Todd R
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2016
- Messages
- 195
- Location
- Wrightsville Beach, NC
- Vessel Name
- Time & Tide
- Vessel Make
- 2005 34T Mainship
Everybody loves a good or bad story about trying to buy a boat. Especially when they are not involved. My wife and I have been searching for a new boat since we sold our Island Packet two years ago. We (and by that I mean “I”) may be a bit picky. We narrowed the search down to something like a 36’ Sabreline double cabin (notice how I avoided calling it a “fast” trawler). We also looked at the 36’ Prairie and 37’ Atlantic as well as a Mainship 350/390. The Prairie had the best layout but the ones we looked at were more of a project than I wanted to get into. The Mainships are abundant so of course we focused on the Sabreline. We seemed to always show up on the day they went under contract. Which brings me to Saturday August 20th. We decided to go for a Mainship 350/390. We had already seen them and knew all about the various design flaws (search swim platform issues) and subsequent repairs/fixes needed to make them work. We chose one about 5 hours from our house and took the check book with us. I asked the broker about the Yanmar engine and if it had the valves done (search Yanmar 6LP-STE Valve problems). He assured me it had been done and said you’ll be amazed and impressed at the work done on this engine. Hmmm, I guess that should have been my first clue. Once we got there and started to look over the boat, I noticed several soft spots as well as lifted areas of the deck. Not quite a deal breaker but given there are 50 of these boats for sale it would have been nice to know beforehand. The engine room was spotless and a few systems were fairly new (AC compressor, battery charger, batteries, fresh water pumps, etc.). Hmmm Clue #2. While looking under the guest berth and looking far forward I noticed a scum line. This area is about a foot above the engine compartment. OK, so now I have a direct question for the broker. Has this boat been under water? Well, he says, not exactly. The owners were away for a year traveling Europe and stored the boat on the hard. When they returned there were “pockets” of standing water that they observed. So just to be safe, they removed the engine and had it rebuilt along with performing the necessary “valve job”. And while they were at it they had the transmission replaced as well as a few other items. Most people would have walked/run at this point but nooo, not me. I decide to use this newfound knowledge to my advantage in the offering price. But before that could take place I decided to poke around a bit more. While looking under the stairs leading to the forward cabins, I noticed a small bilge area with a similar tell-tale scum line and severely corroded bilge pump. Immediately next to the pump I noticed at the turn of the hull to keel, a six inch long crack weeping water from the outside. Okay, time for me to run. I’m no longer interested in this boat. I didn’t expect the broker to know about this crack, but since the decks were obvious (several attempted repairs) and the engine room had clearly been under water (sunken while on land), a little heads-up would have been nice. To add insult to injury; three hours into our trip home, a 19 year old girl decided she needed to drive across a five lane road without ever looking in our direction. A mild concussion for my wife (5 airbags deployed), and a totaled car, we are now going car shopping. Life is still good!