Looking at early 80's Hat 43 Convertible with 6V92's TI

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Originally Posted by moparharn

Thank you all for your responses. I apologize for not replying sooner, but things have been off the rails recently. I see they dropped the price some more and I consider the boat to be a winner in pictures. If there is no documentation for the rebuilds then that would be a complete walk away for me. I will ask. 10 gallons per hour is not to bad if your making over 10 mph. The trawlers I am interested in would do considerably better, but they have not satisfied some of my key needs so far. Thank you again. I will report back after I have been on the boat.

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Well, I've had that boat bookmarked for over a year now...looks like a bunch of folks have! I guess someone here is going to get her, since I've not been able to pull the trigger. Probably had 30 exchanges with the broker, looking for more details. I haven't been to see it, but she sure looks nice in the pictures.

Biggest problem for me was getting her home....and lack of confidence in the rebuilds. My trip by water would put me through nearly all the Great Lakes and about 1500 miles. That trip would run at least 25K under hire, or two-thirds of that, if I did it myself. Just too much premium on top of my initial purchase and risk.

Good luck if you take the chance. It'll break my heart, as I've seen myself owning it for a long time now, but it will get it off my "favorites list"!

The only thing I am more than cautious is.........Cheap!. I am a long way from owning that boat so don't delete your bookmark. If I am going to take the noose off of someone else's head and put it on mine it is going to take a little documentation before that happens. I am not a fan of the 6V92, and the genset is over 5,000 hours and original. The early salt life is not a good thing either in my fresh water opinion. Every salt boat moved up here has electrical issues. Not necessarily expensive ones, just persistent. As long as there is "zero" evidence of rebuilds I will not even go and look at it. The only thing worse than no re-build is a poor one. I am not saying that this boat is not the absolute finest used Hat ever offered. I am saying that I need too much hand holding. We will see. Thank you for your comments.

Moparharn if your up there in the North you need to put shoes on it for us? :)

I had a GL broker that I trust talk to the broker a while back and I was told that the boat didn't come out of the barn in 2019. I was told that there are tons of records for the 20+ years that it has been in the family, BUT NO documentation on the rebuilds. Walstrom/Listing broker has provided detailed spreadsheets on service for other boats that I have seen that they have had listed before so if they were rebuilt it must have been done somewhere else and on the downlow.

My GL broker double checked today and still got the same answer. Accuracy of hours on the motors are unknown as is any information on the rebuilds. Seems odd to me at best.

Beside all that I love the photos and video of the boat!! :)

Can you refit that berth in the bow with the head removed and could it be converted to one big single bed? Has any one done that and have pictures of it?

What do some of you others think? I already had a thread going on buying a boat off the hard.

https://www.walstrom.com/inventory/1981-hatteras-43-convertible-harbor-springs-mi-49740-2700212i

I will try. It won't be anytime soon though. Maybe March or April. I think it has been inside now for about 16 months or so. Walstroms is first rate in most of what they do. Walstrom and Irish are the two main players in this area and they both have a good team. This is a higher income vacation area and the work they perform is mostly seasonal and they must make hay while the sun shines if you know what I mean. Not an inexpensive place to keep and maintain a boat. With absolutely no information on the rebuilds this is a tough pill to swallow. I already don't like the 692's to begin with. I like your idea of a pedestal queen in place of a v berth and a piss pot. Who could sleep in that environment? I rather go off the stern in a crowded harbor than use that thing.Boats already have trouble with odors, why in gods name would you sleep next to it? Sorry, I get carried away sometimes.

Get onboard a 46 series 2 (81-84) with the queen forward. Layout is awesome. Still will end up with 71's or 92's unless repowered. But the layout is incredibly spacious.

Have one now and love it. Love it so much we are throwing many boat bucks at it.

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Originally Posted by moparharn

I already don't like the 692's to begin with.

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Why? Did you have a bad experience with them?

I have no experience with the 6V92's. My broker, my surveyor, and two mechanics I use or know have all said "if possible, avoid the 692". The consensus was that is was Detroits worst design in that era of engines. They said as long as you don't mind the smoke, noise, oil leaks, and economy, the DD's are great engines. Reliable, long lived, and affordable. They said to look for the 71 series first, and that the 53 series would likely not be offered in the size boats I am looking for. The implication was that the 92 series was not as good as the other two I mentioned. Possibly the HP to weight ratio, I don't know. My internet searches somewhat supported what I was being told. It seems there are hull speed diesels that are highly regarded- Gardner, Lugger, Deere, Lehman, Perkins. Then there are the performance hull diesels- Detroit, Mann, Volvo, Cummins, Yanmar, Caterpillar. Volvo's appear to be expensive to repair and prone to certain overheat faults. Yanmars are sometimes too much power for the weight and displacement. Detroits are great, but at a price of smoke, noise, leaks, economy (somewhat). In performance I would prefer Cummins, Cat, Detroit, in that order. In hull speed- any of the ones I listed would be fine.

All of this pontificating bulls#t is from someone who has never owned a marine diesel. It is from 55 years of boating experience and ownership, and work experience. Most of it is from related opinions and research. All of it could be completely wrong. Cowboy hats and ............ you know.

I am nowhere near all knowing re DD. But I have done a lot of research, and I did stay at a Hol .... So gonna try and save someone a lot of typing.

There are two kinds of people. DD lovers and DD haters.

There is a school of thought that says that you divide the HP into the displacement. The more you are below 1 the better it is. Example an 8V71 at 568 Cubic Inches with 300 horses would come in at 53%. Fortune cookie says "You will live long life" (Provided you maintain it).

So..... 6x92=552 CI...... If it's a 300 horse, no problem. If it's jazzed up to 500..... now you're not gonna live (as) long a life. Still gonna last a while, with good maintenance. So, which model are you talking?

Lastly, the 92 series was a "wet liner". The cooling water is directly up to a portion of the liner in the cylinder. It's a bigger lung, and makes more heat therefore needs more cooling, especially if it's boosted to warp mode. Overheating it will kill it in short order. This is why it has a bad reputation versus the 71. Maintain your cooling system and you will be fine.

I have owned many 53, 71, and 92 series, in boats, trucks, and construction equipment. I find the 6v92 to be a great marine engine up to about 550hp. In fact, I prefer them to the 8v71.

92's got a bad reputation soon after they were introduced. We had several of the green ones that overheated and dumped coolant into the oil pans. The later "silver series" were much better.

I believe your mechanic and broker are misinformed. How old are these people giving you advice? Did they even live through the 70's and 80's when these engines were being built and put into these boats?

In used boats, it all depends on the condition of the engine, how it was run, how often, and how it was maintained. A blanket statement like that about 6v92s is crazy. They were built with varying horsepowers by several marine converters and only some variants were short lived. Find the boat, do your homework, and have everything checked out with a reputable engine survey and you'll be fine.

Thank you for your opinion, I will add it to the pile I have received so far. As for the experience of the people I have talked to, I know of no other broker or mechanic in the Detroit area with more experience than they have. They are older than me (59), and they are both second generation at their profession. I am not going to try to prop them up. Let's just say that I feel they are credible. As for a 6V92 at 550hp, this would violate a general rule that I have heard expressed over and over and over. Horsepower should not exceed 75% of displacement if you want a less problematic and longer lived engine. It could very well be that I have received bad advice over and over and over. I am certain in my belief that the best way to screw up a good factory engine is to modify it for more horsepower. I have seen it in cars since 1968, snowmobiles to this day, and boats for as long as I can remember. There is no free lunch, and often engines do not go back together with the same care that they were originally assembled in. If I end up in pursuit of this boat I will follow the good advice I received here and get the best possible engine survey that I can commission. I just am not sure I want to do this without any supporting documentation of a proper rebuild having been performed. I will share everything I learn should I learn anything at all. Thanks again for the comments.