If You Can Afford the Boat, You Can’t Afford to Skip the Right Survey

For inland waterways craft such as narrowboats and barges, the cost of a professional survey is often questioned—particularly when a vessel appears outwardly sound and has a long service history. This is a serious mistake.

A survey carried out by a suitably qualified and experienced surveyor is not an optional extra; it is essential risk management. This is especially true for welded and riveted craft, and more so for historic vessels, where construction methods and accumulated repairs introduce complexities that are not immediately obvious.

Inland Craft Have Unique Structural Risks

Narrowboats and barges operate in a uniquely demanding environment: shallow waters, lock impacts, groundings, and decades of exposure to freshwater corrosion. These conditions create structural risks that can remain hidden to the untrained eye.

Common issues include:

• Welded steel craft suffering from baseplate wear, pitting, thinning steel, poorly executed historic repairs, or internal corrosion concealed behind linings and tanks.

• Riveted vessels, which introduce additional complexity such as wasted rivets, plate movement, fatigue cracking, historic doubling, and legacy repairs that require specialist interpretation.

• Converted or historic barges often built using mixed construction techniques spanning many decades—or even centuries—making them far more complex than modern leisure craft.

  
  

A superficial inspection, or one undertaken by a surveyor without specific inland waterways experience, can easily miss defects that later prove extremely costly.

Historic Vessels Require Specialist Knowledge

Only a small number of surveyors in the UK are genuinely competent to survey historic inland waterways vessels. These craft cannot be assessed using a generic, modern production-boat checklist.

A competent historic vessel surveyor understands:

• Original construction methods and materials

• The difference between acceptable age-related condition and genuine structural defect

• How historic repairs affect current and future structural integrity

• The expectations of insurers, lenders, navigation authorities, and heritage bodies

Without this specialist knowledge, owners risk receiving reports that are either excessively alarmist or dangerously incomplete—both of which can have serious financial and practical consequences.

The Real Cost Is Not the Survey Fee

The perceived “high cost” of a professional survey is negligible when compared to the consequences of undiscovered defects.

Steel replacement, bottom replating, re-riveting, or major structural remediation can easily exceed the value of the craft itself. In some cases, defects identified too late may affect insurability, mortgage availability, or even continued navigation.

The most expensive survey is always the cheap one that gets it wrong.

Never Choose a Surveyor Based on Price

Selecting a surveyor purely because they are cheaper is a false economy. Lower fees frequently reflect:

• Limited experience with inland or historic craft

• Poor understanding of riveted construction

• Insufficient inspection time

• Inadequate professional indemnity insurance

  
  

A suitably qualified and experienced inland waterways surveyor provides independent, defensible advice that protects both your investment and your personal safety.

The Bottom Line

For narrowboats, barges, welded craft, and especially historic riveted vessels, competence matters far more than cost.

Surveys are not a standardised product. The knowledge, judgement, and capability of one surveyor cannot simply be substituted for another.

Never choose a surveyor based on price.

If you can afford the boat, you cannot afford to compromise on the survey.