Hullside Delamination,Wet Stringer

I am amazed that Grady offered $3K to help you. I think it is unreasonable to expect a boat builder to be responsible for a 20 year-old hull. Just my $.02

You need to get clarification on exactly what is meant by the "XL plywood is covered by a limited lifetime warranty" statement that's in the brochure. I believe that warranty is solely against rot and covers only the cost of the wood replacement. If so, they legally aren't on the hook for making the repairs.

I think you're going to find that they $3K they offered is way more than they have to.

Did you have the boat surveyed before you bought it?

I’m having a hard time processing that you bought a boat used, it’s 20 years old and after finding an issue the manufacturer is willing to grace you $3,000 towards its repair.
Who does that? Try buying a used car or anything else for that matter 20 years down the road and getting the manufacturer to fix it. They’d think you were nuts.
There’s a thing called buyer beware. When you buy anything used you do your homework, hire a surveyor and take your best shot. It’s still a crap shoot. Most times you do ok but sometimes the law of averages catches up with you.
If anything the surveyor may be able to reemburse you for his fee if he missed something blatant.
If the offer from Grady still stands I’d gratefully accept it and hunt for a repair shop that will give good work at a good price without taking a year and a day.

I'm with the others. Buying a 20 year hull has more risk. Hope you had a survey completed. If not you likely will have to fix on your dime. Have you shopped the repair around?
$3K is probably all your going to get. I don't think they would go higher, it just raises their potential exposure in the future. I'd take it and get it fixed.

From your original post it sounds like you bought the boat knowing the delam. issue. The fact that Grady is willing to do anything on a 20 year old boat is a testament to their well known customer service. Kudos to Grady. It sounds like the rep was getting annoyed that he offered $3k and you were still looking for more. IMO. Granted the they do warranty the stringers for life but against what? Wetness? Probably not. I would drive it and if the stringer gets worse than file another claim.

I brought up the wet stringer/transom issue with my local Grady dealer. I’ve known these guys for some 25 years and I respect their honestly. John told me that he’s seen where a surveyor has found and made issue with a stringer or transom being wet. There wasn’t any flexing in the transom so faced with a huge repair bill to replace it all he chose to “wait and see” and ended up getting years of use out of the boat without issue. In short in his opinion finding a little dampness wasn’t a reason to hit the panic button.
I’d say if the transoms not flexing take steps to prevent more water intrusion and use the boat.
Mike

I just paid for a survey on a 1997 Marlin 30 that I really wanted only the survey found the port side balsa cored hull was seriously delaminated and the starboard side was also delaminated, but to a lesser degree. The hull sides pegged the moisture meter but the bottom and decks were sound. The broker is also a reputable local boatbuilder and estimated the repair costs to be $8-10k. The thermal imaging photos of the hull were sent to the repair shop recommended by the broker/builder and surveyor and they painted a totally different picture. The owner of the repair shop said to WALK because the costs of the repairs would far exceed the value of the repaired boat. I have a 2013 Freedom 225 and the stringers are encapsulated marine plywood. I think the stringers in your boat were just regular grade plywood. The 2017 Grady’s will be all Composite and have no wood. But that doesn’t help either of us.