Sea cock

I get the impression that manufacturers try to cut costs every year and it is possible that a 2007 boat will be better than a 2009 model. However, I imagine that there's a pretty good chance that similar parts were used on your boat.

I dismantled a few of the ones on my 2009 42DS and it wasn't obvious which materials had been used. I used a combination of price & descriptions on Jeanneau's parts list plus appearance and some educated guesses. Mainly appearance as price & description for spares didn't help much.

Outlets and Inlets for heads:
Skin fitting looked like reasonable quality, possibly gunmetal or similar. It didn't look like cheap brass.
Elbow described as bronze and looked like a decent material (similar to bronze items I've seen). Not cheap brass.
Valve is just a nasty, cheap brass & chrome affair. I wouldn't describe it as suitable for marine use
Tail is also just ordinary brass

Engine Cooling Inlet:
Skin fitting looked exactly like ones ASAP describe as "Brass Scoop Strainers"
Locknut & washer seemed to be brass
Valve is just a nasty, cheap brass & chrome affair. I wouldn't describe it as suitable for marine use
Tail is also just ordinary brass

I dismantled all of the above after 3 seasons afloat and you can see pictures showing the condition of the parts.
http://www.mistroma.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Seacocks.html

I replaced the inlet & outlet valves in forward heads with DZR valves. However, the outlet was always very stiff and the valves are difficult to access so replacement made sense. I just replaced the engine inlet parts as everything looked as new and it is easy to dismantle regularly.
 
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My personal view on Jeanneau's materials selection is that they mostly use the cheapest grades they can get away with. Examples:
Theirs is the only 400 series prop shaft I have ever come across,
The structure supporting the rudder bearings on some models is galvanised steel, not stainless.

So I would suspect the worst when it comes to seacocks.
 
Its nice to own a reassuringly old MAB :cool:



vyv_cox said:
My personal view on Jeanneau's materials selection is that they mostly use the cheapest grades they can get away with. Examples:
Theirs is the only 400 series prop shaft I have ever come across,
The structure supporting the rudder bearings on some models is galvanised steel, not stainless.

So I would suspect the worst when it comes to seacocks.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, I'd come to the same conclusion but think that their older models used better quality parts. So I'm confidently expecting the 2020 models to have hulls from a new wonder material which eventually turns out to be reinforced cardboard (as some obsure RCD reg. says that it is OK to use that).

Actually, I think that most AWBs will be similar as they operate in the same market under similar financial pressures. I'm still happy with mine but I did balance quality vs. cost against likely usage.

You also hear some stories about quality that don't stack up. e.g. I'd been told that a rep. from Quick had explained that Jeanneau were supplied with lower spec. non-waterproof motors for their windlasses. However, I know that when the motor was removed it turned out to be a completely standard one. I'd thought it unlikely that Quick would alter a production run to make a marginally cheaper item specifically for Jeanneau.

Silly suggestion about horsemeat in seacocks, much too soft. I have wondered about some of the internal mouldings marked as "fabriqués à partir de pâte de viande de cheval composite résine". :D
 
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Mistroma said:
I'd thought it unlikely that Quick would alter a production run to make a marginally cheaper item specifically for Jeanneau.
Click to expand...

Don't know anything about this specific case, but it wouldn't surprise me that much. Jeanneau must be a fairly big customer, by comparison to the overall market for yacht windlasses. It's not like they'd been asked to stop the production line for plastic buckets or something else churned out by the million. Over on the Mobo forum, jfm wanted to carry a Laser dinghy on the roof of his mobile palace, but was worried about the different coloured white gelcoat of mobo and dinghy clashing - can't fault the guy for attention to detail! Laser were willing to accept a pot of gelcoat couriered over from the mobo builders, stop and clean out their gel-spraying equipment, and make one individual Laser 1 in the same white as a Fairline motor yacht before re-starting the line. I'm sure he paid them well for the interruption, but it shows that modifications to standard designs can be negotiated.

Pete
 
As a data point, our new boat is a 1998 Maxi, and had all brass ball valves (according to their markings). No positive identification to the skin fittings and tails, but patches of surface dezincification were visible on careful inspection so they were probably brass too.

All replaced now.

Pete
 
prv said:
Don't know anything about this specific case, but it wouldn't surprise me that much. Jeanneau must be a fairly big customer, by comparison to the overall market for yacht windlasses. It's not like they'd been asked to stop the production line for plastic buckets or something else churned out by the million. Over on the Mobo forum, jfm wanted to carry a Laser dinghy on the roof of his mobile palace, but was worried about the different coloured white gelcoat of mobo and dinghy clashing - can't fault the guy for attention to detail! Laser were willing to accept a pot of gelcoat couriered over from the mobo builders, stop and clean out their gel-spraying equipment, and make one individual Laser 1 in the same white as a Fairline motor yacht before re-starting the line. I'm sure he paid them well for the interruption, but it shows that modifications to standard designs can be negotiated.

Pete
Click to expand...

Not surprised about negotiating mods. on production runs. It was the very marginal cost saving I was questioning. The Quick rep. had said that the motor design was the same but it wasn't waterproof. I'm guessing that Jeanneau actually negociated savings by relaxing quality standards. So Quick just made the same motors but had zero rejects on the line as they knew Jeanneau would accept anything. I suppose that just increases the chance of getting a lemon.
 
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