Thinking about a Hatt 53 MY

[WLD_Engineer]

Greetings,

The wife and I are old time rag sailors (Westsail 42) thinking about to moving over to the dark side. We are looking at a 53 Hatt MY as a live aboard for the wife, myself and 3 kids.

I have heard that Hatts a have performance hull, not a real displacement (trawler) and not a full planning hull. Can anybody explain that to me? Being a rag sailor we are used to going at a brazing 6 to 7 knots when under power so the concept of going slow I fully understand. How does this hull perform? Does she roll around al lot? Does it break out to a semi-planning or will that take ever last bit of horse power and a bottomless tank of diesel?

What kind of fuel consumption can we expect with a pair DD 8V71 turbos, cruzing at 10 knots? What is the feel between turbo and non turbo and yes I understand that DDs are two cycle and have a blower?

Any recommendations to keep an eye open for when looking?

Oh yes, I am an engineer (electronic) as my handle implies.

Looking forward to any comments

Best Regards,

 

[Boss Lady]

I am sure that someone who owns this model will give you some great input, in the mean time, here are some things to ponder about selecting the right boat for your intended use. The Hat hulls prior to 1984 were considered semi-displacement, after 1984 they are considered semi-planing hull forms. Hargraves tweeked the earlier hull design in 84' to give slightly better planing performance (a couple of knots). The early hull will roll a bit more, but is the design that made Hatteras famous and its' "Blue Water" performance legendary. It is also very economical to run at hull speed and if you intend to run most of the time at hull speed, you would probably be better off with Naturals, which will almost run forever. I think Al has 12v71N in a 53 Convertible down in Fort Lauderdale for sale. I was on the boat and the 1510 hulls are very roomy. The 53 was made from 1971 to 1989 and was one of the most popular models. You will have a ton of choices and several different engine combinations. The 53 also has a beam of 15' 10". It is a heavy boat, and you would have put in some real HP to make it go faster. If I was content to go slow (9-10 knots) and occassionally blast up to planning speed, this boat is a great design. These boats are underpowered for anything else. Most of the engine combinations only give you about 900-1300 HP. You will need a pair of engines that will give you at least 1500 HP to get near a 20 knot cruise in this hull. I think the hull weight is somewhere around 55,000 to 60,000 lbs. I almost bought a 53 Convertible, I really like the size and room, but I could not meet my fuel consumption goals at the speed I wanted to cruise the boat, so I bought a 48 YF instead.

 

[Pascal]

i've had mine for 3 years now, living aboard, with 2 kids part time... you can't beat the layout as a live aboard ! the master all the way aft has a lot of privacy and there is plenty to room for all on the boat between the SRs, the saloon, aft deck, bridge, bow, etc...

9kts is the ideal speed on these boats, push faster, even "just" 10 and you're just pushing a big wave. at 9 kts you can get just under 1 nmpg burning about 10 to 11 gph.

if you want more speed, the Turbos will just about get on plane and cruise around 15 to 16kts but burn a lot of fuel.. i'll let TI owners tell you their excat figure, i think it's around 40gph or so.

the naturals are also easier to maintain and should last longer.

the design was pretty much unchanged over the years, with jsut minor tweaking like a ventury windscreen on the flybridge, a separate shower aft (earlier ones have 2 heads but share the shower, which isn't an issue and gives you a slightly larger master head).

also, electrical panel was moved from ER to saloon aroudn 72 i think.

the best part of these boats is the aft deck. always a nice breeze when on the hook and it's big enough for a large table for 6.

i reallt cant compare the rolling/handling since my previous boat was a faster express... some are stabilized and from what i understand running faster with the Turbos result in a more stable ride in beam seas.

 

[mgernes]

We have had our 53my for over three years. Before that we sailed a Hunter 30 for ten years. I grew up with speed boats, but never had anything over 20 feet.

What we have come to really appreciate in the 53my is how much more relaxing it is to entertain people on board. First of all, while sailing you are always worried about a gust hitting you and knocking your drinks around, or timing your next tack so that the kids all are holding onto something. And since we sailed on a river there was always alot of tacking.

Similar to yourself we have three kids, and the layout of the 53my is perfect for the kids bringing a friend with us for a weekend getaway. There is tons of space for people to have their own space, and as mentioned by an earlier posting, the aft deck is an awesome place to hang out and read on a sunny afternoon when anchored.

We have the 12V71ti, and cruise at about 10 knots. With the turbos it is easy to get up on plan, but on the river your wake can really cause some problems for other boaters, not to mention your pocket book.

The flybridge is where you will spend most of your time running the boat unless their are weather issues. The kids like the flybridge mostly because they can step over the rail and spend hours jumping off the side.

We put a removeable propane grill up on the front rail and we find that we can take a few friends out for the evening to grill steak, then sit on the aft deck with a bottle or two of wine and watch the sun set under candlelight.---Ok, this is starting to sound like something out of a Coastal Living magazine, but you get the idea.

I looked at alot of boats before we boat the 53my, and there is not a more suitable boat for the money.

Good luck.

Marcus-Beachhouse