osmosis.

[chrishelen]

The boat i am interested in buying has the dreaded pox,the owner is keen to sell and has reduced the price by 75 percent, the rest of the survey was good,should i walk away?to have it sorted by the yard would cost about 5 grand i have been told.

 

[Tranona]

Not enough information. Key things are extent of problem, proposed solution. Cost in relation to value of boat and period of guarantee.

If everything else about the boat suits and the completed cost is at or below comparable boats on the market, worth pursuing.

Be aware, though that there is always a risk that the work may uncover extra problems and final bill may be higher than estimate. Also process takes time so you potentially lose use of the boat.

 

[fireball]

sounds about right price to be stripped and re-gelled ...

questions you need to ask yourself -
1) would you buy the boat at the current agreed price without osmosis?
2) does the reduced price cover the cost of having the work done?
3) do you like the boat enough to worry too much?

If the Osmosis isn't too bad atm then one idea is to buy (at reduced price) now, sail for the rest of the season then have it stripped and done over the winter (costs a little more, but some do include storage making it more appealing ...)

 

[chrishelen]

Thanks for the reply, i should have added that i am not the original buyer who commisioned the survy,he walked away,what i was thinking of doing was getting it cheap, using it for a few years and then sorting the problem out if it was worth doing.

 

[dukes4monny]

The pox on it's own isn't usually too much to worry about, but as Tranona says, beware of other problems which it can lead too e.g. delamination. The survey, if it's fairly recent and from a reputable surveyor should have highlighted any issues with this though.

Good luck.

 

[oldsaltoz]

If the hull has any foam sandwich close to the affected areas, walk away.

The cost to repair could be horrendous.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[holly1]

I would be interested to know what the surveyor said about the osmosis. There must be more detail such as the size of the blisters wether they were just under the gel coat or deeper into the laminate, was the laminate sound under the blisters etc etc

 

[wotayottie]

The issue that most affected me when I bought a poxy boat wasnt the pox itself, nor the cost which the vendor carried but the time taken to put it through the system. An osmosis job isnt quick and bear in mind it isnt permanent either. Effectively a season lost.

That said, one great authority reckong that 90% of boats more than 15 years old have the pox to some degree whether or not thwe owners know. And having wandered round our club boatyard moisture meter in hand one fine spring day, after the boats had been out of the water all winter, that 90% sounds about right.

So if you turn this one down you might well have difficulty in finding a truly dry boat.

 

[chrishelen]

People keep telling me "osmosis never sank a boat"and the blisters do look pretty small and there are lots of them, thanks for all the advice i think i will sleep on this one.

 

[capsco]

It is the 75% price reduction that intrigues me, would you care to be more specific, as another said, it may make the answer more obvious.

 

[chrishelen]

The boat was advertised at 15 grand until the poxy pox was found.

 

[capsco]

That certainly helps, my thoughts would be, that if you are reasonably confident in your own abilities, and after inspecting it you were interested in the boat at the original asking price, then I would buy it.

 

[Longshanks]

A handful of small bisters especially on an old boat may come to nothing more, and you can quite possibly just deal with it yourself. If it's extensive and all over the hull, then it sounds like a strip. Get a number of quotes though...they can vary a lot. And as said before, the depth of the problem makes a big difference to how much stripping and fairing is needed. Also, unless a perfect job is done in removing all the glycol, etc, that's causing the problem, it'll likely come back. So in getting quotes, ask how they intend to do this.

 

[chrishelen]

Had a look this morning, the blistering is extensive all over the hull,they are tiny about 2 to 4 mil across, but lots of them, so a lot of work on my part, what to do?

 

[LeonF]

Chris what class of boat is it ? I looked at a Pegasus 800 some years ago that was so riddled it had gone through to the laminate, and would have needed an extra coat of laminate, some £5000 all in on a boat only worth about 10K. I then bought a Sigma 33 that had been done twice as the first time she had been relaunched too soon or something. The second time an extra coat of laminate was added, my surveyor saw her when work was in progress, and approved. When I sold her on eventually she was as dry as a bone. I would get another survey and then maybe take the risk.. look at the main page and see what Will Sayer achieved with the boat he bought for a song.

 

[chrishelen]

Hi Leon, she is a Achilles 29, lots of gear including Radar, windvane steering,newish liferaft ect, i thought about patching her up and sailing her for a few years and then see what happens, The job is to big for the owner who is retired and wants out of boating.

 

[DAKA]

I bought a 3 year old bayliner with osmosis.

Covered with 10p size blisters.

Kept it 4-5 years, had a great time and sold it declaring osmosis and giving a guarantee 'if the osmosis gets worse to the extent it affects performance I will pay 50% repair costs up to £1500'
Sold at a great profit even if I had to pay out £1500 which I didnt.

Buy it and enjoy it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Treatment would be sand blast, jet wash several times over a month with fairy liquid, leave to dry outside, water proof filler, epoxy coating and copper coat say £1500 DIY
do it just before you sell it as no treatment is 100% successful anyway.

But why bother, just enjoy it and sell it on cheaply.

 

[Athene V30]

If you are not progressing and purchasing the boat I might be interested in looking. Where is she?

 

[LeonF]

Might be worth the risk, and even if you end up having to have her treated, you could end up with a great boat for 10-12k. I suppose it depends on whether you can afford to lose the purchaase price if it all goes pear shaped and you cannot sell her for what you paid, bearing in mind that you may have had a few years of fun sailing. Or whether you can afford to have the repair work done iff you would prefer to keep her instead. If you really like her, then buy it, but don't buy it just because it's cheap. Would you buy her if she was 12/15K and in good nick? If you would, then buy her.

 

[chrishelen]

Shes gone, sold from under my nose while i uumed and aaared about the bubbles, never mind thats life on a big ship.