Tartan37.com

To share the info and/or spot patterns, list any major failures you've had that maybe you've wondered if other folks have gone through.

#299
- (23 yrs) Set pins in the shaft coupling ate away at the holes until the shaft slipped right out of the coupling. The zinc is the only thing the prevented the whole thing from slipping out of the stuffing box and into the harbor. New shaft from Tartan... $200. Jury-rig that kept us sailing for the 6 weeks while waiting for the new shaft... priceless.

- (20 yrs) port foredecks hairline cracks gathered until there was a soft spot. Had 1/4 of the deck redone.

- (20 yrs) cockpit deck blisters/cracks about a foot aft of the companionway.

The engine oil pressure sensor ruptured on my Westerbeke 4-108 at around 1800 hours. The alarm sounded before any damaged occured but oil went everywhere in the engine compartment. The repair manual said that these sensors need to be remotely located via high pressure hosing. Mine was directly off of a manifold. Bummer

Aft lower chain plate broke off at the deck.It appears that the stainless fractures when the plate is shaped.Saltwater did the rest.It did take 23 years though.I don't know if this is common, you can't see it rust from above or below.It does make a big bang when it breaks.

Regarding problems that may be recurrent among other boats.....

1) I, too, have hairline cracks on the foredeck with no apparent cause. Also a delamination from the core slightly to starboard. To prevent water intrusion, I have liberally applied Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure.....Like Nancy Reagan said, "Just say NO to crack".

2) In the cockpit I also have air voids under the gelcoat (in the skin coat). They are in places one would least expect given that they should have been rolled out as they were easily accessible. As they are at turns in the mold, I can only suspect that they laid up the glass with two overlapping layers, creating a too-hot reaction and, hence, a bubble formed. These voids also occur in some places where the deck and cabin come together. The solution is some light grinding, wiping with acetone, filling with resin putty and putting some gelcoat on. We'll see how closely we can match the color.

Which aft chainplate is the one that failed; port or starboard?

Falco

VANORA #198

portside.

28 yrs - Water got from the bilge down a keel bolt. Only causes damage if you freeze like us I guess, but boy that's a pricey failure.

OK, I've got one for the books, my prop shaft sheared/failed between the stuffing box and the Republic Flexible coupling on the transmission. There is only maybe 6" between the 2. Luckly we were in the slip when it let go and I was able to get a vise grip on the stub sticking out of the stuffing box to keep the shaft in the boat. Any ideas out there on why this may have happened.

Wow!
Looks like you dodged a bullet! The one culprit could be crevice corrosion?? How long have you had the boat? Maybe the prop hit something while under way and it torqued the shaft a bit and then years later, the crevice corrosion took hold.

Fuel tank. Rotted out in the lower forward corner. This corner is the lowest part of the tank and contains the pickup tube. If water leaks into this area from a leak up on deck it collects at this corner of the tank. If the water is over about 1" deep it will contact the tank. This is for a Florida Marine Tanks part # FMT-53-TM. New tank= $606, 3 inspection ports $150, shipping cross country ~ $200. The up side is I'm running out of things to replace.

-Jim

This may be stating the obvious but the rudder pintle failed. The large pin that engages the rudder broke loose from the bar that is bolted to the boat because of corrosion. Also when removing the pintle I found that one of the bolts that holds the bar on to the boat was not attached to the bar by the weld.