OFFICIAL 390/40 Motor Yacht Thread

They just started making progress on mine as well and hopefully don’t get halted now with all non essential businesses getting shut down ....
 

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All, please tell me if I'm out of my mind.

I'm planning my first boat purchase. I have a family with 2 kids, so we have been looking for a boat where we can all get out, bring friends for a weekend, but at the same time, we love to fish.
So our two main uses would be staying over couple of days on the boat and fishing / trolling or bottom fishing on it.

I've started looking at 320, then 340 / 8.1s and now I've made an offer on a 2005 390 w qsb 380 diesels with about 600 hours. The boat looks amazing, and a good size for us to be comfortable.

Here are my questions to the owners.
1. is 130 a good price for such a boat ?
2. Would I be able to troll salmon on it ? Ive heard diesel engines idle at the high speed. Any idea how fast the boat will move ?
3. Does the smell of a diesel bother anyone when you are moving slow on this boat?

Thank you so much for your answers and guidance.
 
My thoughts:
First, I suspect the engine is actually the Cummins 480 CE. I don't believe QSB engines were available on this boat in 2005. You should validate which engine you are looking at. If it is the 480, those engines have a class history of substantial and expensive-to-fix problems so special care is warranted. There are several posts in this thread about this, and other standalone threads addressing the problems.
1. Great price as long as the boat is sound. It actually sounds like something of a lowball price so my antennae would be up with respect to defects. Thorough surveys to include engines is imperative to make sure, especially if you are looking at 480's. I would plan on getting Cummins and/or a highly reputable diesel shop to survey the engines and pay whatever it takes to make sure on this.
2. Fishing is a little more awkward than on a boat with a lower cockpit. I don't fish so no direct experience but I do have friends with similar motor yacht-style boats who open up the back and fish from a high cockpit and are fine with the limitations. My boat with 425s idles at about 5 knots so the 480 perhaps a little more. Mine also has "Slow Idle", not sure about the 425. I rarely use it so can't say how much speed it takes off. I believe all these boats have underwater exhausts as mine does so fumes are not a huge issue.
3. To the extent it's important, you will need to decide and make it a point to observe and think through when you inspect the boat and especially if you go to sea trial.
 
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Sounds cheap to me . As far as room I have 4 grand sons and it’s fine.
For that price I would definitely have a survey on systems and engines.
I sure Alnav has forgotten more than I
Will ever know.
What area boat located in.
 
Shorkun said:
All, please tell me if I'm out of my mind.

I'm planning my first boat purchase. I have a family with 2 kids, so we have been looking for a boat where we can all get out, bring friends for a weekend, but at the same time, we love to fish.
So our two main uses would be staying over couple of days on the boat and fishing / trolling or bottom fishing on it.

I've started looking at 320, then 340 / 8.1s and now I've made an offer on a 2005 390 w qsb 380 diesels with about 600 hours. The boat looks amazing, and a good size for us to be comfortable.

Here are my questions to the owners.
1. is 130 a good price for such a boat ?
2. Would I be able to troll salmon on it ? Ive heard diesel engines idle at the high speed. Any idea how fast the boat will move ?
3. Does the smell of a diesel bother anyone when you are moving slow on this boat?

Thank you so much for your answers and guidance.
Click to expand...

So here’s my 2 cents. The 390/40 is a great boat all around. Great looks, well built and has many features and designs that are way ahead of its time. The 480 CE engines are iron work horses so long as you have the upgraded heads and propped properly. That is really there only fault. Each Diesel engine has there flaws. Cummins overall has some of the least. It’s an easy fix. If you plan to buy it get it sea trialed and Cummins mechanic you inspect. Ask if the heads have been upgraded to the new version . If they haven’t been done then a lot $15k in the sales price to get them done before you drive it home. If you do that you will have no issues and nothing to worry about again other then regular maintainence. The 480s has better power then the QSB, offer excellent fuel economy and are very simplistic and easily rebuilt with regular hand tools.

2) as for the family or friends staying on. It’s. A great boat for that. Rare to find a motoryacht with a hardtop. Awesome feature. Plenty of room in both state rooms for you and family. The front v berth is nice because it can used as a day room and couch and also for sleeping and port bed slides out into a full size bed. Couch in salon pulls out to nice full size bed and the aft cabin is top of the line and super roomy and comfortable.

3) fishing may be alittle tough but could be done. If you have the room in your slip , purchase the extended platform and you can fish all day long on the platform , it’s huge with the extended.

4) diesels are the way to go if you can. Way better fuel economy and power.

lastly 130k is a very good and almost low price. So be sure you go through everything. Possibly they are accounting for the fact the heads need to be done which put it more in line for $145k.

keep us posted. I just went through all this end of last year. So it’s fresh in my memory. Happy to help.
 
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That's correct, it's 390 sundancer with 380s. I just found more details on the boat. It has been on sale for the past 8 months at 145K. Apparently cummins surveyor who had looked at the boat said that no maintenance had been done for the past 6 years and aftercoolers need to be changed. What do you guys say? I've looked at the cores, they are about 3k each to replace, but my concern is that they are compromised and seawater has entered the engine.

What am I getting myself into? Should I cancel the deal ?
 
Shorkun said:
That's correct, it's 390 sundancer with 380s. I just found more details on the boat. It has been on sale for the past 8 months at 145K. Apparently cummins surveyor who had looked at the boat said that no maintenance had been done for the past 6 years and aftercoolers need to be changed. What do you guys say? I've looked at the cores, they are about 3k each to replace, but my concern is that they are compromised and seawater has entered the engine.

What am I getting myself into? Should I cancel the deal ?
Click to expand...

I was referring to the 390/40 Motoryacht since this thread was for that but either way Sundancer is also a great model as well and has similar power packages. I have heard of them coming with Cummins 450 diamonds and the 6.7 QSB 380. Sounds like thats what you are looking at. I do not know as much about them as the 480's but they are predecessor of the 5.9 which were bullet proof. The fact that both intercoolers are shot is not good. Typically if the motors get water and salt spray from bad after coolers means it likely needs some new pistons too as they get rusted out and chips. The aftercoolers are about $3800 each and then you need to deal with the motors and I am unsure if those are sleeved or not. Could be talking a easy $30k to get it back up to par. Most likely why it is being offered so cheap. You could opt to have the pistons bore scoped and do a compression test but that is alot of investment and risk. I would keep looking . But overall the Sundancer is great boat.
 
Has anyone replaced their fire suppression in the ER? If so what did
You have to do?
 
JM390 said:
how much is this costing you all in? Did they leave everything in tact and working through the single engine hatch ?
Click to expand...


Everything is being done in the water. Was able to jack the engine enough to drop the pan and left enough headroom to pull the sleeves. Cost 22.5, insurance paid 18.5
 
I have a 2005 390 MY. Great boat especially for a family. Not the greatest to fish from, but it can be done.

Check SBMAR.com for the history on the 480s. I dropped an exhaust valve seat in Nov, 22.5 to fix my insurance paid 18.5. I will be swapping out the head on the other after finishing the damaged one. The updated head part# is 4942463. It costs around 3600 From Cummins and takes about 3 days to swap.

I would suggest you get an insurance policy that specifically pays for unplanned mechanical failure.

All and all, the 390 is a great boat, 130k is a rock bottom price, most seem to go for 180ish.
Good luck
 
Slowly getting it done. Un did the mounts and jacked the left side, just enough room to drop the pan, un do the rods and push them up and out and enough headroom to remove the liners.
My marina has prohibited slip owners from accessing their boats, but paid employees are ok.
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My policy specifically states unplanned mechanical failures paid 100% until the boat is 10 years old, after that depreciation is applied. In my case, the engine was 14 years old at the time of the incident, the cost of the parts was depreciated 10%, no depreciation on labor, and then my deductible was applied. Most of the cheaper policies do not have this coverage, but in my opinion you get what you pay for.
 
Rgdodson54 said:
My policy specifically states unplanned mechanical failures paid 100% until the boat is 10 years old, after that depreciation is applied. In my case, the engine was 14 years old at the time of the incident, the cost of the parts was depreciated 10%, no depreciation on labor, and then my deductible was applied. Most of the cheaper policies do not have this coverage, but in my opinion you get what you pay for.
Click to expand...
What does something like that mechanical breakdown insurance cost?
 
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RBB said:
That’s great the insurance is paying up.
I didn’t realize they would do that.
Click to expand...
Roger, I had to laugh at the Irony of the new name on the 390 since I work for a "Scale" company!
Rob
 
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Rgdodson54 said:
Slowly getting it done. Un did the mounts and jacked the left side, just enough room to drop the pan, un do the rods and push them up and out and enough headroom to remove the liners.
My marina has prohibited slip owners from accessing their boats, but paid employees are ok.
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Click to expand...

Nice to see things moving forward. I am very interested to see they are able to do this without lifiting engine out. Did they even remove the floor panels?

On mine we have the motor completely out of the boat. New long block supposed to start going in later this week then reassembly happens. I just got done cleaning and painting the aftercooler and all accessories we are re using. So far so good but taking a bit ......
 
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