Just got a call from my buddy who bought that Sunbird/Neptune I mentioned a few weeks ago. He got this boat for 6K and the guy was asking around 12K. (Maybe that should have sent off a warning).

Anyway he found that the transom was delaminating and actually pulled away from the rubrail. It has a 200 OMC on a bracket, and apparently the bracket put load in a way that weakened the transom to the point where it actually started to pull away.
I think this is a poor design issue..

So his dilema #1 is....should he bail (he says he can get his $ back). or
Dilema #2 get it fixed, he has one quote for 5K, (he thinks is too high).

So if anyone knows a reputable boat repair yard, it would be appreciated. The boat is in New Bedford, he is looking to get it fixed in the So. Mass/RI area.

Thanks,
V.

Get the $$ back, whoever sold it and is willing to return the cash is a very good person.
More and more boats will start to hit the market as the summer continues.

Sell me the motor for 2K and roll that back into the transom, better yet, buy my twin 235s and nail that sucka so hard that the transom will never fall off ....

Tough call. Should be able to find the job for 3K somewhere and reuse the old bracket. If so inclined, he could do the job for less than 1K in materials and would still be way ahead of the game. Slight possible option to buy time would be to use something like seacast in the transom but it might NOT work or make any difference and the transom would still need to be done soon

John,
I think he wants to keep the boat. He considering doing the repair himself, but does not have experience. I suggested he does NOT do it himself. There should be someone who has seen this b4 and knows what to do.

You have posted some boat repairs in the past, got any recommendations for a shop in those areas I mentioned ????

Not really - the few poeple I know trhat have done it - they did it themselves. I'm going to do mine in a couple three years for a bracket / livewell of a 30" transom and some goodies...

I would bail and start a new... there could be other problems beyond the transom that you don't know about. If you keep it I would have the hull checked for moisture content. You could be into a bigger job then you think.

John, have you been out on your boat yet? How does it run?

Van,
If it really is a design issue he should bail. It will take a lot of time, trial and error to fix a design problem. If its just a bad transom then its his option. I can't recommend anyplace in the preferred area.

Tell him to go talk to the guys at FL Tripp and Fairhaven Shipyard

I've seen both of their works and I'd say whoever is cheaper, go with them, they both do quality work.

Van there is a fiberglass shop in east freetown corner of Bullock rd and quanapaug rd .Ask for Al he is the owner, he is busy always but he will aim you in the right direction, good guy.

JohnR if you read this Twin 235's you need help dude!!
Wanna borrow my gas card??

Thanks guys, it seems he found a yard to do the repair for about 1K. Thats real cheap. My buddy is going to supply a large aluminum plate to strengthen the transom from the inside, the guy will do the fibergalssing for him and remount the bracket through the Al plate. He should be all set.
I'll let you know who did the work and how it comes out.
Thanks again.
V.

Update,

I found out today he just got the boat back, the repair will probably run 1-1.5K. (Marshall Marine i thnk he said, ever heard of him?)
Not too bad $$, he put everything back in place, made some plywood supports and glassed them in. Put a SS L-bracket across the inside and bolted that in place. He also found that 4 of the 6 bracket bolts were loose or gone.

Now the bad news, they put it in the water and went for a test drive, structurally all is good, then the engine died and they found the stator had fried itself, seems it was badly rusted from a leaky cooling hose. (Johnson OR---I hated mine) Pour in another 500$$$ today and he should be running by this weekend.

After all this i think he is going to try to sell it. I told him to keep her now that its fixed and he knows the issues.
Plus since he knew the seller, the guy gave him 1K back. So he paid 5K for the boat and 2K for repairs. I think he is still way ahead of the game. But maybe gunshy now....

Marshall Marine, they build big dollar cat boats. I'm suprised he had it done so cheap, The guy I told you about in Freetown use to lay up their hulls. A buddy of mine Chris works there.

Just got another call, my poor buddy will never own a boat again!

While putting the stator in, the mech noticed a bad top bearing, and found corrosion, that leak that toasted the stator also was ch#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g salt water on the top of the engine through the bearing and into the power head.
Says the engine has been injesting salt water!!!!

All needs to be re-built.......hes screwed......

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