My New Hatt

[No Hurry]

I've been lurking on this site for about six weeks now. It really helped me decide that an older Hatt was the boat for me. I really enjoy refitting boats to my personal tastes, so I knew I wanted a fixer upper. I found a 1972 36C that met my budget and equipment requirements.

I've owned several trailerable boats over the years (my current is a 23' Keywest center console). But I am so excited with my new project. I look forward to sharing my progress and learning from you guys who have already been down this road.

Thanks for a great website!
Benjy Allen

 

[34Hatt]

It only took 6 weeks to make you realize you wanted a Hatt and you all ready found one WOW not Bad
I felt the same way as you about the personal taste so I too found a old Hatt to do.
Good luck welcome aboard you will love that boat good choice.

 

[thoward]

Project? Looks fishable to me, say 6am Sat., I'll bring the gear and beer .....Congrats on the purchase. Is it in Stuart?

 

[Avenger]

Welcome aboard! Excellent choice, both of the brand and the model. Full Disclosure: I'm a little biased in favor the Series I 36C.

Good luck with your restoration, and please post pictures. Maybe they'll give me some ideas for my restoration.

 

[Imthebeachgirl]

Hi Benjy, and welcome to the Hatt forum! Good luck on your boat restoration and keep us posted. We plan on doing a similar thing, but we would like to get an older MY and "flip it". Figure we've "flipped" two houses, how hard can a boat be? Cheers!

 

[No Hurry]

Thanks guys,

Thoward: Yes this boat was in Stuart, Actually, I looked at a 1968 34C here in Panama City in early March and that got me interested in Hatt's, I started researching and found this site, I found the one in Stuart on the internet. The one that was at Chapmans.

I went down and looked at it and struck a deal pending survey. Then I went back down and took a surveyor (friend of mine) back with me and hired an engine surveyor from down there. The three of us spent an entire day crawling all over it and running the engines.

It was priced right, which made me concerned about any "unknown" problems. But everything checked out to my satisfaction.

My requirements were fair price, decent diesel engines, no electronics, and have a decent tower.

I didn't care about cosmetics becaused I planned to re-do / upgrade everything anyway. Primarily I wanted a strong hull, with engines that would last several years. After I have upgraded and fixed everything else I can repower if necessary.

I bought all new electronics last year for my Center Console, I but I purposely went overkill, knowing I was going to upgrade to a larger boat soon. I have the Furuno Navnet vx2 w 10'' screen, Furuno BBF3 (1K - 3K) bottom machine, 4Kw Radar, Two Icom vhf's, Sat phone, Two - sitex XJ-1 lorans, Teleflex i6000 electronic controls, Epirb, Panasonic Toughbook Laptop, Maxsea 3D chartplotting software, Furuno autopilot, and I sure I'm forgetting something. Anyway the point is I have all the electronics and I needed a boat to put them on.

The boat was donated to Chapman's in 1991 or 1992, and was repowered by them in 1993 with 6bta cummins 250hp diesels, they used it from 1993 until a year or so ago for boat handling practice for students getting their captains license. Nothing in the boat was kept up except the engines, instument gauges and basic 12v wiring between battery, engine and console. All other wiring has been cut out.

The way they descibed it to me before I went an looked at it I thought the inside had been gutted, I was told there was nothing on the inside. What he meant was nothing had been maintained. However the woodwork is in pretty decent shape, so I was pleasently surprised. It also had a large fish box in the transom (needs some fiberglass work), and a pretty decent tackle station in the cockpit.

Like I said, my biggest concern was the engines. They have a little over 3000 hours. But we ran them pretty hard in the sea trial. WOT was a little over 2647 and 2650 rpms which is right on spec. It ran 26 knots on the GPS at WOT, and 17knots at 2200. All of the temps and pressures were ok. The oil samples showed a few items in the "Monitor" category for the port engine and but no "abnormal" or "Severe" readings.

I decided to make the plunge with the knowlege that I may have to repower if the engines don't hold up, but I'm hoping they will for a while.

Getting it transported up here was a whole other ordeal., but it's on it's way as I type and will be unloaded here in PC at 8am in the morning.

I'll keep you posted,

Benjy

 

[Avenger]

I wouldn't worry too much about the engines. Cummins cranks that block up to 370 HP and they hold up fine. At 250 they should last quite a while. Just keep up with the monitoring and the maintenance.

Now I have a question about your GPS. 17 kts at 2200 and 26 kts at 2650? 9 kts from 450 RPM? What props are you running to get that kind of performance?

Re: the wiring being cut out. They probably did you a favor. All the original wiring on mine is non-tinned and it's shot. If the original manual didn't come with the boat contact Hatteras and spend the $75.00 to get a copy of it. It has the wiring diagrams as well as everything else you'll want to know about how the boat was configured when it left the factory.

It looks like you have some work ahead of you, but you've definitely got a good place to start from.

 

[No Hurry]

Thanks Scrod, I not sure, the exact size of the props, The bottom and running gear had just been repainted, and we couldn't find the markings w/o scatching off the new paint. I quoted those numbers from memory, so I went back to the survey report to re-check them. I know we hit 26.5 knots at least once because I was watching the GPS, but according to the survey "max speed at full rpm" was "23.5 knots average on reciprocal course". So I guess that 26 knot number was on the high end with the wind behind us. The surveyor used an average over a longer distance and going in both directions. It was relatively smooth water (very light chop), with a little wind. The surveyor had 17.5 knots as the cruising speed. I'll find out the prop size and report back.

It will be unloaded today and I have to re-assemble the flybridge and put the tower back on. I am also going to remove all of the thru hulls that are below the water line and clean and/or replace any that need it (i know at least one needs replacing). I should have it in the water by next weekend and I'll get some more numbers running in our bay and report back.

I was very pleased with the cruise numbers. There were five men onboard and half fuel, no water, no other provisions, so I would call it a light load. But if I can cruise in the 17 knot range I'll be very happy. I don't plan on running it at WOT so that number is not as important to me.

Other numbers:
Port Starboard
Engine Alt Amps 13.89 13.81
Engine Idle RPM 576 632
Engine High Idle RPM 2910 2920
Engine Full Load RPM 2647 2650
Engine Torque 708 ft/lb @ 2600rpm
75% Load cruise speed RPM 2200 rpm
Exhaust temp @ full load 598 601
Oil pressure hot @ full load 52 55
Oil Temp Full Load 199 196
Water temp full load 165 169
Sea water temp 76
Fuel temp out minimal amount - unable to measure
Drive oil temp - full load 104 106
Drive Pressure @ full load 290 300
Crankcase pressure @ full load 1.5 1.9

The only numbers that the engine surveyor said were out of the range he expected were the crankcase pressure numbers, but he added in his report

"Please understand that the crankcase pressure readings are subject to the air restriction that a crankcase breahter filter may/may not obstruct the airflow thus allowing a build of air in the crankcase. Service of the breather may be required to verify that these reading are accurate and not showing higher that actual due to an unobstructed breather. This test was conducted with no service or any inspection to the breather prior to the test rpm.

In summary the crankcase pressure readings are even in comparison to both engines and considered normal."


Thanks guys, any other comments or questions are appreciated, I don't know the significance of alot of those numbers other than comparing to the "normal range", so please let me know if you see anything unusual.

Benjy

 

[No Hurry]

I also want to give a plug to Gary Gillespie, my engine surveyor. See his website at www.enginesurveyor.com . The port engine would not crank at first and guys at Chapman were just standing around saying "it's always cranked fine before". They called their local mechanic (why do they need an outside mechanic if they are a marine training school?), but he couldn't come over. So here I was having driven 500 miles and had two surveyors there and can't run the boat. The Chapman people didn't have any suggestions, but Gary took off his "surveyor hat" and put on his "mechanic hat" and said "We're gonna go to sea boy's, let's make this thing run". He went thru the fuel system from point to point to make sure it was getting fuel. Everything seemed fine but still wouldn't crank. It just seemed like there wasn't enough fuel flow even thought when he open the lines at each point in the system everything checked out. While Chapman's guys were calling their local mechanic, Gary was on the phone with a Cummins service rep that he knew and they finally diagnosed the problem. The 12v wire to the fuel pump from the ignition switch had come loose and therefore the fuel pump wasn't pumping when we tried to crank. When he went through the system doing the checks he was pumping it by hand and fuel was flowing fine. When he plugged the wire in, it cranked on the first turn of the key.

Alot of surveyors wouldn't breakout the tools and troubleshoot a problem like that. I would have been out alot of money and a wasted trip. Thanks Gary.


Benjy

 

[Trojan]

Welcome aboard Benjy. Looks like you have a great project. Good luck on your purchase. Sounds like you have it all planed out.
BILL

 

[Nick]

Congratulations!!

Enjoy your new boat and welcome to the Hat owners family!

Nick

 

[34Hatt]

I didn't care about cosmetics becaused I planned to re-do / upgrade everything anyway. Primarily I wanted a strong hull, with engines that would last several years. After I have upgraded and fixed everything else I can repower if necessary.

Boy that sounds all too familiar I am just getting to the end of that road 6 years now this past winter was the first one not spent at the boat!

 

[Boatsb]

Hey Dan if you miss it you can spend next winter ( like we have one in Florida) here on my boat. I have seen your work and feel with some practice on my boat you could have a future.

 

[34Hatt]

Wow thanks Scott that really nice of you too offer that But I am keeping sharp working on another 34C as we speak

 

[Boatsb]

His and hers? I know you cant run two at once unless you have some real cool remote control system.

 

[Nick]

Dan, come and practice on my 37 instead of the 34. Local work no travel expenses!

 

[34Hatt]

So I don't want to highjack Benjy thread to bad specially since he had all the same thoughts as I did I can't wait to see you do your project. It should make me happy that I am already done, not sure If I would do it again but everyone should do at least one Boat restoration .

Nick Ill send you a email Ill be out Saturday and Sunday doing some odd jobs.

 

[the kuz]

Benjy, best of luck on your new project. There a a lot of 36C owners on this site (ours is a 77 with 330Bs). PM me your address and I'll be glad to send you a copy of our sea trial data after we repowered in 2005. I'm sure Dr Jim can't wait to report his results with the 370 Bs. Glad to hear how well your engines surveyed after 3000 hours. We don't run ours hard, and at 300 hours a year, we hope to get 10-15 years out of our repower. Also, would be interested in what props you are turning. The series one 36C really dresses up nice and is a wonderfull boat. Folks here are really good about sharing lessons learned, and you will get great help with most any work you want/need to do. They have sure saved me from learning the hard way on more than one occasion (e.g. windows, holding tank, painting, and much more). Also, I'm sure all of us 36C owners will be glad to share suggestions for interior renovation and/or resoration - there are lot's of nice pictures posted too. Best Regards., Bob K

 

[jim rosenthal]

Benjy, I am really glad someone from this forum got that boat. I tried to get a friend up here interested in it, but he's busy buying land and wouldn't do it. I think you got a great deal and they are terrific little boats. You'll have some cleaning ahead of you, and some things to throw out, but making a new old boat yours is what the fun is all about.

Congrats, and don't hesitate to ask questions here. We have a fair number of 36C owners on this forum and some accumulated knowledge, so you may be able to get some useful information. Your fellow 36C owners already know that we all have the best-looking Hatteras model ever built, but we try not to say that too often in order to spare other folks' feelings.

 

[No Hurry]

Thanks for all of the replys and the support. The boat arrived today and I have it on stands now. I will have to put the flybridge and tower back on and I want to pull and inspect all of the thru-hulls. I hope to have it in its slip by the end of next week. Then I'm gonna go over it with a fine tooth comb and decide which projects to start with. I'll keep you posted.

Benjy