suspected, the follow-up is a separate instruction. The YDSA describes exactly this situation in its definition of a limited scope survey: "the hull may need to be checked over for specific defects, such as deterioration through osmosis or following a grounding incident where damage is suspected" (YDSA, types of survey). It also warns that "it is very important for the client to understand the limitations of the inspection", and that a limited scope survey "may not be adequate to support an application for insurance".

How to keep the follow-up costs contained

Ask the surveyor before the day what conditions they need: how long ashore, whether the hull should be dry, whether antifouling should be washed off.
Have the boat emptied. Access to lockers, bilges and the engine bay is time you are paying for either way.
Ask what happens, and what it costs, if the survey identifies an area needing specialist investigation.
Ask who owns any invasive testing decision. Drilling or taking samples needs the current owner's consent, and that consent is easier to obtain before the survey than during it.
Get the report's limitations section explained to you. It tells you what has not been checked, which is where the remaining risk sits.

If the vessel will be used commercially

A condition survey is not a coding examination. Small commercial vessels under the UK flag operating in UK waters must comply with merchant shipping regulations or an MCA code of practice, and the MCA publishes those codes for vessels up to 24m, including the Workboat Code Edition 3 and the sport or pleasure vessel code (gov.uk, small commercial vessel codes of practice). Certification is carried out by an authorised Certifying Authority: the YDSA is one, appointed by the MCA, and describes coding as a five-year cycle subject to annual renewals with additional surveys whose frequency depends on the code and the nature of the operations (YDSA, what is coding). Budget the Certifying Authority's fees separately from the surveyor's.