Thoughts on a 44 DA

W

Windjammer

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2007
727
Acworth, GA
Boat Info
340 Sundancer 2006
Engines
8.1 Mercruiser V-Drives
Thinking about upgrading to a 2006/2007 44DA. Most of the "lake boats" seem to come with the 8.1's (or 8.1 HO) and part of me thinks I want the QSC500 diesels. Do I trade the torque of gas for the care and feeding of diesels? Would be interested to those of you that have wrestled with this decision.
Thanks
 
34 to 44 would be a nice upgrade regardless of engine package! But I think you have it backwards. You’ll trade the care and feeding of the 8.1s for the torque of the diesels!

Beyond price, pros and cons to both engines. Keeping it local?
 
dtfeld said:
34 to 44 would be a nice upgrade regardless of engine package! But I think you have it backwards. You’ll trade the care and feeding of the 8.1s for the torque of the diesels!

Beyond price, pros and cons to both engines. Keeping it local?
Click to expand...
LOCAL=YES
 
I had an 04 340DA for 5-years and it was a great boat. If you're not going to travel far with the 44, get it in gas, be aware that some of the fresh water 44DA gasers on the market are asking almost the same price as the saltwater diesels. If the choice came between spending around the same money on one or the other, I personally would go with the diesel.
Mine just happens to currently be for sale! Check it out in the classified section of this site. :rolleyes: Good luck.
 
I had a gas 420DA (same boat) on a large lake in Texas for 11 years. Overall it was an excellent experience. Economy, given the limited cruise distances, was good and availability of service and certified mechanics was abundant.

Mine one big gripe with the boat was slow speed maneuverability, especially when fighting wind. If you want the boat to move you really need to add throttle as just going in out out of gear produced very little thrust. So now you're dancing with 4 levels when backing into a tight spot in the wind. Takes some practice but becomes second nature after a while. A friend had same boat with diesels and he never touched the throttles. That boat just moved when it was told to.
 
I would say the pros for the diesel option are lower risk using the generator if overnighting, but the con is that no one works on diesels on the lake. You either DIY, or if you need something done, you gotta call in Cummins, so much more expensive. Additionally, only a couple options to purchase fuel. I end up running 20 miles round trip to fill up.

Once you get the hang of the MX, most is easy to do.

I’d take a diesel over the gas all else being equal.
 
Just buy my 50DA and problem solved! Joking aside, i've had lots of gas and lots of diesel boats. Diesel for me 100% of the time unless I ever happen to buy a go fast boat.
 
As Dave states above, not having to worry about CO, is one pro for a diesel boat. We had friends with a 40' Cruisers Yacht with 8.1 HOs. From a fuel cost perspective on a land locked lake, he would burn $3500/year in fuel where we would burn $1k and traveled and hung out on the hook a lot. On a lake, nothing in the world wrong with gas engines. I always did my own maintenance and never needed a mechanic. Resale will be tougher with the gas engines as you are somewhat limited to lake boaters. SW guys want nothing to do with gas engines...most are 100% diesel. As others have stated, docking w/o a bow thruster is very simple-engage a transmission and the boat moves. Given the 44DB and then the 420DA we have owned, I would have it no other way.

Bennett
 
I would confirm if your lake even has diesel available. Some lakes do not. I almost purchased a diesel boat and the only way I could get diesel to the lake was via truck on the shoreline. Not ideal but feasible. Lake boats that are gas powered seemed to do well for resale local within 5-10 hours generally speaking. Most lake boat hop from lake to lake between their owners (from what I've seen anyway). If the differential is 30-50k for a diesel boat on a lake, it would be a long time to recoup that. If you have the money and price is no option, get the diesel all day long. If you're taking longer trips, diesel again all day long.
 
Windjammer said:
Thinking about upgrading to a 2006/2007 44DA. Most of the "lake boats" seem to come with the 8.1's (or 8.1 HO) and part of me thinks I want the QSC500 diesels. Do I trade the torque of gas for the care and feeding of diesels? Would be interested to those of you that have wrestled with this decision.
Thanks
Click to expand...

To add to what Dave, @dtfeld said, I don't think you need the torque of diesels on a lake. Diesels have there place and if the boat your interested in has them then all the better, but I wouldn't let that deter you.

The thing that would deter me is a gas generator. They just, well, they suck. Always working on them, no torque to keep up with the need. Diesel engines are needed in sea's when the wind is howling and tide is going in the other direction and you need to move the boat. Following sea's is another reason, you don't have to touch the throttles.

But on a lake it may be better to have gasers as the primary engine, easier to maintain and repair. But I would swap out the generator for a boat that size.
 
The resale of gas boats in a lake environment is excellent for lake boat buyers. Especially the 420/44 model. Most would prefer to have a lifetime freshwater gas boat than a saltwater diesel boat. I know if I were to go back to lake boating I'd make the same decision everytime.

That said, you could hardly sell one on the coast.
 
SKybolt said:
To add to what Dave, @dtfeld said, I don't think you need the torque of diesels on a lake. Diesels have there place and if the boat your interested in has them then all the better, but I would let that deter you.

The thing that would deter me is a gas generator. They just, well, they suck. Always working on them, no torque to keep up with the need. Diesel engines are needed in sea's when the wind is howling and tide is going in the other direction and you need to move the boat. Following sea's is another reason, you don't have to touch the throttles.

But on a lake it may be better to have gasers as the primary engine, easier to maintain and repair. But I would swap out the generator for a boat that size.
Click to expand...

To add to this, any boat that size with gas engines will not get on a plane or cruise very fast. It would probably be best to just chug along at ~10-12mph. Or where ever the sweet spot is for good gas economy.

Don't get me wrong, in the salt, diesels are where it's at. But on a lake I think I would be happy with gassers except for the generator. That is a hard diesel only option.
 
My boat cruise was 20mph at 3600rpm and .55mpg. This is typically where I ran it.

Top speed with light fuel and clean bottom was 30mph

All gps numbers.
 
mrsrobinson said:
For those saying "not (diesel) on a lake" doesn't that depend on, the lake?
Click to expand...

Why, except for the great lakes, there isn't any current to fight with. On really windy days most people on a lake don't go out. Rarely if at all do you get a following sea. And rarely get 6+ foot waves on a lake (except for the greats).

With a 44 MY I would be fine just put putting along on auto pilot. Engine blows up, 10K gets you a new one. That's not happening with a diesel. Pretty much a no brainer if you ask me.
 
copb8tx said:
My boat cruise was 20mph at 3600rpm and .55mpg. This is typically where I ran it.

Top speed with light fuel and clean bottom was 30mph

All gps numbers.
Click to expand...

A friend had an older 39, 89' and it had the 454's in it. That thing could not get out of it's way if it tried. No way could it hit 30mph or even cruise at 20. It cruised ~17 and top end was ~24. Engines were tight and in good shape, just too much weight to push.

The numbers your talking about are diesel numbers. Maybe the newer ones are that much lighter I don't know and that is the difference.
 
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