salt water boat question

The Bad Fish · 01-26-2004, 08:53 PM

I found 1990 27 ft sea-sport sea master for sale. with 600 hours on a repowered 5.7 liter gas engine. repowered in 2000.

my question is.
is 600 hours on a repowered motor like 150000 miles on a car?? how do you convert hours to estimate the amount of use?? thanks to you guys because the saltys seem to know this stuff.. kb

corrirod · 01-26-2004, 09:13 PM

Doesn't take long to put on 600 hours, especially if you're an offshore fisherman.

Trolling offshore for tuna or salmon involves running the motor non-stop for 10-12+ hours a day. Doesn't take too long before you've racked up a lot of hours.

As long as there is a good record of maintenance there should be no issues. All said though, I'd still have boat mechanic do a check on it before I bought it.

Aqua-Holic · 01-26-2004, 09:29 PM

Bug_Flicker....I can't address repowered compared to original, but I'll give the usage part of your question a shot. I put 1600 nm on my boat from mid May to mid Oct. Between running (cruise) and trolling (site-seeing) I averaged 15 kts. That translates into a little over 100 hrs of use. To put that in perspective....that is 25 round trips to the ranch or 50 round trips to the rock pile or about 20 round trips to Tuna (all out of Newport) or 2 round trips from Newport to Tacoma.
When I was shopping, I couldn't get a definative answer on what was "alot" of hours. It all depends on the care and maintenance. I know of one boat which has 4000 original hours on gas engines, which I'm sure is on the outside and probably an exception. Maybe someone can jump in on the repower issue, but 600 should leave alot of use.
Good Luck!

The Bad Fish · 01-26-2004, 09:42 PM

thanks guys, what would be a good gph on fuel. it has a 5.7 liter engine in it and i am not too sure if it is fuel injected..

Sensei-san · 01-26-2004, 09:51 PM

Figure it like the truckers get a million miles on diesel engines. 60 mph times the number of hours. Or about 15,000 hours. So an average gas motor seems to be warranted for 100,000 miles. So that would mean a gas motor is worth about 1,500 hours. Go diesel...

Aqua-Holic · 01-26-2004, 09:56 PM

Twin 350's burn wayyyyyyyy to much....20gph!!!

corrirod · 01-26-2004, 10:11 PM

That seems a little under powered to me but I'm not that familiar with that hull. Being under powered can result in very poor "mileage".

Another thing to consider, I heard that the older Seasports were a Deep V hull design and they switched to the current Cathedral hull. From what I understand they were very unstable in the Deep V configuration which is why they switched. Perhaps some of the SeaSport owners can help with this?

Sensei-san · 01-26-2004, 10:46 PM

Try the other way around... Seasports had a shallow vee. I think the original transom deadrise was about 10 degrees. The design you are thinking about is on the 32' catamaran design. I think they came out with a more traditional 30' boat.

http://www.seasportboats.com/index-2.html

I still like a 27' Seamaster with diesels. It's a big enough boat that the weight penalty of a diesel is not an impediment to going reasonably fast.

Burn up the 5.7 and save your pennies for a diesel. The new Duramax diesel will eventually show up marinized. The engine has the same bellhousing bolt up as a 454 chevy block.

Reel Creel · 01-27-2004, 04:37 AM

BF,
I was told that if you get about 3000 hours on a gas, boat v8 you done good. And yes Volvo is ofering the duramax this year. This is just what the volvo guys said.

corrirod · 01-27-2004, 08:28 AM

Sensai,

The Seasport rep called the hull design a modified cathedral hull on all but the 32'. The 32' is a cat right, not a cathedral?

backlash442 · 01-27-2004, 08:34 AM

BF, I kinda always thought every 100 hours is like 3k miles on a car. Change your oil etc. Although that is not an exact ratio to be sure.

Personally I'd rather have a boat with a fairly high amount of hours with age than something that is low. It shows that the boat has been used. 600 hours on a rebuilt isn't that much IF the engine has been taken care of.

As for being in a 27ft boat well that's another matter. Someone posted about a 350 in a 26' boat and I thought that was too much but others didn't think it was a big deal. Might have had to do with speed though. Guess it depends on how heavy the hull is.

Gas vs. diesel. The age old arguement. Really comes down to how much you use the boat imo. Long hours on the water then go diesel. Only because they are made to last a lot longer. However, the reliability issue is a crock. Gas or diesel they can all break down. I've been towed back to port after both have broken down.

The Bad Fish · 01-27-2004, 05:25 PM

thanks alot guys. it may take me 5 years to get this thing off the ground,, but i am going to do it.. bf

fishwhenican · 01-27-2004, 06:37 PM

Duramax diesel: Workhorse chassis is getting them first. Then HummerH2, Then Suburban and Tahoe.
The engione plant just got expanded, but they still can't keep up with demand. They currently can't keep up with demand for the light truck market, I can't see the marine market getting any before the Suburban. I'm sure GM doesn't like the loss of market share to the Excursion.

Also not really sure why Volvo-Penta would buy a diesel from GM/Izusu when they have lots of emmisions legal versions in their current lineup.