hull repair?

[jerryscooper]

Hey everyone,
I am looking at a Pearson 424. The broker disclosed that the boat broke a dockline during a blow and the aft ended up on the dock resting on a cleat which caused an 8 by 4 inch hole just below the waterline. He said that because of the posistion of the aft that little water got inside the hull.
I plan on getting back on the boat to try and see the repair from the inside. I also plan on going to the boatyard where the repair was done and getting info on the repair and what method they used. This happend this past March so they should recall the repair.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this? If the repair was done correctly, should I have any concerns about the integrity of the hull?

[Weyalan]

If the repair was done correctly, the repaired area should be as strong or stronger than the original hull. But that is a big "if".

[senormechanico]

In addition to Weyalan's post, an additional key phrase may be "little water".

Look for corrosion in all its ugly forms anywhere that "little water" could have gone while the boat was NOT sitting on its lines.

Forewarned is forearmed.


Steve B.

[jerryscooper]

understood! I am going to crawl down and check for corrosion and all the spots that the water could travel and collect. I know from the date of the incident to the date of repair that the boat didnt sit unrepaired very long. What checking iv done so far about the boatyard that fixed it seem to point that they are reputable. I still am going to talk to them myself. Thanks!

[beetle]

Originally Posted by jerryscooper

Hey everyone,
I am looking at a Pearson 424. The broker disclosed that the boat broke a dockline during a blow and the aft ended up on the dock resting on a cleat which caused an 8 by 4 inch hole just below the waterline. He said that because of the posistion of the aft that little water got inside the hull.

How would the broker have any first hand knowledge of this unless he was the owner at that time? I trust a boat broker about as far as I can throw a 65 pound CQR. Is the broker describing water that entered the interior of the boat, or is he describing damage to the exterior laminate of a cored hull and making a statement that little water got into the core material? (I am making an assumption that the boat is a fiberglass boat.)

It also must have been quite a blow to lift a boat high enough that it landed on a cleat; what else might have been damaged in that blow?

Originally Posted by jerryscooper

I plan on getting back on the boat to try and see the repair from the inside. I also plan on going to the boatyard where the repair was done and getting info on the repair and what method they used. This happend this past March so they should recall the repair.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this? If the repair was done correctly, should I have any concerns about the integrity of the hull?

8"x4" is a big hole - if the hole was clean through the hull then the boat most likely would have sunk on its way to the yard (where it was repaired) unless a temporary patch was applied.

Is the hull cored below the waterline? If so one way to determine if any water-intrusion exists is through a water-meter such as a surveyor would have access to (another approach is to drill your own core samples, but I expect the seller would not appreciate that).

An interesting approach is to ask the Broker if there was an insurance settlement to repair the damage, and if so, ask to see the surveyor's report of damage to insurance company, the settlement details, and determine if any survey was done after the repair. If the seller is forthcoming then you would know if any other damage was claimed by the seller to the insurance company.

All that aside, repairing a cored hull is not difficult provided the folks performing the repair understand composite construction - and as was stated above that's a significant if. It's quite likely the repaired area is now stronger than the matching area on the opposite side of the hull; you just want to know that the repair was complete (was all satured core replaced? was all damaged glass ground out and replaced?) and well-done (was the resin and glass utilized the same as the original build quality? was the repair vacuum-bagged or hand-rolled?).

I wouldn't let the damage stop the purchase, but I would expect to see documentation regarding the repairs from the seller, and possibly the yard.

- beetle