Buying a 1991 420DA

[Raoul]

Hi,

my name is Raoul, I am from Austria/Europe and I recently owned a 268DA which I now sold and I am now going to buy a 420DA with twin 3208 Cats with 375HP each.
I am already convinced of the boat and I am going to buy it when I visit it in a month (she is lying in Monaco at the moment)
What I want to know in the meantime if there is something useful to know or check or take care of during the inspection.
Besides whats important when buying a boat
She has about 1100 hours and is in very nice condition!
Here are the pics:
http://picasaweb.google.fr/SLEPOIVRE/SaeRay420Monaco?authkey=Gv1sRgCPvdyarfwO7FCA&feat=email#

Raoul

 

[Pietro]

Raoul,
that 420 is almost as old as my boat. You should check if there is leakage from the side windows (Sea Ray eventually substituted these with traditional oval ports), windshield and handrail stanchions. Hopefully the stringers are in good condition... Check if the fresh water tank is not punctured and water did not fill the compartment underneath the floor as my did!
Also take into account that after 20 years a lot of equipment could be close to failure, as water heater, fridge, battery charger and a/c. For what I see from the pics these are still original. The 1100 hrs on the 3208 should not be a problem, but ask for sea trial .

BTW it looks pretty nice!!!

 

[FireIsland1]

I had 2 friends with the same boat. they both love them, i did also. The engines were a good match for that size boat. lots of low end torque. Neither had any major problems.
here are the problems i know they encounted
1: lots of lose fastners
2: both had charging problems from starboard engines
3: merc generator { generac } check output both had problems / expensive
4: more then a few minor oil leaks

it's a very comfortable boat. I remember we once had 14 in the cockpit for drinks with no problem except running out of ice

 

[tobnpr]

I am already convinced of the boat and I am going to buy it when I visit it in a month (she is lying in Monaco at the moment)
What I want to know in the meantime if there is something useful to know or check or take care of during the inspection.

Raoul

I'd caution you to take a step back, and wait until after the inspection (survey) before deciding whether to buy it.
The best advice for boat buying I ever got was from my late FIL that told me "Don't fall in love until AFTER the survey".

Hire an accredited marine surveyor for the hull survey, here's one international organization:
http://www.marinesurvey.org/index2.html

The 3208's are great engines. Try to get maintenance history if available. My surveyor happened to be pretty familiar with these old CATs and I had the maintenance records from CAT so I opted to roll the dice and did not commission a separate engines survey (and had no regrets). However, you should strongly consider having a Caterpillar Certified Tech do a full survey of your engines.

The boats the above poster referred to must have been gas power, your genset is a Westerbeke- extremely reliable.

Good luck.

 

[Raoul]

Hi folks,

thanks a lot, helpful infos! As the boat lies in Monaco which is quite expensive terrain I suppose the owner "should" have not been short on money for reasonable service of the boat. But I nevertheless will have it checked by someone who knows.
Raoul

 

[Hampton]

Take note of the fresh spray paint and over-spray in the engine room. The paint is covering something that is breaking back through - worth a closer look.

 

[Alegria]

Ditto to what everyone else said. I can only comment on the vintage 90-91 of the boat not the specific model. Look for leaks. They are very easy to spot. I believe that vintage of boat had a beige fabric headliner. Once wet and then dry it stained easily from the water. I know my old boat had several leak points. The long windows, windshield, handrails down the center bow, and shore power inlets. Also the forward hatch started leaking. I am not a fan of the handrails on the bow, it is difficult to access the mounting hardware underneath if you have to re-bed them.

Just because there are stains does not mean it is currently leaking the previous owner (PO) could have addressed the issues but the stains remain. They are a real pain to remove, I had limited success on our old boat. Once you know the problem is fixed you can 'live' with them and keep trying to remove them but they are annoying, well at least to me they were!. The hull, structure, and stringers were all in good shape on our old boat.