Hatteras

theguvnor

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Anyone have experience of these boats?

I know they are GRP and made by the yanks and they all seem to have massive grunt in the engine dept. I`ve looked over a few S/H boats and am quite interested

Any thoughts or stories appriciated
 
Excellent boats but very heavy so need a lot of power to make them move and hence use a lot of fuel. Also a bit American inside plus some did'nt have an internal helm position
I believe Hatteras paint the exterior of their hulls over the gelcoat, I guess for a better finish, so dont worry if a surveyor points out that the hull has been painted
 
We spent a month on a 53ft Hatt yacht, 1979 model, I think, on the Great Lakes a couple of years back. Our friend had owned it from new and had had it completely renovated internally. Very spacious, very well put together, two helms, very comfortable, very thirsty at 17kt cruise - and it is painted. No bow thruster, but pretty easy to manoeuvre.
Hatt have recently introduced more streamlined models costing >>$1m.
 
Which model has caught your eye?
We looked seriously at a late 80's Aft Cabin 40 footer (?40dc?).
Well built but very dated inside. Bakerlight light switches (if you are old enough to remember bakerlight). All mains powered equipment was 110v and the generator was set up to produce 110v not 240v. Not sure what you do when the fridge needs replacing? Import from the US?
Cat engines and very thirsty.
Having said all that I would not be put off buying if the price was right. Unfortunately they still seem to be very expensive taking all the above into account. Price often £100k to £130k even now.
 
70's, 80's and early 90's were ' usually' delivered with Detroit Diesels.

Great engines with loads of life when treated right ... but bad news when overpropped and / or driven too hard.

Straight Six's are great up to 410 Hk, but after that getting a bit stressed
V6's OK up to about 550 ... a bit dependant on series of engine
V8's I'd be a bit careful with above 800 on each ... once again dependant on series of engine.

71 and 92 series of engines(straight and V's) share loads of parts and as a result the parts are cheap .... £55 for a replacement injector ...and about £5 for the fuel filter. Easy to work on and have replaceable cylinder liners so can be forever lasting... Easy to de-tune and tune up.... If you find a good boat with engine that needs a re-build, you need to calculate with about £1,800 per cylinder, so knock that off the price..... (and when doing one, you might as well do the rest as it is a "out of boat job"..)

'Hotrods', such as the straight six 485 hk may need a re-build after about 1500 hrs (dependant on how hard it is run), but below that .... long lasting engines where 40,000 hours are not uncommon. Gen an oil analysis and listen well... Should be easy starting, smoke a bit for a couple of seconds ... perhaps hunt for 5 sec's, then they should idle smooth enough to balance a pound coin (on the edge) on top of the governor. If you cannot do that, they are not in tune and you'll pay with extra fuel....
 

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