Looking for input on a Riviera

[Bob Bradley]

My daughter is considering moving on from her 79 Hatt 37C, and wants to look at a 2003 37' Riviera with Cummins 6bta 5.9's at 370hp. I'm not familiar with the boat or the engines. 5.9 liters is 360 cu in, so the hp seems a little high to me relative to the cid. Anyone here familiar with the engines or boat? Is the hull cored? Below the waterline? Balsa core or something else?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

My daughter is considering moving on from her 79 Hatt 37C, and wants to look at a 2003 37' Riviera with Cummins 6bta 5.9's at 370hp. I'm not familiar with the boat or the engines. 5.9 liters is 360 cu in, so the hp seems a little high to me relative to the cid. Anyone here familiar with the engines or boat? Is the hull cored? Below the waterline? Balsa core or something else?

Great engines. I know several guys that have them. One in a 35 Tiara. Another with a 37 Maxim. Also just had a guy that worked for Cummins for years on my boat last weekend. He also confirmed the reliability of those.

 

[captcrunch]

Great engines. Riveras were well made from what i understand as well

 

[rsmith]

Riviera’s were absolutely junk. Early ones were made to resemble a Bertram but were built like a Bayliner. I can’t attest to the build quality but the systems plumbing wiring fuel lines were amateur quality and installation. End up on other people’s boats when we’re in the Bahamas because I carry everything from spare tubing to every fitting combination I can think of plus multiple rebuilt kits for the racors steering anything with seals. I always get the sheepish dock walkers that ask “do you have?” Naturally they don’t have a clue and I end up on the boat fixing the problem and finding 12 others while I’m there. One of the worst was a nearly new Riviera a doc friend of mine had. I ran into him at Spanish Cay said everything on the boat was broken and the wife and kids were ready to fly out and divorce him. I felt sorry for him and spent 2 days rigging the garbage systems so at least they had AC working heads water and generator. The FW system was really bad. Every time I’d fix a leak another one would blow apart.
I wouldn’t touch one with a 20’ pole

 

[Bob Bradley]

Thanks, guys. Anyone know about er access? The yw listing has no pics other than one pic of a small cockpit access hatch. https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/2003-riviera-37-flybridge-9441657/

 

[Scarlett]

I had one of those Cummins engines and I liked it however a few things to look at. The transmission coolers have no zincs, mine turned pink and developed holes, some of the aftermarket ones do have zincs. Second be sure you have a set of the formed hoses on board because they will fail eventually. Otherwise great engines. When Riviera merged with Maritimo there quality improved a lot. Now they are great boats except for the fact that they are putting Volvo pod drives in a lot of there boats.

 

[drburke]

I agree with the above. The Cummins 6BTA has a good marine reputation, and they achieved much fame powering the Dodge RAM truck line.

 

[cww]

Good engines, I have friends with those and they really love them. Not too sure about the boat though. Rivieras got pretty common in Florida in the 2000's, there have been a lot of them around here since then. Not sure why since they are built in Australia. People love them or hate them, not a lot of in between. I've heard everything from garbage to high quality. They don't have a great rep with brokers around here, some of the negative things I've heard over the years were from them. I have no direct personal experience, but from everything I've heard I would get a thorough survey from an older/traditional surveyor who understands calling out bad design in addition to just bad maintenance.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Cummins pushed their 5.9s pretty hard.
At and beyond 370, their life expectancy is reduced.
Ensure these have had proper maintenance including receipts and oil lab reports.

Survey the engines well including pulling the bottom zinc from the after-cooler. If it does not come out, walk..
The A-C is aluminum cased, copperious core. You can imagine zincs are important.
Air box heater connects are another issue. The block is bomb proof when not over stretched and maintained properly.

Riviera; Eh, Bayliner of Australia.
Kind of like Mut's are the Bayliner of the Med.
You either like them or tolerate them. It's a owner / service issue.

Now, there was a Riviera line from Turkey years ago. Run, don't walk aweigh from these.

 

[madhatter1]

In for the Cummins info only. I have the 6BTA 270’s in our 34. Nearly bulletproof. Bulletproof is the 210’s. That said the 330’s and 370’s are really good but only if propped correctly. The QSB’s took the 5.9’s to much higher levels and seemingly have a good rep but I don’t know. To me too much HP from the CID.

 

[bostonhatteras]

a friend has this boat. its like a cave inside, really chopped up space and i swear the salon is taller than it is wide. I recently helped him reinstall his cockpit sink cover, it was installed with piano hinge and maybe 6x1/2 screws, they were tiny.