AHOY, Hatteras Savants

Dear Stan,

Try the guys at Sam's Marine, they are all ex-Hatteras factory or dealer employee's. I have known Ed Tysenn for many years, starting when he worked at Allied Marine in the parts and service dept. This group has an amazing knowledge base on older Hatteras', as well as a huge inventory of new and used parts.
In my experience the biggest problem with the older boats was the blistering of the bottoms, but with today's technology that can be remedied quite easily.
As for the extensions, Ed was at Allied when they were the first to start doing this and should have an in depth knowledge of the characteristics.
Another good outfit to talk with is Slane Marine, they are the premier restorer of old Hatteras', and will be able to give you a better understanding of the construction and issues with older boats.
Hope this helps, if you need any help in the Delmarva let me know, we are in Annapolis till the end of Sept.

Regards
Randy

Hi Stan:

Having listed and sold more than my fair share of Hat MYs, here goes:

Yes, blisters are an issue. Most boats of the vintage you mention will already have gotten the Interlux Interprotect treatment...but not all.

Attention will have to be paid to soft spots in the balsa coring found primarily on the boatdeck and where holes were drilled and improperly sealed.

All these will have Detroit diesels, many with SMOH hours. Over 2000 may mean dollars will need to be dedicated to the motors.

At least one boat out there--a 74, extended from a 65(?) really should have had some rocker added...that boat ran around on her nose & was really wet.

More rare, but out there still--look for broken tabbing in fwd bulkheads/frames resulting from being pushed hard in big seas.

Those, I believe, are the highlights.

I might add be sure it has stabilizers, that they are working properly and hopefully have been upgraded with newer electronic controls. Because Hatterases of that vintage tend to be rolly. Especially when you add weight to the flybridge area.

1. A lot of Hatteras' will have blisters under the waterline. Are they a big deal IMO, usually not. When they get to a certain size you just grind them and fill them and you might do 6 this year (the size of a silver dollar) and another 6 in a few years.

2. The extensions really add to the usefulness of the Hatteras as most had a 2' long aft deck and 8 feet to the waterline so handling lines, exterior hanging out space, and such was very limited. The extensions effect the handling 10% negatively I would say when it comes to a stern sea. It makes them swing left and right a bit. The extensions also add a lot more fresh water capacity and fuel. One 75' Hatteras I run, the extension really was well thought out and really makes the boat. It added a nice long flybridge, a built in propane grill, sink and refrig on the flybridge, a beautiful aft deck, more freezer space, and a nice cockpit.

3. I prefer to run this boat at hull speed and with the extension and 12v71's TI's it burns 15 GPH with generators (or less) and does 9.5-10knots. At cruise it burns 90gph at 17 knots. So it's not worth it to push it. The 3412 boats cruise 20 knots and burn a lot more fuel and are still pushing a lot of weight around. The 12v71s usually go 5,000 hrs sometimes 6500hrs in these boats if maintained properly from what I've seen.

The only one I saw soft spots in the deck was on a 58' YF and if they get them a normal source is the deck above the engine room vent area. Also a 70' I ran had a spot by the companion seat on the flybridge and outside of the stbd wing door......was slightly delaminated.

If your client is not 100% stuck on getting a Hatteras, I wouldn't rule out the Viking motor yachts of that style and era.

There is a nice looking one on Yacht World right now:

http://www.**************/boats/1990/Viking-Cockpit-Motor-Yacht-1722711/Clearwater/FL/United-States

And it's right up the road and over the bridge from you.

Hi Stan,

I was captain on a year 2001 75' Hatteras for 3 years. It is the one with the walk around side decks which I find very nice. We cruised the Med 2 summer seasons and took the yacht back and forth on the Dockwise yacht transport and cruised the Bahamas in the winter.
It's a wonderful boat, solid as a rock and never had blister problems. This boat has 3412 Cats that ran perfect for me. She draws a bit over 6 an a half feet of water so you have to do some of your "gunkholing" with a bit of care.
She was a wonderful boat for me and I belive she is for sale in the Chesapeke area now.
If you find her and would like to discuss it with me feel free to send me a message.

Barbara

I tend to agree that Hatteras has the most bang for the buck in this area of the market. The Hatteras name also sells itself when the time comes. All the issues noted above are excellent info and well documented. I have owned three myself over the years (hence my screen name) and I was going to get a fourth but I fell in love with a custom boat @ FLIBS last year and the rest is history.

The next Hatteras that I was after is one that was significantly updated from the earlier boats, and that was a 1996 or newer 74'. This is the first year of the new, tapered hull that significantly increased speed and seaworthiness over the older 18'2" beam hulls. While the beam stayed the same, the speed, ride, seaworthiness and wetness were all greatly improved. The later version of this boat is the 75' that is mentioned above. Most of these boats were powered with the highly regarded Cat 3412's which allowed for a 28kt top speed, although these boats are amazingly competent and fuel efficient at 11kts.

Also as noted above, overall the aft decks did become smaller as the boats got newer. Another point to note is that most of the 74's and 75's were not built with the $39k option for walk-around side decks. I believe that Hatteras built about 40 of the 75's from 2001-2004/2005 and I was told that only two have the side deck option. While this is not an issue for some, many owner operators prefer side decks for ease of line handling, safety, etc.

Before I spent ~$600-700k on an older two-stroke boat with the old bottom design, I would seriously consider the new bottom of the 1996+ Cat powered boats that are selling just under $1M since the market fell. The Detroit and MTU boats are selling well under $1M. Some of the 1996-1998 boats still had Detroits (base engine pkg) but others had 4-stroke MTU's or the preferred Cat 3412E's. Most built in 1999 and later will have the Cats. The 75 of 2001+ is the refined version of the 74 with a larger flybridge, etc. I have only heard about one issue in the 75 with the A/C in the Master stateroom because the units were oversized for the space and could cause moisture/mold problems.

You can't go wrong with a Hatteras and as is most often the case, the newer the better. Obviously, this is a buyers market and if any boat is poised to go UP in value as the economy strengthens or at least hold the current value for a significant time, I would have to say that the 1996+ Hatteras 74 and 2001+ 75 would be that boat.

GOOD LUCK!