Survey shows knakered outdrive

[NickLovell]

In the process of buying my first boat
surveyed yesterday
surveyor shows me water contaminated oil in port outdrive (10 yr old boat, volvo 290 DP), also he loosens top bellows & milky emulsion pours out of there too, showing top seal has blown
surveyor will not sea trial boat as drive may fail, he thinks it could be a bent shaft after whaking something, and was not checked
This drive was repaired for this exact reason (contaminated oil) last month at a cost to the owner of £1000, by some local people who are not Volvo agents: invoice on the boat

Question: do I get the owner to have it repaired (again) by the same (incompetent) people
or take matters into my own hands
can anyone recommend a good Volvo drive fettler & what sort of cost am I looking at
many thanks

 

[jimg]

What part of the country?

 

[tillergirl]

I'm not an expert on this but I was with my neighbour when he had similar legs inspected on a boat he bought last summer. The engine quoted £1400 to service the bellows on both engines. In answer to your first question, you must take this up with the vendor. Do a search on the Motor Boat forum, I think it was Whitelighter who posted some pictures last autumn about a similar repair. This will give you an idea of the engineering involved. It's my view that you would not want to go to sea as this boat currently stands.

 

[tillergirl]

This is the link:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.php?C...rue#Post1177814

But I can't get the photos up. Perhaps if you pm Solitaire, he'll send them.

 

[Solitaire]

Simple - walk away! Tell the seller the outcome of your surveyor's findings and let him deal with the issue. There are loads of boats on the market at the moment and don't get caught up in the emotional scheme of things being it's your first boat - it's very easy to fall into that trap.

 

[Whitelighter]

You need to be very careful if the bellows have gone, and the surveyor is right not to want to do the seatrial until the issue is resolved.

As I see it you have two issues here. The first is that there is clearly water ingress in the drive, and this needs to be repaired. It is likely that this has been happening for sometime so the level of damage to the internals of the drive could very easily be severe. Until the drive comes off and is stripped down you wont know.

The second issue is the leaking belows. With the 290 drive setup I assume the boat has AD or KAD series engines? If this is the case, the leaking water only has one route from the drive and that is through the shaft, into the bell housing and out through the starter motor. If the issue is an old one (i.e not recently happened - and the milky colour suggests it is) then it is likely water will have been sitting in the bell housing, around the shaft and the universal joint and occasionally flowing out through your startermotor.

I had a similar issue last year which eventually threw the shaft my port set up during a long (ish) passage. The damage was not to the leg, but the boat required a new shaft with universal joint and much worse the actual bell housing had been so badly damaged it too needed replacing. Add to that the startormmotor had required a complete overhaul earlier in the season due to corrosion and the problems became very expensive.

I think I was unlucky, but drives are complicated and sesitive and need TLC. If you are on the Southcoast around Southampton or Pompy then you could do a lot worse then PM forumite Col - he is THE best man on anything that floats with an engine and it would be worth you paying for an inspection, if you are still seriuos about the boat.

In short, be very very sure any problems have been rectified or, preferably, get a good chunk of additional money off (you might need up to £4,000 for a drive rebuild and shaft/bell housing replacement - but that is worst case) and get it done to your satisfaction after the purchase.

 

[PCUK]

Volvo drives are very simple and quick to repair and labour costs are related to how gullible the owner is! Parts cost of course is the usual Volvo criminal rip-off.

Best advice seen above is to walk away or negotiate a big reduction in boat price.

 

[volvopaul]

Its not necessarily knackered cos its got water in the oil, it happens all the time, chances are they havent used the correct tool to fit the bottom 2 shaft seals so they have allowed water to bypass them, it then pushes oil out of the top seal by the propshaft, its no problem unless of course the shafts are scored, new ones req then, or a bearing or 2 have collapsed, dont be put off by this.

Where is the boat? we can fix it. pm me if you want a rough price.

 

[Lakesailor]

But he hasn't bought the boat yet.

Don't buy it. It's been offered for sale in a poor state of repair and as others have said there are plenty more donkeys on the beach. I mean you wouldn't choose the lame donkey would you?

 

[Whitelighter]

I realise that. Hence, my final statement about what to do IF he purchases.

I wouldn't buy it, but it isn't me looking is it.

 

[Fire99]

I had some issues found when purchasing my Outdrive kitted boat so can understand the issue you have.

I'm with Jezbanks on this one.. If you do purchase the boat you need to ensure either
a) The boat has been fully repaired before purchasing or
b) Enough money is taken off the asking price to cover the 'worse case scenario' of the damage.

The other issue is that you are likely to want to use your boat straight away after purchase so wont want to be troubling yourself with a hefty repair from the start.

I think if the seller can do one of the above to your complete satisfaction then it doesnt need to be a show stopper but i would definitely consider the option of walking away.

regards,

Nick

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Or look at shaft drive boats...

 

[ontheplane]

Only buy it if the price is dropped low enough to completely replace the outdrive.

I bought a boat a couple of years ago, cheap enough to get the "mild" running problem sorted. I figured as the engine ran well enough it couldn't cost too much.....

£2500 later it still didn't work!!

Eventually problem turned out to be a wrongly fitted cambelt (so I didn't need to spend all that money but hey ho)....

Moral of tale is - if it's dodgy it might just be cheaper to renew the whole thing (assuming still available) and budget for that....


Or do as everyone says and just walk away.

 

[Sneds]

I walked away from a (dream) boat a few months ago due to survey findings. I was willing to buy the boat with a substantial reduction in cost, until my surveyor said "you should be buying your dream, not someone elses problem."
That did it for me and and allthough still looking, everything I have looked at since seems better!
Easy to say, but don't let your heart rule your head, unless you're very rich! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[apollo]

Buy something else, there is plenty for sale at the moment.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

I'm slowly showing my surveyor that there are surmountable problems if you are prepared to put the work in, and thanks to advice from many here. But before we went for Jedi we walked on a couple.

 

[Sneds]

Wanna buy a Sealine 215? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

[ QUOTE ]
Wanna buy a Sealine 215? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Nowhere to stow children and they do stuggle and whine so if suspended from davits

 

[NickLovell]

Thanks for the reply
the vendor has agreed to get the boat repaired by a volvo dealer at his expense
the milky emuslion is caused by water ingress to the drive, which then fills & with no room for expansion blows the top seals
the bellows are new, the surveyor undid the bellows to check for exactly this (common) fault

 

[NickLovell]

not of these there isn't!