Steve D’antonio replies:

Don, you make excellent points regarding experience and specialized knowledge that’s suited to the vessel. While there is no substitute for experience, I’ve run into toothless lions whose joints are no longer flexible enough to inspect the less-accessible areas of some vessels, and I have also encountered toothless lions who stopped learning new things a decade ago, which of course isn’t a good thing. It’s often been said, you need to do something for a decade in order to become an expert. For surveyors, I’ll go one step further: In my experience, many of the most competent surveyors began their careers in the marine trades as technicians, boatbuilders, electricians, etc. That type of field background is invaluable. Therefore, as you point out, for some vessels, you might need both an old lion and young tiger.