These boats are all old, now, and many of them have had their engines majored. We've had quite a few discussion on this topic over the years, and (my impression) the consensus seems to be that if you are looking at a boat with DDs that have been majored (and almost all older Hatteras MYs had DDs in them from the factory; a few had big Cummins V8s) what you want to see is which shop did the engines, were they in-frame overhauls or did they come out, have they been surveyed ever after the overhauls, and how many hours since the overhauls. Not too surprisingly, the ideal boat in that situation would have a fairly recent (in terms of hours) overhaul of the engines, done by a reputable shop still in business, with full parts lists and service tickets showing what was done. AND a few hundred hours on them after the overhauls, just so you know everything was done right and that they have been used enough to be reliable performers since the overhauls. How's that for an earful...

With regard to repowering, the general consensus seems to be that Cummins C series or M series are the engines of choice. Personally, I'd be happy with either, providing they passed a serious survey by someone who knew their business. But there are literally hundreds of these boats out there with DDs in them, and while they are not the cheapest engines to run for fuel consumption, you can buy a LOT of fuel for the cost of a repower. If you find a solid clean boat, with a dated interior that you just have to redecorate, and the plant and generators etc etc are all in good shape, plus the exterior paint, you'd be in good shape with a boat like that. Later on, if you really love the boat, you could spring for the cost of new engines- and all the "while-you're-in-there's" that go with new engines.