Advice on Gas versus Diesel on 380 DA

The 450 is a great boat...but...I'm not sure the 45' length (and extra beam) of that boat would be better in all respects as far as the Great Loop. I've looked at some of the travel logs of others doing that trip and it seems that the marinas in some of the common stops were rather tight. A smaller boat may be beneficial when it comes to finding dockage. As far as as the engine choices, I would expect exactly ZERO people on this board to recommend gas engines for that boat, for that use case. Would make no sense IMO.
 
The 450 is a great boat...but...I'm not sure the 45' length (and extra beam) of that boat would be better in all respects as far as the Great Loop. I've looked at some of the travel logs of others doing that trip and it seems that the marinas in some of the common stops were rather tight. A smaller boat may be beneficial when it comes to finding dockage.....

This would be the time to drop the hook and take dinghy to town dock.
 
A friend and his wife did the loop in a 280 Dancer. 1 more check off the bucket list and they had a ball. I think you need to look at the overall use of the boat vs a few months of use.
 
Everyone's comfort zone is very different. People cross the oceans in 25' sailboats, but it doesn't mean I would be comfortable doing it. 280DA, sure why not. Having generator you're pretty much self-sufficient to the limit of fuel and water supplies. Everything else is the comfort zone everyone chooses to have.

Some people even downsize when they retire and become liveaboards. The key is to find most cost-efficient vessel for your comfort zone, considering purchase, operation and maintenance costs. 35-40' trawler seems to be very popular for retired liveaboards. The main difference is the engineering and configuration of a vessel.

So going back to 380DA, big and comfortable vessel for avg weekend boaters with occasional 1-2 week trips. But, IMO it doesn't qualify very well as a common liveaboard vessel.
 
Seems to me the guy was asking for advice on gas vs. diesel...not what boat would make the Great Loop a nicer trip. You know what they say bout opinions.....people can live very nicely on a 380.
 
You're right, but considering that OP is newbie, all we try to do is advise him to look "outside the box" and see the bigger picture. I remember many years ago when I was upgrading from 240DA I would ask questions on 300DA. Then, for the same reason I was advised to look at 320 and 340. This was one of the best advice I got and was very happy I pulled the trigger on 320DA. So, this is kind of similar case.
 
Hello all,

We just finished a 2 hour sea trial of the boat on Tampa Bay. What and amazing machine! The diesels are great. Nice 23 knot cruising at 2300 rpm, and fairly quiet. At 1100 rpm and moving at hull speed the boat is super quite. Around the docks maneuvering with just the gear selectors was a breeze (although we had almost no wind.)

Survey next week. Closing mid June.

I am not certain that this will be a good/great loop boat, but time will tell. In the meantime, it seems like and amazing machine to explore the coastal Florida waters before we have to make a decision on taking it on the Loop in March of 2015.

Thanks for all of the feedback!
 
Not a quiet as a snailboat ;-)
Glad you had a good experience!
 
Quality time, we did not operate it at WOT. I am guessing that will happen during the survey, which is scheduled for next Friday...
 
Make sure it will hit 2800+ at WOT. I used to have to run closer to 2400 to see that speed so it could be over propped. Good luck with the survey.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
The survey went well. Very well. At WOT it hit a little over 2800 RPM. Closing and transfer of the boat is one week from today.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,946
Messages
1,422,763
Members
60,929
Latest member
Henchman
Back
Top