during normal maintenance, my mechanic discovered an issue that should have been picked up on by my Engine surveyor. It could be a potenial problem, also an expensive one to repair. The flaw was not hidden, but out in plain site.
You might want to tell everyone what the omission was just to clarify what we are talking about. I would read the agreement I am sure you signed to determine what is written. I really don't know what type of recourse you have on a survey but anyone can be sued by anyone for anything these days.
Surveyors are easy to sue but hard to win against.
Engine mounts should not be that bad to replace. Jack the engine up a bit, just enough to get it off. I have done this myself with Cummins 370's and it worked fine. I used a small bottle jack and did one corner at a time.
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If you read your survey, it likely has an errors and omission clause. It won't prevent you from suing, but as Yolo mentioned, it will make it hard to win. Obviously it would be very hard for a surveyor to find every single issue on a vessel with thousands of individual parts in just a few hours. Bent motor mounts should have shown up in the form of vibration during the trail run or the prop tip run-out when the running gear was checked during the haul-out. Did you have both a hull surveyor and an engine surveyor?
The other area of recourse may be with the seller. Something like a hard grounding where major repairs of the hull and strut where made should be disclosed at the time of sale. As a licensed yacht broker in Florida we are required to disclose any issues that may materially affect the vessels value such as grounding repairs, lightning strikes, impacts with other vessels, pilings or docks, sinking (complete or partial). Now, if an owner fails to disclose this information to the broker, there is no way to pass on information you don't have, but the owner may have some liability for not disclosing it depending on the severity of the repairs. If there was no structural damage, and it was just a bent prop, shaft and motor mounts and they replaced the prop and shaft and had the engines aligned, they may not need to disclose it as it really doesn't affect the material value of the vessel. Basically you could just replace the motor mounts and be good as new. It all depends on the damage and repairs made.
Let us know how it works out.
As far as the bent engine mounts, what are the vibration levels at cruising speed? Any strange noises or weird harmonics? I agree it would take a lot of jarring force to bend the motor mounts.
I agree with Chris but if you went further and did a sea trial (just assuming you did not do the trial) as well you possibly would have found it then and may have become the deal breaker/maker. There is a lot that goes into purchasing a boat. I went through every aspect and emotion. But after reading an article in Boat US this is what made the most sense. You are purchasing a used boat which is going to have some minor issues. Some can be brought out by the surveyor and some not. If you have spent time looking at other boats and going through the process up to and having them surveyed, that in itself can become an expensive process. If you found that boat and it was the boat for you outside of this motor mount issue, you have to ask yourself would you have a) kept looking, or b) bought the boat regardless and negotiated the repair. Most likely you still would have made the purchase. Like you I too have made repairs that did not turn up in the survey, but I cannot blame the surveyor at every turn because it's like buying a used car, except this process doesn't come with the polished salesman.
Also keep in mind that all Surveyors are not created equal. I have seen good ones that are very thorough and others that barely glance over things. My suggestion:
1) Hire a good Hull Surveyor. Don't hire the first one you call and certainly don't take the brokers suggested surveyor until you have called and interviewed several surveyors. There is likely a difference between the $8.00 per foot surveyor and the $15.00 per foot surveyor. Ask exactly what they are going to do and how long it is going to take. If they tell you they can knock out a 40' boat in two hours, hire a different surveyor.
2) If you are buying a vessel with gas engines, make sure you hire an engine surveyor or marine engine specialist to inspect the engines, do compression tests and pull oil samples. Make sure they go on the sea-trial and inspect the engines while running under a load. Just because it idles nicely does not mean it will run well under load and at WOT. Most marine gas engines are 8 cylinders. An 8 cylinder engine will idle and run well on 7 cylinders most of the time. Skipping the compression test and engine survey may cost you big time!
3) Diesel engines are expensive. Hire a diesel engine specialist to handle diesel engines.
4) Never buy a boat without the Sea-trial or Water Test or whatever you want to call it. That test should include a run at Wide Open Throttle. The engines should reach their rated WOT RPMs and they should do so without vibration and without overheating. An engine may run fine at cruising RPM and overheat and run poorly at WOT. Make sure the boat steers well, runs at a good attitude and does not have any weird habits.
Buying a boat is a big investment, make sure you buy it wisely!
The only thing I would change from what Chris said (and maybe he meant this but didn't put in writing) is I would hire a diesel mechanic and not just someone that surveys diesel engines. You know, the guy you call to fix stuff. Reason is they are well aware of issue with the particular engine and can spot trouble issue quickly. They will even warm of potential problems from things they have seen in the field on someones boat they worked on in the past. For example a design flaw that may create problems. IE raw water exhaust shower that is designed so raw water MAY flow back into the turbo exhaust causing engine replacement. Have heard and seen this in the past (not on a Tiara as of yet) but the manufacturer just simply designed the exhaust incorrectly.
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