I have a 1996 420 aft cabin for...

[LarryFreedman]

I have a 1996 420 aft cabin for which a surveyor has said that my entire hull is now "soft", i.e., it is saturated with water.  He also said this is a known problem with surveyors that Sea Ray cut corners during the manufacturing process in the 90s.  The boatyard manager has said the only fix for this is to strip the entire hull and essentially rebuild it, which will cost more than the boat is worth.  I'm interested in anyone's thoughts on this.  Thanks.

[greatscott]

your f==ked i know others w the same thing years ago searay took it back to there plant and fixed it. if u r the o e owner give them a call have your serial # ready

[LarryFreedman]

who/where do you suggest I call? The Sea Ray dealer who sold me the boat said he couldn't help me.

[greatscott]

you need to call searay ? how long have u owned the boat > did u just by it from a used boat dlr ?

[LarryFreedman]

i bought it from a sea ray dealer in 2004. they said the hull was good. they lied. i've communicated with sea ray by letter and been told they can't help me either. but i've heard that they've fixed some boats, so i'm thinking i'm not talking to the right person at Sea Ray.

[greatscott]

CALL searay customer relations write every thing down and get person name your talking to also you can look on a web sight THE HULL TRUTH its a foriam

[LarryFreedman]

thanks, i'll try that.

[Scott18]

Sea Ray like many manufacturers did use balsa coring in hulls and decks, that is not necessarily cutting corners, as it is a viable method of construction and still used today.

If the core stays dry, its a light weigh, less expensive construction method. The key is to keep the core dry. That means rebedding any protrusions through that core material on occasion, and seeing as your boat is over 20 years old, it is way past due.

Its also possible that in 2004 there was little or no moisture, so its possible the dealer didn't lie. Did you get an independent survey at that time?

Now onto what to do today? Why did you get the survey, was it related to a sale of the boat or was this a requirement by your insurance company?

Not all surveys are the same quality. I would always get a second opinion especially if you are hearing this from a potential buyers survey. When I sold my last boat the first survey turned up "HUGE" amounts of moisture in the hull and deck, the largest amounts funnily enough were in areas with no core. My suspicion was the buyer was looking for an out and asked the surveyor to find something wrong fast so he could use that as an excuse, the surveyor was on site for less than 10 minutes.

Good luck, hopefully this was just a false alarm, but the reality is that you most likely have some moisture, I would venture a guess that more than half the boats over 10 years old have some moisture and 99% over 20 years old have some moisture.

[greatscott]

I have seen firsthand with my own eyes when these boats are taken out of the water how the sides are bubbled out but you’re right about the betting that’s where all the problems stem from