43 Double Cabin Performance

[barrysikes]

My wife and I presently own a 1980 61ft Hat MY Wide Body. Love it and cruise and live-aboard last 3.5 years. We are looking at downsizing and having owned a number of boats over the course of 40 years.....Grand Alaskan, Offshore and others. Still consider the Hats to be the best we have ever owned. We are looking at the 40ft and 43ft double cabin. The 40ft looks to be a little small coming out of the 61ft. We do have a desire to up our cruising speed. I see specs that say the 43ft with the 320hp Cats will cruise at 14 kts. Can any owner verify cruise, wot at what rpms and fuel consumption. Overall running characteristics? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Walter P]

Hi Barry,

Years ago I owned 2 43 DC's (at different times of course). My last one was a 1980 tri-cabin which was subsequently converted to 2 cabins. We cruised that boat extensively including our annual trip from NJ down to south FL in the fall and return in the spring. I think it was an exceptionally fast boat for it's power and size and we normally cruised at 16.5 - 17 Knots. That was done at about 1950 rpm's. The engines were not cats however they were the 6-71TI's done by a company in NC who did many of Hatteras' engines. I think what you are looking at with the Cats are the later model which replaced the DC in the mid 80's and was called a MY. That replacement boat used the same hull as the former DC but with a total redesign of the house, bridge and interior. Mostly a better layout I think, except it had no dinette. That later model was available with Cats, 6-71TI or 6-71JT.

Back to performance... At the normal cruising speeds of 16-17K it burned about 28 gals per hr according to the flow scans which I had installed. That 43 was probably the best boat I have ever owned and I have had many but I wanted more space for my granddaughters so I sold it and bought a 48'Series I MY. My old boat is my dock mate at our club in NJ and is still a great boat.

My only recommendation however is as you search out the available boats, I think you should try to get one with stabilizers (mine didn't have them). One of our friends had the same model as mine with Niiads and it made a tremendous improvement in the ride.

There are lots of 43 owners on this forum and I'm pretty sure they will concur with my assessment of the virtues of the 43's.

Good luck Walt

[Timeout]

My 43 with 671N's cruises at about 14 knots at 2200 RPM. About 22 GPH total fuel consumption. I just did valve, injector, rack adjustment at the end of the season and waiting to see if it makes any difference in the fuel consumption. Turns out one engine was set with the wrong injector timing. They run noticably smoother and quieter.

[rwappleton]

We also own a 79 model with the queen stateroom. We spend most of our time @9 kts and 1.6 NMPG. We recently made a 9 hour run at 17 KTS and burned 32-34 GPH.

6-71TI's

1100 NM trip this summer quite comfortable with 2-4 people

[Finalee]

I have 6v92s. She has Naiad stabs. Very level ride when others are rolling. Cruise is 17 kt. Fuel burn 30 ish. Easily handled by 2 people. Have single handed too.

[Finalee]

[QUOTE=Finalee;259095]I have 6v92s. She has Naiad stabs. Very level ride when others are rolling. Cruise is 17 kt. Fuel burn 30 ish. Easily handled by 2 people. Have single handed too.[/QUOTE
Cruise 1900 rpm. WOT 2350 ,23 kt.

[barrysikes]

Thanks to all for the information. Much appreciated. I should have mention that the model we are exploring is the mid 80's model of the 43 Double Wide Motor Yacht. I believe they were in production 1984-1986 or something close. I would of course much prefer stabilized but have not seen any on the market. Again, thanks for the info.

[SKYCHENEY]

Thanks to all for the information. Much appreciated. I should have mention that the model we are exploring is the mid 80's model of the 43 Double Wide Motor Yacht. I believe they were in production 1984-1986 or something close. I would of course much prefer stabilized but have not seen any on the market. Again, thanks for the info.

That would be the 43MY not the 43DC.

[magnawake]

I think our 43 MY is what your talking about. They donor really call them double cabins. MY is what they called them for some unknown reason. My cats are 3208 but they are turned down to 300 hp. No inter cooler or after cooler. Just straight turbo. We are pleased at the fuel economy. I have documented 3.6-4.2 gph at 7 kts. Seems like I used to get 7.5 kts for some reason. This is done at 1250 rpm. I run the engines up to 200o rpm's about every three hours to blow the soot out and achieve a whooping 10 kts. WOT is 15.5 kts but I haven't opened it up lately. We don't get in a rush and like the lack of noise and wind at low speeds. Plus love getting 2 miles/gal. We really like our 43 but recently wanted to buy a sail boat ( I know, don't throw tomatoes). We want to cruise to BVI and farther. You can see it on yacht world. Blue bayou in ft pierce Florida. We also love the floor plan and sundeck. It's the perfect size. Not stabilized and a few times wish it was but only a few times.

[barrysikes]

Pate,
Thanks for the response and performance info. I did look at your boat on-line. Nice looking boat. I was raised in Wilmington so know the Southport area very well. We are used to traveling at 8-10kts in our 61 and are really looking for a 14-18kt cruise in our next boat.
Barry