gilm
Seaman
Posts: 166
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Post by gilm on Aug 28, 2020 17:59:20 GMT -5
Well it has been 4 months since I took delivery of my new 245DC and I am not overly happy with the quality. I have had the following issues: - Fish box hose is kinked. When they made the boat and attached the deck to the hull they pinched the fishbix drain hose under a stringer. Not sure how they are going to fix this. But they will deal with it over the winter. The fish box pump itself doesn't work either and the tech that looked at it says he has no idea how to get to it. The pump is in a very difficult place with almost impossible access to it.
- One of the bolts holding the pull out bench spins and does not tighten. The tech said that when they did the cut out for the pullout bench they inadvertently cut it too big so one of the bolts does have anything to bite into.
- And lastly the more serious issue is that I noticed today that at least 3 bolts that hold down the canopy tubing the the gunnels are loose and spin and will not tighten. This is structural and it concerns me.
Although I love the layout of th 245DC I am not happy at all with the quality. Hopefully these thing can be fixed. However I will be very pissed off if I have to take the boat out of the water early to do so and miss good fishing in the fall.
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Post by fishnfool on Aug 28, 2020 19:34:53 GMT -5
Sorry to hear gilm.
Have you had any discussions with the factory regarding these QC issues or just the dealer? I'd definitely let the factory know esp considering the change in management over there.
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Post by finatic on Aug 29, 2020 1:01:49 GMT -5
That's not good, make the call to Sailfish. When I purchased my boat new any issues I had the company was extremely cooperative resolving any problems.
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Post by hookedup on Aug 29, 2020 9:04:40 GMT -5
X3 on contacting Sailfish. Not sure how the new company will respond, but they were more than helpful when I called them with questions my dealer couldn't answer and they provided me the parts I wanted at an excellent price.
My 245 had some very minor lack of caulking issues (seems to be common among most builders), but otherwise I got a great boat. Hope the dealer can get your problems resolved quickly in the off season.
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Post by footy3 on Aug 29, 2020 19:50:03 GMT -5
I would definitely contact Sailfish directly. Try to make a long story short, when I was buying mine, same model, 2018, I really wanted to find a used one, none to be found. Was going to visit my parents in Ft. lauderdale and saw one advertised from a boat club that had 80 hours on it, guy was going to have it a the Miami boat show, went, test rode in it, loved it, touched a bolt on one of the hardtop mounts and came away with caulk. Asked the guy, he said the lag bolts had pulled out, and they had to put backing plates in with nuts and bolts. Ended up buying a brand new boat from him, he made me a deal I couldn't pass up. Part of the deal was I insisted he put backing plates on the new boat, he told me that because Sailfish had a bunch of problems with the lag bolts, they changed the design, put a metal plate sandwiched into the fiberglass, and now drilled and tapped the bolts for mounting the hardtop. I confirmed this with Sailfish for my serial number. I would imagine yours has the same design. If that plate has stripped somehow, the fix may be redrilling a bit bigger and retapping. Not something I would even consider without first contacting Sailfish, especially at the dealer you bought from. Not sure if you recall, we did speak on the phone over the winter to discuss some of the issues I had with my boat and your dealer. If you want to talk again PM me your number and I'll give you a call. Good luck.
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Post by greenmachine on Apr 9, 2021 13:43:23 GMT -5
I just discovered the same pipework problem on my 2018 245. The mounting flange has shifted downward and has already sheared off one bolt. The remaining bolts are shifted and are about to shear. Was sailfish helpful at all with this repair? This was caused by the hardtop structure flexing while underway. Take note of how Sailfish has redesigned the pipework with an extra cross brace in the front of the newer models. I love my boat by have had several quality control issues: - Discovered after a year that my rear bilge pump was wired to the midship bilge circuit breaker. And vice versa. This caused the rear bilge to immediately trip the smaller breaker when activated (YIKES!) ( I corrected this myself)
- Hydraulic fluid from helm leaked all over deck during the first day of use. Lost steering. Had to tighten, refill and purge fluid (I did this work myself)
- In floor center storage drain tube pinched between deck and stringer during install. (repaired under warranty.)
- Plastic surround for head tank fell apart. (repaired under warranty)
- Deck has a hollow void just forward of the center storage compartment. Can see it flex under your feet. Has caused a stress crack in gelcoat. Needs to be filled.
I will keep you posted on how my pipework repair progresses.
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Post by finatic on Apr 9, 2021 14:51:51 GMT -5
gilm would find something wrong and complain about a free lunch. That's why he's gone missing for a while.
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Post by footy3 on Apr 10, 2021 12:33:33 GMT -5
I just discovered the same pipework problem on my 2018 245. The mounting flange has shifted downward and has already sheared off one bolt. The remaining bolts are shifted and are about to shear. Was sailfish helpful at all with this repair? This was caused by the hardtop structure flexing while underway. Take note of how Sailfish has redesigned the pipework with an extra cross brace in the front of the newer models. I love my boat by have had several quality control issues: - Discovered after a year that my rear bilge pump was wired to the midship bilge circuit breaker. And vice versa. This caused the rear bilge to immediately trip the smaller breaker when activated (YIKES!) ( I corrected this myself)
- Hydraulic fluid from helm leaked all over deck during the first day of use. Lost steering. Had to tighten, refill and purge fluid (I did this work myself)
- In floor center storage drain tube pinched between deck and stringer during install. (repaired under warranty.)
- Plastic surround for head tank fell apart. (repaired under warranty)
- Deck has a hollow void just forward of the center storage compartment. Can see it flex under your feet. Has caused a stress crack in gelcoat. Needs to be filled.
I will keep you posted on how my pipework repair progresses.
I also have a 245 DC, can you tell me which one of the flanges this occurred on? Thanks.
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Post by hookedup on Apr 10, 2021 19:00:20 GMT -5
I just discovered the same pipework problem on my 2018 245. The mounting flange has shifted downward and has already sheared off one bolt. The remaining bolts are shifted and are about to shear. Was sailfish helpful at all with this repair? This was caused by the hardtop structure flexing while underway. Take note of how Sailfish has redesigned the pipework with an extra cross brace in the front of the newer models.
I've searched and searched, but all the 245DC pictures I can find shows the hardtop installed as mine is. Best picture I could find below, but what is different about either the new, or original design and what I have? Mine looks just like the 2021 models from what I can see and it's a 2018.
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Post by greenmachine on Apr 10, 2021 20:38:58 GMT -5
Hello Footy - Its both flanges. I did a further inspection today and discovered that it is much worse than I thought. Four of the eight mounting bolts are sheared off. The top two bolts on starboard and port side flange are broken. The screws were sheared but remained resting in place. I am new here and cannot figure out how to post pictures. Hello Richard - I am trying to post you a picture of what I am talking about. But if you do an image search on a 245, you will see how the newer ones have a second pipe that is only a few inches below the pipe that the leading edge of the hardtop conceals. Attachments:
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Post by greenmachine on Apr 10, 2021 20:47:02 GMT -5
Here are some pics Attachments:
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Post by hookedup on Apr 11, 2021 7:44:35 GMT -5
I thought you were talking about a forward support, but I see it's the aft support that is the issue. I'll definitely check mine. I cannot see any difference on the supports from the Sailfish web site but those may not be updated pictures, so I have no idea what how the new supports are different. I'll keep looking and maybe my local dealer has a new 245. I'll investigate.
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Post by fishnfool on Apr 11, 2021 8:28:01 GMT -5
Call Sailfish! Contact your dealer assuming you bought it new. What did they say?
Yes your boat is out of warranty, but there are exceptions to everything.
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Post by hookedup on Apr 11, 2021 8:55:05 GMT -5
Found the bar you are talking about...Under the forward hardtop a support from starboard to port. My 'guess' is that limits some of the flexing that transfers to the aft supports? Or, is it they redid the aft supports at the same time they added the bar?
In any case I'll be checking the bolts next trip to the boat. If you contact Sailfish (and I agree with fishnfool that you should) let us know how that turns out. On my Albemarle I shipped the boat back to the factory for them to do some repairs that they covered due to their design error.
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Post by greenmachine on Apr 11, 2021 15:51:13 GMT -5
I would recommend slightly backing each bolt out to check them. That’s how I learned that I had a total of 4 that were snapped. I think some sealant may have been holding the broken bolts in place. This is a difficult repair that will require drilling/backing out the broken screws and somehow realigning the rigid structure. Problem is...... this damage will reoccur in the future due to the design. I will keep you all posted on how this progresses.
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