Walk away or wait for sea trial?

[Pattiann27]

Found our 2006 Mainship 34 w/twin Yanmar 220/4 cyl’s. Viewed boat with owner, Broker was out of town. He has had her for 8 years and he admits to not being mechanically inclined, so has had any necessary work done by others.
Boat needs TLC which does not bother us. Low hours 850.
Put down payment on her and was scheduled to travel to her for sea trial this week. Call from Broker last night explaining sea trial has been cancelled due to fact that Owner took her out because such a nice day and “Turbo exhaust hose blew, causing Haylon Fire Supression System to go off...”
SHOULD WE WALK AWAY? Should we wait for sea trial/ survey to make that decision...? All comments welcome!
Patti & Russ

 

[Tingum]

Why walk? If you are interested in the boat wait till survey and sea trial. However taking the boat out when you had a sea trial scheduled is a dumb move.

 

[Comodave]

Have them fix the boat before your sea trial. This isn’t a major problem, could have happened right after you bought the boat.

 

[Pattiann27]

Yes, I agree.
Dumb move by him, but in the big picture, they will be professionally cleaning the engine compartment...

 

[Art]

I'd ask broker and owner how long repairs are expected to take and who [name and phone] is doing the repairs. Then I'd call the repair center and speak with owner or actual lead person/tech doing/overseeing repair and clean up. That would determine for me if I wanted to leave my DP in place or ask for return. If you do get returned DP.... you could always start all over again if desired. Never know, you may locate a boat you'd rather have in time span that occurs before repairs are completed.

 

[High Wire]

Halon leaves no residue. Depending where the leak is there may be seawater spray.
Let them fix it.
Do you have a surveyor?

 

[Donna]

I’m a bit more skeptical than you guys. I don’t really think someone would take a boat out because it was a nice day if it were under contract. I do agree it’s not that big a deal if it is professionally repaired. However, I would continue to look.

 

[Pattiann27]

We have a Surveyor. We will defiantly speak to mechanic that does repair and get a time frame of completed work and their take on Big picture

 

[ghost]

Exhaust hoses “blow” typically because of hot spots caused by plugged shower heads. The water injection elbow is likely clogged. Common.

Or the impeller burnt up, heat exchanger clogged or not as far fetched as it sounds, all of the above. Cooling systems often get ignored, and are best renewed as a system, not as individual pieces.

But an exhaust hose blowing just because it’s old and everything else is fine, well that’s not so common.

 

[Arc]

I would want to know the facts first. generally exhaust hoses don’t fall off or blow out
Did the engine overheat and blow the hose?
How long did he run with blown hose, seawater could be everywhere

 

[Art]

I’m a bit more skeptical than you guys. I don’t really think someone would take a boat out because it was a nice day if it were under contract. I do agree it’s not that big a deal if it is professionally repaired. However, I would continue to look.

That my friends, is... point-on female intuition! Always good to listen to and often good to follow!!

 

[ghost]

Usually soot is the pain in the A factor when this happens. That can be a bear to clean up and it can stink for awhile until it decides to finally finish offgassing.

I happen to believe that a complete front to back zeroing out of the cooling system is mandatory for any new to me boat purchase. So in my mind, I’d have the seller do exactly that to this engine and the other one if this is twins. I might start the mechanical survey now, reaffirm that the engines have had essentially zero preventative maintenance in 12years, but hopefully oil changes have been done and with some evidence of that. Then I would appropriately accost the seller for having a boat with significant deferred maintenance and discount around 40% of engine replacements due to the deferred maintenance. Seller might go for it, because he absolutely knows and worries about exactly that, because that’s why he took the first test drive in a long time before you got there in the first place. He is at an emotional weak point, and I’d happily respond with an offer equal to the condition that he worries may exist. Removes most of the risk and as a buyer I don’t take risk if I can help it. If I didn’t have a good idea of overall condition, that’s when I would walk, everything else can be adjusted for except risk. Accept little of that.

 

[geoleo]

I’m a bit more skeptical than you guys. I don’t really think someone would take a boat out because it was a nice day if it were under contract. I do agree it’s not that big a deal if it is professionally repaired. However, I would continue to look.

Probably took another prospect out.

 

[ksanders]

OK, first off taking the boat by the owner was a good idea on his part.

He may not have run the boat for a while, and wanted to make sure it ran good for the sea trial. That is a VERY plasuable explanation.

Second, “turbo exhaust hose blew causing haylon to go off”

I think most likely he is talking about the high pressure side of the turbo, going to the intake system, or aftercooler depending on the engine.

I personally had one of those blow, and it scared the crap outta me. Just running along and BOOM!

I suppose it could have if the heat sensor on the haylon system was directly adjacent, caused the haylon to discharge. Actually it’s probably not haylon anyway. There are a couple newer gasses used for this as Haylon is a ozone depletor.

In my boats case it was simply a broken hose clamp. I put a new one on from my handy dandy spares kit and was good to go.

So...

No i would not walk away. I would find out exactly what happened, and what was done to mitigate the problem, and be thankful it did nt happen the day AFTER you bought the boat.

 

[markpierce]

Just think. This happened before you bought the boat. Count your blessings. After repairs, have the boat reinspected and then decide.

Regardless, glad my boat does not have a turbo.

Seems like new boats require turbos to meet pollution requirements.

 

[FF]

"In my boats case it was simply a broken hose clamp. I put a new one on from my handy dandy spares kit and was good to go."


Common on trucks,


Perhaps it happened before and the un handy owners hose clamp was not the proper style to use on a silicone hi temp hose?

 

[Cigatoo]

No need to walk away. However pay special attention to the turbo’s. The Mainships with the small Yanmar’s (nice engines by the way) are known to have salt water damage due to the lack of a proper exhaust elbow / riser. An exhaust elbow clogged with rust because of salt water could be a culprit to issue at hand. The factory elbows rust quickly. Can be replaced with a nice stainless steel version found on eBay..... If the rise above the static waterline is correct. Those turbo’s are about 2.5 thousand each, plus labor, plus correcting the exhaust. Repairs could easily approach and exceed $10K. However Those engines are great when setup correctly.

 

[sunchaser]

I would want to know the facts first. generally exhaust hoses don’t fall off or blow out
Did the engine overheat and blow the hose?
How long did he run with blown hose, seawater could be everywhere

+1

 

[Seevee]

Patti,

I responded to you on the Mainship forum, but repeating here for the benefit of others that may be able to make some comments to help you..... Good luck.\

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Patti & Russ,

I would not walk, but personally I’d not be over excited about this boat. NOTHING to do with the maintenance. It has ALL to do with the seller’s motivation. If he takes it out because it’s a nice day and cancels a sea trial appointment with a buyer who has put a deposit down, he is CLEARLY NOT MOTIVATED.

When I buy a boat, I want a seller that has to choose between feeding his kids and making his boat payment….. seriously, I want “some” motivation. Good motivation reasons: guy has bought the replacement boat and is paying to store the one for sale. Winter is coming and guy wants it gone before winter storage. Guy is divorcing and the boat is his baby, but if he keeps it, she gets half. Guy is moving to be with his family, new wife, kids or whatever and the boat can’t come. Bad reasons, but still motivated: Guy is broke and can’t afford it (so he’s probably skipped on maintenance in the past). Guy has ran it aground and hit too many docks, and just can’t operate it so want’s out. Guy has used it for a weekend getaway and never took it out of the slip.

BUT this still could be a good deal…. depending. Perhaps the guy has no clue of market value and the broker has not given him good advise, or perhaps, things change dramatically in a few months and he changes to a motivated seller.

I’ve seen all of the above happen.

So, it all depends…. carry on, with caution.

 

[SoWhat]

"In my boats case it was simply a broken hose clamp. I put a new one on from my handy dandy spares kit and was good to go."
Perhaps it happened before and the un handy owners hose clamp was not the proper style to use on a silicone hi temp hose?

PO had all maintenance done by yard. Checking hoses, clamps, and elbows should be routine. Engine only had 800 hours. Makes one wonder what other maintenance wasn't performed properly.

 

[Ski in NC]

If there was an exhaust leak AND halon went off, it was not a minor leak. Not uncommon for Yanmar turbo outlet (exhaust side) to break at v-band clamp and then you have a massive exhaust leak.

The heat and soot can really trash the engine room and components. Be very careful before buying this boat. Get a good surveyor and/or engine guy to go over that engine room very carefully.

 

[sunchaser]

Engine only had 800 hours. .

Marine age counts more than engine hours for externals like hoses, clamps, HXers, exhaust elbows etc. A 2006 is an old boat, a 2016 with same hours could be considered a relatively new boat.

Like Ski and others have said, be very careful.

 

[Pattiann27]

Sea Trial, Short Haul and Survey

Hi Everyone!
Thank you for all of your posts!
Had the Short haul at C & D Marine Services Copiague, NY.
They have been doing all the maintenance on the boat for the last 7+ years.
TERRIFIC OUTFIT! I can’t say enough about them. Indeed it was a snapped hose clamp that caused the issue, and due to it’s close proximity to the fire suppression system sensor, Haylon was deployed. The engine compartment was cleaned and in better shape than at our first viewing of the boat. They treated us like family.

Met the Owner and the Surveyor, JIM DIAS of Connecticut on Friday morning.
Happily the Broker was busy and did not attend!
Jim was just Top Notch! He was very thorough, direct, and very good at sharing his vast knowledge. His agility moving through and around the boat was amazing. IF YOU NEED A GREAT SURVEYOR IN CT, NY, RI,MA,NH,ME. HE IS YOUR GUY!

Sea trial occurred Saturday due to remnants of Hurricane Michael blowing through Friday. The boat performed really well and Jim Dias was all smiles after emerging from the engine compartment. A short list of a few suggested improvements was discussed, but the consensus was that we will proceed with the purchase pending the oil sample study.

I can’t wait to get her cleaned, shiny and to add a well needed Woman’s Touch to make her our own.

Thanks to All!
We will keep you informed, your input is greatly appreciated
Patti & Russ

 

[South of Heaven]

Congrats Patty! The Mainship 34 is on my list of possible new boats. Very nice rigs.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr./Ms. P27. We also used Jim for TWO of our surveys. As you noted, top notch guy. First boat he did for us failed miserably and second was the one we bought. We flew him into FL to do the second because we were SO impressed with his knowledge and manner. WELL worth both the survey fee and the cost of the flight.
HIGHLY recommended!!!