Part of buying a boat is getting it “surveyed” by a marine surveyor. It’s kind of like a home inspection when you buy a house, except lots more expensive, takes way longer and has tons of details.

One of the things that the surveyor will want is to haul the boat out of the water, so they can check the hulls. Our surveyor tapped every inch of the hulls with a hammer to check for osmotic blistering. He also used a moisture meter to see if the hulls were adequately keeping the water out. This was also a time to check the bottom paint that serves to keep creatures from growing on the bottom of your boat and slowing everything down.