Broken Rudder.

K

keets

New Member
Jan 16, 2007
116
Ohio River Beaver co Pa
Boat Info
2006 260da
Engines
6.2l
Went out to do a sea trail on a 2004 3560 Regal this last weekend on lake Erie. When we opened the engine room there was water in the bilge. We noticed that the port rudder was replaced. One of the port motor mounts had a crack and the starboard rudder was leaking at one of the rudder mounting bolts. The blocking used to mount the port rudder was also replaced with wood. The starboard rudder is mounted with some type of composite board. The dealer said the owner doesnt know how this happened. We put down a deposit contingent on survey and sea trail. My wife really likes this boat and wants to see if we can still buy the boat. I'm a little worried, Any thoughts?

Thanks Keets
 
Id have a survey and get an estimate from a trusted marina fiberglass guy to do the repairs.Even though the survey may say its not that bad you want to have some bargaining room if you need a stringer repaired or a through hull repaired .these things dont just happen.
 
Run away. That boat hit something. Its still a buyers market. There are lots of boats to chose from. Don't rush the decision.
 
Creekwood said:
Run away. That boat hit something. Its still a buyers market. There are lots of boats to chose from. Don't rush the decision.
Click to expand...

This is good advice ... take your time and get the right boat at the right price. Spend your survey money on something that does not have all of these obvious imperfections. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
keets said:
The dealer said the owner doesnt know how this happened.
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Yeah, right! There was obviously a major event with this boat, crappy repairs were made (blocked with wood?) and the owner doesn't know how this happened - B.S. If he's not being honest here, what else is he not telling you?

I'm with the other guys, run away unless you're getting this at a fire sale price and you know exectly what you're getting into (i.e., estimate of the repairs).
 
Wasn't your surveyor along for the sea trial? Had he done the hull survey yet?

Anything can be repaired for a price...if you like the boat, it needs to be bought "right".

Even if it was collision damage, barring structural damage to the hull it can be fixed.
 
keets said:
Went out to do a sea trail on a 2004 3560 Regal this last weekend on lake Erie. When we opened the engine room there was water in the bilge. We noticed that the port rudder was replaced. One of the port motor mounts had a crack and the starboard rudder was leaking at one of the rudder mounting bolts. The blocking used to mount the port rudder was also replaced with wood. The starboard rudder is mounted with some type of composite board. The dealer said the owner doesnt know how this happened. We put down a deposit contingent on survey and sea trail. My wife really likes this boat and wants to see if we can still buy the boat. I'm a little worried, Any thoughts?

Thanks Keets
Click to expand...

I have to say this whole deal sounds bad!! If your wife is just in love with the boat because of looks you need to reminder her that the internal condition is way more important. I'm sure that boat is not going anywhere......Keep looking at other boats, there are tons avalible in better condition I'm sure..
 
Is there a chance the boat was dropped or fell off the stands over the winter?
 
I'm not as worried about the possible previous damage or a rudder replacement as I am the repair. It is apparent that the boats was repaired on the cheap but what other short cuts were taken? Was there damage to the bottom that was patched with putty instead of a real fiberglass repair?

Stuff that leaks on a boat can cause horrible problems to the structure, not only from a wet bilge, but the hydraulic pressure on a poor repair can cause delamination in the fiberglass substrait and damage to the structure of the boat. As Mike says, anything can be repaired, but until you know the extent of the damage and how the repairs were done you cannot know what if any future cost you have in front of you.

I delivered a 3560 a couple of years ago and they are nice boats......but there are some gotcha's. The water tank is right at the nose of the boat and it does affect the running angle and ability to plane the boat. The bilge is not a very user friendly place for a do-it-yourselfer, like how are you going to get to the transmissions to service them?

Good luck with this one, but be careful..........
 
As for the boat model, I owned a 3560 for two and a half years (it was the Jackie J III). One of my primary boating friends also had one (for over fours years now). If you're interested in that model, I would recommend the I/O version over the inboards (I don't think they're making the inboard version any more). With inboards, it is a 50 mph boat. I'm not sure about responsiveness of the inboards (to Frank's point), however the I/O's pop to plane (almost call it a "hole-shot"). I'm also not sure about the serviceability of the inboard transmission (I think they intruded under the aft/mid berth), however everything on the I/O version was very serviceable. Good access to pretty much everything.

I loved that boat, my family just outgrew it.

Good luck with your search.

Paul
 
The boat is real nice. Even though it is a 2004 it shows like new. The boat owner upgraded everything you could think of. With the 8.1 HOs the boat hit 40.4mph in 2' seas on lake Erie. The surveyor was with us on the sea trail. He said everything felt good and the boat ran like is should. He scanned the engines and said the were good. He tested every system and was the one who found the rudder and motor mount. He also found 8 other lil fixes that I would of never even thought of. He tends to think the boat is sound. He came highly recommended. He did a complete hull survey and said it also looked good. Thanks for the advice and info. Not sure what to do.

Keets
 
Base of one rudder post is leaking.

One motor mount is cracked.

The rudder shelves have been replaced, one maybe OK with composite board, the other repair unacceptable.

The boat performs well at sea trial (no noticeable vibration), has no structural damage, and is basically given a clean bill of health by the surveyor.

Motor mounts crack sometimes (it happens). Apparently it has not affected the engine's alignment.

Rudder base leaking...
This happens too, but unusual on a 6 year old boat.

All of these together would sure make you suspect that the boat hit something. But apparently the props, shaft and strut didn't...which doesn't make sense.

For me, it would come down to this:
If the current owner is the original owner (you didn't specify) and he has NO idea how all this happened to his boat, he's either insane, or is lying. I'd walk regardless of what the surveyor says.

You mentioned the "dealer" and not "broker"...if the dealer took the boat on trade and now owns it, the earlier suggestion that the boat was dropped or damaged might be valid. It's only a 6 year old boat...someone knows what and why.

Might be fine to get an estimate of the major items needing repairs and deduct it from your offer, and if it's accepted you go boating happily ever after. But for me, everyone saying "I don't know how all this work got done" would make me walk unless I could find out the answer.

One more thing- hopefully, the surveyor was recommended by someone other than the dealer from whom you're buying the boat...
 
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