Robert Workman Bob WorkmanLake Michigan Marine Surveyor Service Michigan Marine Surveyor Freemont Michigan

Please beware of a "Marine Surveyor" by the name Robert "Bob" Workman out of Freemont Michigan.  He recently surveyed my boat for a potential buyer.  He proceeded to survey the boat using only a moisture meter in 34 degree weather while it was raining.  He told the buyer that the decks were completely saturated and wet and could be starting to delaminate if the problem was not fixed right away.  He used no sounding device or percussion hammer on any part of the deck but solely relied on the moisture meter, again while it was RAINING.  Below decks he surveyed the chain plate knees and said that they were also rotted on the inside and said that he was showing them as wet and said they would need to be replaced right away otherwise the mast may fall down.  He kept asking me how the boat was constructed near the mast step as he saw the flooring was becoming delaminated.  The floor in that section of the boat is a engineered wood floating floor that was laid only for cosmetic reasons years ago.  That wood floor adds absolutely no structural value to the boat, just cosmetic, and as I tried to explain the construction of the mast step he became more confused and said due to evidence of water in the bilge near the mast step and water near the mast on the wood floor that the entire area would more than likely need to be rebuilt.  The mast is a keel stepped mast and the water evidence he was seeing was from where the mast drains into the bilge.  At 35 minutes into the survey, he then asked the buyer if he wanted to continue with the survey due to all of the extreme problems he was seeing with the boat.  They buyer who is very new to boating asked what all of this means and Mr. Workman said that all chain plates and more than likely the mast step would need to be rebuilt, and decks pulled up and re-cored, he also explained how expensive and large of a job this would be and the buyer understandably ended the survey. 

I was absolutely shocked that this so called Marine Surveyor lacked the knowledge and understanding of how to conduct a thorough survey.  He not only was relying solely on a moisture meter but had to ask the opinion of me the seller on how the boat was constructed.  After conducting the deck and chain plate survey he said that he would quickly take a look at the hull just out of curiosity.  He again used his moisture meter on the area of the hull that was not wet yet from the rain and the hull tested our dry.  He then went to the other side of the hull where it was wet due to the rain and it pegged out his meter and said that the core on the starboard side was wet.  Gee I wonder why?? 

Long story short I had a separate survey done days later by someone that has been in the industry for 30 + years, that has surveyed over 3000 boats, and he found that the decks were dry and solid where Bob Workman said they were water saturated, and the entire hull was dry.  There was some higher levels of moisture around one chain plate that had been leaking over the winter but the core sounded solid and the surveyor said to stop the leak and to go on living with your life.  The chain plates were all dry and sounded as they were brand new, and the mast step which is sitting on the top of the lead ballast was solid.  The surveyor that I hired not only sounded the entire decks and cabin top, but also used a moisture meter while it was not raining and got accurate results.  He gave the boat a solid report, which made me feel much better.  Another unfortunate piece is that Bob Workman charged the buyer for the bogus survey that he conducted.

In summary, please do your research prior to hiring a marine surveyor?  From my experience and from talking with experts, anyone can become a marine surveyor and call themselves one.  If you want a good report of the actual condition and construction of the vessel you are looking to buy, ensure that you hire someone with years of experience either doing surveyors or have experience in working in boat yards constructing or repairing boats.  Also ask how many boats they surveys a year.  That should give you a good idea of how much real experience they have.  Also use common sense, using a moisture meter in the rain is probably not the best idea.  Although a very nice man, Bob Workman lack years of experience in conducting marine surveys, knowledge on how boats are constructed, and he lack common sense on when and how to use metering tools.