Wow. AN HOUR caused all that damage!

Yikers! Imagine if you didn't catch that!

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Good luck getting her back to par and thanks for sharing.

MM

 

Amazing! Good luck, I hope the repair costs are minimal!

 

Yes, it is a good thing you are a vigilant boat owner. As others have said I hope the costs are not to bad wow. Simply amazing how fast things can go bad. Good luck and keep us posted... hope you are on the water again soon - the electrolysis...

 

Thank God you found it when you did. Maybe you can come back to the Marine Surveyor for damages?? You might be able to contact a martime lawyer.

 

Maybe you can come back to the Marine Surveyor for damages?? You might be able to contact a martime lawyer.

From all I've read, mostly here on CSR, you have no need to contact lawyer. You will have no case as most, if not all, surveyor's contracts protect them against this sort of thing.

 

Sorry to hear that Mike and I bet you are &*^%ing frustrated. I'm not sure many surveyors would have picked up a latent electrical issue like this one. But you might have reasonably expected the surveyor to say " the anchor chain is getting a bit rusty and will need to be replaced some time soon". At least that might have helped your due diligence and given you an opportunity to ask the owner why the anchor was so rusty? But then the owner would probably say he didn't know but, if sweetens the deal I'll replace the chain for you, and you would end up in the same boat ,so to speak.


The key thing is to get through the other owners maintenance shortfalls and then move on with a boat that will then have your stamp of maintenance all over it, not his. I'll bet you'll find other things that will cost you to set right but that is part of the transition. I ended up with a number of issues including leaks and cooling system problems that could be best described as "deferred maintenance". Yeah, deferred until after its sold to some other mug like me!!

Anyway, don't despair, take it on the chin and look at the bright side ie you nailed it good before your stern drives fell off! You got a nice boat there Mike and she's set to give you and your family some wonderful memories.:smt038 Good post Mike. I think we will all be looking out for rusty chains now.

Terry

 

Thanks for the well wishes all,

From what I have learnt out of all this........ Next time I would get a marine electrician out to do a electrolysis test (Electrolysis meter) of all the metal parts of the boat before buying. If the boat passes you then know that you won't have major corrosion issues, if it isn't correct then you can look at fixing, adjusting your offer or walking away.

The guy that did my test was quite fast, all up an hour. It's another expense but for us salt water guys with quite expensive legs etc I think it is money well spent. Most insurance policys in this country won't cover electrolysis.

Trying to organise the lift for this weekend coming so will post what I find. Till then keep your positive electrons inside your boat at all times!

 

If you can absolutely prove that he never showed up & charged you anyway you might win. I think I've read the clause (paraphrased) amounts to... To the best of my ability.

 

Some of you will know I have just got a new to me boat.
On the weekend I changed the anchor chain as the old one was heavily rusted. After that job was done we set off to anchor in our favorite bay and have a swim. On returning to the boat I noticed bubbles coming off both stern legs!
I immediately turned all the battery switches off and the bubbles stopped. A full inspection of the leads showed nothing. I closed the battery switches and noticed it was only the port system that caused bubbles. I raised the anchor and headed for home. On the way I stopped in a quiet bay to check if I had any props left and found no bubbles. I then phoned a good mate who told me an aggressive electrolysis like the one I was experiencing meant I had to have a positive lead in the water! I eventually put two and two together and figured it was when I put the anchor in the water the bubbles started.
Testing the winch motor showed reversed polarity which was the culprit.
The winch was fitted in 2009 .....by who I am trying to find out.
My friend came thru to the marina with a electrolysis meter and when he touched the new chain it went off the scale.
We changed the leads at the relay box and am happy to say my legs no longer resemble aspirin and things are back in the green zone as far as the electrolysis goes.
The bad news is I'm up for some hefty bills 3 weeks into owning this ?!#^%. The props have had the tips eaten away, prop speed is badly damaged, zincs are all but gone and the anti fouling is about 25% gone on the legs and that was after an hour at anchor.
I'm getting it hauled out this week to check all the stuff I can't see and will have to strip the legs if they show signs of corrosion.
I still feel sick about the whole thing, the new chain was obviously conducting better than the old.
This was missed in the survey and after phoning the broker and insurance company I have found I have no come back.
Thought this might be of interest to someone and maybe help somebody out one day.
We were on our way to anchor up for a couple of nights.... Imagine that, fire up the engines in the morning, snig them into gear and the whole lot falling off the back of the boat! Gulp.

Mike,

Sorry to hear about the electrolysis problem.

Dou you have galnanic isolator fitted to your boat ? or is it fitted correctly ?

Before my current boat I had a 27 ft replica of 260DA produced by the importer of Searay of my country.

Suprisingly they didn't fit galvanic isolator and leg zinc was disappearing in 2-3 months instead of lasting year long and then my (nibral or) bronze duoprops of Volvo penta D4210's was pitted like somene extinguished cigarettes over them.

Long story short they bought me a new set of props and fitted galvanic isolator.

Have a look at this moment can save you huge money IMO.

Best wishes.

PS.what's that apparrel fitted to your port engine as extension? engine driven air conditioner ?

 

Hi Milida,

Not sure about the extra anode, I have booked in for a lift and hold on Friday so will check things out then.
According to the electrolysis meter my engines/legs are (now) in the perfect range for a long and fruitful life. I'm going to go through all the pencil zincs throughout the engines and change them if needed.

The attachment is a compressor for the fridge and chest freezer. Works well, just hope it keeps working as they are near impossible to repair (built into galley).

As far as surveys go........ Not worth the money as far as I'm concerned. Mind you I'm still hurting.
My guy missed:

The anchor chain
The reversed polarity (beyond his knowledge I know) but I would of thought a surveyer should have done an electrolysis reading?
One of the exhaust bellows from the elbow is only being held by one clamp as the boot is split.

Anyway enough ranting, nobody knows their boat like the owner and as Terry said once I get on top of the maintenance things will be fine.

 

View attachment 24251 View attachment 24252

Well the lift and hold went ok, the prop tips took most of the hit and you can see the damaged prop speed and antifoul. There wasn't a great deal of time as it was 4.00pm on a friday and the lift operator was thirsty so we touched up the antifoul, changed the zincs and put it back in. The props are toast (thin and bent blades) so will change them for next summer.

Before this electrolysis event the legs and props had just been painted so the 1 hour soak didn't do it a lot of good but it could have been worse if it wasn't noticed and more importantly corrected.

 

View attachment 24251 View attachment 24252

.....The props are toast (thin and bent blades) so will change them for next summer......

I thought my B.O.A.T (break out another thousand) was bad enough with having to replace all the house batteries at about $1400. But to replace the duo props on those sternlegs would have to be about $5000 for stainless. Have you considered taking them to a prop specialist first? It might only cost you half of replacement to get them back to square one.


Terry

 

WOW! That is really scary.

 

In the end I went for Endurant's. They were quite alot cheaper @ $290 vs almost $400 each for the Trojans. This is because they are quite a bit lighter, ie either less plates or thinner plates. Of course that means they won't last as long as Trojans but still they are expected to last around 5 years. Hopefully I'll be into something bigger by then and replacing the house batts will be somebody elses problem .

Here's a photo of the old Trojans. They were 7 year olds my electrician tells me, so that had a good run.

And here is a couple of pictures of the new banks once I'd fitted them. I know its sad taking photos of battery banks but hey, I paid so much for them I may as well look at them

I wondered if you might have decided on ali props. It a bit like me. I wanted the Trojans but in the end you buy what you can afford and let's face it 2 grand is not small change!! I'm sure your just about up to speed with the boats shotcomings now once you get those risers sorted (another good find before it became a major turbo job). My wife couldn't understand why we were spending so much on the boat we had just bought. Will it ever stop she said? Of course it will I said. We all know I lied.Good luck with the issues Mike and don't take too long or you'll miss summer. :grin:

Terry