Buying a Hunter 31 - Crooked Keel

[jskrypek]

I was looking at a Hunter 31 that had a recent survey and it says the keel is crooked. Is this something I should be concerned with? Can it be fixed? The survey shows the boat to be in generally good condtion. It seemed a little odd to me the way it was written with nothing else damaged. Attached are commentsfrom survey,

"The vessel was designed with a deep keel, which was an option from the standard shoal keel. There were signs of past groundings and the areas had been filled with the fairing compound. The keel was slightly off center, most likely from the grounding. Since the keel was supporting most the vessels weight, there was no separation in the keel to hull joint. I would recommend the joint be inspected once the vessel is lifted fro the stands. If there were any separation I would recommend that the keel be rebounded to prevent any water penetration. The keel was secured to the vessel using stainless steel keel bolts. The keel bolts were corrosion free and appeared tight. The forward and aft bolts were connected to the vessel grounding system. There were no
signs of cracking or damage to the fiberglass around to keel bolts. If the vessel has been grounded hard, it is common to see damage around the keel bolts. There was no damage found around the bolts in this vessel."

[petegingras]

Given the assumption that you're not the last owner of this boat, do you feel comfortable that someone is going to buy/take it off your hands in the future? Also consider if you don't know why it's off center, will the next buyer be satisfied with the unknown.

Lots of boats out there, the discount on this one (my assumption) does would not entice me to outlay the money.

Keep looking, it's going to be a long winter recession.

[sailhog]

Just walk away from that boat.

[JohnRPollard]

Ditto.

If there has been a grounding serious enough to cause the keel to become "crooked", the current owner should have it fixed with an insurance claim. This is not the sort of problem a responsible owner passes off to the next one.

And would you want a boat that had experienced such damage, even if it had been fixed? Maybe, but usually at a discount.

[Brezzin]

I agree with all of the above. Here's the thing. Most if not all Hunters have a 100% lead keel, not encapsulated. During the grounding, the lead deformed. Wouldn't hurt the bolts but a noticeable dent would incur. Most people would take a hammer and do the best they can to reform the lead. It wouldn't be perfect. Putting Bondo on the keel tells me that the PO is hiding something like maybe a chunk of lead got ripped out.

[DrB]

on any production boat, if there is ANYTHING that is wrong with the integrity of the hull, rigging, or deck, I go elsewhere. Not worth the aggravation and time or cost to get repaired, no matter how inexpensive the boat is. A bent, twisted, skewed, or crooked keel is a major issue.

Run.

DrB

[sailingdog]

If it hit and grounded hard enough to need bondo on the keel to fair it... RUN.