2005 39DA vs 2006 40DA

Hate to be the guy to push you to go for the bigger boat but we have been looking at our upgrade path and had settled on a diesel 390/400. However when you start looking at diesels in that size the 420 becomes a better option as diesels are more common and you can find more of them in the northeast.
 
Hate to be the guy to push you to go for the bigger boat but we have been looking at our upgrade path and had settled on a diesel 390/400. However when you start looking at diesels in that size the 420 becomes a better option as diesels are more common and you can find more of them in the northeast.
Good point Irie308
 
Sounds like you are doing your due diligence. That part is critical. We bought our boat for a fantastic price. It was very well maintained per the records and surveys. It was a FL boat. We did spend a bit to have the exterior detailed, but all we have to replace is the bridge and cockpit carpet. Moving it north was also very reasonable and another great experience.

Bennett
 
Sounds like you are doing your due diligence. That part is critical. We bought our boat for a fantastic price. It was very well maintained per the records and surveys. It was a FL boat. We did spend a bit to have the exterior detailed, but all we have to replace is the bridge and cockpit carpet. Moving it north was also very reasonable and another great experience.

Bennett
Thanks bbwhitejr - I'm keeping my eye out
 
Hi Guys - Been looking at a bunch of 39/40 DAs and putting miles on the car to do so ;) We've seen some crazy high ask prices for both gas and diesel, and are in no rush so we're not ready to jump. We did see a decent 06 40DA the other day that had a tear in the couch, chipped dinette table and the galley had a corian insert that was cracked but what really had me concerned was some cracks on the hardtop. Two areas were visible; one on the port side (inside), closer to the bottom where is attaches and a few small spider type cracks at the top underneath, around the lights. The port side one was made worse supposedly by the surveyor for the current owner (when he was buying) by rapping it with a rubber mallet; it is now about 6-8 inches long and wide enough for a fingernail to get in there. My main question is how concerned would you all be with stress cracks in the hard top? Second would be, does anyone have any experience with repairing these couches (its the medium brown one; seat bottom cushion) and the kitchen corian (the round insert is cracked in half).

Thanks in advance!
 
I, as well like diesels..however we chose to go with 8.1's and here's why.

We're on Lake St Clair in Michigan and 90% of our boating consist of 20-30 minute trips to the bay and dropping hook all day and then heading back to marina. We take roughly 1-2 "long" boat trips each summer. About 2-3 hours each way. It was very hard to justify the $30-$40k additional cost for diesels when we wouldn't truly reap the benefits from them. We use the boat about 40-50hrs per summer

You also have to consider the other boat options too. The engines are def a huge factor in buying a boat but I also believe other options have an impact too. For example, we wanted hydraulic lift, blue hull, cockpit AC/Heat and tracvision along with other items.. We found one with those options that was clean and it had 8.1's. How much weight do these options carry on the decision making process? That's completely up to the buyer but for us, it was worth it. All the diesel's we looked at we would've had to fork out $20-$25k for lift on top of paying $30-$40k more and that wasn't gonna happen.

We bought our boat for $65k less than the comparable diesel with all the options we wanted. It's a give and take

I'm a newbie to the site and love it!
 
Hi Guys - Been looking at a bunch of 39/40 DAs and putting miles on the car to do so ;) We've seen some crazy high ask prices for both gas and diesel, and are in no rush so we're not ready to jump. We did see a decent 06 40DA the other day that had a tear in the couch, chipped dinette table and the galley had a corian insert that was cracked but what really had me concerned was some cracks on the hardtop. Two areas were visible; one on the port side (inside), closer to the bottom where is attaches and a few small spider type cracks at the top underneath, around the lights. The port side one was made worse supposedly by the surveyor for the current owner (when he was buying) by rapping it with a rubber mallet; it is now about 6-8 inches long and wide enough for a fingernail to get in there. My main question is how concerned would you all be with stress cracks in the hard top? Second would be, does anyone have any experience with repairing these couches (its the medium brown one; seat bottom cushion) and the kitchen corian (the round insert is cracked in half).

Thanks in advance!
Regarding Stress cracks on the hard top, my 420 had a few of them that were easily repaired. I did have to have the stainless supports at the front, reset and rebedded. My hard top had some movement which allowed the fiberglass to flex and gel coat to crack. years of movement caused the bolt holes to elongate so we had to fill with epoxy. not a big deal to repair.
Soft goods tells me a lot about previous ownership. ripped seating, cracked corian, tells me the boat was used and not cared for well, which will most likely translate into the mechanicals. Finding a great used boat is not easy. all of my searays have been preowned. The first item I ask for is all maintenance records, it will tell you if the owner was committed to the boat or just did the minimal. That said if a boat has really good mechanical records and just normal wear and tear on the soft goods, then she probably is a good boat. A 10 year old boat will have some wear and tear. We have plenty of great vendors on LI that I can help you with to repair all.
 
Spot on Rocket - we took a pass on the boat in question. The owner wouldn't come down enough on price and the condition of the boat and lack of preventative maintenance scared us off.
 
I, as well like diesels..however we chose to go with 8.1's and here's why.

We're on Lake St Clair in Michigan and 90% of our boating consist of 20-30 minute trips to the bay and dropping hook all day and then heading back to marina. We take roughly 1-2 "long" boat trips each summer. About 2-3 hours each way. It was very hard to justify the $30-$40k additional cost for diesels when we wouldn't truly reap the benefits from them. We use the boat about 40-50hrs per summer

You also have to consider the other boat options too. The engines are def a huge factor in buying a boat but I also believe other options have an impact too. For example, we wanted hydraulic lift, blue hull, cockpit AC/Heat and tracvision along with other items.. We found one with those options that was clean and it had 8.1's. How much weight do these options carry on the decision making process? That's completely up to the buyer but for us, it was worth it. All the diesel's we looked at we would've had to fork out $20-$25k for lift on top of paying $30-$40k more and that wasn't gonna happen.

We bought our boat for $65k less than the comparable diesel with all the options we wanted. It's a give and take

I'm a newbie to the site and love it!

Thanks for your post
 
+1 on going to a bigger boat if it means diesels.

I was originally looking at purchasing a 2000 ~2002 410 with diesel engines. Pretty wide selection too in the FL and SC regions. Ended up with a slightly older 450DA from the Miami area. Biggest issues were a general lack of housekeeping and protection from the Florida sun. Did spend a bit to have the exterior detailed and the fake wood dash. And of course some miscellaneous projects that never seem to end - but I like that.
 
Thanks Christopher
 

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