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Gladding Marine Survey Jacksonville, Florida, USA - 904-945-0511 Serving the Continental United States and the Caribbean William K. Gladding, SAMS® AMS® Principal Marine Surveyor |
I have been boating since a teen in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. My brother and I worked around various outboard boats our Dad put together. When our Father retired from the Navy in Key West boating and boat building was every where. Fresh out of school I went to work for a boat builder on Stock Island. I then went to work for an Uncle in Marathon Florida building 34-foot semi custom fiberglass fishing boats. It was a small company so I was able to learn everything necessary to take a molded fiberglass hull and finish out a turn key fishing boat of the type used in the Florida Keys.![]() Working in the Florida Keys was the foundation of my experience. I built hulls in a mold from rolls of fiberglass cloth, resin, foam and plywood. I then took the hull and finished it out making it into a turn key commercial fishing boat. I like to say I learned about boats from the inside out. I also did major repair, modification and restoration work to boats. I changed engines out, made major structural modifications and improvements, built fiberglass tanks, installed hydraulics, painted, fiber glassed or any other type of work necessary to keep a boat in good working order. ![]() Running the Service Department at Huckins was a lot like working on boats in the Keys except that yachts have a lot more that must be maintained. Yachts share a lot of the same problems as fishing boats so my previous experience was invaluable. Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina during my tenure at Huckins. I spent weeks in the area after the storm working with surveyors and boat owners writing estimates. As a result we did a substantial volume of repairs to storm damaged vessels from that area. Our service was well received by these customers resulting in a steady stream of service work from these areas in the years that followed. ![]() I am of the opinion that you must never stop learning. I continue to enroll in various types of training to improve my surveying abilities. There are many systems in boats to learn and new systems and technologies being developed regularly. Continuing education is important to stay abreast of the various systems found in and around boats. We regularly perform marine surveys in the following Florida locations: Savannah, Brunswick, Jacksonville, Green Cove Springs, St. Augustine, Daytona and New Smyrna Beach. Click here for a copy of Bill's Curriculum Vita (PDF) |