mysterious keeljob Jeanneau 52.2

[Franziska]

This.

The costs of developing a car is spread over millions of sales usually.
The cost of developing a yacht is spreads over one up to -a couple of thousand.

Funny enough the end client often needs to pay more for the yacht than his/her car.
So they expect a higher level of quality and finish.
In a way they are asking for something not really very reasonable when shining a light on it...

Originally Posted by Adelie

It is unreasonable to expect boat builders to do the same testing as auto manufacturers, the costs involved, and the scale of sales are too different for that to be economically feasible.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

The “utmost in structural strength” . What nonsense. Is it welded steel ? Nope.
That’s strength. The manatee crew has made better boats out of pizza boxes.
Are you looking at those cracks and thinking they are just cosmetic ?
As we have posted before...automobiles are crash tested to determine survival of the passengers. They smash them from every angle. Why don’t they do this with boats. The big OEM builders completely oppose it. This boat could NEVER pass USCG PASSENGER VESSEL INSPECTION.
But it’s suitable for OCEAN voyages? If you don’t consider your family, crew or guests as passengers worthy of these minimum safety standards...then fine.
Please don’t ask anyone to put their life on the line to rescue you or recover any bodies.
Survivability? Why bother. The buyers are happy. Just re- glue the toy if it starts leaking. You have insurance, a life raft and it’s easy to call for rescue.
No keel, no problem.
Happy trails to you
The manatee crew.

Not so fast!


Some Jeanneau's were built in a conventional way, like hand built boats -- without grids, with normal stringers and ring frames, without even hull liners. These are very well built boats. I think most J's built prior to the mid-2000's were built this way.


I can't say whether it's actually strong or not -- that's an engineering question. But you don't know that either, so it's not right to jump to conclusions.


Nor can we be sure just from looking at that photo, that what is depicted is even a repair at all. That may simply be the outline of the keel sump.



The only thing about this I can say for sure I don't like is the keel material, but that goes with the territory.


My advice to the OP is to set aside these bundles of prejudice, and hire a good surveyor, the kind of surveyor who is really knowledgeable and critical and who will give you an objective view. That might be a bad repair which makes the boat useless. Or it might be nothing at all. We can't tell from the one photo, and anyone claiming they can tell is telling fairy tales.