Hi all, I'm considering purchasing a 1998 Passage 450 for cruising Southeast Asia. There's tons I love about the boat, but my research has raised some frightening potential issues with the keels on these boats. I am trying to determine whether these are one off anomalies that have been amplified on the web, or whether they are serious concerns for my intended use.
1) Problems with foam-filled keel void leading to rotten foam and the potential to rust the keel bolts. It is my understanding that this does not require a hard grounding to occur but can be caused by normal use where the motion of the boat leads to a "keel smile" that allows water to penetrate. Perhaps repeated soft groundings can speed the problem. The fix requires dropping the keel, scooping out the foam and filling the void with epoxy - a major undertaking to say the least.
How common is this?
2) Structural compromise of the internal grid. The Youtubers For Love of Wind document this on their 450. It appears their boat must have suffered a hard grounding, but the problem seems to stem from Hunter having gel coated the grid before fiberglassing it into the boat. Since they didn't remove the gelcoat the polyester resin Hunter used couldn't achieve a chemical bond resulting in a weak link.
I'm not planning on a hard grounding, but where I'm going charts are notoriously inaccurate. The reason I like Hunter over Beneteau is that Beneteau glues their grid in instead of fiberglassing it, but this, if common, might negate that advantage.
I would love to hear comments from those with actual experience with these boats. I assume a good survey could tell me whether the boat I'm considering already has either of these issues, but I want the boat to last me through my retirement.
1) Problems with foam-filled keel void leading to rotten foam and the potential to rust the keel bolts. It is my understanding that this does not require a hard grounding to occur but can be caused by normal use where the motion of the boat leads to a "keel smile" that allows water to penetrate. Perhaps repeated soft groundings can speed the problem. The fix requires dropping the keel, scooping out the foam and filling the void with epoxy - a major undertaking to say the least.
How common is this?
2) Structural compromise of the internal grid. The Youtubers For Love of Wind document this on their 450. It appears their boat must have suffered a hard grounding, but the problem seems to stem from Hunter having gel coated the grid before fiberglassing it into the boat. Since they didn't remove the gelcoat the polyester resin Hunter used couldn't achieve a chemical bond resulting in a weak link.
I'm not planning on a hard grounding, but where I'm going charts are notoriously inaccurate. The reason I like Hunter over Beneteau is that Beneteau glues their grid in instead of fiberglassing it, but this, if common, might negate that advantage.
I would love to hear comments from those with actual experience with these boats. I assume a good survey could tell me whether the boat I'm considering already has either of these issues, but I want the boat to last me through my retirement.
