Large crack in GRP/Fibre near keel bolts.

'Wondering' is not harsh.

It could well be that there was no indication of a crack on the outside, in which case the seller might have truly been unaware of any problems. On the other hand any indications on the outside could have been hastily covered up - not necessarily by the seller himself.

If I were surveying this boat I would insist on the removal of the paint in that region to see for myself. I have seen far too many defects that were covered up on boat hulls to take anyone who is selling a boat at his word.

I call it being realistic. Unfortunately, caveat emptor is still relevant advice.
 
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Run away. The damage is already done and at best can be repaired, but will surely not be as good as new?

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No, not as good as new, probably better and stronger than new after repair. This assumes the repair is done properly and there is no reason why it would not be, surveyor present at every stage will ensure this.

The truth is not many DIY fibreglasser will take on this type of work, they can't afford the risk for a start.

Professionally repaired it will be stronger than original and if the buyer likes all other aspects of the boat, including the fact that the repair will not cost him anything, why would you walk away.

PS. We did a repair that almost identical to this a couple of years ago, had to remove the keel strip some of the internals and rebuild, all done with epoxy.

The interesting bit is the fact that the damage was caused when she was lifted out and made heavy contact with the ground when still in the slings.

Avagoodweekend......
 
100% oldsaltoz, I wouldn't walked away if it's been repaired by a pro.

Many yachts have had damaged and repaired which people don't know about.
 
In fact Westerly centaurs have a known weakness around the bilge keels, and if you buy one you would probably favour an example which had been repaired.

So it's not always a negative so long as you can be sure that the repair has been professionally undertaken with adequate supervision.

One thing to watch, if the seller arranges the repair with a surveyor supervising, as the buyer neither the repairer or the surveyor would have any legal liability to you if the repair was faulty, unless that was specificaly stated in the agreement with them - before they started work.
 
IIRC on the Scuttlebutt thread "dontmake them like they used to " it shows a Dehler purposly hitting objects and rocks.

Yes the boat suffered minor damage but its repairable.

Many boats go aground anbd suffer damage but GRP is a durable product and when repaired is normally stronger.

Providing it is properly repaired and the full cost is deducted from the asking price I see no problems.

Better seeing problems in the raw than lightly camouflaged.
 
I'm having a vey expensive experience of just such. (£10-15ks worth!! Out of my own pocket)

Any cracks in the composite around the keel be very wary off. Would need to see a picture to say more.

Put a few suggestions:
-Make sure the surveyor reports explicetly on the crack in his report.
-Make sure your insurnace company is happy with the surveyor and his/her findings before you commit to anything.
- Not sure where the boat is, but if outside the UK, get a UK surveyor to go out and make sure your contract with him is under UK law and references the relevant professional body and he has appropriate indemnity insurnace.

If the crack is serious and is a symptom of some damage that needs to be repaired, go carefully and consider walking away. There are lots of other boats out there.

If it does need repairing and you are going to go ahead with the purchase, make sure you employ a surveyor who will oversee the definition of the repair specification and the repair on your behalf. The owner should have his own surveyor. Get profesional support and dont skimp on cost at this stage.

As you might tell from the above we are not having fun at the moment, either with our original surveyor or the current repair yard which are acting in true english boat yard fashion!

Good luck and if you need names of surveyor etc PM me.
 
The result of the findings so far is that the crack is a GRP defect but no crack resulting from a collision. The owner and the boat yard agreed to order a officially acknowledged surveyor as well for insurance reasons who has to measure any possible delamination which might be not visible now. The surveyor will then supervise the repair.

Nevertheless, Ive found another example of this yacht, closer to home by nearly a thousand miles, and a little cheaper :-)

Fingers crossed that the one Im going to see on Sunday will be better /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks for all your input.
Mark
 
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