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.
Here are some related comments from 6 years ago; https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/further-my-education.31096/
Thanks....well I do like the space and layout. This one has Cummins diesels so that's good.....but engine access yowza! Although a breakdown on my RV left us stranded on the side of the RD and to get to the top of the engine to fix the air lines that were the problem was an adventure. As far as looks go, I would say it has " the right amount of ugly." My use case would hopefully include a trip to the Bahamas so that hull my not work for that....plus I think it is way overpriced.
This thread is veering off course. Is it about a Hatteras? Is it about Detroits? Is it about Bluewater? Choose a heading please.
Boss I think it is a New Friendly Guy (NFG) starting his boat shopping and asking questions as an early shopper is going to ask. Carvers and other brands were mentioned also. Maybe a General, Popular or Scuttlebutt thread would work better for now?
That be me, lots of airlines and cargo companies on my resume, also had a few boats and cruised the Bahamas on and off, Mr. Unpilot: Looks like you are going for big boats right out of the gates. I would go a bit smaller, less maintenance , less cleaning, less dock fees, etc. Big can be very expensive and not quite needed unless you have a huge family. Get a quality and seaworthy boat 40-48’ maybe, plenty big enough for stores, Comfort, guests and cooking. (Generator, freezer, fridge, decent galley) I would NOT look at old 70’ Chinese trawlers or the 65’ Bluewater, a souped up Houseboat. I am also lusting a bit for another Bahamas boat and been considering a Tiara, excellent quality and solid enough for weather surprises in the Gulfstream. Also plenty other good boats including trawlers. Think medium rather than big, less is more, etc.
I ran a 65' enclosed bridge from that era, was a good seaboat, stable, and dry, and very comfortable inside. The one I ran had 16v92's but we never had issues with them but generally ran them at 1750 rpms. I do dislike 12v92's and 16v92's for that matter, but it was a good boat and handled well.
Maybe start afresh, without yet postulating the solution... and with a broader description of your envisioned use case(s). Lengths of time aboard? Number of pax? Overnight pax versus day visits? Typical navigation waters (in addition to Bahamas)? Et cetera... Might be suggestions from folks here could point you toward other likely candidates... with some additional thoughts on optimum size ranges and so forth... -Chris
Something to consider I haven't seen mentioned yet. Those 12v92's from 1998 are going to be DDEC versions meaning they are electronically controlled. While normally a good thing, this adds a new wrinkle for you to consider. Parts have not been made for the DDECs in some time. If you have a problem you have to send the component back to Sturdy Corp and hope they can fix it or try to source used parts on Ebay or similar. Further, finding someone that knows how to troubleshoot the DDECs is very difficult. I'm speaking from first hand experience as my boat had 12v92TA DDECs. This was one of the main factors in my ultimate decision to make the painfully financial investment to repower my boat.
