Considering a 41 Aft Cabin MY

timjet

timjet

Member
Jan 14, 2010
236
Tampa, FL
Boat Info
'98 355 ACMY
Engines
Cummins 6BT 330 M3's
Hi Folks, I'm new to this forum and am moving up from my recently sold sailboat to a Trawler or motor yacht. The 41 Sea Ray aft cabin MY with the CAT 3208 diesels seems like a good candidate. There are a couple of '88 vintage for sale in my area. I believed they renamed the boat to a 44 in 1989, but I think it's the same boat. I'm not considering gas power.
Can anyone give me their opinions on this boat.
Thanks Guys
Tim
 
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Hi Tim,
We own a 1988 SeaRay 415 aft cabin. This site might be helpful to you. I find that our boat is very fuel efficient at 11 mph, under 2000 rpm's. And that is where we run it 90% of the time because our boat is in paradise and you don't want to miss anything. Maybe we go even slower. Either way, we are not in a hurry. The inside is also very nice. We call it our condo on the water. With the guest cabin forward - ours has a side double, and plenty of storage and it's own head, it gives privacy and quiet to us in the rear captains quarters. We have looked at a lot of newer boats and honestly, we've never seen one this size with so much privacy. Also, being able to be on the flybridge and interact with those sitting on the cockpit is great. The captain is never left alone, there is always someone 3 steps away, but usually right up there with him. And so roomy on the bridge and in the pit. The bow makes for great tanning too.
I think you'll love this link. It is very informative. If you have any questions, feel free to let us know.
http://www.boatus.com/jackhornor/power/searay41.asp
 
Hi Joe and Alison,

Thanks for the information. I actually haven't looked at a 41 yet but will probably get to see one this weekend. I'm only interested in the diesel powered version and it appears Sea Ray built many more gas powered 41 MY's, though there are a couple diesels in my area.
What kind of gas mileage do you get?
I think the inclusion of a washer and dryer in a boat this size seems a waste of space. In Jack Hornor's review he mentions the difficulty in removing or repair this. Have you found the washer and dryer useful and have you had difficulty in repairing it.

Is there a better site on this forum to discuss this boat? Doesn't seem like a lot of people discuss this boat here.

Sounds like you really enjoy your boat.
Tim
 
Hi Tim,

There is a wealth of diesel knowledge on the forum. Frank Webster comes to mind immediately. Do a search for 3208 or Cat 3208 and you should come up with a lot of discussions and information.

Also, boatdiesel.com is another forum with a lot of 3208 info. Although I don't have a diesel boat -yet - one item I have picked up on is that you will need to spend the $1000 - $1500 and get a factory certified Cat mechanic to do your engine surveys. He will also have access to the factory service records for your engines.

Joe and Ali - beautiful boat!
 
Tim,
Not many folks seem to have this boat to discuss it. Maybe a few onboard at this site and this site is great if you have any questions about whatever. :)

We do NOT have the washer/dryer in our boat and we both agree that it is a waste of space. We utilize the closet with the cushions from booth and all of our extra "toy" things. And really, the boat has so much storage for clothes, why would you run out? I take stuff home to wash. I go to the local laundry mat by our marina for the big bed quilts, etc as they have the large capacity to handle anyway.

As for our gas milage: this boat has a semi-displacement hull with straight shafts with a lot of weight in the front, therefore the bow does not come up and it performs like a troller. Hence, if you keep the boat under 11 mpg at around 2000 rpm's, the boat gets slightly more than 1 mpg on trips. But, if you want to go faster, our boat will do 25mph but it will cost you dearly, as so would most trollers if you push them.

Here is a link about Diesel Engines that we found VERY informative, Carter you might want to look at this link and read it too.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/GasNdiesel.htm

Let me know what you think or how it goes. Our boat has always been in fresh water and under roof too.
 
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I read that last year - very informative. A lot of people don't like Pascoe's opinions, but as a new boat owner, I enjoyed reading a lot of his articles. Thanks for posting it Joe.
 
timjet said:
Hi Folks, I'm new to this forum and am moving up from my recently sold sailboat to a Trawler or motor yacht. The 41 Sea Ray aft cabin MY with the CAT 3208 diesels seems like a good candidate. There are a couple of '88 vintage for sale in my area. I believed they renamed the boat to a 44 in 1989, but I think it's the same boat. I'm not considering gas power.
Can anyone give me their opinions on this boat.
Thanks Guys
Tim
Click to expand...

Hi Tim,

Sounds like a great choice of boats; one thing to keep in mind is that the 3208 engines are not rebuildable, if I understand correctly; when it's time to repower, likely you're looking at replacing them.

Enjoy the search!

Cheers
Jeff
 
You don't like the Splendid washer/dryer combo?! Why not? It can take a shirt and compact it into the size of a tennis ball and then dry it that way.
 
I agree that the combo unit is not great. Four Sun's analogy is correct. But, what Tim is referring to is two separate units and they are nice. They do a good job. Small, but good.
As for removing the units out of the closet however, Joe suggests a saws-all ( i am spelling phoneticaly here-ha). Other wise you would need to remove 3 doorways to remove from the boat. Sawing it up is the way. Sounds like a noisey, fun job!
 
It amazes me how many will chime in on a diesel discussion when they own gas boats and don't really know what they're talking about...

3208's are completely rebuildable. The engines aren't sleeved, so they need to come out of the boat for a rebuild- no small task on an aft cabin boat.

Forget about the performance comments above based on the gas engines, they obviously don't apply at all. Last thing you want to do is run a diesel engine at idle speeds all the time. That's fine for gassers if you don't want to pay the fuel bill, but will kill a diesel in short order.

They're basically bulletproof IF they've been well maintained, and IF they've been run within specs on a boat that's propped correctly.

They are extremely reliable up to the 375 hp rating. The higher output versions- 425 and 450 hp are more prone to issues.

Feel free to pm me if you have more specific questions about the 3208's- I actually own them.
 
Back to the origional topic: Considering [buying] a 415 Aft Cabin Motor Yacht...

The 415 AC is easy on engines because the bow doesn't come up with the weight in the middle of the yacht; hence, straight shafts, semi-displacement hull.
There is no strain of pushing the bow down. We have several old Chris Craft gas and diesels with over 4000 hrs. on them and still going strong at our marina. Maintence makes the difference.
The 415 AC would be very easy to remove the engines: the floor comes up, the headliner comes down and there is a large hatch on the bridge - a straight lift.
This is a great boat if you don't have to go over 25+ mph. Everything that I've ever had to work on in this boat has been very accessible to me. Wait till you see the storage in the aft cabin and the shower in head in there as well. The shower is great, as two can fit in there easily and it has a high lip and faucet, turning it into a mini tub if needed.
 
tobnpr said:
It amazes me how many will chime in on a diesel discussion when they own gas boats and don't really know what they're talking about...

3208's are completely rebuildable. The engines aren't sleeved, so they need to come out of the boat for a rebuild- no small task on an aft cabin boat.

Forget about the performance comments above based on the gas engines, they obviously don't apply at all. Last thing you want to do is run a diesel engine at idle speeds all the time. That's fine for gassers if you don't want to pay the fuel bill, but will kill a diesel in short order.

They're basically bulletproof IF they've been well maintained, and IF they've been run within specs on a boat that's propped correctly.

They are extremely reliable up to the 375 hp rating. The higher output versions- 425 and 450 hp are more prone to issues.

Feel free to pm me if you have more specific questions about the 3208's- I actually own them.
Click to expand...

Well put. Whatever you do, get a survey on the Cat's before you buy. These are excellent marine engines, and when maintained and used properly, will last a long time. You can also PM me if you have questions or concerns.
 
Boatingnut said:
Well put. Whatever you do, get a survey on the Cat's before you buy. These are excellent marine engines, and when maintained and used properly, will last a long time. You can also PM me if you have questions or concerns.
Click to expand...

I can only agree and I would say that the 3208s are a good reason to buy one boat over another one with different engines. I never had one single problem during my vacations and they managed to burn any diesel I put into the tanks. Not so with the Volvos I had on my former boat...I actually hated them!!!
I had mines rebuilt once even if they were still running pretty well but started to loose some performance and to use a little bit too much oil. I did it because I never got to know how many hours the former owner actually put on them. The CAT people told me it could have been more than 2000.
I wanted to modify them to 425 HP but CAT strongly suggested me not to do so.
Now they have some 120 hrs on and they pull strongly... and the only thing I miss is the low fuel consumption of the common rail engines...:smt001

overhaul.jpg
 
tobnpr said:
It amazes me how many will chime in on a diesel discussion when they own gas boats and don't really know what they're talking about...
Click to expand...

Hi tobnpr,

I'd say you make a good point except that several folks who happen to have gas engines in their boats went out of their way to post links to some helpful and relevant content pertinent to the subject including Joe, who has the exact boat in question and was able to provide very useful and specific guidance on how one would go about removing an engine from the boat.

Being a student of boats & engines, I read a lot and I ask questions. Despite having a gas engine in my boat I actually do have some experience with diesels; in my case hands-on assist with rebuilding a pair of Detroit 6-71s and the care and feeding of them before and after rebuilding, a small Cat (Perkins block) on my band saw saw mill, and the fairly large auxilary diesel gen sets on the nuclear sub I sailed on for four years, but no direct experience with the 3208, so I learned a lot from this thread.

While it's true that I do have gas engines in my boat, that has no bearing on whether I know anything about diesel engines.

And now we all know that the 3208s are in fact rebuildable; bonus.

Cheers
Jeff
 
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Jeff, Your point is well taken.

Hey, Pietro-

Was your rebuild done by Caterpillar or another shop? Was it a complete job, or just the top end?

One great thing about the 390's- even those big CATs will lift straight out of the hatches; pulling an engine couldn't be any easier than that boat.
 
It's good to know that 3208s are rebuildable; most of what I've read about them has been very positive.
 
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