454's to 3208's

[FtMorgan]

My boat is a 1987 32 Ft Hatteras Flybridge.

Due to my economy i cannot get the 6BTA cummins or 370 Yanmar's i would love to have but i have found two 3208T 325 HP Cats for a good price with gears. I think my boat was offered with these engines as an option.

My question is, the 3208T predates the 3208TA (i believe) but i have been told the TA version has more maintenance woes with the aftercooler than the T without aftercooler.

Do any of you diesel owners have opinions on the aftercooler question.

Also I would appreciate any input on the selection of the 3208T as a replacement for the 454s keeping in mind that the most important part of this effort is to get longer legs not necessairly more speed

 

[BUSTER]

TA does not predate T. An aftercooled engine is usually of higher horsepower plus has a higher injection rate and usually has a bit lower compression to take advantage of the denser air-charge delivered by the aftercooler.The CAT 3208's are great motors especially in the under 400hp versions,but they are much heavier than your 454's and take up considerably more room in and already small engine room. There is a possibility that the additional weight might even make the boat slower? Some of the 3208 powered newer 36C's I have serviced were real dogs and I believe it was due too much weight in an already heavy boat when compared to the older 36's.That being said,even though I have no experience with a 32' with 3208's I would be wary of the performance.

Personally I would look hard for a pair of Cummins 5.9's if they aren't too tall for your boat They are a very sweet and rugged engine.Outside of their sh!tty raw water pump location I love them.

 

[captddis]

I am a huge 3208 fan, but not in that boat. Way too much weight for the 32. They were poor performers with the 3208's.

 

[RT46]

Ok I know I may get hammered for this, but.......

I am a big fan of the GM 6.5 Diesel. It is the engine in the HUMMER and GM pickups before they went to the current diesel.

it is a direct drop in replacement for the 454 and will even use the same gears (unless you have a counter rotating 454, then you will have to swap out at least one of the gears)

However, The 6.5 does not have a good reputation if your read the forums.

I had a boat with 454's and seriously consider Yanmar, Cummins, and the 6.5.....
If money wasnt an issue iI would choose the Cummins.

The least expensive would be the GM 6.5 conversions.
you might be able to do it for around 20k.

either way good luck.
youcan always keep the 454's, they are great engines and depending on how often you use the boat, it may takey you a long time break even with fuel savings by going to diesel.
You can drop in a replacement longblock 454 for around 3K and be up and running in a weekend if one goes down

 

[BUSTER]

You won't get hammered from me,I happen to like the GM 6.5.For a light duty diesel it is a pretty reliable engine,especially in the mechanical version.We have literally put millions of miles on them in our service trucks in the electronic version and outside of one bad fuel pump,"warranty replaced" several FSD's and one optical scanner they have been reliable mechanically.

As far as putting them in a boat I would first be wary of the quality of the marinization.Then the question would be of whether or not there is enough room to properly service it and that is not just a question with the GM,but with any V configured diesel. V's fit in low cramped engine rooms more often than inlines do but at a huge cost to technicians and owners via difficult access to some peipherals that do not or can not be serviced.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

My son had a 32 Hatteras express with 3208s. It was almost impossible to work on those engines, the boat was slow and burned tons of fuel. I have heard that the 32 with 454s is a great and fast boat. Another friend had a 32 flybridge with Cat 3126 6 cylinder engines. I am not sure of the number, but these were the ones with the bad blocks. His are fine and the boat tops out at 30 mph. It seems that light engines are the way to go with the 32.