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This boat is in my marina. I am seriously considering it. http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1972...g#.Wos0BxPwbOQ
The engines are massive commercial D343 Cats.
Overall the boat needs love mostly ont he Starboard side (was in FL for its life) as that must have faced the weather...
Anyone know about these Bertram's?
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The Bertram International yachts were built in Japan (I believe) on a solid fiberglass hull. The decks and superstructure are what Bertram describes as "sandwich" construction. The sandwich consists of two layers of 5 ply Philippine mahogany plywood. In between is a criss-cross framework also of Philippine mahogany. Slabs of sound deadening foam fill the 12" x 18" spaces formed by the framework. The assembled fiberglass coated sandwich is then covered on the underside with an acoustical nubble finish.
This construction is used for the weatherboards, sides of the deckhouse, deckhouse top and hardtop, and the main deck itself.
For many years there was a 56' Bertram International Motor Yacht kept on my same dock at Piney Narrows in Maryland. I was aboard that boat a few times. The decks always seemed a bit spongy to me under foot.
With knowledge of this type of construction, I would survey carefully. For more info look at YachtForums and do a search for Bertram International.
I looked through YF. It was a older post. We are looking at a bunch of Hatteras's from 43-53MY and found some great advice on here.
IMHO you would be way ahead if you stick with a Hatteras.
Very handsome boat, and these are reputed to be great engines, but might be hard to get parts and service for them. Too bad they are not in a Hatteras.
Given that they made very few of these boats and that getting the engines serviced might be a bit difficult, I think I'd look for the similar size Hatteras. Might cost you a bit more but you'd probably have fewer headaches in the long run.
My dad was very close to buying a 56MY in the early 80's. We looked at it several times and even sea trialed it. It was a 1970 with 12v71's. It was a nice boat with power sliding windows in the salon and tile showers with 24k Gold fixtures. The problem as the drivetrain. Not the engines but the underwater gear. It had some type of outdrive unit similar to today's pods. That ended up being the deal breaker.
Some of them had V-drives as well. I remember two of them back then on the Great Lakes. One was in Saugatuck and the other one was in Bay City.
Interesting.
Been looking at so many boats. This one happens to be in my homeport.
I am always looking for the next project. In this case it will be #6 in 10 Years.
1999 Proline 24 WA
1989 Pacemaker 31
1985 Searay 18 Outboard (should have kept forever)
1979 Hunter 27 Cherubini (Yanmar 8HP)
1989 Ocean Yacht 38SS (Cat 3208 375HP) In Contract
Overall I buy them, rebuild whatever needs to be done. Upgrade everything, live on it as a weekend place then sell. With a family now need a lot more room.
The parts for D343s are getting harder to source but with only 2500 hours on those engines, you won't be needing many, if any, for a long time.
Interesting engines. Talked to a friend who works on a lot of commercial vehicles. It is a low RPM engine. Also, after being in the engine room they are giant. I have worked on big Vikings with 16 2000 Series and these felt more substantial.
If he comes down to my offer we may have a hell of a summer house/yacht.