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Marine survey · Canada

The survey that caught the hours and the hull

A boat listed as survey-ready can hide two numbers that change the deal: the engine hours the computer remembers, and the repair under the fresh antifouling. A pre-purchase survey reads both before you sign.

Request a survey Read the findings log

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A large white yacht docked in a marina
The 42-foot motoryacht at its slip — Port Credit, Ontario

SURVEY COVER · REF JRD-2047

Vessel
42 ft motoryacht, 2018
Date
Surveyed on site, one afternoon
Hull
PASS
Engine hours
FLAGGED
Moisture
FLAGGED
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This page is paid promotional content created by Maplo.ca. The story of Jonah Whitaker and Camille Roy is illustrative. All product claims are the sponsor’s own statements. This is not an independent news article.

SRV-01 · THE SCOPE

What the survey covers

Six checks, in order, on the boat you are about to buy.

01

Hull and structure

Soundings along the bottom, delamination checks, and a look behind fresh coatings for repairs that were painted over.

02

Engine and hours

The engine computer’s own hour counter read and compared with the logbooks, the listing and the seller’s word.

03

Electrical

Shore power, batteries, bilge pumps and the nav gear, tested rather than assumed to work.

04

Plumbing and seacocks

Through-hulls, hoses and clamps inspected; a seacock that will not close is a survey item, not a footnote.

05

Deck and hardware

Fittings, rails, windlass and ground tackle checked for wear and movement.

06

Documents and HIN

The hull identification number verified against the registration and the history the records actually hold.

SRV-02 · FINDINGS LOG

What the afternoon turned up

The log the surveyor left behind — the same boat as the case below.

10:04HULL SOUNDINGS · 23 POINTS · NO VOIDSPASS
11:22MOISTURE READINGS · PORT BOW · ELEVATED 34%FLAGGED
12:47ANTIFOULING 2025 · FRESH · OVER PATCHED AREAFLAGGED
13:31ENGINE HOURS · ECU 1,940 · LOGBOOK 1,200MISMATCH
14:08LAZARETTE · WATER TRACE · GASKET DRYFLAGGED

Every flagged line goes into the written report with a photograph and a recommended action. The buyer decides from there.

The case behind the page

Survey-ready on paper, flagged by two o’clock

Jonah Whitaker and Camille Roy spent two summers chartering before they decided to buy. The boat they settled on was a 2018 motoryacht, 42 feet, moored at a club on the Credit River. The listing called it survey-ready, and the broker’s package backed the claim: full maintenance records, a clean history report, and a hull that had been “professionally antifouled this spring.”

The surveyor arrived at nine and started with the hull. Twenty-three soundings came back clean. Then the moisture meter moved to the port bow, and the readings climbed to 34 percent behind a section of fresh antifouling. Under the new coat was a repaired area — patched, faired and painted over, with no matching entry anywhere in the maintenance file the broker had supplied.

The engine told its own version of the story. The logbook and the listing both said 1,200 hours. The engine control unit, read with a diagnostic tool, held 1,940. A seven-hundred-hour gap is not a rounding error; it is the difference between a season and several, and it changes what the machinery is worth and what it will need next.

By two in the afternoon the report held three flags and a recommendation. Jonah and Camille took it back to the seller. The price moved, the missed repair went on the record, and the couple went home with a boat they understood instead of one that had been described to them. The survey did not sink the sale. It priced it honestly.

A white motor yacht cruising on blue water
The sea trial came after the report — with every flagged line already answered.

The listing said one thing. The computer, the meter and the antifouling said another.

A survey does not tell you whether to buy. It tells you what you are buying — before the money and the paperwork agree on it. Request a survey.

The request

How a survey is arranged

Three steps, and the first one is the form at the end of this page.

  1. 1
    Send the requestYour name, email, phone, and the city where the boat lies.
  2. 2
    A surveyor contacts youA marine surveyor from Maplo.ca reaches you by phone or the email you gave.
  3. 3
    The boat is surveyedThe checks above are carried out on site, and the written report goes to you.
Yachts docked in a harbour with buildings behind
The slip is booked. The survey happens there, hull to documents.

Request the survey

Send the form and a marine surveyor from Maplo.ca will contact you about the boat you are buying.

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FAQ

Asked before booking one

What does a survey actually check?
The hull and its structure, the engine and its recorded hours, the electrical and plumbing systems, the deck hardware, and the documents and hull identification number. Each check ends in the written report with photographs where a finding is flagged.
How long does it take?
A used boat of this size is usually surveyed in one afternoon at the slip, with the sea trial arranged separately. The written report follows the visit.
Who performs the survey?
A marine surveyor arranged through Maplo.ca. Contact: 1-877-986-2765 or [email protected].
Does a survey replace the documents check?
No. It verifies what the documents claim. The hull identification number is checked against the registration and the records, and any gap between them goes into the report.
Do I have to buy the boat after the survey?
No. The report is yours regardless of what it says. Plenty of buyers use a survey to renegotiate, and some use it to walk away clean.
What happens once the form is sent?
A surveyor from Maplo.ca contacts you at the details you provided. Nothing else is required of you at that point.