Buyer beware

Animal · 02 June 2012, 00:45

Any advice?!

I have recently bought a very expensive rib and had possession of it approximately 15 minutes when it's engine had a catastrophic failure resulting in needing to be replaced at huge costs.
Do I have any comeback as this boat is not fit for purpose and was sold as 100% perfect and ready for use?

Thankyou

Hightower · 02 June 2012, 01:23

As I understand it, if it were a private sale it was probably "Sold as seen" and only course of action would be to come to mutual agreement with the seller or take him/her to court.

If it were a dealer then there is more chance of getting your money back or engine replaced/repaired, but be prepared for a lengthy battle if they don't want to play ball. Was a credit card involved?

Got any more info for those of us in the "know"?

clydeoutboards · 02 June 2012, 05:48

if it was not a described then yes. what engine did it have (as many details as you can please) and when can we look at it?

Dave

matt h · 02 June 2012, 07:06

not sure if Sold as seen stands anymore even in Private sale as has to be fit for purpose! worth digging a bit more..

Animal · 02 June 2012, 09:25

The rib was a twin engined 10m boat with Yanmar 6lp engines that had just been checked and rebuilt. I eas advised that despite being rebuilt they carry no warranty.

thomas · 02 June 2012, 09:51

Did you have them surveyed?

Animal · 02 June 2012, 09:56

No survey because I was told survey would not cover the engines

Hightower · 02 June 2012, 11:03

So was this a private sale or a dealer??

Hightower · 02 June 2012, 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt h

not sure if Sold as seen stands anymore even in Private sale as has to be fit for purpose! worth digging a bit more..

If you had a Sea trial and everything worked as it should do and you bought the boat "Sold as Seen" you would have to prove that the seller knew the fault was there before hand, a very difficult thing to do in my opinion and would certainly involve some sort of court action.

I had a Polish guy buy a Vauxhall Carlton off me years ago, he turned up at my doorstep 2 weeks later and demanded his money back because he said the engine blew up. Obviously I was sympathetic, but when I checked the milage there was another 7000 miles on it

, he'd obviously had used it as a taxi service between the UK and poland (he'd even left the GB sticker on the back). Luckily I had writen the milage down on the recipt he was clutching along with "Sold as Seen". He got a bit upset, so I told him I'd see him in court

Did't hear from him again

thomas · 02 June 2012, 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animal

No survey because I was told survey would not cover the engines

I never had a survey on my boat but did get an engineer to check the engine over.

What has actually failed? I had a kad32 let go once and had plumes of smoke/steam pouring from the engine bay but it turned out to be a very simple fault and cheap to fix, Yanmar have a very solid reputation so you may fine all is not lost.

andymr · 02 June 2012, 20:13

Animal...you have mentioned that you have brought a 10m Rib with Yanmar engines what is the make of the Rib???
I know we have spoken many times before with your Animal Rib, so if there is anything I can help you with call me, you have my number.
Andy

Animal · 02 June 2012, 20:42

Thanks Andy.

It is a scorpion rib. I still have the Bwm rib also.

I got a letter with the boat stating that the engines were in perfect working order and had been just overhauled by a very reputable marine engineering company.

Animal · 02 June 2012, 20:50

A Conrod has snapped and went through the sump, sandwich plate, block and even the raw water pump. It has pushed a valve into the rocker cover also and broke a rocker of the camshaft. A lot of damage. The remainder of the Conrod seat has a lot of blueing from being very hot. The bolt holding the oil spray jet from the same cylinder was in the sump.

Nos4r2 · 03 June 2012, 02:32

Conrod seat? Do you mean the big end bearing?

How many hours/minutes post-rebuild did the damage occur?

Animal · 03 June 2012, 07:40

It was run about 4-5 hours before the problem happened. This was what I was told as I had only taken delivery when it failed. It was the inside o the big end of the actual Conrod that was blued heavily.

Bigmuz7 · 03 June 2012, 09:44

So its a lack of oil then, you'd have expected to hear some noise from that cylinder, because usually the shells would have disintegrated first, if it had run that hot,.......plus you then get a drop in power as this happens. When the rod snapped the valve hit the loose piston presumably.