Click for Nordhavn Click for Furuno Click for Mulder Click for Ocean Alexander Click for Westport

Information on 63' Ocean Sportfish

Discussion in 'Ocean Yacht' started by BJG, Apr 5, 2011.

You need to be registered and signed in to view this content.
  1. BJG

    BJG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Location:
    Huntington Beach, CA
    I am about to enter into escrow on a 63' Ocean (1989).

    Doesn anyone have experience or knowlege of these boats? This particular boat is very clean, with many current upgrades (about $500,000 in past 5 years).

    Any known issues that I should be aware of?
  2. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    I managed a 63' Ocean for about a decade. They're a good boat for the money. Be careful when you have the boat lifted, use blocks to keep too much pressure from the fwd slings on the rubrail. Cut an access hole in the rear engine room bulkhead stbd side so you can change the generator impellor. Overall they're a good boat for their price point, but fall a little short compared to the big 3.
  3. Loren Schweizer

    Loren Schweizer YF Associate Writer

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2004
    Messages:
    1,352
    Location:
    Coral Gables/Ft. Laud., FL
    The 63 Ocean Owner's Club is fairly exclusive as they only built thirty two of these.
  4. BJG

    BJG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Location:
    Huntington Beach, CA
    This is good info. I will have to look into the bulkhead idea, since things are quite tight in the engine room. The boat we are considering is currently in Lauderdale. I will probably keep it back in the FL area for about a year, then ship it back to the west coast.

    Capt J, can you tell me if you were successful in raising fish?
  5. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    Yes the boat raises fish. Is the boat located in the harbor beach area of Ft. Laud with a tuna tower? If so, I know the boat. It's the brother's of the owner of the one I managed. On the one I was on, they cut a 1ftx 2ft hatch behind the generator with a lot of screws that came off, and you could then access the back side of the generator.
  6. BJG

    BJG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Location:
    Huntington Beach, CA
    No. This particular boat does not tower, hull is yellow. Name of the boat is Fighting Lady. Current owner spent a lot of time and money fixing the boat up. Actually had it out of the water for around 10 months. Looks like he touched virtually everything on the boat. Then, seems like somewhere along the line, he stopped taking care of it again. With some TLC I think it can be a great boat for the money.

    The boat spent much of its life in Vero Beach, Holly Hill, and Naples. They moved it down to Lauderdale in the past year. Boat is currently in Harbor Towne Marina.

    I know what you mean about comparing the Ocean to others like Hatteras. I currently have an old Hatt that is an amazing boat. No issues, nothing ever breaks, and is just a battle wagon. The thing that got me looking at the Ocean was bang for the buck. So much boat for a very reasonable price. I think for my use, this boat should suffice just fine.
  7. Mikewo

    Mikewo New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2012
    Messages:
    1
    Location:
    San Diego
    Hi BJG, Did you end up buying the Ocean 63? I'm looking at one now and am curious how your experience has been.

    Thanks,
    Mike
  8. BJG

    BJG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Location:
    Huntington Beach, CA
    Ocean 63'

    Wow, I almost thought this post was dead!

    Glad to see people actually read them from time to time.

    Yes, we did buy the Ocean.
    Sounds like your decision between a Hatt and an Ocean is very similar to mine.

    Not sure where to start. I guess it will depend upon your intended use for the boat. We use it more for cruising than fishing. While I love to fish, and plan to do quite a bit with it, we enjoy the room it has for the whole family. You can't beat the 4 staterooms.

    It is not built like a Hatt... No doubt.... But the creature comforts are amazing. The size of the salon, fly bridge, staterooms, etc are truly amazing.

    We have taken several trips in the last year while in Florida including Bahamas and Keys.... Boat handled great, no issues.

    We will be bringing it home this month to CA.... So looking forward to that.
  9. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    Is the boat still in Harbourtowne? Did you name it Coho or something along those lines. I think I spoke to your son a few times on the dock on the various occassions I was at Harbourtowne Marina.
  10. BJG

    BJG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Location:
    Huntington Beach, CA
    Yes, boat name is COHO, it has been in Harbor Town for the past 10 months. Looks like we will be leaving on Tuesday on vessel to West Coast.

    Not sure if you spoke to my son, but possibly our mate... good kid. He will be coming to the West Coast with us.

    It took a lot of hard work and elbow grease, but the boat really turned out to be a shiney penny.

    Too bad we did not get to meet, I appreciate your various posts.
    Brian
  11. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    You have gotten the boat to look really nice. Have a safe trip. The boat handles well at hull speeds, for when you cross from Key West to Cancun.
  12. pprecourt

    pprecourt New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2010
    Messages:
    5
    Location:
    United States
    BJK, I recently purchased an 1988 63 Ocean. Would you be interested in sharing any performance data on your experience with your vessel so far? Best cruising speed and gph? Much Appreciated.
  13. BJG

    BJG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Location:
    Huntington Beach, CA
    So far, we have had a nice experience with the boat. I am pretty particular, so I have a full time person on the boat and we keep doing small projects when boat is down, and it has really become a shiny penny.

    this past year, on the way down from Huntington Beach, CA to Cabo, we found ourselves in the boat yard in Ensenada with a bad center fuel tank. That was quite a process to remove the old one, and put a new one in its place. Lucky for us the boat yard Baja Naval did a GREAT job and very reasonable ($28 hr compared to $108hr in states).

    We typically cruise the boat at 1760 rpm, which puts us right at 19.5 kts. we believe our props may have been tweaked prior to me owning the boat, because we top out around 2050 rpm and 24kts. I am told Detroit's should get up to 2250 if perfectly tuned.

    at 1760 our fuel burn is around 60 - 65 hr. On the Cabo trip we traveled 1100 miles at 9.5kts, and burned 11.4 GPH... so around 1.2 GPM

    Does this help?
  14. pprecourt

    pprecourt New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2010
    Messages:
    5
    Location:
    United States
    Yes sir indeed it does. We are just finishing a complete in frame rebuild On starboard motor. Had very little run time on her before the motor let go so I have no real frame of reference for performance. Rebuilding Detroit's is getting more and more difficult due to the lack of quality mechanics and quality parts. Thank you for your incites.
  15. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    The one 63' I was involved with, the same owner had owned since 1988 and was a 1987. It initially cruised at 30 knots the first year he owned it (1950rpms). I was involved with the boat from 1993- 2009 when he sold it and it went to Guatamala. The next year and subsequent many years it cruised at 26 knots (without the Marlago), and the majority of the time towed a 35' Marlago c.c. behind it. From around 1999 on it only cruised at 24 knots. HOWEVER the owner had a TON of personal gear on the boat. We ended up getting over 5500 hours on the origional 12v92s which is considered remarkable. They were majored around 2002, exhaust temp gauges were added, and the boat was overpropped and we cut 3" pitch out of the wheels. The boat never got any speed back after being majored, or even after we removed a 10'x20' warehouse full of his stuff prior to it being sold. This boat had just a hardtop (and factory installed 15' whaler on the bow), his brother had an identical boat but with a tuna tower.

    It is ESSENTIAL 92 series DD's are propped to reach their rated 2350rpm's WOT, if you want to get any longevity out of them. If you're not reaching that, first check turbo's and make sure the engines are properly tuned. Then cut pitch in the props, it is very common to have to cut props somewhere along the line on a boat of that age.
  16. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2006
    Messages:
    1,164
    Location:
    Gold Coast Australia
    Have you tried this company:
    http://dieselpro.com/
    I have used them for a lot of parts, both for the Allison gearbox and the 12v71n's in my boat. They carry many ancillary parts as well such as Hydreco pumps.

    As for experienced mechanics, I have found this a problem too. Especially when the mechanics with the most experience on these older engines are now the guys running their own shops and send out their staff who have had very little exposure to the older technology. It's worthwhile to ask that the mechanic on site has had experience and not just taking calls from the boss on what to do.
    Anyone in Queensland, I can highly recommend a company working out of Brisbane run by Steve Shale. They stand by their work. PM me if you need contact details.
  17. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2013
    Messages:
    734
    Location:
    Curaçao (CW), Hollywood (FL) and Amsterdam (NL)
    I also use RPM Diesel in Ft Lauderdale, especialy if you want to have your injectors done, go nowhere else and contact Todd Barnes!
    http://www.rpmdiesel.com/