In the market to buy a used boat? What to know about fixer-uppers after Hurricane Ian

After Hurricane Ian, some Floridians may be in the market to buy a used fixer-upper boat. These boats can be a bargain — but they can also be a nightmare.

Here’s what you need to know before purchasing a used boat that may have been damaged during a storm.

How are boats damaged during and after storms?

When a hurricane occurs, boats are scattered everywhere, said Marc Hundley of Marine Surveyors International LLC.

“Some are sunk,” he said. “Some are on land. Many are on top of each other, all piled up. ... So you have different scenarios of damage.”

The most common scenario, Hundley said, is sinking. But boats can be damaged from hitting seawalls, land or structures.

After storms, boats may be submerged for several days, sometimes weeks, which corrodes the boat and its systems, he said. Boats that slammed against objects may only have structural damage.

What issues come with a sunken boat?

After a boat sinks, its wood and upholstery may be affected. But its electrical systems and machinery, including engines, cables and wiring, will corrode or become damaged from the saltwater.

Repairing the properties damaged by sinking — electrical systems, electronics, steerage, controls, engines, generators — can easily rack up, he said. And some components are complex to repair, such as fuel tanks, which are usually removed by cutting a hole on another part of the boat.

While some wiring may look normal after a boat sinks, it still needs to be replaced, especially 8 to 12 feet from the point of submersion, said Scott Virgin of Miami Marine Survey & Public Yacht Adjusters LLC. Salt from the water can get into the wire, affecting its reliability.

The same applies to fuel tanks, which are usually severely oxidized when in salt water for long periods of time. They may look OK on the surface, but they’re slowly deteriorating.

“Somebody that buys a boat, basically submerged, what they’ll find is that things will start to not work about six months later,” Virgin said. “They’ll just constantly be fighting an unwinnable battle.”

The length of time in the water also worsens sunken boats’ condition, Hundley said, even if just for over a week.

“If it’s, for example, sunken or partially sunken and it sits for six months before it can be accessed to be removed, you’ve got a real issue,” he said.

What should I avoid or look out for?

Hundley suggests buyers avoid boats that have been declared a constructive total loss, which means that repairing the damage to the boat would be greater than its value. Auction sites sell these boats, he said, mostly to people with lots of time looking for a project.

“If a boat’s a constructive total loss, people really shouldn’t be buying them,” he said. “But amazingly, they do.”

Boats with damage to the bottom are difficult to repair because you’d have to work from the bottom up, which is a challenge when using materials like fiberglass, Hundley said. Boats with damage above the waterline are much easier to patch up.

Hundley recommends a boat damaged from hitting seawalls, land or structures over a sunken boat. These boats’ systems and machinery don’t usually need to be replaced. The bulk of the repairs would be structural and refinishing, including painting, interior woodwork and trim work.

Virgin warns prospective buyers to watch out for cheap and improperly repaired boats. After Hurricane Irma, he traveled to the Virgin Islands to look at some boats and noticed people were doing shoddy repairs to flip them for cheap.

“They were not documenting the repair processes,” Virgin said. “Boats are our life support at sea. It’s not something you can screw around with. It’s something that needs to be taken very seriously.”

What should I consider before buying a used boat?

Hundley advises prospective buyers of used boats be skeptical and realistic.

“A lot of people just are dreamers,” he said. “So they would go and buy these boats and then the reality is that [several months] down the road, they would either give up or would be in over their heads.”

Buyers should get a report that shows the original damage and how the boat was repaired, Virgin said. Insurance companies refuse to insure “mystery boats” that don’t have these records available.

“You need to make, essentially, a notebook of documentation with photos of how the repair was done,” Virgin said.

A lot of people who salvage boats get into the field because it’s exciting — not because they have a background in engineering and repairing, he said.

“When they go to fix something, they say ‘Well, this is fiberglass and we’re just gonna smear fiberglass on it,’” Virgin said. “It’s bad news, those repairs aren’t going to work.”

Buyers also shouldn’t rely on auction sites’ descriptions of boats or blindly trust previous reports on the boat’s condition, Hundley said.

Instead, the buyer should get an independent surveyor. That surveyor should ask about the boat’s history: if it had been previously damaged, if it had an insurance claim, if it had been sunken or flooded or if it had warranty work.

But Hundley, who has almost four decades of experience in the field, warns buyers about the quality of surveyors available.

“There are a lot of guys out there who are qualified,” he said. “They have the knowledge and the experience, but they don’t really give the time they should to do a proper inspection. A lot of it comes down to competitive cost pricing.”

He suggests buyers spend time with their surveyor and consider someone with hands-on repair experience. A good surveyor should be able to tell if a boat’s repairs were properly done.

“Repairing a boat is really going to be one of the biggest things people should look at in terms of determining the qualification of the surveyor,” he said.

For Virgin, buyers also need to be realistic about the repair process. People usually tend to think they’ll speed through the repairs and hit the water.

“You’re gonna have no fun during the repair process,” he said. “It’s a huge amount of work and responsibility. You should consider how much time and effort you’re going to put into the boat and you should have a very clear understanding of what that boat is going to be worth once it’s repaired.”