Atlantis 47 2007 ex-charter with 840 hours per engine - is 840 too many hours ?

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prinex

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I have been offered a Atlantis 47 coming from a Yacht Charter agency gone broke - the bank is selling the assets. The price is around 100.000 Euro (72.000 UKP).

This is a 2006 vessel, it has been refitted before sale (there is a long list of things done like gelcoat repair, major engine mainteinance, ordinary genset maintenaince and so on). looks great *but* engines have 840 hours each. Engines are Volvo D9 575.

As I have no experience with big PS Diesel (my actual boat has a 100 PS Deutz engine that runs since 20 years, has thousand of hours and never gave a single issue) - what is the expected life of such engines ?

Basically I want to avoid buying a boat which is just on the verge of a engine redo.
 
I would be more interested in seeing a bag full of maintenance receipts, without that I would be very wary. 840 hours over 8 is years is not that bad, many non charter boats can get 100 hours per year so no drama as long as maintenance has been fastidious.
 
Not in my opinion. Its much better than the other way around providing service support evidence is there. Buy a full survey, if so far so good, get fluids analysis completed from samples taken at the end of the sea trial. In addition to surveyor, get Mr Volvo along on the trial to acquire and report on temps, fuel burn etc data. Then read reports objectively and proceed from there. Sounds easy?
 
840hrs in 9 yrs is not a lot of hours for an ex charter boat; in fact its not far from what an enthusiastic private owner would do so the hours wouldn't worry me. However it goes without saying that you should get a Volvo technician to carry out a full engine survey before you buy. I would be more concerned about the refit work and understanding what exactly has been done, who did it and how competently it had been done. I have seen ex charter boats which have supposedly had refits but on viewing it was obvious that the refit had been done on the cheap. The price seems very good but as with the engines, you must get an experienced surveyor to go through the boat in detail with a particular brief to check that the refit work has been done properly. Also have you established whether VAT has been paid on the boat? Many ex charter boats are sold ex VAT in which case you could find yourself having to pay VAT on top as (presumably) you are a private buyer
 
Others have commented on the engine situation. I did a quick google and what a nice looking boat it is that seems offered to you at a very large discount, unless the boat is in a poor state? I am glad someone didn't offer me a boat like that at that sort of price as I would be tempted and it is probably a few years too soon for me.
 
Never say 'too soon', I bought a Smeraldo 37 (39ft Loa I think) at 25 and no regrets (well, except that it wasn't 50ft!)

Seahope said:
Others have commented on the engine situation. I did a quick google and what a nice looking boat it is that seems offered to you at a very large discount, unless the boat is in a poor state? I am glad someone didn't offer me a boat like that at that sort of price as I would be tempted and it is probably a few years too soon for me.
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"there is a long list of things done like gelcoat repair, major engine mainteinance, ordinary genset maintenaince and so on). looks great *but* engines have 840 hours each. Engines are Volvo D9 575. "
gelcoat repair - usually easy unless its deep damage so a few days for a pro or a few hours DIY if its just surface scratches.
My 2007 D9 575s have just gone over 1240 hours and fingers crossed run beautifully (ignoring the small faux par last autumn - probably caused be a ham fisted "engineer" who messed up removing a gearbox 5 years ago)
gen set maintenance £150 of bits and about 2 hours tops
2 X D9s: all the usuals, every filter and oil etc @ £1000 in bits and a days labour if you take your time and have an oil extraction pump.
If all else is well and oil pressure and temps are good might be a bargain.
 
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I have added 170 engine hours since I bought my boat in July 2014. I believe the regular use and servicing is doing it no harm at all.
 
TQA said:
Nope very SIMILAR load cycles if truck runs up and down the motorway and boat does longish day trips at constant rpm.

Anyway 840 hours is not much more than run in.
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I thought we had done this to death over the years but this misconception comparing automotive vs marine duty cycles refuses to go away.

Typically a heavy duty truck is geared to be running at 1,400/1,500 at 56 mph on the motorway. Driver sets cruise control, if you set diagnostic tool in % engine load monitoring despite engine rpm remaining relatively constant the % engine load goes up and down like a yoyo as the governor responds to the changing grades as well as prevailing weather conditions. For example truck tyres pumping water on wet roads have measurable impact on % engine load, likewise strength and wind direction.

Marine D9 is 2,500 rpm engine and I would suggest most users run a little faster than 1,400 rpm, however engine load is a characteristic of vessels propeller demand curve which is constant. If you look at VP propeller demand curve to exponent of 2.5 at 2,000 rpm engine has around 500 available however prop is only demanding 300 hp, our truck on the motorway can be lugging away at 1,500 rpm with 90% engine load before transmission puts a shift in.

In automotive applications D9 probably has a B50 life of a million km so we will NEVER explore potential durability of the base engine, however marine aging of raw water pump, heat exchangers and CAC are the defining durability factors.
 
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