One chance to get it right - Cat/Cummins - Vee Drive/straight

[shayes]

I'm a 3 SR vet currently boatless but in the market. My last was a '88 34' with 454s & Vee drives. I rebuilt one of those and it cost me a bundle. I also couldn't reach the shaft seals and not black out, which bothered me.

So now my eye is on a '01 to '03 41' either EC or DA. My broker is anti-Cat 31XX, am I safe just opting for Cummins in this yr range or is there a trustworthy Cat in that era as well?

Also - Vee drive thoughts? I love the space in the cabin, but keep having nightmares about the additional complexity of the unit and contortions I have to assume to do maintenance.

Would like to know everyone's thoughts.

 

[SR400DB]

I can only speak to the cummins portion of this thread. My 03 6CTA 8.3 engines are great, my boat gets the same fuel burn no matter how it is loaded, and the speed does not seem to change either. I would absolutely buy another boat with these engines. Others will chime in about the CAT's.

 

[Alegria]

Hi Shayes,

Can't comment on the diesel aspect but can you ball park a bundle? Also did you rebuild the engine and v drive or just the engine? Curious as I have 454s in our boat...

Also curious as I've seen some discussions on diesels here and have seen talk of a bundle of money being spent on them too...


Best of luck with your search! I would imagine that any 41 of that vintage will have the dripless shaft seals on them and should be relatively free of adjustment. I don't know how you every adjusted yours if they were not dripless!!!

Take Care!!!

 

[shayes]

Tom - Great question, interesting story. Walked up one spring to find a puddle of pink under the bilge drain, boat had been on the hard, covered and visited often, for the winter. Problem - Stbd transmission. Cost about 5K for parts and labor. I was lucky, the main gear that usually tips the project from repair to replace economically was salvageable. I did most of the tear down on the engine & transmission, but had the yard to the re-install. Things came out easy, with the deck plates up the aluminum supports unbolt and its a straight lift.

So I didn't burn it up, or blow it up, it just wore out I guess and bang, get out your checkbook. Thus my concern. But man, so much more room in the cabin. And no, I didn't ever rebuild the engines myself, but prior to me buying both were. Manifold failure the culprit on both. Port side ingested water at some point late in the season and the spring turnover wrecked everything. Backdrop – Chesapeake Bay, salt water, I’m guessing at about the 14 yr point. The previous owner replaced manifolds and reworked the top end on the stbd side as a good precaution. I'm not sure of cost.

 

[JC3]

Do a search on this. The 3116/3126 engine debate has been covered well. JC

 

[katricol]

I thought the '01-'03 410 dancer only came with cats. I don't know about the EC. I like my 3126's