Marine Mentor Surveyors -

Donnie Coker

I live 7 hours away and hired Kevin Koch through several good referrals to assist me in completing a survey on a 45' Beneteau sailboat I am looking to purchase. I made the 8-hour drive down for the survey and met Kevin the morning of the survey. I was very impressed with Kevin's understanding of the vessel and the time that he spent going through all of the components of the Beneteau. Kevin was very professional and knowledgeable and often would take time to show me things to be aware of that were both positive and potential concerning issues with the boat.

I have had purchased several boats in the past, each with a survey. I think the survey that Kevin did for me was the most thorough and accurate of any I have ever had prior.

I would recommend Kevin Koch for any marine survey and would definitely use him again in the future.
Thank you for a great experience!

ralph vaughn

Kevin Koch is an absolutely outstanding Marine Surveyor..We came down from Atlanta Georgia and randomly picked Kevin and fortunately we made a very good choice. Kevin has a wealth of experience from small boats to large yachts and this in my personal opinion makes him an ideal Marine Surveyor. He is very articulate and experienced and invites his clients to shadow him and ask any questions about the boat. Kevin is a very detailed oriented individual which is a bonus for his clients as he looks at every system and the boat infrastructures in minute detail. He went the extra mile in checking the stern drive on our boat. He had to commandeer a kayak to be able to check the fluid level and get an oil sample on the outdrive. Kevin, in my opinion, is in the top 1 percent of his peers. He is personable, articulate, knowledgeable and experienced and an exceptional Marine Surveyor.

Captain Russ

My choice of surveyor was backed up during the time frame I needed service. The research I did brought me to Marine Mentor, which was reading reviews like yours. The vessel survey was a Sea Ray 560 Sedan Bridge with twin 800 HP Caterpillars (3406E) and a mix of Raymarine and Garmin electronics. My surveyor was Kevin Koch.
Numerous areas I look for in a surveyor and was satisfied are as follows:
1) Experience in the boating industry and knowledgable with first hand experience of various equipment, electronics and accessories. These include but are not limited to Raymarine systems, Garmin systems, auto pilot, various depth gauges, auto pilots, accu-flush systems, generator systems and the power source it out puts, hull integrity and how to check, props, prop shafts, Air-conditioner and it's supporting systems, battery systems, windlass systems, checking for mold inside the interior, all galley systems, head and related systems as well as all safety systems from sensors to every other item needed for inshore and off shore use.
2) Attentive to details. Kevin insured that I was made aware of every minor or major deficiencies. He then detailed it in his report with photos as a reference. This detailed report help with the insurance company and their approval of the policy. This also gave the Seller a third party view and supported our claims of a lower purchase price to compensate for these repairs. In essence it saved me about $4,000 in annual insurance premiums and about the same for repairs the Seller covered. This was all done before closing.
3) On time to arrive at the boat. It may sound redundant but Kevin Koch arrived for the survey 30 minutes ahead of time. This was refreshing because a previous surveyor in another area on another boat I later walked away from was 1.5 hours late.
4) Detailed Survey Report was delivered as scheduled.
5) Follow up: Kevin came back out to the vessel several weeks after all deficiencies were corrected and raised the condition of the vessel which was presented to the bank and insurance underwriter.

In close I highly recommend Kevin Koch to perform your marine survey.

Brian Audie

Kevin was prompt and did a detailed inspection of our boat before we purchased it. He spent the time to check the boat and explain how the systems work then gave us pointers on maintenance. His attention to detail and help made me feel at ease buying our boat. I appreciated his effort and prompt summary we received the next day. I would highly recommend him.

Peter Kesser

Just like many of the other people posting reviews ... I had the good fortune of selecting Kevin Koch to do a pre-purchase survey on our Sea Ray 280 Sundancer last Friday. Kevin arrived early, and was extremely professional, thorough and knowledgeable throughout the 4-hour survey. He explained ahead of time exactly how he would approach the survey, and delivered exactly what he said he would do. The post-survey report was completed within 48-hours, and was very complete. I would highly recommend using Kevin to anyone that wants or needs an educated outside party to provide them with insight on a marine vessel. It was extremely refreshing in this business climate to find someone that did what they said they would do, and exceeded my expectations.

Joe Byedone

I recently had Kevin survey a sailboat for me. The day we had the sea trial and survey was a very busy day for him. It took almost the entire day and Kevin went non stop all day long going through everything. I purchased the boat and I’ve been going through it myself for the last three weeks. Kevin didn’t miss a thing. I highly recommend him.

Brian Hill

Kevin was great and very personable. He was on time, phoned ahead to verify and did just what I needed to get my boat ready to sell. I'd recomment him to anyone.

Scott Wilcox

Over the years I have had the opportunity to use a few different marine surveyors and I was extremely impressed with Kevin. He inspected a Nordic Tug for us to help us determine if this was a good purchase or not. I was impressed with him from our first contact. He was extremely prompt at returning phone calls and responded to emails confirming dates and arrival times. We coordinated this inspection from Michigan and I felt very comfortable with the entire process. The marine industry is not known for being the most customer service-oriented industry and Kevin’s professionalism really stood out. I enjoyed spending the day with him reviewing the boat, he was very thorough and explained all the systems on the boat as he conducted the inspections. I learned so much about the boat during this process and with such a large purchase it was very reassuring to have someone go into such detail about all the boats systems. I would recommend him to anyone that needs a survey completed. We are buying the boat from a very experienced owner and Kevin was able to deal with him at a much higher level then I could. His services were worth every penny!