I did a short haul for bottom painting a couple of weeks ago; thought it would be for about 5 days. The bottom paint was over 3 years old; I had hauled for a hurricane threat last year and it was still in good shape. I was thinking of pushing to the winter but decided to do it because of mid-summer discounts the local dealer uses to keep his folks busy. Anyway, I'm very glad I did the haul when I did. The boat is 59 months old and the hull warranty is for 5 years but I had not considered this before the haul. After the boat was hauled, I noticed this:
This area was about 9 inches long so it was very visible. I found the yard's fiberglass guy and asked him to take a look. He said this type of gelcoat failure on a vertical surface happens a lot due to the inability to get the hull out of the mold perfectly. He said he would take pictures and get a warranty claim in to Sea Ray and while he was doing that would inspect the entire hull. He found a dozen or so problems including some very tiny ones I don't think I would have ever noticed:
He also found this area where water was dripping near the port stern tube:
The tech told me that problems in this area are common as well. He bundled up the pictures and submitted a request to Sea Ray. He also asked for coverage to take down the area around the starboard stern tube to look for similar issues. Sea Ray responded within hours that they would cover the entire request. The starboard stern tube area did have problems and Sea Ray agreed to cover that repair as well. I did have a moisture meter check done on the entire hull and no problems were in evidence.
While the repairs were in progress I pointed out some spider cracks topside I had notices but had put aside as ordinary and perhaps to be addressed some time in the future:
I knew these weren't strictly under warranty but asked the fiberglass tech if he thought Sea Ray would cover them. He said no harm in asking and sent those pictures off to Sea Ray. They agreed to cover 1/3 of the repairs and I was quite happy with that.
Given the extra time out of the water, i had the props pulled and re-conditioned by a Prop Scan shop:
The prop is not shiny because Prop Speed has already been applied. I've had very good luck with Prop Speed keeping marine growth off the running gear.
On my first run out of the yard, I got about 50 additional RPM's at WOT and speeds above plane are 1-2 knots higher at all RPMs compared to the first sea trial when I bought the boat. I also believe there is a big reduction in vibration at speed but it's hard to quantify that.
So, I've left the yard with a pretty perfect hull and some topside ugliness fixed and am very happy with the quality of the work by the yard as well as the responsiveness of the manufacturer. The value of the repairs must have been in the several thousands since it took 4 or 5 days to do them all. I've already alerted a dockmate with a 2007 Sea Ray and the light-bulb came on so he will be doing a short haul this week to paint and get his hull checked out. I would strongly recommend getting an experienced hull/fiberglass person to check out any boat as it approaches its five year birthday. I have heard that Sea Ray will still cover some repairs past 5 years but they've no obligation to do so and I'm sure this went much smoother than it would have had I waited a couple of months or more to paint.
This area was about 9 inches long so it was very visible. I found the yard's fiberglass guy and asked him to take a look. He said this type of gelcoat failure on a vertical surface happens a lot due to the inability to get the hull out of the mold perfectly. He said he would take pictures and get a warranty claim in to Sea Ray and while he was doing that would inspect the entire hull. He found a dozen or so problems including some very tiny ones I don't think I would have ever noticed:
He also found this area where water was dripping near the port stern tube:
The tech told me that problems in this area are common as well. He bundled up the pictures and submitted a request to Sea Ray. He also asked for coverage to take down the area around the starboard stern tube to look for similar issues. Sea Ray responded within hours that they would cover the entire request. The starboard stern tube area did have problems and Sea Ray agreed to cover that repair as well. I did have a moisture meter check done on the entire hull and no problems were in evidence.
While the repairs were in progress I pointed out some spider cracks topside I had notices but had put aside as ordinary and perhaps to be addressed some time in the future:
I knew these weren't strictly under warranty but asked the fiberglass tech if he thought Sea Ray would cover them. He said no harm in asking and sent those pictures off to Sea Ray. They agreed to cover 1/3 of the repairs and I was quite happy with that.
Given the extra time out of the water, i had the props pulled and re-conditioned by a Prop Scan shop:
The prop is not shiny because Prop Speed has already been applied. I've had very good luck with Prop Speed keeping marine growth off the running gear.
On my first run out of the yard, I got about 50 additional RPM's at WOT and speeds above plane are 1-2 knots higher at all RPMs compared to the first sea trial when I bought the boat. I also believe there is a big reduction in vibration at speed but it's hard to quantify that.
So, I've left the yard with a pretty perfect hull and some topside ugliness fixed and am very happy with the quality of the work by the yard as well as the responsiveness of the manufacturer. The value of the repairs must have been in the several thousands since it took 4 or 5 days to do them all. I've already alerted a dockmate with a 2007 Sea Ray and the light-bulb came on so he will be doing a short haul this week to paint and get his hull checked out. I would strongly recommend getting an experienced hull/fiberglass person to check out any boat as it approaches its five year birthday. I have heard that Sea Ray will still cover some repairs past 5 years but they've no obligation to do so and I'm sure this went much smoother than it would have had I waited a couple of months or more to paint.
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