Seatrial and Survey – What to expect!

Heading back to Mallorca for a seatrial & survey of SuenOne.

The day has come and we are on our way to our new coming home at sea. The #SuenOne, a 60 foot sailboat with living comfort as an apartment and seaworthiness as a regatta boat, we are told. We are so excited. Deposit of 50 000 euro was paid and we are now heading for Mallorca for a seatrial and a surway.

What to Expect?

In advance, we had ordered a professional surveyor, Richard, who met us for breakfast to go through in detail what to expect. Richard told us that he had been in contact with the “ship” designer, Mr. Kerr, and had received disturbing information about the boat’s condition.

“It is possible that in Norway we are too well brought up to believe that all sellers have good intentions, and no matter what we always have the “consumer laws and rights”  in reserve“

 

We told Richard that we ourselves also had talked to Mr. Kerr,  Simen, the broker and the owners representative, former owner of Hanse, Mr Schmidt and his contact, about the 41 points of error, from very serious to minor errors that had come to our knowledge from a former survey.

“Still we were too naive to realize that someone really tried to trick us”

We told Richard that we were promised that all faults and failures should be repaired by the owner, or we could have the costs reduced in price on the boat if we would order the repair ourselves.

When we arrived at the marina we were received by the boat’s captain and his sister who today was his crew. The captain told a lot about the boat’s condition and that he had never had problems. They had had some miner faults which were replaced since the boat was new, but otherwise it was in super condition.

We cast off and could finally feel the water beneath us as we set sail. The sun from cloudless skies, and the warm wind caressed the skin as we moved out to sea. It was like heaven above.

“This must be like heaven”

The reality came back quickly as Richard, our survayer, went through everything in the boat. We soon understood that this did not promise well. And after the boat was taken out of the water and checked, it was determined that the boat was not seaworthy!

There were so many and serious faults and design errors at the  # SuenOne # we were told, that if we had come out for foul weather while we sailed the boat up to Norway, it is possible we had not reached our destination!

“It’s a strange feeling to take into account, the fact that someone will sell a boat that is not seaworthy to a family that they knew would be sailing it from the Mediterranean and up to Norway, with all the risks such a boat entails”

Its a strange feeling when you realizes that in the course of a few weeks you do not have a home for yourselves and your children. The feeling of being fooled? Yes. The feeling of being naive? Yes. Lesson learned? Yes.

THE PURCHASE WAS CANCELED

“But there is only one way to go and that is forward”