Your Best Addition/Modification

[SEVEN]

I love that fact that there are so many owners restoring or upgrading their Hatteras’s. These boats should last a life time as long as you take care of them. So, Thank You all for what you are doing. Add more photos.

 

[Passages]

Great thread.
It should be moved to Frequently Asked Service Questions.

 

[motoryacht lover]

I love that fact that there are so many owners restoring or upgrading their Hatteras’s. These boats should last a life time as long as you take care of them. So, Thank You all for what you are doing. Add more photos.

Full Disclosure: my boat is a Viking

 

[Passages]

Full Disclosure: my boat is a Viking

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Two of my favorites. Tapped into raw water circuit. With a quick connect garden hose and the turning of a valve, I can flush the saltwater out of my motors after a run in minutes.

And by pulling off one hose before it enters the shower head and replacing with a hose adapter, I can de-scale all at once:

1. Gear cooler
2. Intercooler
3. Fuel cooler
4. Heat exchanger


Naturally, I can pump the phosphoric/oxalic or white vinegar solutions forward and reverse for best results. But I've found I don't need to de-scale as often since I'm purging the saltwater. Plus, this all takes place with garden hoses already onboard.

Then for the coolant side, I really like the no fuss no muss ability to drain my 23+ gallons of PowerCool directly into buckets.

Just found out it's also not a bad way to refill the system when you have very little overhead clearance. Put the pressure cap back on near the end and any overfill shows up in the recovery tank.

 

[JLR]

Recent poster may want to add to thread started a long time ago.

 

[Leland]

Thanks! Yep... I should have started here - my bad. I should have known that another inquiring mind had already posed the question to this knowledgeable forum. Being a newbie I'm still finding my way around here. Trying to put together my own list of priorities of "what's next" as time and bucks allow.

bob

 

[zigzag930]

I know.. this is an old thread, but...

My favorite additions/upgrades, so far:

1) Installation of new Victron inverter
2) Replacement of all house batteries with 420ah 6v batteries (24v house system)
3) Repair of non-working Icemaker (this U-line unit served more ice than 4 people could use. We literally could not run it out.
4) Repair of non-working watermaker, for 800gpd. Water is expensive in the Bahamas
5) Replacement of Pilothouse curved Lexan windows which were terribly fogged.

 

[madhatter1]

I added Teak and Holly throughout and a Sidebar liquor dispenser. Probably shouldn't have mentioned the 2nd thing.

 

[Eddieclemons]

Headhunter freshwater pump.

 

[SEVEN]

A few of the things that I changed were all cosmetic. I switched the ship’s wheel to wood, I had a new stern ladder made and had it kicked out 12” to make it easier to climb up and down. I also had mirror finished stainless steel cut to size and replaced the aluminum strips that hold the side walls together.

 

[Jims43DC]

before and after replacing aft boarding ladder

 

[UNIQUE_NAME]

over the years
1- custom DUI electronic distributers. no more crap trap caps and coils. day and night difference performance and reliability (427 gassers)
2- inverter
3- replacing salon a/c fan fan handler with squirrel cage unit and rerouting the vent to the bulkhead top
4- marquipt boarding stairs
5- replacing hatteras hand held shower heads with waterpick

 

[zigzag930]

Seven - I LIKE those stainless strips!!!

Also, I replaced my demand water pump with a Headhunter as well and the pressure is awesome. Great pump with nice self protection features. I may in fact lower the pressure a bit as I believe it is somewhere near 70psi right now and I'm a bit concerned about some of the 40+ year old fittings.

 

[43DoubleCabin]

I see mention of replacing the Hatteras showers heads. This has been on my mind lately. Other than the above mentioned Waterpik, what have you used? Mine is the hand held that has the bracket it hangs from.
Thanks

 

[jim rosenthal]

Asked and answered, but worth repeating:
-digital controls for the CruiseAire units
-replacing the treads for the boarding and flybridge ladders with stainless steel treads
-taking virtually all the exterior teak off the boat
-manual bilge pump override switches, which, astonishingly, she never had from the factory. Until this winter, there was no way to manually switch the bilge pumps on.
-revising the battery and charging systems, including smart alternator regulators, a common starting bank, and a separate house bank and also genset battery.
-I HAD a built in oil change system which decided not to work at all this spring. I still think it's a good idea, and hope to resurrect it soon...

 

[Pascal]

11 and 7 years after my first replies the list list has grown.

Repowered from 8V71Ns to Cummins C Series
Replacing the split air cons with a two chiller system
Moving the Galley up and aft
Combining the master and guest into a big master suite with a 5’ tub in the head
Gutting the forward stateroom and head, replacing it with a centerline full and moving the forward head where the dinette used to be. For now the old galley is a workshop but could be closed as a third SR
Stairs along the stbd side of the stern which means there is always one step level with the dock for easy boarding