60' Battlewagon

[Maynard Rupp]

I have a doctor nephew that is looking at a 1978 60' Hatteras convertable. They all seem to have 650 hp 12-71 Detroits. Does anyone have any thoughts good or bad about these monsters? The prices sure vary. Are the engines tough or hand grenades?

[Freebird]

I too have looked at boats with the same powerplants. I'm no expert, but from what I've been told, this package is fairly reliable and at the mid-range of the horsepower rating available. Average life expectancy is about 2,000 hours based on info I received.

[captddis]

One of the best models Detroit made. At that horsepower very reliable.

[jim rosenthal]

Based on Karl's previous posts, I would say that they ought to be reliable at that rating. And slow. If he doesn't mind that, he should be good to go.

[Boss Lady]

12v71s are solid engines, and these are conservatively rated, and are not hand grenades, however there are some issues with the style of turbo chargers on the earlier ones, nothing catastrophic but you must keep an eye on them and they will give you good service. This low HP in that size boat means it will be slow, even at WOT, if you can live with the speed then you can have a great boat. The reason that prices are all over the board, is condition, condition, condition. If a boat is well maintained and in pristine condition it will command more money. Like I have said before there are three kinds of maintenance: Preventative, Scheduled, and Deferred. Every boat has some deferred maintenance. Most of us push the envelope on things so we don't go broke. If you find a boat that has had a lot of preventative maintenance it will be a cream puff, a knowledgeable and experience boater will appreciate the built-in value. This is also extremely rare. Most boats have too much deferred maintenance, and the value should reflect it. Do not make the mistake of underestimating the cost of "catching up" on maintenance. It is a pay now or pay later, but you will pay, and you can really screw yourself with too much pay later, it is better to head some things off "before" they become problems. If you don't have the knowledge and experience, then hire a professional surveyor and get an accurate picture of the condition of the boat and an estimate of how much it will cost at a boat yard to have the work done to bring the boat up to snuff. That cost should come off the price of the boat. Also you should decide what you want to do, go boating or a project to work on. I suggest that you locate and buy the best condition boat you can find, believe me, you will still have plenty to do.

[luckydave215]

The prices are indeed all over the place, and so is the condtiion. Look hard, don't scrimp on the effort. There are some nice ones, just not most of them.
It took me 2 years to find "the right one"............but maybe you'll get lucky a little sooner.
650 horse 1271's run a long time. 900 horse examples are more suseptible to misuse. Ask the owner how he runs them, and LISTEN to what he says.
Don't automatically discard thoughts of owning the high boost models, but remember, you have to run them carefully if you want them to last.
It you're the kind of owner that constantly leans on the throttles to make sure they won't go any further, buy the slow ones, or be prepared to pay, pay, pay.
btw, I see 20 knots more or less at fast cruise (without running them over 1950) so they're not all that slow.

[spartonboat1]

Perspective from a 6-71 owner...

650 hp from those 12-71's is 325hp per 6 cyls. Since the very long lived 6-71N's are rated at 310hp, it seems to me that 325hp/6 cyls is conservative and would have a long life.

I now have a fetish about posting in response to speed remarks, since I run the 43'MY which is "slow" with the 6-71N's, but plenty fast in a blow.

The 20 knots above might seem slow by todays 'go-fast' boat standards. But on the Great Lakes I'll bet you could run at full cruise into 7-9 footers at those 20 knots in the 60' b-wagon. No one else will be able to run with you, unless its another Hatt of similar size. In fact I suspect you would be the only one out there. This would esp. be true if you got caught in 10-12' seas...I would bet you could go in the 60', although less fun quotient than desired. I have only been the 10-12' seas once or twice, but that was on a 118' yacht without stabilizers...roll, roll, roll your boat... and I did get sea-sick first time ever. I know you'd be all alone under those conditions.

See the post on the charter boat that ran 100,000 hours with 12-71's, but with good maintenance and no hot-rodding.

[StratPlan61]

Maynard,
As I have replied before to 12V71TI inquiries, I have been very happy with mine. I have approx 2300hrs on them and they smoke for a few minutes on start up but they run great. I tend to baby them, usually cruising around 1500rpms. I have run them up to 2250rpms but you use a lot of fuel for a few more mph. Besides I enjoy the slower pace, usually running around 13knts. Mine burn 1.5qts of oil per engine running 12hrs per day. Seems reasonable to me for older engines but I am no DD mechanic either. Mine are pushing 90,000# of MY with 32"x32" props.

Bear'
1984 61' MY Strategic Plan

[Tawney1]

We have 650hp, 12-71Ti's on our 61'MY. They have respectively, 4300 and 4500 hours on them. They usually cold crank the first time, most everytime, in warm weather, and with the block heaters have done so, thus far this fall. They burn oil (3/4 to a gallon), and about a gallon of coolant each on an 8-10 hour cruise. The problem with them is that they smoke like a coal-fired locomotive (upper rings are failing) most of the time. I was told by Bob Sacks, Sacks Diesel in Miramar, FL (who surveyed them) that we could get a good deal more mileage out of them if we wanted to put-up with the smoke.
We are going to have them rebuilt in January.

[Ross Macdonald]

We have had a 60EB for five years with the 650HP 1271s and they presently have 3240 hrs. on them. We run at 1450 RPM with a 24 GPH fuel burn on the floscans. That gives us 11 knots. We have oversized stabs on the boat which, I'm sure, costs a knot or two. On a 3,000 mile, 8 month trip to Mexico a year and a half ago, these engines used a quart of oil every 20 hours of running time. We just had an engine survey done in preparation for another trip to Mexico and they surveyed out in good shape. You are correct in that the 650 HP engines will not give a 95,000# boat alot of speed. But with almost 1600 gallons of fuel, at 10 knots she's got range. Hope this helps. We will be leaving in 4 weeks and I will try to post our progress when I can....