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Looking at this boat. I love the classic look, flair, fishability, etc. Clean boat, but should I be concerned with the engines? Twin Chrysler 235 hp, 590 hours. New risers and manifolds in 2003. Anything else I should be looking at?
I have a 74 Bertram 28. Mine came with 225 Mercruisers based on 302 Ford engines 1 1/8" shafts.
I replaced them with 350 Chevys and all 1 1/4" props/shafts/stuffing boxes
I would be moderately concerned about your engines, They are not made anymore. I have heard that manifolds, etc are less available, and more expensive.
But if they run good, and have good compression, just run them as long as you can and budget for a repower.
Things to be concerned about,
The lousy hatch design drains water right onto the engine bearing supports, they are unsealed mahoghany and plywood, they will rot. The actual stringers themselves are much smaller, and totally sealed, they should be OK. The doubling pads under the struts should be looked at.
Steering linkage will either be rusted up, or already been replaced.
In fact, just about everything I could think of may, or may not be a problem. That is an old Boat. Only a good surveyor can really tell you what condition it is in today.
-The 28 is a great boat.
-235 HP Chryslers sould like newer (80's) 318's. Great marine engine. We have 10-12 older boats in our marina that have 318's with 1000+ hours on em with no trouble.
Can't give you any first hand knowledge on the Boat, But as far as the Motors go, I can help. I have a 1989 28 Rampage with 275 HP Chryslers 360 Cubic in. I believe the 318 and 360 are the same block. I have about 2300 hours on them and still running great. Obviously they are freshwater cooled. Have change the risers twice and the heat exchangers and tranny coolers once. Otherwise just routine maintenance. They have not made these motors for sometime, so certain parts could be difficult to find, but I think most are still available.
I have a 1983 28' Bert and love her. We repowered with 5.7 Crusader Classics a few years ago, replacing the clapped out old Mercs. It was a good fit, as we could use most of the stock running gear....but we did upgrade to 1-1/4" shafts. We've restored the boat almost totally. She's a pleasure to fish, though we use her as a weekender also. Unlike the older B-28's, the cockpit deck is all-glass. It still leaks some, so I'd recommend a cockpit cover while she's in her slip. Also, the mica/plywood aft cabin bulkhead is vulnerable to rotting (we've replaced ours). We've had absolutely no leakage around the cabin windows...tight as a drum. She's a heavy boat for her size (about 12,000 displacement, dry), so don't underpower her. She's a bit wet, probably due to insufficient bow flare. And yes, these babies do roll....that's the price you pay for a deep-v that'll handle heavier water than the captain can.
have a B25 with twin 360chryslers....they are the same block as the 318....mine are heavy duty truck engines....all external parts...manifolds etc...are readily avalible.....engines are 1984 vintage
All 28B have fiberglass decks. I owned a 1973 28B with 302 fords. Several of my friends own 28B's with chevys. When you get to around 260 HP per motor she will cruise very nicely at 21-23 kts. My 302 fords at 225HP managed 18-21 kts depending load. At 22-23 kts she runs real nice. 318's are great motors no worries there. Just look for rotted rudder posts and maybe the stringers and rear bulkhead and the strut pads. I helped a guy replace the strut pads last spring. They were wet because of the leaking bolts, not enought caulk. The wood pads wre not rotted just wet. The interesting part was there was not bonding to the polyester layup. Just goes to show you polyester does not stick well to wood. I guess the boat was laid up on a hot day and the resin kicked before it had a chance to sink into the wood. We just dropped in plywood layups with epoxy. The job was easy the prep work was really dirty. Lots of grinding.
318/360 are very similar but not the same. A lot of similarities but not 100% interchangeable. 360 has bigger crank, heads, deck height and a few other issues. Engine is a few inches taller than a 318. Not sure about the marine engines but the auto engines use the flywheel/torque converter to balance the crankshaft rather than the crank being balanced. Causes a lot of grief when you try dropping a 360 into a car that had a 318...
A friend of mine has an older 26ft trojan with a lot of hrs (1000+) on it and it's still running perfectly. The 318 is a workhorse.. Unfortunately he's selling it, I'll surely hate to see it go. I really like cruising up on the flybridge. Almost worth having a "sportfisher" style boat just to be able to do that!
Of course if you find an old chrysler 318 polyshpere, not even the spark plugs will interchange...
I had a 1981 28 with 228hp Mercs for 2 years. Great little boat. Can't add anything that hasn't already been said.
I cruised at 21-22 knots at 3150rpms. I don't fish so the boat was never really loaded down. Mine held 205 gals, but I think the 74's will only hold 165.
Great fishing boat, bad cruising boat (for us anyway). We bought it for $39K in 2000 and sold it 2 years later for $43K. Not bad for a 21 year old boat!
1974 28' Bertram flybridge 
