Sundancer 320 2004 soft wet spot question - pre purchase

A

aleksejus72

New Member
Nov 9, 2020
9
Boat Info
Sundancer 340 2003
Engines
twin 8.1 mercruiser 375 V drive
I was planning to buy today Sundancer 320 2004 but surveyor found a rotten soft spot in the deck where skylights are. apperently one of skylights seal was leaking and boat sat for fee years like that, now all the wood under headliner is rotten and the size of the spot is about 2 feet to 4 feet.
of course the agreed price is out of the door but the question i have: should i move on to different boat or lowball seller and if he agrees take the boat. what i am looking down the road with this spot? will it progress? what other potential problems with that? i will fix the seal of course
 
Wow that’s a big area. I know it is very costly to repair and it would have to be done. Not many people would but that buy and tackle a project like that. I would move on if it were me. But that’s me.
 
So I have been looking at similar and unfortunately it’s a common condition. I looked at one that was fixed. Most people would want to go from the underside to keep to top side nonskid intact. That fix is very expensive. What this guy had done is he had it fixed from the top. But they took the diamond nonskid off the whole topside. And replaced with the old fashioned nonskid. Could not tell it was repaired and if you didn’t know about the different nonskids you would never know. His fix ran around $6500.

ideally you want the current owner to fix in case there are unexpected issues.
 
Not a common issue with 320's - or that has come up. Going to be an expensive fix. Is he sure it is the skylight leaking? Seems more likely to be the sunpad railing or wiper motor?
 
definitely skylight seal was leaking
you could see they were trying to use duck tape to cover the leak for few years. did not work out for them...
the more i think the more i want to stay away from this unit
 
Well, I need to reseal my skylights. But they don't leak. The 320 threads and groups really don't speak of an issue around the skylights. I would keep looking unless the boat was a great value and you knew a great shop that could make it better than new.
 
I would walk away from this boat.

However, if the seller make an offer you can’t pass up and it leaves you a lot of room for repairs, check out Dryboat. A lot of times, they can remove hatches and pump a resin under the outer fiberglass to fill the void and add strength back to the structure.

A lot of 320’s out there so unless you can get the boat for a song, it’s probably not worth the risk and cost to repair the damage.
 
Happened twice on my 330 DA. The first time from my window, second from my sunpad rail. I just traded the boat in as is but my estimate was 6k replacing from below. Lots of damage occurred before it was obvious. I pulled the liner down and there were mushrooms growing at the interface
 
This is whst it looks like inside
20200201_140026.jpg
20200202_110718.jpg

it is a messy, terrible job and WILL spread if not fixed - if it is truely 2'x4' and accessable through the hatch it could possibly be fixed that way......but i wouldnt count on it - i wouldnt use injectadeck on a boat like that either - unless you can buy the boat for 20k under market (10k for the repair and 10k for your trouble), i would move on
 
Damn, After that picture I would hope there are tire marks leaving the OP boat he was looking at and not looking back!
 
My 340 had the deck repaired "from the top". It was a $14k job.

I agree with the comment above - if you're getting the boat for $20k below market, maybe worth it. If not, find yourself another 320.
 
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