So, I purchased a 1973 Bertram 46.6 sport fisher. The boat is a real looker but things have been creeping up during the transit to its new home. I won't go much into the specifics but I will say there was definitely collusion between the surveyor and seller. Now all of those things an honest surveyor and seller would have disclosed are popping up. The worst being a bad cuttless bearing, causing a vibration, causing strut stress and resulting cracking and leaking. The boat is being hauled on 11 July 22 for a complete bottom job, strut repair, all 4 cuttless bearings changed and running gear alignment. The issue now is the wiring of the boat. It was changed from 32v to 24v and the DC side seems good but the AC side is scetchy as hell. The entire port side which was working when I first saw the boat is now dead. During troubleshooting we uncovered hot ground reversal and a melted wire at the port side recepticle breaker. So just for GP, how much would it cost to bring in an electrician to fix the AC issues?
Whatever is costs, just get a good one, recommended by the yard. Will save you a fortune in the long run.
An ABYC certified marine electricians labor fees would start around $125.00 per hour in So. Fl. and far as sketchy wiring goes, the boats nearly 50 yrs. old and has had many hands in the electrical panel and bilges through the years and what remains of the original wiring and devices such as rotary switches, breakers and relays are at or beyond their life expectancy. Do your homework on contractors and check certifications of the marine electrician that you've chosen and remember the adage of "The bitterness of poor quality workmanship remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten". Welcome to yachting...
In 42 years ownership of a 38 Bertram the aft cutless bearings were changed several times but NEVER any need to change the forward ones. If the "worst" was only a couple cutless bearings it doesn't sound so bad. Wiring; that's a whole different subject. In my case I found the hard to read dates in the owners manual on a few of the wiring diagram pages were for the older 46.6 models where as mine is mostly different 1996, 46 model. Last thing you want anyone to mess with other then a top marine electrician is any of the electric.