Prospective C28 Owner in PNW - what to look for?

[GunkHoling]

I've come to terms that I'm more likely to get my family (wife and 3 year old) on the water here in the San Juan Islands motoring than sailing my current Olson 25. The Cutwater 28 seems like the best fit, and there's several currently listed around Puget Sound. We plan to mostly island hop - day trips to friends across the county or to the mainland for entertainment, occasional overnights, and the occasional run to Victoria and possibly the Gulf Islands to visit friends there. We were previous partners in a Grand Banks 36, so the C28 will be relative speedboat compared to cruising speed on the GB.

I'm pretty sure I've settled on the outboard vs inboard debate, the boat will be in the islands (Lopez) so no need to cover great distances to explore and we can easily take advantage of nice off season weekends to get out for the day or overnight. Diesel heat underway, hot water, and the ease of launching a dinghy to explore shore all win over the greater outboard speed. I don't need to hit a deadhead at 25+ knots anyway. I plan to do most common maintenance myself. While the GrandBanks 36 had a relatively spacious engine room compared to the C28, in a year or two I can hopefully send a 4 or 5 year old in to land a hand.

We don't need the flashiest new electronics, just a solid boat that will get us out there and home safely and in relative comfort. I'll pay more upfront to avoid immediate maintenance for this year.

Any major build differences through the years to justify a 2012 vs 2014 or 2018+?

Anything obvious to inspect or have surveyed based on year? I do have a survey on a 2018, there's a few areas of corrosion observed that suggest to me there is some risk water intrusion in the cockpit if not stored under cover.

Any red flags or known maintenance items to address if they haven't already?

I do see the powerplant has changed from Yanmar 6BY to Volvo D3 and D4s. Any significant reason to prefer a newer low hour Volvo over a older low hour Yanmar?

 

[Bruce Moore]

Bumping post delayed in moderation queue.

 

[Normf943]

Sent you a pm.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

like all ranger cutwater boats they slowly moved equipment around during install over the years. there hasn't been marked improvements for a specific year as a result.
the biggest change that occurs is the electronics package is newer.

2012 boats have 5212 garmin chartplotters. I still use mine and it works perfectly with radar and depth sounder in the sound and san juans. I also have an iPad with avionics but frankly the 5212 is better for a number of subtle reasons.
also interior lights evolved over the years. worst case you spend $200 at Marinebeam and upgrade the bulbs to LED. this is what I did.

I think after about 2015/2017 they switched the colored eyebrows on the roof to white as these get the full force of the sun and the blue ones struggle to not oxidize to white power. at the same time the side windows slightly changed but nothing major.

They switched to the Volvo engines in 2012. I believe I have the first Volvo boat, and it's been great maintenance has been good. I've owned our boat since 2015. I would definitely get a volvo boat.

I would look for the usual maintenance issues. Some things that are known to wear out.

1. stern thruster control cable and thruster control unit. - make sure the thruster doesn't run by itself when you turn it on.
2. The outside steering wheel can leak oil. These like to fail (slowly)
3. depth sounder can come lose from boat as many were glued directly onto the hull without the cup (the cup also has a chance of leaking). It is easy fix
4. run the diesel heater
5. I would just bet on replacing the batteries on a used boat. You don't know what state they are in from mistreatment and are expendable. I replace with the factory universals as they are good value. Some folks upgrade the starter battery to an optima for more CCA.
6. autopilot install. Many customers have had issues with the autopilot steering slowly to port or starboard. The oil is leaking past the control valve unit. Some folks have had to upgrade to the smart pump and certainly spent time fixing this problem. I'm not convinced the factory install is exactly as designed.
7. almost all customers upgraded the anchor to a Rocna.
8. outside the roof by the cockpit door can rot (this is the wood insert on the underside, not the whole roof 🙂. its not super well treated from the factory. some folks replaced with white plastic.
9. trim tab underwater lights like to fail. Im not you can stop this. they just don't survive. I've had a second set fail now.
10. you'll get two years out of bottom paint in the sound.
11. the sunsaver duo solar controller is not the best. it works but better to upgrade to a Victron MPPT unit. some customers like me upgraded the solar panel too.
12. Check the condition of the bottoms where the batteries are. can rot if water overflows due to bad drainage from cockpit drains (blocked with debris)
13. wine fridge is useful if you don't remove the back panel into the basement berth as the heat cannot escape and it wont cool. many just remove it.
14. some boats had custom forecabins. my boat had the sink in the forecabin removed and a customer chest of draws installed. (you really dont need 4 sinks on a 28 foot boat 🙂 (from the dealer when new)
15. some boats had satellite tv systems installed. these are largely now defunct. most boats have a regular tv antenna.

hope this helps
its the perfect couples boat for the PNW.

 

[GunkHoling]

They switched to the Volvo engines in 2012. I believe I have the first Volvo boat, and it's been great maintenance has been good. I've owned our boat since 2015. I would definitely get a volvo boat.

Thanks - the Yanmar vs Volvo is the primary question I have, but am struggling to put a price on the value of a Volvo over Yanmar. So far - research through calling various diesel shops have learned towards Volvo for parts availability as well as availability of qualified techs. Newer might be better if I want to get through a season of exploring and cruising without any major projects.

Newer electronics are less motivating, on all our three past boats we mostly relied on an iPad for charting and left the old electronics to radar and depth.

 

[glider4]

Mods to make it better:
1. Bigger trim tabs. The ones Cutwater installed stock are ridiculously small.
2. Better batteries. Get real starter type AGM batteries for engine and thruster. The stock deep cycle Universal Power AGM batteries don’t cut it.
3. A productive solar system. Victron Energy smart solar controller linked to a 350+ watt panel.
4. A real anchor. A Rocna, Vulcan or Mantus (about 10 kg) are the crowd favorites.
5. Bimini canvas top and side panels.
6. Memory foam mattress topper for the v-berth.
7. Magma propane grill if you figure out where to put it on the cockpit railing.
I’m sure you will find other opportunities to upgrade besides these…

 

[Cutwater28GG]

are you finding a C28 without a volvo engine to buy? There arent many of them out there.

irrespective of brand, I always recommend going with the newer option, as finding techs and parts is easier. There are no major issues flagged to my knowledge of the Volvo engine in these boats.

Brian (another member did extensive analysis of heat in the engine bay on his C26 and the volvo - that wasn't an engine issue but an engine bay ventilation issue (worth finding his posts on the topic)

The major issue with the Volvo that most C28 users experience is a mispropped prop for the weight. that is, they load their boats up too heavy with gear, and then the engine can't make its top RPM, which means it's overloaded. the prop needs then to be changed to resolve.
honestly, just don't put too much gear on the boat.

the way these boats operate with the 260 HP diesel is either at displacement speeds running pretty similar to a sailboat, about 6-8 knots. then up at 3100 RPM fully planning at about 1.8NMPG at 18knots. anything in the middle is a waste of fuel and inefficient

 

[kelpline]

1) is the sounder transducer still at the stern above the propeller wash? It won't see bottom. Has the previous owner moved the transducer forward, close to the shower pump-out box? Then it will see bottom at 800 feet, feed and salmon down to 300 feet.
2) Have the dinky-little trim tabs been upgraded to 18"ers with downward side trim tabs. We just bolted the side tabs on. These allow controlling the bow height, lifts the stern and actually gets the boat up on plane !! I used the old pistons, but next summer the port piston blew apart, so I replaced both pistons. The pump is the same.
3) If boat has a Yanmar BY260 there is a good service shop at Harbours End Marine by Moby's Pub on Saltspring Island.
4) as you indicated your area of operation is Victoria and the Gulf Islands, you will want to mount a 5 LED bar under the bow folding ladder chamber. Since the Fraser River Debris Trap by Agassiz was closed in 2006, the Fraser spews out tons of logs during freshets May to July. The LED light bar does not reflect back off the SS rails.

 

[TristenT]

1) is the sounder transducer still at the stern above the propeller wash? It won't see bottom. Has the previous owner moved the transducer forward, close to the shower pump-out box? Then it will see bottom at 800 feet, feed and salmon down to 300 feet.
2) Have the dinky-little trim tabs been upgraded to 18"ers with downward side trim tabs. We just bolted the side tabs on. These allow controlling the bow height, lifts the stern and actually gets the boat up on plane !!
3) If boat has a Yanmar BY260 there is a good service shop at Harbours End Marine by Moby's Pub on Saltspring Island

Any idea if you can just replace the metal plaining surface or if the pump and actuators would need to be upgraded as will for the larger tabs?