Any Regrets? A lot of low time RTs for sale

Greetings: we are in a serious hunt for an Cutwater 28. I would appreciate any in put on engine times. A 2018 has 1270 hours, seems like a pile of time, particularly here in the PNW. I’ve owned aircraft for 60 years, the more they are run, better for the engine vs. setting. I’m not sure about the diesel. Any help, comments appreciated.
Terry
 
I have a 2012 with 800 or so hours.

my sense is if treated well 4000 hours is possible on these engines. But they are leisure rated and pretty high compression.

I think the more significant insight is good maintenance, and use characteristics.
A 2018 with 1270 hours sounds like (I'm guessing) some fishing and low speed use. This is fine as long as the engine has also been used at high RPM to burn off the soot in the turbo and exhaust.

i also think running the engine for 12 months vs 3 hard and then letting it sit for 9 is far more preferable. A fishing cutwater likely has more year round use than a summer boat.
 
The low use on boats is not particular to Ranger Tugs. I've been in Anacortes Marina for three years, go out on my boat year round to San Juans, and I rarely see the vast majority of boats in the marina move... ever.

There is certainly more at play here than 'Covid' boat buyers not using their boats.

Agreed with the points made earlier in this conversation, that you have to enjoy working on your boat and you have to be ready and able to assess and pay for moorage, maintenance, AND professional work that needs to be done.

I bought a 2011 R-27, could not afford new one. I fully expected to invest in boat, which I have, upgrading virtually all electronics & chartplotter, new transducer installed, new canvas enclosure, annual detailing, engine work including new turbo. Great investment as we really enjoy our time on the boat and go out every month.

As for Flyingnorth's last question, do not be afraid of a diesel with 1270 hours on it. I am closing in on 2000 hours on mine and it runs better than when I bought it, seriously. The better question is whether you want a outboard or inboard. Different boats that handle and run differently.
 
Cutwater28GG said:
I have a 2012 with 800 or so hours.

my sense is if treated well 4000 hours is possible on these engines. But they are leisure rated and pretty high compression.

I think the more significant insight is good maintenance, and use characteristics.
A 2018 with 1270 hours sounds like (I'm guessing) some fishing and low speed use. This is fine as long as the engine has also been used at high RPM to burn off the soot in the turbo and exhaust.

i also think running the engine for 12 months vs 3 hard and then letting it sit for 9 is far more preferable. A fishing cutwater likely has more year round use than a summer boat.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
Flyingnorth said:
Greetings: we are in a serious hunt for an Cutwater 28. I would appreciate any in put on engine times. A 2018 has 1270 hours, seems like a pile of time, particularly here in the PNW. I’ve owned aircraft for 60 years, the more they are run, better for the engine vs. setting. I’m not sure about the diesel. Any help, comments appreciated.
Terry
Click to expand...
I agree with Gavin that it sounds like boat that was used for fishing. That should be easy for you to determine. Perhaps more important than total hours on the D4-260 is the maintenance history on the engine. Records? I’d recommend including an oil analysis prior to closing the deal as part of the pre-buy survey. I get my oil analysis for by Blackstone Laboratories. Good folks and they give you lots of info in their reports.
On a different matter, if it was a boat set up for serious fishing, it may need some additions and upgrades if you want to use it for longer cruises.
We bought low hour fishing C-28 and needed to add dinghy, upgrade solar system, upgrade anchor plus bow roller and a whole bunch of other items to get the boat ready for cruising. All-in-all we spent over $8,000 to convert the fishing 2017 C-28 to cruising optimized C-28.
Conversely, if the boat was used for cruising, you could be getting a bunch of upgrades or options that you don’t really need or want for day/weekend fishing trips.
 
Thank you all for the comments. Appreciate all the input. Will keep you posted on our adventure in the PNW.
TERRY
 
“The typical lifespan of marine diesel engines can range from 8,000 to 20,000 operational hours.“

This is the general consensus of experienced marine diesel mechanics. With proper care and maintenance I expect at least 8,000 from my D4 300. This has also been my experience over 60 years with (diesel) trucks, tractors, and farm equipment, which have use cycles similar to the way my boat engine is used. Of course I am only referring to wear, not premature failure from a defective part, which can happen to any engine at any age.
 
The key to the hours of longevity is frequent oil changes of full synthetic oil.
And regularly bringing the engine up to normal running temperature is a an additional key to longevity.
Diesels do not like running at low temperature, like idling for long periods. So, if you are slow cruising, once an hour bring it up on plane and give the engine 5 minutes of blowing out the cobwebs.
When in doubt change the oil.
I have diesel tractors on the farm that are 50 years old and many thousands of hours, that start and run like new due to regular maintenance - though they do not look like new.
 
We are retired and spent 2.5 months on the water last summer going up to Desolation sound San juans etc. along with a lot of day and overnight trips in the lower sound. All of that time only amounted to 500 hours on the boat for 2024. The amount of time you're running the boat versus the amount of time you're spending on the boat is huge.

So if you are working and only have weekends and maybe two week vacation in the summer time, you may be using your boat all the time and still not rack up that many hours. If you leave the dock and arrive at your location within an hour, and spend the weekend hanging out, you've only used 2 hours on the clock. If you had a go slow boat and we're just running at 5/6 knots all the time then the math would change.
 
Here in the Great Lakes it’s a pretty short boating season. Typically around 100 days, Memorial thru Labor Day. Unless you fish (trolling) most boats get few hours on them per season. Before buying our RT, we were looking at a mint condition 2006 Carver 36 SS with less than 400 hrs. I personally am a 2nd owner of a 2008 Crownline with less than 300 hrs. Great Lakes is full of low hour freshwater boats. Our reason, (hope) is to be able to extend our season with a RT. September here is the best month for boating, but most put their boats away Labor Day weekend. Our goal is to put at least 40-50 hrs on a season. I am still working full time, so we will see how that goes. As I write this I still have not launched the boat yet. Weather has been rotten. FYI, 1 hour equates to 30 miles (the average speed of a car).
 
We love ours (27-ob), but the problem is a happy problem -- our child is now 9, and when we bought it, she was 5. That little forward cabin is getting smaller and smaller every day.

We will inevitably upgrade, but the boat has been well taken care of.
 
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