Hello all, Thoughts on a 1998 Hatteras 65 sportsdeck with Detroit Diesel 12V92 TA engines. I would use as a coastal cruiser, occasional jaunt to the Bahamas, part-time live aboard. Thoughts from those that may have had one...or similar. Thanks.
Welcome to Yacht Forums. Sorry to dump on your first post. Any experience with big Detroit powered boats? I can hope they are paying you well to take a 12V92 boat aweigh from the sellers. I am one of the loudest Detroit fans on this forum and can tell you the 12V92 is great if you continue to pour money into it. There are no short cuts, no economy and sadly no investment value. Every 200 hours or every year if it is a dock queen, you are going to completely service it. 20 gallons of CF-2 oil (per engine), Impellers and coolant every few years. What ever the horse power tune is, take that number, remove the last (right) digit, that is close to your gallons per hour for the boat (ie 750 HP = 75 gph for your twin engine boat), Plus 1 gal/hour for a gen-set. At least you not looking at a vintage Hat with vintage MTU engines. The boat itself is pretty good and solid but this is not a cheap water front apartment or investment. Around Ft Peirce/Stuart, there should be some good service shops but remember what B O A T stands for.
Ha...thanks. I am aware of the financial foolishness of my future endeavor. How aware ...well remains to be seen. I'm not sold on any particular brand, even though I like what I have learned about older Hatteras boats. I am new to big boats... I am coming from the RV world, having traveled the last 4 years in a 45' diesel pusher motorhome. Before that, I was a pilot for an airline. So my knowledge of handling large machines probably does not translate perfectly to ones that are on the water. But if there is one thing the airlines taught me, it is the value of training. I plan on getting a lot of it.
Great boat… not so great engines. Very $$$$$ to maintain. The price has to reflect the engines and they d better have full maintenance history and oil analysis history. That means detailed invoices Detroit expert needed for the survey incl bore scope inspection of the cylinders etc.
Shop for your DDC surveyor well. Explain what you need and both of you go over the service records. Oh, one shop to stay aweigh from, PanTropic Diesel... Lots of air-heads here also. Veterans and bush pilots. Send us a web sales ad address of what your looking at; Someone here may know of her already with some insight. YF has thousands of expert spies all over the world.
Thanks.... I do plan on using the brain trust here. As I said above, not tied to any one builder. What I am tied to is space....as in livable onboard space. I saw this boat and liked its layout...but can't find much info so far on the builder. https://www.boats.com/power-boats/2009-bluewater-yachts-65-legacy-8979182/# I don't see a Bluewater yacht section on this site.....or would have posted there.
