380 S2: Stress cracks

[rabbi]

Hi There,

I had a look at an early 380 S2. Overall pretty run down but price is reflecting this.
What puzzles me is that I found a few places with gelcoat stress cracks on the hull below the waterline. Hard to get on the camera, so pls find attached my best shot. Tapping revealed that there are bulkheads or furniture structures behind each of these.

Is this something to worry about? My gut feeling says yes.

[rabbi]

Not important anymore. I chickened out. Too much did not line up.

For those interested:
This one was listed as private ownership, good condition, little use, no damage or grounding, new sails, VAT paid.


The boat turned out to have a 5m long badly repaired damage on the hull/deck join where gelcoat is chipping off because of flexing and long (up to 1m) stress cracks arepresent. I guess the underlying structure was weakened by the impact and has just been covered by gelcoat without proper structural repair. Of course the owner doesn't know about this...
Plus the stress cracks below the waterline...

Both rudders show signs of groundings with bad repairs (gelcoat smeared over antifouling).

The engine that was "always maintained by accredited Volvo Penta dealer" has ATF oil in the saildrive even though VP moved from ATF to engine oil 6 years ago. Both props bent, one so bad you can see with the bare eye.

Salon condition is run down like a well used charter yacht.

The advertised engine hours of 2000hrs are present on the additional hour meters in the salon. One engine panel randomly works and shows 3000hrs - the other one is dead.

And the myth of private ownership... First owner registered in the spanish 6a commercial registry. Current owner chartered the boat in Turkey, the boat is still listed with several charter websites and the owner ran his own advertising website for it using a domain that was registered on his own name.

Of course the owner denies all of this... I guess if he finds this thread he will even sue me to take it down
So no, I won't provide a public link to the boat.


Bottom line: a few hundret euro wasted on an exhaustive travel to Greece.

[ErikFinn]

Good call.

[JPA Cate]

Rabbi,

I am so glad you made that decision. I looked at your post yesterday, and wanted to say run, but I am NOT really au courant with catamarans. What I thought when I saw the gelcoat cracks was that the bulkhead is no longer attached to the hull, whether is it the glue type construction or proper tabbing, I don't know. I feel certain it was a good decision.

The owner may not actually know what was done to repair the damages, he paid someone to do something, but a lot of owners these days do not seem to know how something should be repaired properly and are, thus, at the mercy of unscrupulous boat worker outfits.

Ann

[gspeak]

We have L380 hull #241 & have had her anti-foul blasted back to the gel coat just a few months ago. Having owned her for 5 years, we have not had any signs of these types of stress cracks. That boat has definitely had some sort of grounding or impact. Good that you have walked away from her.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[barnakiel]

Yep. She took ground and possibly more than once. Then probably some lines wrapper round the props, then ...

Glad to hear you got out of it before falling in love.

When I tell this kind of stories to people chasing a 'bargain in the Med' they often give me an odd look as if I were telling them likely stories.

Beware when buying in the Med. Step lightly. Check bloody everything.

Cheers,
b.

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Yep. She took ground and possibly more than once. Then probably some lines wrapper round the props, then ...

Glad to hear you got out of it before falling in love.

When I tell this kind of stories to people chasing a 'bargain in the Med' they often give me an odd look as if I were telling them likely stories.

Beware when buying in the Med. Step lightly. Check bloody everything.

Cheers,
b.

it always amazes me how quickly Med boats are ruined, although their usage is only 2 months a year. They have no coral reefs either and no hurricanes, 90 % motoring.

Maybe parking with couple of ropes lurking underwater to boost income of local mechanic shops ?

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

it always amazes me how quickly Med boats are ruined, although their usage is only 2 months a year. They have no coral reefs either and no hurricanes, 90 % motoring.

Maybe parking with couple of ropes lurking underwater to boost income of local mechanic shops ?

I always imagine hot Mediterranean sun degrades the boats as much as it melts down owners' willingness to fix things properly in the scorching heat.

Aside from some expensive shipyards, skill level in their repair / maintenance industry is ... errrr ... to put it gently: (edited).

Still, if one is willing to lay out good money for good boats, such boats are also to be found there, as much as anywhere. Simply they are fewer in the dazzillions of ex-charter, summer use, VAT paid, paper boats from mediocre, off the mill, manufacturers.

So, if you are buying a beautifully restored wooden S&S for 1 mio, you may be in Italy. But to buy a good condition / good value modern plastic, you may be shopping in Southampton ... or Stockholm. ;-)

Cheers,
b.

[rabbi]

This Lagoon was a particularly bad example. I would not generalize this, as I have bought nice boats in the med as well.
This particular boat has one major issue: The owner. He tries to sell this worn charter boat as a lightly used private owner boat.



You just need to find one that has been maintained by either a carefull skiled owner or by the original dealer with an open checkbook.
Both of these are available in the Med, just as they are in other regions.

The Med itself is certainly not worse than the caribbean (where I have seen much worse boats than in the Med). The level of maintenance just depends on how much money the owner spent: Some cheapo local mechanic or an accredited Volvo Penta dealer?


My previous cat was also an ex-charter cat from the Med, and while it had a few typical dents here and there I have not found any evidence of groundings and all issues we had were small.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

The owner may not actually know what was done to repair the damages, he paid someone to do something, but a lot of owners these days do not seem to know how something should be repaired properly and are, thus, at the mercy of unscrupulous boat worker outfits.

The problem here is that the owner refuses to admit that there was any damage at all. Even though it is impossible to miss when looking around.

But then he doesn't admit that the boat was chartered even though he ran his own charter website for 5 years....

Maybe some borderline personality thing

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

Maybe parking with couple of ropes lurking underwater to boost income of local mechanic shops ?

They call it "Med mooring"

[barnakiel]

Yep. Nothing wrong with the Med. All about proportions. So many boats and so few good boats. Easy buying for any experienced boater, less so for a first time buyer.

imho

b.

[rabbi]

I just checked the boat listing again and they updated the description. The truth is still covered under broker's speak but its much closer to the real condition than before.


At least the broker seems to be a good pick

[rabbi]

I checked the listing again today and the boat with the stress cracks (plus a ton of other problems) was sold.
Some poor guy paid just 5.000 Euro below asking price...

The listing

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by rabbi

I checked the listing again today and the boat with the stress cracks (plus a ton of other problems) was sold.
Some poor guy paid just 5.000 Euro below asking price...

The listing

price looks pretty modest so maybe a very good deal for buyer. Issues may not be so dramatic.