It is ultimately your choice but with a few exceptions I would recommend that you do so. Firstly, a boat is a substantial purchase and it will help to give you peace of mind. Secondly, should any material defects come to light ( and I emphasise "material") then a professional surveyor may be liable for the cost of putting them right if s/he failed to spot them in the survey.
Typically a full out-of -the-water survey will cost between £450 and £600, plus the cost of taking the boat out of the water. Depending on whether the method is a dry dock, a slipway or a crane it will cost from £125 - £250 - a crane usually being the most expensive method. Which means of removing the boat from water is used will usually depend upon what facilities lie nearest to the boat's location.
I include this because I have been asked this question on countless occasions. Usually the answer is no, for the following reason. Dry docks and slipways (the commonest means of taking a boat out of the water) are usually booked some way in advance for longer term work such as hull blacking. For a hull blacking to be done properly the boat should be out of the water for 4 days (possibly 3 if the weather is particularly warm and dry). Survey boats are only out of the water for 2 hours or less, and are docked/slipped between a long term booking changeover. In any case, although I can't imagine the owner objecting to a free blacking, the boat is not yours at this point.
| Midlands | County | Mobile | Land line |
| Craig Allen | Northamptonshire | 07973 939123 | 01327 879655 |
| Ralph Davison | Derbyshire | 07790 978253 | 0115 972 7764 |
| Balliol Fowden | Warwickshire | 07831 232823 | 01788 541020 |
| Eddie Freeman | Northamptonshire | 07775 852308 | 01604 891481 |
| Ian Jennings | Northamptonshire | 07828 100418 | 01604 716832 |
| Tom Keeling | Warwickshire | 07976 631920 | |
| Jonathan Leask | Derbyshire | 07790 015992 | 01773 828418 |
| Bill McMurray | Worcestershire | 07778 546523 | 08703 500607 |
| Phil Mitchell | Derbyshire | 01332 72985 | |
| Trevor Whitling | Northamptonshire | 07767 888255 | 01788 824191 |
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South East & Anglia |
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| Ian Burgoyne | Oxfordshire | 07836 292659 | |
| John Hutley | Essex | 07790 153896 | 01992 626342 |
| Peter Hutley | Berkshire | 07703 235779 | 01635 37606 |
| Alan Jarvis | Cambridgeshire | 07972 844973 | |
| Barry Morse | Oxfordshire | 07973 763987 | 01295 711941 |
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South West & Wales |
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| David Broatch | Gwynedd | 07836 507366 | 01248 671291 |
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North |
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| Ian Lumley | S Yorkshire | 07760 126590 | 01246 415007 |
| PJ Hopley | Lancashire | 07711 496177 | 0161 320 8023 |