I am going to put this out there for anyone who is considering whether or not they should pay for a survey. If you have common sense, a basic tool set and a reasonable understanding of mechanics and electronics, I think they are completely and utterly a waste of money. I base this off of my recent experience finding and buying a boat. I looked at several if not dozens of boats for sale before I purchased my current and second sailboat. Many of them had been surveyed by certified SAMS and NAMS surveyors. Every single one of the surveys I read had discrepancies in either equipment type, condition or specifications. My insurance company required a survey before they would issue a policy, so I paid $875 to a SAMS surveyor to survey a Lord Nelson 35. I get the survey report back and it has the wrong hull ID, the wrong year, several items listed as "unkown" that could have easily been looked up, the wrong brand of spars listed, the incorrect location and material of tanks listed, wrong condition information etc.... So if you are not required to have a survey by your insurance company and are contemplating whether or not you should get one just go get yourself a copy of Don Casey's inspecting the aging sailboat and rest assured you did a better job than any "certified" surveyor and saved yourself a boat buck. If you're a surveyor and this post makes you angry then I bet if you sent me a copy of a recent survey you completed I could pretty much guarantee I could find something wrong with it or something you missed.