SURVEYOR SAYS

This radical ‘potting shed’ design produced great seakeeping, remarkable performance and fantastic accommodation ranging from 25ft upwards, so their popularity remains unsurprising.

The hulls are well built and tough and I have never found a ‘wet’ or cracked underwater section in the dozens I have surveyed, but defects that tend to crop up on survey are:

Gel-coat stress cracking around the sunken deck areas (aka ring deck) which can flex under the sheer weight of the superstructure moulding which sits inside of and is attached to the ring deck. The forward deck toilet pod is also prone to this flex cracking.

Stress cracking is always a contentious issue in so far as a fine line exists between structural and cosmetic cracking, but I try to be guided by the extent and age of the cracks. In any event, any gel-coat cracks should be repaired and if practicable, the host GRP reinforced.

All of the deck/superstructure joint sealing (Sikaflex polyurethane product or similar) should be assessed as this can fail and lead to weather leakage, particularly over the after cabin berths which is obviously a nuisance.

The Volvo outdrives should be subject to the usual checks, particularly the condition of the propellers and anodes which in my experience, seem to suffer unduly on these models. Although electrolysis can be an issue on any boat, in my opinion, extra system checks are merited here.

Finally, be wary of the anchor which is normally stowed loosely in the bow locker as these can cause hull damage in bouncy seas – the very stuff that these little hulls excel in!