One of the key questions that comes up during survey planning discussions with the buyer’s team is whether or not to haulout using a synchrolift, travelhoist or dry dock to undertake a detailed inspection of the underwater hull as part of a superyacht survey. Of course, the answer is that our preference would always be to do so for each and every survey. However, we have to balance this out by practical considerations, which we’ll discuss in this article.
Finding a suitable shipyard with capacity to undertake a haulout at short notice is often a challenge, not just due to availability of a suitable sized travel hoist, synchrolift or dry dock but, in the case of the first two, also the availability of hard standing space.
The recent addition of large capacity synchrolifts at MB92 Barcelona (4800t) and at MB92 La Ciotat (4000t) have eased congestion in the 1000t plus segment, but once you get above 4800t, requiring a traditional dry dock, capacity remains unchanged. We always breathe a sigh of relief once we have at least one suitable offer on the table.
Overnight haulout or longer
Provided that there’s hard standing space, or the shipyard are happy to leave the yacht in slings or on the synchrolift platform overnight, then we have enough time to fit in all the tasks that we’d usually like to see completed whilst the yacht is ashore, including checking shaft clearances, rudder pull tests, coating inspection and maybe even some shell plate thickness testing, as well as all the usual inspections that form part of our survey protocol for the underwater hull. It also gives us time to make a detailed inspection of the topsides and superstructure from a cherry picker. Extra time also means that there may be an option for the crew or shipyard to take advantage of the yacht being ashore to replace anodes, touch up any antifouling bare patches etc. In short, a haulout over a couple of days is the optimum from a survey perspective and offers the best return on what is inevitably an expensive operation.
One day haulout
It is sometimes possible to get around a lack of hard standing space by hauling and relaunching on the same day, which can be an option if the yacht is of a suitable size to use a travel hoist or a synchrolift. Timing can be tight, but it can be done. Ideally, we’d arrange for the yacht to be pre-positioned in the lifting dock at the end of the day before, ready for the shipyard team and divers to start work first thing in the morning. Whether using a large travel hoist or a synchrolift, the time needed to get everything ready to commence lifting can be frustratingly long. It is also liable to delays as the divers work to finalise block or sling positions and, in the case of lifting using a travel hoist, divers and the shipyard team work to get chine and surface protections in place. All of this means that it is never certain when lifting will start and when the yacht will be dry and safe for our surveyors to start working on. What is sure though is that the shipyard won’t want to delay relaunching, so inevitably the survey time gets squeezed if there are delays. We plan with this in mind, allocating multiple members of our survey team and making sure that there’s a clear set of priorities. The downside is that it won’t always be possible to fully clean the hull, sea chests and thrusters, and that it may not be possible to check shaft clearances and undertake rudder pull tests in the time available. As the cost of hauling and relaunching on the same day isn’t that much less than being on the hard stand over a couple of days, the return on the expense isn’t perhaps as great, but, from a survey perspective, we would still prefer this option to using divers.
Dry docking
If we’re going to be using a dry dock, then of course it’s a slow process, so a quick out and in isn’t an option anyway. If the process commences on a Monday morning, we’d expect the yacht to remain in dry dock over the following weekend, so time pressure is significantly reduced and it is easy for us to complete all survey related tasks once the dock is dry and we’re allowed access.
Using divers
There are times when a proper haulout will not be not an option and where we may need to consider using divers, perhaps because of the location of the yacht at the time of the survey, time constraints between charters or Owner trips or the lack of availability of a suitable haulout facility within a reasonable distance or timeframe. We will consider the use of divers only if we feel that the risk of doing so is acceptable. This will typically be based on elapsed time since the last haulout, the age and condition of the yacht, review of Class records, any history of underwater hull problems, the hull material and what the yacht has done since the last haulout. There’s no hard and fast rule, but for a steel, GRP or composite construction yacht, we start to be more comfortable if there has been a well-documented haulout within the past 6 months.
If we do agree that use of divers is a viable option, then it will always be with the condition that we use experienced Class approved divers who can provide real time video with good quality cameras, and with an agreement between buyer and seller that if there are problems, then the buyer should retain the right to insist on a full haulout. To date we’ve never had to advise doing so, but it covers that possibility.
Of course, using divers comes with technical limitations: rudder pull tests aren’t an option, ultrasonic thickness testing is possible on steel or aluminium hulls but very slow and laborious, antifouling coatings often don’t show detachment until they start to dry, fouling in sea chests and thruster tunnels can’t be cleaned away easily and it’s usually not practical to remove sea chest or thruster tunnel gratings for access. And of course, everything is dependent on how good the visibility is. So, from a technical perspective, inspecting the underwater hull using divers is far from ideal, and our final report would necessarily reflect this.
Conclusions
In summary, unless a proper haulout really isn’t an option, this should always be the buyer’s first choice, ideally over a couple of days. Using divers should be seen as a last resort, given the limitations outlined above. Fortunately, it is unusual that we’re not able to find a shipyard with capacity to haulout somewhere in the Mediterranean (looking at La Ciotat, Marseille, Toulon, Barcelona, Cartagena, Tarragona, Palma, Genoa, La Spezia, Livorno or Malta) or the USA (looking at Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville or Savannah), even for the largest yachts of over 100 metres in length.
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Other articles
To read about the complete superyacht survey process, follow the link here to an article on this subject.
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Yacht Survey Partners are global specialist superyacht surveyors. We are currently active in the UK, USA, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Malta, the Caribbean and further afield, undertaking pre purchase surveys, pre sale surveys, condition surveys, insurance damage surveys and providing advice to buyers, owners, family offices, brokers, managers, insurers, lawyers and shipyards. Our surveyors are located in London, Palma, Barcelona, Antibes, Monaco, Genoa, Fort Lauderdale and Hong Kong.