1985 60' Conv

[Joeship]

hello
i am looking at a 1985 60 conv, anybody know of any out the ordinary problems with this model?

[luckydave215]

I purchased my 1979 60' convertible late last year, (they're the same model) and every one I looked at had dry rot in the port side aft engine room bulkhead, including the one I bought. The cockpit freezer refridgerant lines pass through this bulkhead, and keep it damp at that point. You can expect to find a rotted area about 1 foot in diameter behind the port generator. On a couple of the boats I looked at, the whole port side aft engine room bulkhead was rotten. Another place to look for rot is the locker on the starboard side of the aft engine room access. The salon steps are located above this locker, and seem to leak into it. You will likely find the "floor" of this locker rotted out. Niether defect should scare you off, all of them have it as far as I can tell, and it's not too hard to repair.
When you go to look at these boats, stick your head down through the forward stateroom sole hatch, and inspect the floor to hull tabbing. Some of the boats (hard ridden ones) have tabing failure in this area, and the whole forward stateroom is floating in the boat. If left unchecked, this failure works it's way aft until the whole interior is coming apart. early boats had an oil canning problem in the forward sections, which should have been addressed by laminating "ring frames" forward of the chain locker bulkhead, and below the forward stateroom floor at two places. Not all of the boats have been thus modified, and you have to check yourself.
There are a few other places to look, too many to go into here, and if you send me a pm, I'll give you a call.
Don't let these minor problems turn you away.
This is the best boat ever!

[Ross Macdonald]

I have owned a 1979 60 Hull #333 for 4 years. I had none of the above rot problems. The forward tabbing under the floors was done by the previous owner along with the glassing in of some wood supports up there. Not only do you want to pull that hatch in the fwd. cabin, but also all of the drawers you can pull out. One important item is whether it is an enclosed bridge or open bridge. The closed bridge boats all had to have after market supports put in the engine room. All of the closed bridge boats we looked at (6) had these suports done in some configuration, usually out of aluminum. Some were very heavily built and some didn't seem stout enough. In checking with Hatteras, they said they had to do this because at the time they were built they didn't realize how much weight and pressure the enclosed bridge would create. Also another consideration with the enclosed bridge is stabilizers. With all that weight up high, they seem to really dampen the roll. The only other thing I can think of is engine size (horsepower). They usually have the 12-71's in ratings from 650 to, I believe somewhere between 900 and 1000hp. If you get an enclosed bridge with the small engines like ours, they are slow. We run at 11 kts. and the floscans read 22 gph. WOT with these small engines and the stablizers, we can get just short of 17 kts. on the GPS. So if you want speed, find one with the bigger engines. Good Luck...Ross Macdonald

[luckydave215]

Ross, all of the 60's I looked at, including mine, had the aluminum engine room supports that, as you say, look aftermarket. It didn't matter if they were open or closed bridge. Are yours different? I've seen your too-clean-to-be-true engine room, but I forget the details.

[Ross Macdonald]

No, I didn't realize the open bridge models had them. We had only looked at the enclosed bridges. Based on what you said, I guess the whole flybridge, salon, etc. was too heavy and the floor wasn't supported well at the factory. I would imagine the after market assembled supports were somewhat similar, although I think I remember a little different style and configuration on each of the ones we looked at. I assume each was done at a boatyard in different areas. We looked at 3 in the Seattle area and each was a little different....Ross