Restore 45' SF

[Lee Fleming]

I,m new to your forum and I am planning to restore a mid 40's SF. I am looking seriously at the 45' Hatteras SF. Should I be looking for a Hargrave redesign? When did this occur? Early 1980's ? Were these powered by 6V92's or some other unit? I would like to cruise and fish the Pacific coast of Mexico and maybe transit the Panama Canal and cruise the Caribbean. Thanks for any feed back.
Lee , San Diego

[Genesis]

I believe the year of the "redesign" was 1984, so anything from 85 and later qualifies, and at least some (perhaps all) 84s.

Many of these (including mine) have 6V92s in them.

They're a lovely boat and a true classic - a good choice for a restoration/improvement, IMHO. If repowered with "modern" engines they will turn up very nicely, in the mid-20kt range for cruise with top end in the upper 20s to low 30s, depending on exactly what you put in there - the 6V92s @ 500HP produce an 18 knot cruise boat, with WOT around 22-23kts.

If there's a "bad point" to the original design it is that the original fuel capacity (590 gals, 500ish usable) is considered insufficient by some. A repower brings better fuel economy and thus helps this to a significant degree, and if you lose the in-deck livewell you could put a centerline tank in its place, although you'd have to figure out distribution from there.

[Lee Fleming]

Maybe I should quantify some of my requirements for the SF I would like to cruise the Pacific Coast with. I would like a 2 SR model with the capacity to have at least 900 to 1000 gallons of diesel, 2 generators, AC/Heating, Watermaker, high capacity icemaker for fish boxes, Dive compressor, and Washer/Dryer. Prehaps I'm asking too much from a 45' SF and maybe I should consider a mid 50's or even one of those sweet 60' SF's with the 12V71's

[Genesis]

Its going to be very hard to get that all into a 45.....

[jim rosenthal]

I think by the time you get all that into a 45 or 46 convertible you won't have any room left for people . Look at the 50, 54 and wasn't there a 55 Hatteras convertible as well? the 53s are probably too old. They have made a 60C for a long time, you could probably find one of those as well.

[Genesis]

On my 45C you could choose any TWO of:

Watermaker, Dive Compressor, second Genset.

Another 200 - 300 gals of fuel (getting you within spitting distance of 1000 gals) could be put in if you removed the in-deck livewell.

The rest? Fergetaboutit.

BTW, Dive Compressors DO NOT like heat. At all. They like fumes even less, and can poison you. Service access for them is CRITICAL, and they must also be kept dry and fed CLEAN intake air.

I'm a diver and have my own fill station. My compressor will start and run off my genset on the boat, but I have to take it in the Salon and run it there - which isn't conducive to people liking being there at the same time due to the noise - and I have one of the quieter ones.

[Lee Fleming]

Thanks for your input, I could get by on 1 generator. I fish a 36' SF now and have a Northern Lights 5kw that just runs and runs, it has not yet failed me. I plan to retire in 5 or 6 years and have a couple of years to locate the right boat and begin the restoration. I have been aboard a 45' and a 60'. The 45' is much more manageable for my wife and I. Slips much over 50' are few and far between in San Diego. I will check out the 50'-55's in the next few weeks.. Anyone with experiences in the 50'+ range?
Lee

[Lee Fleming]

Genesis/Pooh Bah, how long have you had your 45'? Are you the original owner? Any major problems?
Lee

[Genesis]

I've had my 45 now for over 4 years. I am the third owner.

It has had a few problems, the most serious of which was an improperly bedded anchor windlass that appears to have been done at time of original build and delivery. The result was destruction of the deck core in a 2x3' area under the pulpit, not detectable from the top at all as it was under the pulpit. The pulpit's shoring between it and the deck was also destroyed. A previous owner apparently WAS aware of the problem as someone ran epoxy between the deck and pulpit in an attempt to "seal" it - all that did was make getting the pulpit off a real biatch when I fixed it.

However, it will never fail again and is now about 3x as strong as it was originally.... I will not tell you that project was fun - it was not. But the structural part of the pulpit (to which the windlass and anchor roller mount) is now SOLID epoxy-fiberglass laminate all the way down to the deck - about 2" worth. There are roughly 30 layers of roving and mat in there now. The rest is Meranti marine plywood, resin-soaked. The non-structural areas are left able to drain to prevent water from building up between the deck and pulpit. I did the job from the underside, working upside down in the locker. The coring in that area that was trashed was dug out and replaced with CPES-soaked meranti mairne plywood, and two layers of heavy roving were laid over that (in place of the one orginal layer on the bottom). It is basically bombproof at this point up under there. Not terribly pretty, but damn strong. I also reset the windlass so the motor "points" forward, allowing for both a chain and rope pipe to be installed, although I've not yet put in the chain pipe. Be aware that I know of two other Hatts with identical pulpits in this area with the exact same problem in various stages of progress, one of which is probably worse than mine and another which appears to be just getting started. In addition before I bought my boat I saw a third vessel - same model as mine - that had this problem REAL bad. Its definitely something to check VERY carefully for and if you can't or don't want to fix yourself you want a BIG price adjustment, because a yard is going to charge you a fortune to repair this.

Note that when I bought my boat this WAS something I knew to check, and the damage, while clearly underway (this doesn't happen overnight) wasn't obvious on casual sounding in the anchor locker because the blocking around the windlass prevented access to the underside area directly. Even when I DID find it up underneath after it spread it was not detectable from the top of the deck. As such this is one of those things that IF you can detect it to any degree at all you need to be wary - it almost certainly is worse than you think it is.

I've made a significant number of improvements to the boat since I've owned her, including electronics (what was on there was badly dated), fuel system, much newer style exhaust in the engine room, replaced the Walker Airseps with Racor CCVs, automated block heaters and corrected dozens of smaller things that had been done wrong - most by the previous owners.

The one really serious gripe I have with the design is the salon door - its a sliding track style, and is poorly designed. The track has small drain holes which cannot be kept open and as a consequence the track will eventually trap rainwater. That proceeds to cause problems for the bottom of the door and bulkhead behind it. The latch design also leaves much to be desired, and mien has failed repeatedly due to guests grabbing the handle in rough conditions and effectively destroying the latch plate. The original plate is brass and easily trashed; I've tried both aluminum and stainless steel with neither producing any better results over more than six months. I'm trying to find someone who can fabricate me a door of the appropriate size that SWINGS, rip out the sliding door, install that, and forever be done with that mistake. If I get frustrated enough I'll buy me a bandsaw and jointer and make the damn thing myself.

Sliding doors CAN be done correctly, but this one wasn't, and correcting it would be much harder than replacing it with a swinging door instead..... At this point the door has roughly the bottom 1/8th consisting of epoxy-infused wood; it was pretty much gone in terms of integrity when I got the boat.

Even so, in terms of "brain farts" I've found precious few boats out there that have fewer, and I love my 45..... it'd take a lot (of cash!) to pry her out of my hands... especially since basically all the stuff I didn't like has been fixed

[saltshaker]

I almost bought a 3 stateroom 1986 52C a few years ago. Almost 1100 gls of fuel, a 20KW generator, dive compressor and 4 AC units in the ER. There may be room for a 2nd genny but the AC units would have to be relocated. The '80-'83 50C is the same boat but with 2 feet lees cockpit and can be bought a lot cheaper. The 52 will cruise 19-20kts w/720HP 8V92TA's @1950rpm.

I have a 46C and in comparrison, the 52C is a lot more boat and certainly a lot more to handle an maintain. The ER in the 46 is bigger than the 45's but still won't fit 2 gennys and a dive compressor. If you convert the waste tank you'll end up with 870gls of fuel. I was on a 46C that had the live well removed and additional fuel added to get it up to 1000 gls. The 46c is a great sea boat and the 52C is probably even better. If the size isn't a problem the 52C would make a great restore/upgrade project.

Jack Sardina