Rudder Bearings - Bene 343 Built 2004

Hi - Wondering if any of you Bene owners have any info / experiences on rudder bearings. I had a survey done today on a 2004 Bene 343 which i am hoping to buy. I met the surveyor and he hit me straight away with the fact that "the rudder bearings were shot" he went on to say that he would be advisng that this should be immediately replaced before sailing the boat ! I was quite taken aback for such a new boat ! Is this common, do they wear out so quick ?? The surveyor went on to say that he had come across problems with spade rudders of this type and implied there had been som e problems. Again, i was taken aback as all the modern production boats are designed like this. Has anyone had any bad experiences or is the surveyor scaremongering.Any info as to durability of the bearings /rudder would be most helpful. I thought that buying a 4 year old boat was going to be trouble free ???
Barry H