Hello. I'm looking at buying a Catalina 34, I found one that looked good and came to an agreement with the seller on the price, so I had a survey done a couple days ago. Unfortunately, the survey turned up what appears to be fairly serious moisture in the deck. On both sides of the cabin from around the forward end of the jib track and extending forward 13 ft, with a width of about 1 ft, the moisture meter was pretty much pegged. The soundings were good though. The bolts on either side of each chainplate were sunk into the deck slightly. Not enough that I would have noticed but both the surveyor and the broker who is handling the sale said that it indicated perhaps the core was rotten right around the chainplates (I think this was on just one side of the boat but I'm not sure).
Additionally, on the starboard side a bit forward of that 13 sq ft area of high moisture readings there was another area of about 1.5-2 ft square where the soundings did indicate delamination.
We are having a boatyard that both the seller and I have used send someone to look at the boat and provide an estimate to fix things up. I'll know more (hopefully) when I get that and the full survey report in the next few days but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone else had encountered a similar situation and if so, what you did about it. Is it realistic (or wise) to hope that only the area that clearly displayed evidence of delamitation as well as the areas around the chainplates would need to be replaced? Or is it likely (given the admittedly incomplete information I have now) that the entire 13 sq ft on both sides of the cabin will need to be replaced as well?
The broker has told me that the seller is willing to renegotiate the price in light of this issue so obviously that will be pretty critical, but if anyone has any thoughts or advice I'd appreciate it.
Additionally, on the starboard side a bit forward of that 13 sq ft area of high moisture readings there was another area of about 1.5-2 ft square where the soundings did indicate delamination.
We are having a boatyard that both the seller and I have used send someone to look at the boat and provide an estimate to fix things up. I'll know more (hopefully) when I get that and the full survey report in the next few days but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone else had encountered a similar situation and if so, what you did about it. Is it realistic (or wise) to hope that only the area that clearly displayed evidence of delamitation as well as the areas around the chainplates would need to be replaced? Or is it likely (given the admittedly incomplete information I have now) that the entire 13 sq ft on both sides of the cabin will need to be replaced as well?
The broker has told me that the seller is willing to renegotiate the price in light of this issue so obviously that will be pretty critical, but if anyone has any thoughts or advice I'd appreciate it.
