[Gumbo]

I've been boating on gas boats since I was young, but this would be my first diesel powered yacht, and certainly I've never owned anything this big (biggest was 28 foot Wellcraft). I'm looking for advice and suggestions, so any thoughts you guys have I'd love to hear.

I originally looked at the 43 because it's relatively new, I haven't heard anything bad about the Yanmar's reliability, although the repair bills and parts are supposed to be expensive. The problem I have is that I'd like to spend extended periods of time on this boat, and the smaller salon, smaller flybridge, and smaller guest stateroom seem like a tighter fit.

The 45 looks like it grows in all the places it counts. Flybridge looks bigger in photos, so does the salon and the guest stateroom also. Being a few years older for a similar price doesn't seem like a bad thing, but the 671's worry me a bit. I know they're not exactly long life engines, from boatdiesel.com forums I see that they're 1500 hour engines if treated right, and if they've got the ceramic heads I'm looking at trouble.

I do like the Oceans but would consider something else possibly. They're the best looking boats of that age and price range I think, and also, they seem to get decent speeds without burning as much as the Vikings or Hatteras' it seems from a quick look.

Any ideas, things I should know about getting into a yacht this size, things to look out for or to know about Oceans, or any general comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Ocean 44]

I went from a gas 31' twin I/O sportfisherman to a 1987 44' Ocean SS at the beginning of the season and I couldn't be happier. Personally, I found the larger Ocean to be incredibly easy to control and handle in tight quarters. My main concern initially was learning to control a larger boat but it turned out being 10x easier than controlling my twin I/O. I only have 20-25 dockings with it so far, but I feel I can dock that boat anywhere under any conditions. I never felt that comfortable with my twin I/O.

I have the original Cov 6-71TIs in my Ocean with 1850 hours on them. I put 50 hours on them this season and they have performed perfectly. They don't even leak oil even though everyone says all DD leak oil unless they run out of oil! They always start up instantly, they don't smoke (I use block heaters), they turn full RPM under load, and they both run exactly the same all the time. I was initially concerned about the "high hours" but now that I've run and maintained them this season, I realize that I'll probably get another 10 trouble free years out of them as long as I continue to use/maintain them and don't let them sit.

The funny thing is, when I bought my boat, almost all of the other boats I looked at had recent rebuilds and none of them looked as nice as the engines in mine.

Personally, I'd rather have my 1850 hour engines than say a pair of 100 hour engines that have barely been used and spent most weekends sitting instead of running. With that said, "low hour" engines could be a good thing, or they could be a bad thing so don't put too much value into how many hours the engines have.

Adrian

[CaptTom]

Gumbo,
Welcome to the Forum.
First question is, how do you intend to use the boat? Fishing, cruising, live aboard or some combo? If cruising/living, mabe you go for something with more interior and not a sportfish,convertible style. If fishing, the sportfish is the way to go. How many people on average will be aboard? And is that for overnights/extended days?
Yanmars are good, but like any engine, you have to do the maintenance religously to get the most out of the blocks. And if buying used, you must have the boat surveyed, and that includes an engine survey (and this may take two different surveyors). Engine surveys can be extensive but a lot of history can come out of that, and info on what is going on internally (ie excessive wear, acids and other nasties, etc).
Good luck.

[Gumbo]

It will be a liveaboard/fishing boat. I've thought about getting something with more interior space, but I don't mind the cramped space on the 45, it's bigger than most condos in East Fort Lauderdale for the same price, and it's really hard to fish from them. The 43 looks to get tight in comparison, but I'm going to have to get aboard a few to judge accurately. I'd assume I wouldn't get more than 6-8 people on at any one time, and fishing would probably be 3-5 at most.

I'm fully aware of the surveys needed and am definitely going to do one. I wouldn't consider a boat without it, even a brand new one (I've seen some new ones delivered that had tons of things wrong).