Specifically, looking at the 1999-2004 boats and generally only interested in the 1300hp MAN D2842LE404. I haven’t been able to find much on these boats online aside from some crappy old YouTube videos and one or two old forum posts that mention these boats in passing as being good boats. Without getting too specific with my needs, I’d just like to hear past experiences with either ownership or people who’ve spent time on one what is our impressions were and if you’ve done any overnighting, how you felt about the accommodation. Any other info about the Pershing 54 is appreciated. Not currently interested in other boats.
In past life and a number of years ago I ran one from like 02 to 06 that acted as a tender or support boat. The good: Ride of hull Speed at cruise (when everything worked as designed) kind ruined me to an extent that would only take jobs on boats that had min 20kt cruise the layout was actually pretty good for a 54 with the almost separate master in the stern. build quality/fit and finish overall was pretty good for its time. The MANs aka MBs were reliable. Never left us stranded. Stunk unbelievably on cold start which was magnified by the cabin enclosure which we 3x the AC capacity in but leaked through convertible roof if you’d call it that. Could never get the smell out of that area. The Bad: ASDs require a lot of maintenance whatever you plan on paying a diver for schedule 2x it. The electrical always had something wrong with it. The “nautitech” guy and I were on first name basis. And I watched him pull apart that quasi touch pannel so many times I could go in myself and diagnose things to make things work. plan on redoing the teak on that waterline platform every 2 years unless you don’t care how it looks. Great Bahamas boat we used to practically beach it cause the ASds trimmed up would be above the hull
Any particular reason for that? If you tell me you're not interested in the version with V8 800hp engines and inline shafts instead of surface drives, I can see the attraction of faster speed - even if AFAIK the shafts version of that hull goes very well. But since they also built the 54 with the LE406 version of the very same V12 block, I would have that rather than the LE404 every day of the week. Yes, it's "only" 1200 instead of 1300 ponies, but I don't think the difference is worth more than a couple of kts WOT, and totally negligible at cruise speed, because the 406 has a slightly higher torque, right around the optimal cruising RPM. But my main reason for disliking the 404 is that it belongs to the notorious EDC series of MAN engines. Which was a sort of half baked, semi-electronic injection system, used for just a few years and only on two particular versions of the V10 and V12 blocks. Completely different from the fully electronic common rail series that followed, widely adopted by MAN up to present days. In other words, a bit of an orphan engine, which even official MAN dealers often struggle to fix, due to lack of experience - as opposed to the 406, which is the very last of the bulletproof mechanical engines, that everyone and their dog can handle blindfolded. All that said, if for any reason (you like a particular boat, or whatever) you are set on a LE404 powered boat, in your boots I would check if whoever you are thinking to use for mechanical maintenance can assure you a decent competence with MAN EDC engines. Good luck!
Just for the records, MAN isn't related to M-B group, aside from using an engine block initially developed by M-B, and called OM444, if I'm not mistaken. Same block that for several years was also used by MTU 183 series, BTW. But both MAN and MTU built their own (in many ways different) marinization for that same block. Unless I missed some changes, MAN is actually owned by VAG group, which is therefore a competitor of M-B. Not that this is in any way relevant from the OP viewpoint - just saying!
