Have him call several insurance companies for quotes. They will recommend
very independent expert marine surveyors who do this stuff for a living and
could care less what a yacht broker thinks of them. If you pay for a
valuation survey you'll get a thorough report and a fair estimate of the
value.

There's lots more to a boat than engines, and there's an awful lot to marine
engines. What you don't know can cost a fortune if it doesn't actually kill
you.

"Engineman1" wrote in message
...
A friend is thinking of buying a yacht with twin diesel engines. He
doesn't
trust the people who inspect boats because he believes they are in cahoots
with
the yatch brokers. He asked me if I'd take a look at the engines in the
boat he
made an offer on. Are there some things I can check on without taking a
lot of
time and using expensive equipment? He suggested checking the exhaust for
smoke
but since diesels burn oil anyway I wouldn't expect to tell much from
that. Oil
analysis is out because the owner just changed it.
engineman1