Poor hull contruction quality on FW Vista 328

[bas001]

Hello All

I am an Australian owner of 2004 Vista 328.

I have experienced significant hull decay from the engine room bulk head back down the centre line stringer and eventually into the transom.

A leak in the starboard side sterndrive "area" was the first symptom of this "cancer".

Has anyone else suffered similar problems ???

The damage seems to have begun at the join between the floor, starboard stringer and the engine room bulk head. With freshwater ingression from water below the automatic float bilge system trigger point. This is apparent due to the appalling lay up of glass malting to the sub state which in no way made the proof seal, allowing the internal structure of the vessel to absorb water.

Four Winns don't seem to have any interest in my vessel's problem so I was interested if anyone else has had similar problems.

If you own a circa 2004 Vista 328 or for that matter any FW Vista boat and haven't noticed problems, can I suggest getting a moisture test done on the stringers, transom and engine room bulk head immediately. As in my case he only trigger to find this was a leak from the starboard side sterndrive "area" - if I had gone out in heavy seas that day it would have sunk with my young family !!

I have photo's if anyone is interested.

Cheers
Brett Smith.

 

[Chris]

Welcome aboard Brett - nice to have you with us.

Did the water get into the core as well?

The stringers etc. are usually supposed to be glassed in and covered with resin to keep them as dry as possible. And when they're not, the usual result is premature rot.

What was the original hull warranty on yours?

You can upload some pics to our gallery if you like and then post them here on the forums if you like.

-Chris

 

[Fun Times]

Sorry to here you are having some problems with four winns boats like that. Are you the same owener from new? Did you call four winns or did you write to them, And what did they say to you as to why it would happen and there was noting they could do to help you out. And did they talk about the warranty time of the boat? Just curious on what it looks like if you could get the time to post the photos.

 

[bas001]

Thanks for the responses.

I have emailed FW directly they basically said the Warranty was 5 years that expired in January this year. Also as I am not the original owner they "will not be participating in this claim"

The damage is quite unbelievable and yes it is in the core that must not have been sealed.

From the investigation so far, we have taken both stern drives off and both motors out it looks like the rot started at the engine room bulkhead in front of the motors. The boat always has fresh water in the bilge (under the float switch level) and I this this has basically been soaked up by the bulkhead then spread backwards through the stringers into the transom where it was discovered.

This would have taken years !!!

I will try and work out how to load photo's.


Cheers
Brett

 

[bas001]

Hello All

Had some trouble uploading photo they seem to be too big, not sure how to make them smaller !!!

I have uploading into photobucket if you would like a look.

http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/bas407/Four Winns Vista 328/

Cheers Brett.

 

[Chris]

Well normally the actual coring is made of something like Balsa or some kind of wood or composite. And the core has to be water tight so that no water penetrates it. Because if it does and it's wood, especially balsa, it will rot very quickly and also become heavy. And much of the hull strength depends on the core being in good shape.

The rest of the stringers transom etc. are usually built of marine plywood or composites and in the case of wood they normally cover and encapsulate that wood in glass and resin as well, also to prevent rot.

The reality is that many boats have water in the bilge areas for long lengths of time and the manufacturers know that. Yes, in a perfect world, we'd all prefer to keep our boats bone dry 24/7 but it's simply not realistic.

What is always a good idea is to keep the nose somewhat elevated and the plug out during the off season. That way any water that does get into it, will hopefully just flow out, keeping your boat as dry as possible.

Anyways, that sucks!

For uploading pics, you just have to resize them down a bit and you can then upload them to the gallery into the Four Winns section.

Usually resizing them to something like 800 pixels wide does the trick. Let me know if you need more help on that.

-Chris

 

[bas001]

Yes you hit the nail on the head.... This boat unfortunately never spends anytime out of the water (except annual service and antifouls etc - 2 days at the most) I am sure a season out each year would retard the spread.

Water temperature here only gets down to about 70 fahrenheit in the middle of winter (right know) so I am really missing being on the water at the moment.

I think its just plain average glassing the has allowed the fresh to seep it, just didn't think it something that could happen.

Cheers
Brett.

 

[Fun Times]

WOW that is pretty bad, I would have never thought that would have happen to that boat also, And so soon to WOW. Well as much as I disagree with four winns or any other manufacturer that dose not like to give any kind of warranty to the second owener of the boat, And also back out when it is only 6 months out with damage that you can tell has been happing for a lot longer then that, It just dose not seem right at all to me. But that is what they have writen in there warranty books so they can get away with it. But now that the times are harder and they are not making the money and laying a ton of workers off and going B/K and all, I can tell you the guys that work in the warranty department would normaly want to try to help out in some way if they could, But now with the hard times they are being watched on what they are spending on warranty and can't do what they used to do. Is a four winns dealer repairing the boat or some one eles? And not that it can or will help, But did you send the photos to four winns for them to see them.

 

[bas001]

yep boat tech,

Sent pictures, mechanics reports and mu own view. Even sent the photo that clearly shows no seal to engine room bulk head.... I have had two good discussions with lawyers today that think there is a clear case to answer.

Just deciding whether to throw more money at it or go down legal side. ??

Thanks
Brett

 

[Fun Times]

yep boat tech,

Sent pictures, mechanics reports and mu own view. Even sent the photo that clearly shows no seal to engine room bulk head.... I have had two good discussions with lawyers today that think there is a clear case to answer.

Just deciding whether to throw more money at it or go down legal side. ??

Thanks
Brett

I would not blame you for wanting to look in to it. There warranty book is pretty detailed on all of this from what little I have read of it. I know if times where better I do think they would try to help you out in some way with you. Well good luck to you on any way you go with it and I hope you have better day's ahead of you on all of this.

 

[bas001]

Though I would give you a further update.

Have now followed the stringer forward and yes the rot goes foward down the stringer under the aft cabin. Unbelievable....

I think its going to be a write off at 5 years old.......

 

[Chris]

It's a fixable problem, it's just a question of how much it will cost to fix and whether it's worth it.

-Chris

 

[bas001]

Yes Chris, you are right it can be fixed but I don't know whether I can afford it !

3 weeks ago I had a boat worth $150k in a fire sale now I have a boat that need an insane amount of money spent on and worth a lot less because it will never look the same.

And a manufacturer that built it wrong at the start that does seem to care at all.

 

[Chris]

Yes Chris, you are right it can be fixed but I don't know whether I can afford it !

3 weeks ago I had a boat worth $150k in a fire sale now I have a boat that need an insane amount of money spent on and worth a lot less because it will never look the same.

And a manufacturer that built it wrong at the start that does seem to care at all.

I agree brotha.

On smaller boats, you typically have to remove the floor to do the stringers. So the seats etc. have to come out. To do the transom, you sometimes have to split the deck from the hull to get access to the transom area.

Your boat is much larger, so I guess one important factor would be related to how easy it is to gain access to that area to replace the stringers etc.

-Chris