With a recommendation from a trusted friend in the Marine Electronics business I chose Lyndon "Zeph" Despard of Despard Marine Services to perform a survey for us in preparation to advertise our boat for sale. I found Zeph to be extremely competent, knowledgeable and thorough. He followed up with a very professionally bound, final copy of the survey. The very detailed photos, analysis and findings, along with a current market valuation were very impressive. I was able to present this to prospective buyers which made the sale of my boat very easy. The survey essentially did the selling. My new boat purchase was out of the area which I live. I was very concerned about the loyalty of the local surveyor's to the brokerages versus my best interests. My choice was to have Zeph Despard travel to the boat I was interested in and perform the survey. I was already very confident with his abilities and knew what he found would be accurate. Zeph went as far as to research the Zeus pod drives that the new boat has so he would be better qualified to assess them. In the end I could not be happier with my new boat. I cannot recommend Zeph any higher as I have been thrilled with his expertise, prompt attention and very reasonable costs. He is from the Monterey Bay area but had no problem coming to Half Moon Bay where my boat is. There are many surveyors out there but finding an honest, capable and genuinely nice person is hard to do. Zeph fit the bill.
UPDATE:
After my purchase was final I asked Zeph if he would help me bring the boat up the coast from Southern California to my home port. Zeph has a very long list of experience not only with deliveries locally but world-wide as well. He instills a top notch level of confidence, knowledge and expertise. Not only did Zeph prove to be an extremely competent Captain but a very enjoyable travel companion. I now have my dream boat and would not hesitate for a moment to contact Zeph for any marine need that might arise. I could not give any higher praise to Zeph. He is the very best choice for anyone in the greater bay area or anywhere there is a boat in or out of the water! read more