380 DA Diesel

I’ve been a lurker to this thread and have enjoyed the banter. We have begun looking for our next SR, probably in the 40-42’ range with diesels from around 2004 to 2006. What is interesting is that in my area, there are no 380’s with diesels to look at. You need to go to 40’ and above to have any real selection of sundancers with diesel power. The dealers have indicated that virtually all boats under 40’ are ordered with gas.
 
Jim - tell me about it! If you've been following this thread than you know I'm looking for a diesel 380. We are in the same area and you are exactly right about there not being much selection. There is one in Kent Narrows that I may go look at if it's still for sale in a month or so. One in NJ that was repowered with Yanmars, one in Virginia and six in FL. I don't really want to have one shipped from FL unless it's a good deal...
 
Just had to Chime in ! I have an acquaintance at our harbour that purchased a 380 gasser last March and by July was looking to move it. The handling, cruise speed, and fuel burn drove him nuts. I guess he should frequent Club SeaRay.
 
jrirvine1;65050i. What is interesting is that in my area said:
Same is true on Lake Michigan in the West Michigan area. I'm even aware of one 40 foot SR that would not sell because it was a diesel. Nice boat, but people are put off by the high cost of diesel mechainics. They charge a very high travel time portal to portal, and then the cost of parts and fluids are much higher.
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Well - I can add my name to the list of potential buyers of a 380DA with diesels. There could be a bidding war out there. We live on Lake Erie and indeed, there are no diesel boats in this size to be had. Marine Max will talk you out of it, saying that with a 50 hour boating season, the diesels just don't pay.

There are many more knowlegeable people on the subject than I but for me, it boils down to quality of investment. Boats are not a good investment in general. Bigger, newer gas boats are really not a good investment. I would like to find something in the 2002-2003 timeframe with the 3126s and I believe that would be a fairly good (relatively speaking) investment.

I think it's a no-brainer that the diesel boat is a better performer and more desirable, its just a matter of cost. For me, I'd rather go a couple years older and find a good diesel boat - simply from an investment standpoint. Just my two cents ....
 
I had a gas 380.

Did it burn alot of fuel? Yep.

Was it hard to handle around the docks? Never had a problem. My bridge boat with diesels is harder for me to manage than the 380 was.

A 380 with diesels is a great boat. A 380 with gas is also a great boat. I don't think you can write off a gas 380 so quickly. It's all about preference.

Here's the gas burn numbers from boattest:

As I recall, the diesel had a range of about 260NM, but at a slower speed.

RPM MPH Knots Total GPH MPG NMPG Range NM Range dBa
700 4.5 3.9 2.5 1.8 1.57 446 387 60
1000 7.0 6.0 3.4 2.04 1.78 506 440 63
1500 9.0 7.8 6.2 1.44 1.26 357 311 69
2000 10.8 9.4 11.5 0.94 0.82 232 202 74
2500 13.9 12.0 19.0 0.73 0.63 180 157 78
3000 19.1 16.6 26.0 0.73 0.64 181 158 81
3500 26.6 23.1 33.2 0.80 0.70 198 172 82
4000 31.4 27.3 47.1 0.67 0.58 165 143 86
4500 36.4 31.7 60.3 0.60 0.52 149 130 89
 
Skip - That's one of the boats I've been watching, I'm pretty sure that it's been for sale for atleast a year. If I recall they started out in the $220K range.
 
Just based on the limited responses here, I think this thread demonstrates how a diesel 380 would have no problem selling compared to a gas version. Heck... everyone here is tracking where one is for sale!
 
Gary...just looking at your new pic...I thought you had outboards on your boat..
 
Hi Guys,

Boattest results 380 da Gas and diesel

http://www.boattest.com/oem/test-results.aspx?ID=82&lp_id=&from_gi=yes

http://www.boattest.com/oem/test-results.aspx?ID=338&lp_id=&from_gi=yes

According to the specs..the gas boat will use around 12 gph more then the diesel when cruising at 23knots..

now if you are putting along at around 10 kots virtually no difference (gas a little cheaper)

Most of the places we go to are about 10 miles away or less ..longest trip would be 30 miles for a weekend trip. (Pittwater to Sydney) We cruise at around 10 knots and open her up to various revs just to give the engines a work out for about 15 min..

We have a number of friends who do short trip like we do and they have had problems with their diesels..I think they need to be run and I am sure I have read this somewhere as well.

we hardly ever do more then 10 gallons on our day trip ..when we stay locally
 
Hey Matt? You really don't have 2800 hours on those Cummins do you?

Look at this from that page:

Myth #5: A diesel engine can have an expected life expectancy of several thousand hours. Patently untrue. The average life expectancy of a marine diesel engine in a pleasurecraft is somewhere around 1500 hours between major overhauls. The average boat reaches this in about 8-10 years, meaning that the average annual operating time averages around 150 hours. If that seems unrealistically low, consider that that translates into 2-1/2 weeks of eight hour days. Most boats have years when its even less than that. If this surprises you, it may surprise you even more when I tell you that gas engines average around 900 hours before overhauls.

I think David Pascoe and his writings are like the National Enquirer of boating. He may have a nugget here and there but his arrogance gets in the way of him doing real research and presenting facts. Instead, he gets caught up in anecdotal babel and running around like Chicken Little.

Although you still have to weed out the fluff, boatdiesel.com is a better source for of information on how particular diesels perform in boats and what issues they deal with. What one finds is that when diesels have issues, it is usually caused by lack of routine maintenance (like not maintaining the cooling system) and not "normal wear".

If your boat is going to sit at the dock and rot, don't get diesels... If you are going to run it all the time and don't want to feel guilty about it... get diesels.

Is this the point I put up the picture of my 480 DB with the Honda outboards strapped on the back?
 
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With boats in Florida right now, asking price is just that- asking. The seller of my boat was "asking" $199- yet sold it for $141.5. You just need to do your homework and hopefully find someone like I did. (In pain and needing out ASAP)

Brian
 
Four Suns said:
Hey Matt? You really don't have 2800 hours on those Cummins do you?

I'll turn 3000 hours on my next trip. The only problem I've had was one I caused by neglecting a known issue with the OEM air filter. Tony Athens has several sets of QSM's with 15000 hours+ and one set over 25000 hours. Mine perform to the exact spec that they did the day we bought them. No worries about CO, gas explosions (I've experience one on a former boat), and low speed handling isn't even close. I cannot stress enough that if one argues the virtues of gas engines in 35'+ boats, they simply have not owned a diesel. I don't think you could get the difference even with a sea trial.

As for for Mr. Pascoe..... 1500 hours my arse. :grin:
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Diesel, for sure in a boat that size. Then, you can actually pass a fuel dock without having to stop...
While I can't compare gas to diesel directly (I never seatrialed a gas version of my 390) there is no question whatsoever that a diesel boat will perform better in tight quarters because of the much larger wheels they spin.
 
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