Issues for SO 45.2?

[ari]

Hi there,
We are looking at a 2000 SO 45.2. Google came up with 5 potential issues: 1. The top-bearing of the rudder might be gone as the metal frame that it sits in traps/holds water and the only way to find out is to remove the emergency tiller cover; 2. the compression post on the keel is wood and will fail over time; 3. one of the side stays is not going into a bulkhead or the hull but to a chainplate under the deck and this might go through the core and flex the deck; 4. sagging headliners; 5. uncomfortable seating around the salon table. Any other known design/construction issues? Blisters? Moisture in the deck/Delamination? We owned a Nordic 40 and a Sunbeam 37 before so not entirely new to boat ownership. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you.

[web]

I love my 1998 SO 45.2. When i bought it the mast deck step had collapsed due to the wood rotting, this was replaced once by a well know yard, but they used plywood which rotted again. I got a nice price reduction and then I fixed it using a nice piece of 1 1/4 marine aluminum and then layering thick glass on top, about 1/2 inch. Quite an easy project. $500, including mast removal. 7 years and still solid. The one under the compression post appears fine. There is a good thread here on this issue. Other than normal boat issues, no other problems.
Very livable boat.

[trenttidmore]

Feb 8, 2023 14:22:56 GMT ari said:

Hi there,
We are looking at a 2000 SO 45.2. Google came up with 5 potential issues: 1. The top-bearing of the rudder might be gone as the metal frame that it sits in traps/holds water and the only way to find out is to remove the emergency tiller cover; 2. the compression post on the keel is wood and will fail over time; 3. one of the side stays is not going into a bulkhead or the hull but to a chainplate under the deck and this might go through the core and flex the deck; 4. sagging headliners; 5. uncomfortable seating around the salon table. Any other known design/construction issues? Blisters? Moisture in the deck/Delamination? We owned a Nordic 40 and a Sunbeam 37 before so not entirely new to boat ownership. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you.

Hi Ari, it has been a couple of months since your post, but…
We just closed on a 2000 SO 45.2 on January 20, 2023.

Ours is the 3 cabin, 3 head layout.
At some point we may end up converting one of the aft cabins to a garage/storage area.

We HATE (is that strong enough of a word?) the salon table, as the fiddle on the table edge is quite sharp and uncomfortable to rest your forearms on. Also, there is only about a 6” gap between the nav station table so difficult to squeeze through.

Our had the original 6 gallon hot water heater that was no longer working and I replaced it with an 11 gallon Kuuma which we have really enjoyed.

We have replaced the reflective fabric in all of the Oceanair shades with a 6mil vinyl that seems to be working quite well.

Due to the size of the boat we put in a bow thruster since it is just me and my wife (aged 60).

We did have to replace almost every through hull and seacock (13 I think?)

The original Force 19 3 burner stove works well with the stovetop but the oven has only 3” of clearance making it about as useful as one of those easy bake ovens when we were kids. We would like to replace it at some point with a brand new model that can actually be used to bake.

This boat sails beautifully and there is a lot of living room. On Saturday nights we like to drop the table and watch SNL lime a slumber party with the dog and cat.

We have only one 30 amp shore connection which so far hasn’t given us too much trouble.

Hope this additional information helps.