Lucia 40: Saildrive replacement on 2 year old ISLA 40

[blackc2004]

I have a 2023 ILSA 40.

Finished my season in the Bahamas and took the boat in for service/maint. Had them do standard oil changes, etc on everything and they found metal shavings in the sail drive.

Upon investigation they found "pinon gear nut had come loose, and as a result the pinon gear was loose on driveshaft causing driveshaft failure."

They are suggesting a full replacement at a cost of $16,000.

I pushed back on them asking about warranty covering this as it's only 2 years old. Just got word from them that it was denied.

1. Shouldn't they be able to replace driveshaft/broken parts instead of an entire new saildrive
2. How/Who should i push back more on the warranty? This seems like something that sould be a no brainer to be covered. I reached out to my broker and he gave me some snarky reply about "that's the cost of a boat" and hasn't been helpful at all.
3. Has anyone else replaced a sail drive recently and know how much it cost them?

[Kazamaran]

Sorry about your issue. Bummer... youre asking the right question in terms of repair versus replacement. All those systems are repairable items. The problem is finding a yard with the expertise or desire to get it done. Its not rocket science and VP generally has great bench shop manuals for this. Sad to say, its become plug n play for lots of yards because they just cant get the people onboard. But rest assured theres some young man out there that can fit your need. You just need to find him. If you have the ability to turn a wrench and read, you can diy this project. Have the boat hauled and pull the saildrive. Put it on a bench. Read the manuals, take lots of pics as you go and turn it into a challenge worth doing. OR......get your check book out.
Good luck. You can do it!

[FlyingScot]

First push really hard on warranty.
Second, find out what a sail drive costs and why they think it will cost an additional 7-8000 to remove and replace?

Side note: Never buy Volvo! That is outrageous pricing for a simple sail drive. We paid about $3800 USD per Yanmar SD25 3.5 years ago in Curacao. Curacao is more expensive than the USA as it ships from FL. Trying to find current pricing it appears the Volvo is significantly more.

Back to the warranty. For the D3: Volvo for that year states a 2 year 1000 hour limit from time of delivery to customer.
So when did you take delivery? How many hours?

Major components gets 60 months and same 1000 hours. Major components list shaft and housing.

But: The defect having become aggravated due to failure by the driver/operator to take immediate and appropriate action after such time as the defect became known or should have become known to the driver/operator or after activation of the vessel/machine warning indicator system.

https://www.volvopenta.com/-/media/v...a.pdf?v=vtNzPw

[Miyalk]

I find it a bit odd that the pinion shaft lock nut coming off should cause the drive shaft to break. The drive shaft is below the clutch shaft in the bottom of the drive. I have had the lock nut come off twice (long story) on an old SD31 on my boat and it didn't break any shafts.

"..pinion gear was loose on driveshaft causing driveshaft failure." seems unlikely, I wonder if the pinion shaft was actually damaged, or even the clutch shaft? Would still be surprising, but possible - and fixable.

I would have assumed parts for a sail drive on a 2 year old one would be readily available, so replacing the broken parts should be pretty straightforward.

What brand and model of saildrive? My only experience with them is Yanmars, they are certainly simple enough to pull down and rebuild, my problem in the end was unavailability of parts but the SD31's are long in the tooth now.

I would have thought warranty would cover for at least 2 years, in Australia they would be covered under the Consumer Guarantee even if the warranty was expired, as something so expensive would be reasonably expected to have a much longer life than 2 years and the supplier would be forced to repair or replace.

[Tin Tin]

Where was the servicing done? Florida?

[PippaB]

If they are Volvos, contact VPA (Volvo Penta America) directly. Don't let lots of middle people get in the way. VPA.customerrelations@volvo.com, (866) 273-2539. The worst they can do is tell you a warranty claim is denied, but you've already heard that. We found them pretty reasonable and straightforward to deal with once we cut through the layers between.

[Shrew]

Is your shop an authorized service center for your brand of saildrive? IF not, I would go to an authorized service center.

If I got pushback from the service center I would contact the vendor directly to discuss warranty work. A lot of shops get paid under a different rate from the vendor when doing warranty work. They sometimes push back because they can't make a profit on the parts and often loose money on labor. As a result, they might not fight that hard on your behalf.

Instead work the warranty claim through the vendor.

[CarlF]

Definitely go up to VPA to argue for warranty. This shouldn't have happened and hard to see how it's your fault. For obvious manufacturing errors like this warranties are often extended.

If you get any trouble, I would also contact FP. They buy a lot of saildrives and have some real leverage with Volvo as they could switch to Yanmar if they have too many unhappy customers.

Make a bit of a stink.

[blackc2004]

Originally Posted by PippaB

If they are Volvos, contact VPA (Volvo Penta America) directly. Don't let lots of middle people get in the way. VPA.customerrelations@volvo.com, (866) 273-2539. The worst they can do is tell you a warranty claim is denied, but you've already heard that. We found them pretty reasonable and straightforward to deal with once we cut through the layers between.

Thanks for this! I emailed and they were VERY responsive. They called the company doing the work and told them to re-submit the warranty claim. So let's see If that makes a difference.