Posted: October 18 2006 at 10:46 | IP Logged

My boat is a 460 Sea Ray.  Two years ago delamination was detected from the chine to the waterline around the entire hull.  Test holes had water running out.  The solution was to remove the outer skin, remove the balsa core, force dry the areas, reinstall a balsa core and outer skin.  Costs exceeded $30,000 and took over three months.  The cause of the delamination was not properly sealing through hull perferations.  When I contacted Sea Ray they sent me a PR 101 letter explaining that my warentee had expired, thanking me for purchasing a Sea Ray and asking me to consider Sea Ray for my future boating purchases.

Last year all railings and cockpit hatches were removed due to further delamination.  Around the railings the areas had to be reemed out and fiberglas injected.  The hatches were removed, the lower skins removed, soggy balsa core removed and dried. Balsa was again applied to the back sides and this was encapsalated with fiberglas skins.  Additional costs for these repairs were $20,000.  Same problem in manufactureing caused this problem.  The manufacturer just drills holes to mount railings, fittings etc.  Bolts, screws etc are then bedded in silicone.  As the boat ages (Out of warrentee) water enters the core and delamination occurrs.

Proper construction of cored hulls would consist of drilling the hole, removing the balsa around the hole, filling the cavity with fiberglas and then redrilling the hole through the solid fiberglas.  Then water could not enter the core and delaminate.

The

Posted: October 18 2006 at 10:51 | IP Logged

Bigboater...

Would you ever consider another Sea Ray?  We thinking of jumping ship to Formula.

Posted: October 18 2006 at 16:28 | IP Logged

My 460 is a 1987.  The first sign of delamination was a basketball sized void above the waterline in 1990.  This was taken care of by Sea Ray.  Prior to this time I had purchased 3 new Sea Rays with no problems but I had never kept one this long.  Do you suppose they only expect the hulls to last 5 years and that is why they only offer a 5 year warrentee?