38 Sundancer

[dino]

We finally have an offer in on a 02 38 Sundancer 8.1 mercruisers 275 hours all on fresh water. The boat seems to be in great shape and have our survey and sea trial next week along with compression test. Risers and manifolds are original so I know going in salt water they are first on my list. Any advice going through this process or insight on a 02 38 would be appreciated. We have our 2006 260 for sale and looking forward to moving up.

THANKS

 

[hottoddie]

If the boat has always been run in fresh water and are raw water cooled I would strongly consider adding fresh water cooling to them before running them in salt water.

 

[AAK]

I would get the engines computer history downloaded to see how they were run and any problems that may have occurred. You might also want to take engine oil and antifreeze samples (including the generator), and transmission fluid samples. If the salon refrigerator is the original you are getting near the end of life with it. I would run it on AC power only to verify it cools and then let it get hot and run it on DC power only to make sure it cools. The control board tends to go first and they are expensive and a pain to change, ask me how I know? I would also pay attention when the spotlight is checked to make sure you have full motion (up/down & side to side) the gears tend to be damaged on them.

A good surveyor should take care of everything for you but it doesn't hurt to pay good attention as to what is going so that something doesn't get missed.

The 380 is a great boat and you'll really like it.

Good luck,
Al

 

[AAK]

Dino,

I hit the reply button before I meant to tell you that there is a good 380 thread on the SportYachts/Yacht forum for the larger than 36' boats info. You really should read that and you'll get some good information on the model. I think the thread is about 95 pages now.

Al

 

[rondds]

Check for aluminum manifolds. Many early 8.1s are still aluminum...fine for fresh water, disaster in salt water. Bring a magnet. 2+ boat dollars to replace.

All 8.1s are raw water cooled in the manifolds and risers, closed cooling in the rest of the engine. This is unlike closed cooling in a 7.4, where the manifolds are part of the fresh water side.

 

[dino]

Great info! Thanks for the responses. I did hear that aluminum was used in that year and to be cautious. Did not know that manifolds were raw water in a FWC 8.1. Do most surveyors do the testing on the fluids as part of the survey or is this something I need to request?

Thanks Again

 

[rondds]

Surveyors will likely do it if you ask. There's an up-charge for that.

 

[AAK]

Most surveyors will have the sample kits available if you ask them to do it but there is an increase in cost to cover the lab fees to get them processed.

Al

 

[dino]

So I have a surveyor in the process of looking at the boat charging 23.00 a foot that can't do the compression test or hook up to computer to check system history ect. The mechanic that can do that part wants 700 To me it seems very high. Is 1600 a bit much for this process? I know it needs to be done but 350 an hour seems a bit steep for a marine mechanic. I am 120 miles away so I don't know anyone in Connecticut. Again my first big boat purchase so am not sure what to expect,,,,, Thanks

 

[AAK]

I've been paying $20/ft on a survey, so $23/ft doesn't sound out of line. I should mention you will be paying for a short haul out too if the boat wasn't already checked out of the water. The $700 to do a compression check and computer down load does sound excessive. I think I paid about $250 for the downloads with hard copy print outs included. With the computer engines I've only been doing the down loads with no compression checks unless I suspect a problem. That is my choice though and I've found that to be good. I would try to find some other surveyor's to talk too. The BOAT/US Insurance website should have a list of certified surveyor's you could call to talk to. A good surveyor should be able to put this together for you on everything you need done.

Al