New boat dissapointment

[spannerman]

If the U/J has collapsed because of rust it would have given some kind of warning, they normally rumble or vibrate when manouvering on full lock.
I have often opened bellows to find water in there and rust on the U/J, but the joint moved smoothly so we clean them thoroughly and coat them with rust inhibitor, and if they are still free in all axis we refit them unless the owner specifically requests it to be replaced, so they can and do tolerate water ingress, but the ones which were shot but still working gave lots of warning signs like noise or vibration, it doesn't happen overnight.
Maybe yours had moisture in for a long time if it was on land or wasn't used and the U/J seized, but it should have been noticed on sea trials, possibly by having heavy steering, and to fail like yours has it must have been giving some kind of warning.
Going by the repair bill it sounds like you have to have the complete transom shield assembly, bad luck to get such a negative experience at the start of an exciting new interest, and full marks for your positive outlook. I can promise you one thing, sometime in the future you will be on your boat in an idyllic setting with your partner/family/friends, and you will look around with a big sigh of contentment and think 'you know what, it was worth every penny!'

 

[mlines]

Take heart, good days do happen! Summer is ahead of us now...

 

[Carianne]

Yes it has caused a lot of damage. The sea trial was done in a F5/6 so maybe it was all just a bit choppy and noisy...... Thanks for all your positive comments, although we were expecting costs we were kind of hoping it wouldn't be on the first outing.... However your comments and the lovely pics are keeping me sane trying to stay positive as "there's no point crying over spilt milk"

 

[captaindan]

well on the plus side its happened now which gives you good time to get ready for the summer so there is a positive in the negative somewere. I think you can not put a price on fun. Just out of curiosity should the u joint be changed periodically. would be good to hear from some one who knows perhaps the life span of the u joint . Is this also called a gimle bearing.

 

[BruceK]

No a gimbal bearing supports a UJ. Yes UJs have exacting tolerances but dont normally wear as a service item. Most commonly wear or break because the engine is run when the legs are in trailermode or to a lesser extent too much power on hardlock turns.

 

[GrahamHR]

Any receipts for previous maintenance ? OEM bellows last for years in reality ( I changed my VP ones every 2 years, the old ones looked fine). The UJs are filled with grease, any salt water intrusion would not have an immediate effect. ( there as salt water intrusion due to faulty OEM installation on a 2004 boat I had, UJs were still going strong in 2013!)

Running the outdrives raised with higher than idle RPM really screws up the U/Js. If one side has gone, the other side is not far behind. Change them as well. Unfortunately, VP seem to have moved to the "change the whole input shaft" concept, rather than the "change the U/J concept;" about 5X the price ! I can't think why !

 

[Harry25]

It's obviously too late for Carianne, but for new potential buyers reading this post a warranty insurance can be purchased from here. www.boatsandyachtswarranty.com/?affiliateid=123[/url]
I'm in the Sealine Forum were we get 10% discount and having just read it apparently the website does not show the three or six month cover which you have to phone for. I have never used it myself, but probably will if I ever I sell my boat.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

It's obviously to late for Carianne, but for new potential buyers reading this post a warranty insurance can be purchased from here. www.boatsandyachtswarranty.com/?affiliateid=123
Never used it myself, but probably will if I ever I sell my boat.

Who is affiliate id 123?

 

[Harry25]

Don't know just copied and pasted it from Sealine Forum. Thinking about it it's probably the Sealine Forum but I don't know.

 

[maverickofpoole]

Really sorry to hear of your new boats woes. Hopefully you will get the repairs done then start to enjoy all that ownership has to offer.
Boating really is a relaxing hobby.............most of the time :encouragement:

 

[cliffdale]

It's obviously too late for Carianne, but for new potential buyers reading this post a warranty insurance can be purchased from here. www.boatsandyachtswarranty.com/?affiliateid=123[/url]
I'm in the Sealine Forum were we get 10% discount and having just read it apparently the website does not show the three or six month cover which you have to phone for. I have never used it myself, but probably will if I ever I sell my boat.

Just out of interest, I got a quote for a Targa 34 2002 with 350 engine hours, based in Spain.

12 Months Warranty: £1456.37
24 Months Warranty: £2815.58
36 Months Warranty: £4263.61

I'm quite interested in this as I have just sold the saily boat and looking for power based in the Med.

 

[BruceK]

I hope the boat warranties are better than the extended car warranties, because I bought a Disco 3 to drop the cuddy into the sea and that blimmin car has cost me 7 grand in 3 years ownership and warranty has only paid out 2. Pound for pound boating is cheap by comparison and the warranty is practically worthless imo.

 

[Questor]

Has anyone experienced this at all and have any idea what the ball park cost is going to be?

I had one go on our Targa 34. It was completely unexpected and very sudden. No lead up to it at all other than a peculiar noise & vibration just moments before.

As far as I'm aware there was no bellows failure prior, although there was a certain amount of rust on the joint. Nothing excessive though.

This was going back a few years, but the cost of repair inc. Vat came to £1043.79 - Volvo main dealer prices.

I didn't replace the other side, and to date there's not been a problem with it.

The engine didn't need to come out in our case, but if yours does, once the leg is off, it is a very straight forward job. I needed to replace the jack shaft bearings on one side a few years back and the engine out / in cost me £456.00 + Vat.

The T29 was a good choice and is a good boat, and once this is fixed, you'll have some great times. Things bust all the time, but it all a part of boating.

 

[Carianne]

Thank you for the info, We have decided to replace the other side as well. It has caused so much damage and extra cost we thought it would be best. We have a fantastic engineer on the case so feeling happier.

 

[jrudge]

Ask the vendor if he will contribute.

Comments of others above aside .... I was the seller of my Targa 40 ... the leg blew up shortly after sale ... yes i did contribute.

The boat had been maintained, that leg had actually been rebuilt by volvo about 2 years prior and bellows etc all changed. The boat had nil history of issues and all bills were present so there was no smoking gun in the closet ... the opposite in fact.

 

[Carianne]

We have spoken to the broker who said he was going to call the previous owner. Heard nothing back so I would be guessing there would be no offer to contribute. To be honest I am not even sure what I would do in that scenario so I wish him no ill feeling. That is providing he didn't know anything about it!

 

[oldgit]

Shame that once again somebody has had to learn the usual hard lesson about the problems that go with outdrives.
Unfortunately no previous owner is going to announce to a prospective buyer that the drives fitted to his boat may not have been serviced properly without regard to expense over previous years.Basically without pulling the things to bits during the survey,at considerable extra cost, it will be impossible to know what latent problems lie within.
Hazard a guess that many boats with stern drives are on the market because of previous repair expense or that more probably something needs sorting very soon.
Lets hope we get a decent summer and this setback is forgotten .

 

[Carianne]

The frustrating thing is we were having her fully serviced, engines and out drives etc once she was at her home berth. Just didn't get that far.....

 

[A_8]

No need to change them if nothing is wrong but if they have been exposed to water at some point they will very likely break. How quick depends on how much you turn and keep the legs trimmed under power.
It should be easy to see if they are damaged as there will be rust or evidence of someone trying to remove or hide the rust.

A good practice is to always check the bellows for water ingress even if they are not due for a change, a quick and easy test is to trim the legs out a bit (creating under-pressure within the bellow) and loosen the clip, then pry open the edge of the bellow and listen for air getting sucked in. If it does I am happy its water tight but if not I take it apart and check for problems and usually its the bellow that have been damaged during the pressure wash.

 

[oldgit]

A new circle of hell .... The Outdrive

The frustrating thing is we were having her fully serviced, engines and out drives etc once she was at her home berth. Just didn't get that far.....

Hope you get it sorted soon, annoying introduction to a great hobby.
While you are waiting for the infernal things to be mended and hoping that nothing else "pops up " to need fixing......just put outdrives into the forum search engine and hope your computor can handle the tales of woe and anguish.