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Those are two nice 55's you posted. The 12V71 boat has some serious reduction gears in her at 3.5:1. I'm not an expert, but I would do some research on this and want a sea trial before pulling the trigger. Also, the STBD engine has 2200 original hours on her and my guess is you'll be overhauling that in the near future. At least the port engine has already been done. The 12-92TA I believe is 1080hp at its highest rating. Maybe a DDEC can pull 1100? Doesn't say the hours on the specs but, hopefully someone has had them rebuilt. There is quite a price difference in the two boats, you can easily have that stbd 1271 rebuilt and have something left over for the difference. Good luck!
Those are two nice 55's you posted. The 12V71 boat has some serious reduction gears in her at 3.5:1. I'm not an expert, but I would do some research on this and want a sea trial before pulling the trigger. Also, the STBD engine has 2200 original hours on her and my guess is you'll be overhauling that in the near future. At least the port engine has already been done. The 12-92TA I believe is 1080hp at its highest rating. Maybe a DDEC can pull 1100? Doesn't say the hours on the specs but, hopefully someone has had them rebuilt. There is quite a price difference in the two boats, you can easily have that stbd 1271 rebuilt and have something left over for the difference. Good luck!
In the year since I started this thread, I think a 60' Hat is too large. Late 70's/early 80's boats, especially Hatteras, require too much maintenance. I think a late 80's 55' Hatt will cause me much less hardship than a 60' from the previous decade, plus they aren't so god damn slow. 55's are better performers and less tub-like. Running my dad's 53' Viking tells me that is the perfect sized boat.
A 20+ year old 55 foot sportfish is still going to be a very high maintenance item! My 1982 Bert has me cursing at her quite often these days, but I still enjoy working on her!! One of the keys to buying one of these older Detroit powered boats is having a great Detroit diesel guy you can trust. If you are in the NE pm me and I'll give you the name of my mechanic.
A 20+ year old 55 foot sportfish is still going to be a very high maintenance item! My 1982 Bert has me cursing at her quite often these days, but I still enjoy working on her!! One of the keys to buying one of these older Detroit powered boats is having a great Detroit diesel guy you can trust. If you are in the NE pm me and I'll give you the name of my mechanic.
The boat would be in the Keys, and there is a very reliable DD guy who has done work for us in the past. I have had my eyes set on a big Hat for years now. The lousy economy and slow business the last year have made me wait out the storm. Maybe more good deals will be waiting for me when the storm clouds dissapate.
what a beast...
Last edited by overbuilt monster; 11-16-2009 at 08:52 PM.
I used to think the old 60 and 65 enclosed bridges were some of the best looking boats ever. never been on a 60 and never underway on a 65. But, I have done some time on 2 55's. An '83 and an '87. Didn’t do much fishing, these were trips between Boston and Lauderdale. I believe they both had 1271's with the newer boat getting about 100-200hp more. Pretty sure the difference was 650 and 850 as mentioned above. Anyway, that hull is a Tank! '83 boat was a 20 knot cruise and the newer 22, but in just about anything. I used to say it’d do 20 knots through a brick wall. It was frustrating watching faster boats blow by at 27-30 knots, but when it was blowing, we kept her at 20 and they never caught us. I'm not sure you'd want the 55' to cruise or max at 30 though. It's just not the design for that hull. One rough day going into a head sea, my soap dish fell off the counter in my head. Had quite a few days in following seas (always from Beaufort to Charleston, grrr), anyway, standing in the cockpit, the waves were well over my head. kinda wild standing at the transom and looking up at a wall of water you just surfed down. we always figured they were somewhere between 10-15's. we'd climb up at about 16-18kts and surf down at 22-24kts. solid water would come right up to the bow cap rail sometimes dipping the anchor on the pulpit. But, it never came over the deck. It would scare me to hell, the owner never flinched. We sat through a hurricane in Ft Pierce once, no damage at all. Well, we did have 2 minor issues I guess. Boat had a small mast on the hardtop for pennants, one of the rigging lines on it broke. and, on the day after the storm as we were getting underway, the stbd motor kept stalling, engine room was all backed up. got back to the dock, fooled around with it a bit, giving some rpm, blew a coconut clean out the exhaust (almost put a hole in the boat behind us, didn’t quite hit them though). the thing had jammed itself up there during the night. anyway, he did a lot of cosmetics to the older boat, polished aluminum bow rail and bridge ladder. new hard top custom bridge windshield, I think they cut a tower off it too and some paint work, it was a really sharp boat. the '87 had the dark green striping and a tower, that was a mean looking boat. I have some pics, but they’re scanned so not too good quality.
hi overbuilt monster if u are inetersted in the 55 hatt i can imagine those yanmar 8sy's will still be a good repower choice. Another hatt in Trinidad which is a 50 that was stretched to 53 ft was repowered with the yanmars and I believe they got a 30 kt top end and a cruise around 25 kts and I know personally that they were impressed with the reiliability compared to the 8v92 ddec. I think they put over 1000 hrs on the engines in less than 2 yrs with no major problems. I think the owner is on this site and his user name is bernard53 so u could probly send him a pm. good luck with choosing the right boat
Anyway, that hull is a Tank! '83 boat was a 20 knot cruise and the newer 22, but in just about anything. I used to say it’d do 20 knots through a brick wall. It was frustrating watching faster boats blow by at 27-30 knots, but when it was blowing, we kept her at 20 and they never caught us.
That's my angle on this big Hatteras binge I have been on for so long. Most of the journeys in our old boat (owned by my father) had us crossing over the Gulfstream no matter where we went. I want a tank so that going to Cuba or even the Bahamas in the winter is not a problem.
You see, no matter what the leg was, we were regulated by the Gulfstream. Those were the 4 routes that would start whatever trip we went on. We don't want to turn back because of 8' seas. However, anything more and it's no fun.
That's a nice picture of the bow. Wish there were a couple bikini's instead!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocean 38
hi overbuilt monster if u are inetersted in the 55 hatt i can imagine those yanmar 8sy's will still be a good repower choice. Another hatt in Trinidad which is a 50 that was stretched to 53 ft was repowered with the yanmars and I believe they got a 30 kt top end and a cruise around 25 kts and I know personally that they were impressed with the reiliability compared to the 8v92 ddec. I think they put over 1000 hrs on the engines in less than 2 yrs with no major problems. I think the owner is on this site and his user name is bernard53 so u could probly send him a pm. good luck with choosing the right boat
Greg
Thanks for the ideas. There are a number of options available to me right now. I like the idea of either buying a Hatteras with the engine work already done, and for a $deal$, or possible doing it myself. I know it would be cheaper if I bought someone else's engine upgrade folly.
Case in point: this refurbished 60' Hatt with upgraded 1200 MAN's. This poor guy (or collection company) has been trying to sell this boat for 2 years now... It has been reduced twice, and it's now listed for 499k, but I bet they'll take a lot less...
I am deciding what I want for the future - and I am waiting this economy out until I see improvement. I nipped at a couple Hatteras's about year ago, but I am glad I sat this one out. Nothing worse than buying a boat, dumping your time and money into it, and then losing your ass back home. I am serious about this.
Another thing: I don't believe in boat loans. Leveraging a boat is the most foolish thing someone could do.
Last edited by overbuilt monster; 11-17-2009 at 05:23 PM.
youll probably still need to watch the weather crossing the stream. and i wish there were bikinis onboard too. oh well. here are some more pics of the '87. a little better quality, but still scanned.
Neither. They're both over-priced, especially the first one. I've run a couple of 55C's with the same power and find it hard to believe that second one will top out at 30MPH. As for 12V92's in a 55C, I've never seen or heard of one, but you're talking major fuel consumption there.
As somebody else mentioned a while back, you'd be better off to be asking questions on the Hatteras Owners Forum.
ocean 38 is right yes we repowered an 1981 50 and also stretched it 3 ft at the back
the 8sy's are bullet proof engines put 1100hrs in about 15 months with not a problem never missed a beat of puffed smoke...got 30knts top end and cruised comfortably at 23-24 all day but gettin a hatt with a big keel going 30knts is a little scary ...leave the speed to a newer hull not one with a large keel that used to go 16-18knts
we just sold the boat and moved on but the engines are still purring i would recommend them for sure
ocean 38 is right yes we repowered an 1981 50 and also stretched it 3 ft at the back
the 8sy's are bullet proof engines put 1100hrs in about 15 months with not a problem never missed a beat of puffed smoke...got 30knts top end and cruised comfortably at 23-24 all day but gettin a hatt with a big keel going 30knts is a little scary ...leave the speed to a newer hull not one with a large keel that used to go 16-18knts
we just sold the boat and moved on but the engines are still purring i would recommend them for sure
Thanks for your input. I hope you enjoyed the boat while it lasted... If you have any pictures of that conversion and/or the hull extention, I would be happy to see them.
youll probably still need to watch the weather crossing the stream. and i wish there were bikinis onboard too. oh well. here are some more pics of the '87. a little better quality, but still scanned.
You're right. As with anywhere else, it depends on the conditions. I had many good trips to Havana (both fighting and riding the stream) in following seas of 5'-7' in our old 53' Viking. That was normal. Stabilizers would definitely help in beam seas. They are a $30k plus feature, just like a bow thruster, only I would never install a bow thruster. I guess I am what you would call "old school".
I am really enjoying this this thread, if you want to tell more stories about that old Hat or post more pictures, please do so. BTW do you have any shots of her out of the water?
This is what I have always loved about the Hatteras SF.
yep, a very proud bow...neither of these had stabilizers, not sure thats as common on the C's. kinda funny, this friend that had the '83, did a lot to it, i'll see if i have some pics of that. sold it, moved down to a 31 tiara with i think volvos and by the end of the summer was back in this '87. we did a few trips with 3, and a bunch with 2 people 2 was doable, but 3 worked out well too. everyone had their own stateroom and allowed for one to go below and still have 2 on the bridge. funny comment about the thruster, another friend had a 60 Bertram (which i dubbed the 'Freight Train', i think actually came from an article when they tested his actual boat). anyway, he always said the same thing, 'thrusters, are you kidding?' he was in his 70's and did just fine without. Back to the Hatteras, unfortunately i was never around when he hauled it. that usually happened over the winters down in Florida.
I think we had 1 day we officially had to turn around off Charleston and a few where we decided it was 'smarter' to cut in early, one day off Rudee i remember. The Rudee daywe thought about not even leaving the dock, but figured we'd poke out and the Bay's not too far away. heading north from Rudee inlet was just plain nasty out of the north. we did cut in the Chesapeake and ran up to Annapolis, the bay was nasty too, we slammed into it all day long. once the scuba tank broke its bracket and started rumbling around in the fwd bridge bench i think we did actually slow down a bit. but, i remember another 55C ran past us out the bay bridge and saw him head north in a cloud of spray (my thoughts were 'glad i'm not on that boat'). he might have actually been better off though, cause in they bay it was pretty much right on the bow. The day off Charleston, man, it was like 5 or 6am. that's one issue with the speed, it can make long days, we'd try to get about 200 miles a day, so next stop was Beaufort. he was an early riser. heading out the inlet at say 6-7ish am, a 100 footer had already turned around. we got about 10-15 miles out heading for Frying Pan shoals and it was building. we discussed it, but since it looked to be getting worse, decided it was best to scrap it. We lost a carton of orange juice all over the galley deck, still not sure how that happened, i think my buddy had his nose in the fridge when it happened (a few other stories about that guy too) . anyway, we figured with a full day ahead and about 80 miles to FP and I'm pretty sure we were down below 20 knots at this point (and Frying Pan isn't always so fun if its blowin' and buoys are missing), it wasn't looking pretty. we decided to turn, we probably spent 15-20 minutes waiting for the right wave to turn on, felt like forever for me. it was that big. muscled the boat around and ran back into Charleston with a following sea (told you i always get that damn following sea there), and up the ditch. That was my 2nd trip on that boat, for me, it was pretty white knuckled.
Last edited by salt_shaker; 11-18-2009 at 03:25 PM.
I put up some following sea pics aboard the '83 for you. scanned so quality not so great. keep in mind, whats a 55 Hatt throw for a wake? 3 footers? Wish i had a digital back then, oh well.
Not sure how I missed this thread, but needless to say I approve of your choice in boats! I get a laugh from the quotes about the Yanmars going a thousand hours with no problems; I can say the same for my 8v92s which we put a thousand hours on in 18 months from fall of 2007 to this spring. Now in fairness, I take it pretty easy on them, cruising below hull speed, but their pushing 90,000 pounds of boat and "stuff" through the water while they are at it.
Not sure how I missed this thread, but needless to say I approve of your choice in boats! I get a laugh from the quotes about the Yanmars going a thousand hours with no problems; I can say the same for my 8v92s which we put a thousand hours on in 18 months from fall of 2007 to this spring. Now in fairness, I take it pretty easy on them, cruising below hull speed, but their pushing 90,000 pounds of boat and "stuff" through the water while they are at it.
George
Hatteras 56MY
Boston Whaler 130 Sport
Nice... 18' beam on that 56'. Where do you keep her?\
....I wish I could change the name of this thread to: "Big, Bad Hatteras's"
You might want to try posting this question on boatdiesel.com. There are a couple of Man dealers that post there regularly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by overbuilt monster
They want money to join... A MAN mechanic would only have limited info on an engine transplant that (to my knowledge) has never been performed. Maybe consulting someone knowledgable from Hatteras who has been around for 20 years might know...
No disrespect intended, but I find it it odd that you would be put off paying 20 bucks or so to join a forum that may provide you with a wealth of information (some of which, I am sure, would be invaluable) and you are talking about a boat and re-power project that will probably cost upwards of half a million dollars. I would suggest you re-think that
) . anyway, we figured with a full day ahead and about 80 miles to FP and I'm pretty sure we were down below 20 knots at this point (and Frying Pan isn't always so fun if its blowin' and buoys are missing), it wasn't looking pretty. we decided to turn, we probably spent 15-20 minutes waiting for the right wave to turn on, felt like forever for me. it was that big. muscled the boat around and ran back into Charleston with a following sea (told you i always get that damn following sea there), and up the ditch. That was my 2nd trip on that boat, for me, it was pretty white knuckled. 
