Do Sea Ray Hulls Have Delamination Problems?

[StuartT]

The 2001 Sundancer 340 I am buying comes out of the water tomorrow for inspection. Has there been any delamination issues with these hulls that I should be aware of when tapping out the underside?

 

[Gofirstclass]

Stuart, are you doing the tapping, or are you having a surveyor do a survey on the boat? If you're doing it yourself, might I suggest you have a surveyor check out the boat. With a 2001 340 you're investing a large sum of money and you want to know what "surprises" there are on the boat before you start writing checks.

A qualified surveyor will not only tap the hull for delams, he'll check it with a moisture meter to see if there are any wet areas. If he's really good he'll have prior experience and knowledge of Sea Rays in that size range and will know of problem areas to check with the meter. He'll also check out all your appliances, water systems, heat and A/C, genset, etc.

They're well worth what you pay them in terms of what future problems they can help you avoid.

 

[alnav]

Stuart, if the haulout is at repair yard, suggest you see if there is a resident fiberglass guy around and ask him/her to look at the hull in addition to the surveyor. He/she will have seen lots of things to fix on lots of hulls and may know where to look. I luckily had one look at my hull just before the warranty ran out on mine and he found a multitude of small and some large problems a (pretty good) surveyor a couple of years before had not seen. They may have not been there at the survey but I suspect at least a few were.

 

[StuartT]

Thanks for the suggestions including that of hiring a surveyor. I hope I don’t come off sounding arrogant here but I actually have a great deal of experience with fiberglass and gelcoat (actually laying up glass and spraying gelcoat) over the last 40 years and do feel more than qualified to evaluate the hull. My question was actually intended to gain some insight as to whether Sea Rays have known issues with bubbling or delaminating before I tap out this hull. I should probably also mention that I am not a moisture meter fan, at least not when the hull is first out of the water. Maybe after a dry out period to separate the naturally absorbed surface water from any moisture laden strata glass, but not for at least a week (my personal opinion, agreed).

I do admit to a more limited knowledge of gas marine engines and outdrives as my last 7 boats in 22 years were all twin diesels in motoryacht shells up in the PNW. To deal with that shortcoming, I have hired a local marine facility to come to the lake and do the mechanical inspections, engines, outdrives, generator. I claim no measurable expertise in that arena.

Thanks Al for recanting your experience. I will pay special attention as I proceeded. I notice you both have motoryachts. I have had my share of problems on similar boats with pockets and bubbles. I wonder if the smaller boats like the Sundancer are as prone to problems since I would think they are easier to quality control in the molds. Anybody have any first hand on this?

 

[Gofirstclass]

Thanks for clarifying that. Now I feel much more comfortable about you doing the tapping.

I bought my boat 2 years ago in MI and had the boat surveyed by two separate surveyors. One did the hull and equipment, the other the Cats and trannys and genset.

This boat sat in the water throughout the short summer, then was on drydock during the winter. Fortunately, unlike Al, this boat had zero blistering and no wet areas of the hull. The swim platform was waterlogged and we replaced that, and there was an area on the port side near the stern that showed slightly increased moisture levels. The boat had suffered a hard docking up against a piling at some point and the plastic piece below the rub rail had been broken and a 6" piece was missing. Water had gotten in there and had migrated toward the stern. It was limited to the area between the rub rail and the shear line of the hull and for a distance of about 8'. When the surveyor found out the boat was coming to the desert he suggested we just get the broken area repaired (we did) and then let the desert air dry out the hull (we're doing that also).

Other than that, there were no areas that showed even a slightly elevated moisture level and no delam indications from the tapping. Good luck with your new boat!

 

[efizjb]

If you have 40 years working in laying up fiberglass, you should know that tapping a hull gives very little insight unless there is an issue that is so bad you can alsmot see with the naked eye. You could be tapping in the area of a hollow stringer, a compartment or where a tie in, gusset, or bulkhead lands the hull. And no Sea Rays are not known for delam problems. Thirdly, any boat can have delam or not, just because one Sea Ray or any other brand for that matter had it an issue is a poor indicator of the next one having it, there are far to many variables involved. Bottom line, survey/inspect the specific hull.

 

[alnav]

Stuart, the fiberglass guy I worked with found the biggest problems around both stern tubes and told me that this was fairly common with Sea Rays in his experience. I believe I've seen similar problems reported for boats around the size you're looking at so you might want to pay special attention to that area (assuming the boat has inboards).

 

[StuartT]

Stuart, the fiberglass guy I worked with found the biggest problems around both stern tubes and told me that this was fairly common with Sea Rays in his experience. I believe I've seen similar problems reported for boats around the size you're looking at so you might want to pay special attention to that area (assuming the boat has inboards).

Actually they are I/O's so no tubes, but I will still pay special attention to that area. Thanks Al.

 

[StuartT]

Just to put closure on this, the hull was in great shape, no dead spots or blisters anywhere. Stringers were all tight, at lease where I could get to them. The rest of the inspection also went well, both the engines and outdrives looked good. Last thing to a closed deal is the oil sample reports which I should get Monday (tomorrow) afternoon. If they are good, this will become my first Sea Ray on Tuesday.