A boat with a lot of charm that has been used as a liveaboard by the previous owner. Due to sudden and sad circumstances, the client had inherited the vessel, but lacked sailing experience, so he made arrangements to have the boat delivered to the south of France.
The natural question arose: was the vessel capable of making the journey in safety from Portugal to the french coast?
The boat had no maintenance record, the current owner did not know the vessel and a professional skipper was to sail her all the way to France.
The answer could only come from an independent full condition survey.
Barcelona airport has a lot of connections and relatively cheap. This allowed to keep travel costs to a minimum and an agreement with the client was found very naturally.
The calendar for the survey was quickly arranged: the boat was to be lifted the next Friday, vessel inspected between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning and flight back to Barcelona the next day.
Upon inspection it was clear that the boat had been misattended for some time. Many items were in need of maintenance: lifelines corroded, missing anodes, some seacocks needed replacement, navigation lights malfunctioned and most importantly the propeller shaft was running loose on the P-bracket, as the cutlass bearing was worn almost completely.
The amount of wear suggested that the bearing had worn out due drive train vibrations or lack of maintenance. In either case it was no good news, as the shaft was partly unsupported and free to oscillate even more.
Vibrations often generate other problems, and upon a more detailed inspection it became apparent that the fixing of the P-bracket to the hull had also failed: not only there was play on the shaft, but the P-bracket itself was loose on the hull.
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This is a serious fault, as continuous operation with such unsupported shaft and bracket would damage the gearbox and the structure of the hull, eventually creating a potential hazard of large water ingress into the hull.
The vessel was not prepared to sail in these conditions: the P-bracket support needed urgent repair and engine and gearbox checked before navigation could proceed.
A detailed report was prepared in record time, including a full list of recommendations, and it was handed both to the client and the local yard, which looked very professional and well prepared to tackle these issues.
The scope of works was clearly detailed, bound and in particular it was defined by an independent party, which altogether made the client feel confident to authorise the yard to proceed.
The works were overseen where necessary to ensure that the recommendations were followed as specified, and the vessel could be repaired successfully and eventually made ready for a safe delivery to France.
m.rossetti@cormorantmarine.com
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Barcelona
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08860 Castelldefels
Barcelona
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09123 Cagliari
Italia
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