Inspecting the 44' Sportfish

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:19 am

Guys I appreciate all the chat about the 44' Trojan Sportfish. I am going up next week to see her for myself. She had a out of water inspection done in Jan 08 and got good reviews except for a 2x2 soft spot on the deck and a small spot of crazing on the hull. It was in Jan so the surveyor could take no moisture readings. If we can agree on a price I am going to have another survey done but would like to be able to see as many issues during my inspection as possible as any big problems I can find may save me thousand of dollars and months looking for a boat. The boat is still on the hard but I have a whole day and the agent said he would point me to the boat and let me have at it. Tell me where the big money problems could lie especially in the hull as the engines will have to wait till an offer is accepted and she is commissioned. I am really scared of rot especially in hard to get to places. Is there a tool I could take to help me find any of this I have owned a few boats but nothing like this so any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Jerry

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:51 am

Make sure they send off both engine's oil and both transmission's fluid for analysis. Detroits are know for head cracks, so this is an expensive area. How did the owner use the boat? Did he run it hard for hours, or cruise? Looks like he might have taken some long trips (davits) more so than running hard offshore @ 5am, and back to the dock at the end of the day.

A good surveyor will help you with the rest (and send the fluids off for analysis).

jarhead · Post by **jarhead** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:41 am

Rossjo,
The previous owner was setting up the boat as a cruiser for retirement. He passed unexpectedly and the wife is pretty old so alot of info is hard to come by. I have over 250 pics and it is obvious the guy was meticulous just by the way he labeled everything. The boat has been on the hard for almost 2 years should I wait till they launch it to get those oil samples or would they be the same now also how much oil do I need. I have to fly up so I would like as much knowledge of the boat on this first trip to see if I want to precede.
Thanks,
Jerry

JuiceClark · Post by **JuiceClark** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:31 pm

I'd rather deal with rot than a cracked 671 head anyday. The best tool for coring rot, IMHO, is a coin! (besides all us tools who've had to fix it before) I know it sounds imprecise, but if you tap all over the cored area and one area sounds much different than the rest, you can pretty much guarantee there's water intrusion in that spot. If so, you cut it out, glass in some new coring material, glass the old skin back on and paint it with non-skid. Not too bad right?

On my boat, I had one soft spot on the foredeck. When I cut it open, it was dry and white as snow. It was if the balsa became too dry and old. I took a long syringe and sqirted resin into the bone dry balsa all around that area and it's now hard as a damned rock.

The big money stuff is always the concern and the surveyor will go to town on that...he'd better anyway. Wiring (especially grounding) is my pet peeve. But the fuel system, plumbing, A/C, engines, etc. etc. etc. are the financial bummers.

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:24 pm

Tony is right - the surveyor will do the oil tests (and has a place set up to send them). Ask him what he does before you hire him or waste a rip there. Make sure he test both the oil and trans fluids on each engine.

You'll need to get her in the water (the owner will have to do this for anyone who is interested, so don't offer to pay for that) for a sea trial (you'll pay your surveyor to be on board), and make sure there are no vibrations, and the engines run well, temps are good, oil pressure strong (sould be changed after 2 years before you go out). I will say that 2 years on the hll SHOULD require draining and refilling the fuel tanks and fuel systems ...

If the engines seems OK, its probably OK. If the engine is suspect, a good machine shop can pull the tops off the engine and do a portable magnetic particle intrusion (MPI) test, commonly know as Magnaflux. Another alternative is fluorescent penetrant testing suing a field use test system like "Spot-Check". This will reveal any cracking ... but will requie some work at your expense.