97 330 da

[Masmar]

I just purchased a 97 330 with 7.4's closed cooling system from the Atlantic coast and will be running it in lake Erie. 600 hours. v-drives. What structural issues should I be looking for? thru hull corrosion? bottom paint issues? etc?? I had the boat surveyed and it came back with no issues (other than the stove does'nt work). What issues have you had that I should be looking for that were not maintenance issues but design flaw and or just an issue with this model. I want to minimize my surprises over the next years. thanks in advance for any and all advice

 

[Alegria]

On my survey it was noted that there was a higher moisture reading around the bow area, windlass and foot switches. They both have been re-bedded with caulk. Keep an eye on the hatches for leaks, I had one small one noted on delivery on the small hatch over the galley, again I removed the trim and re-bed the hatch. The hardest part of these tasks is 1. finding access to the mounting hardware, 2. getting the darn thing apart as it usually has been together for 12 years!!

Look at the shafts, surveyor said that there were issues with 1 1/4 shafts, look for 1 1/2 shafts. They all may have them in 97 I do not know but that was mentioned that mine had the 1 1/2 shafts. Look for signs of galvanic corrosion on all the water exposed items. My 3 blade props had excessive corrosion on the prop at the hub compromising their integrity replaced with 4 blade props....

Check the bow rail stanchions where they mount to the deck, underneath for leaks. Common on any 12 year old boat, re-bed them. Look at the windsheild for corrosion mine has some. Make sure there is no water intrusion into the fiberglass/deck around the windshield, survey should mention if there is a higher lever reading or not.

You don't mention if you have carbs or MPI engines. On the carbs usually the fuel/water pump housing or fuel pump itself will be headed south if never replaced. My port was replaced at time of survey, starboard was new. That is a tastey $500 part alone.

I don't know of any bad character traits on this model that all suffer from. The forum is pretty quiet on issues that affect all the models so I take it as a good thing. She seems to suffer from issues that any other boat suffers from that I listed above. Enjoy her!!!!

 

[330DA]

You wrote that this was an east coast boat. I woulf look at the risers and manifolds for corrosion from the salt water. You will probably be looking at replacing the hot water tank, if it hasn't been changed yet.

Frankly, the '95-'99 330DA is a nice boat. With no genny, there is room outboard of the engines to get to stuff.

You may want to remove the stainless insert in the rub rail at the transom and shoot some caulk in the screw holes and put it back together. I had a leak there on mine. Check the caulk on top of the vent covers. Rain/wash water can come in there.