Best of both worlds? (Or just the opposite?)

I'm having a great time in my Camano 31 cruising the Chesapeake but I'm kicking around the thought of a live aboard size boat in five years when I retire. The Admiral is not a big boat enthusiast but she enjoys an occasional cruise and staying on the boat for a night now and then in our home port of Baltimore. The Camano is a great weekend boat, especially for me to single hand but I'm sure that the lack of living space is one reason she is not that into boating.

When looking for a boat initially she was attracted by the livable space and design of the cruiser / small motor yachts. One that she liked was a Carver 355 aft cabin. Roomy, with great livability I'm sure it would be quite comfortable. Not sure what would be a good setup in five years but if I were to do that today I could get a late 90s 355 for as little as $80K. From there the thought would be to rip out the Crusaders and gas generator and re power with twin 75 hp diesels and diesel generator. Some also came with 330 hp Cummins diesels that would be closer to 100k and might be a better choice for re power.

I've never driven a large planing hull boat so I really don't know how they handle at slow speeds but in the long no wake zone out of Baltimore they all seem ride very level at 6 knots. I would figure displacement speed at around 7 knots. I can live with that.

Crazy? Brilliant?

I would look for one with the Cummins 330s. Derating to 210 (I would derate to 120 non turbo) would be easier and cheaper than a gas to diesel repower. You could even go with a 4bt at 85 hp. Everything from the 6bta will bolt up. You definitely can get rid of any aftercoolers (big cummins problem) with the lower ratings. It may be problematic to remove the engines (lotta cutting ?) so the derate would be the way to go. Most are going to tell you that you can just pull back on the red knob to "derate". I dissagree.

K:

First time I ever heard of after coolers as a big Cummins problem . Is that every engine from the insertion of after coolers of one story you heard second hand?

Evan:
The carver aft cabin is a very livable boat. The 440 is better IMO than the 355 simply because there is. More room even in the E R. In today's market price is not that much diffetent

The admiral will probably like it a lot and it is a good performance boat .

Don't think I'd start with a gas boat and convert. That's mean genset, too, etc. A couple owners around here converted older boats (one Bertram, on Hatteras) that they'd each lived with and enjoyed for a long time...

As fas as I remember, they both converted to Cummins B engines. Plus diesel genset.

Both liked the new performance, both lost big bucks when they sold.

-Chris

bayview:

Not to hijack this thread and talk about Cummins after coolers, but hey it happens every day:

The use of aftercoolers on the Cummins 6B depends on the horsepower:

210 hp, turbo but no aftercooler

250 hp, turbo and jacket water aftercooler- These aren't so problematic because the water side is coolant, so they don't usually corrode. But it acts like a secondary air filter on the air side and needs to be cleaned periodically

330 and 370 hp are turbocharged with sea water aftercoolers. These because of the use of seawater and the design are prone to corrosion. Tony Athens, the Cummins guru on boatdiesel recommends tearing them down and cleaning and lubing every three years. If you do this religiously, they aren't really a problem. It is when you do nothing for many years that leaks develop that can trash your engine.

If I had the latter and didn't need the extra hp, I wouldn't remove the aftercooler, but I sure would service it regularly.

David

evansrr said:

The Admiral is not a big boat enthusiast but she enjoys an occasional cruise and staying on the boat for a night now and then in our home port of Baltimore. The Camano is a great weekend boat, especially for me to single hand but I'm sure that the lack of living space is one reason she is not that into boating.

When looking for a boat initially she was attracted by the livable space and design of the cruiser / small motor yachts. One that she liked was a Carver 355 aft cabin. Roomy, with great livability I'm sure it would be quite comfortable.

Click to expand...

I've heard the first line quoted above at least 100 times and 100 ways both here and at the marina. "Normally" but not "always" from a husband that went out and found "his" ideal boat and fell in love with it. Then he went and got her to look at it and basically approve his purchase choice before buying it and calling it "their" boat.

I am curious. If your wife was attracted to the Carver 355 how'd you wind up with a Camano? Two completely different, but very nice boats.

My wife was not crazy about the whole boat idea either until I let her help find "our" boat. Now my wife is the one asking me if we can go to the boat this weekend. She is also now leading the charge to find our eventual next larger boat.

It seems to me there are or will be enough boats on the market to find something that fits your needs without having to do such a drastic/costly refit. As stated, you will lose out when you finally sell.

Just buy a diesel boat if that's what you want. Creating a Frankenstein boat is expensive, and not always successful. I would also strongly advise, if you are attracted to the wedding cake style boats like Carver and Silverton "motoryachts", spend some time with your SO on one, role playing docking/departing, line handling, fender deployment, anchoring, especially in poor conditions. The ergonomics aren't for everyone. Also check out what is involved in working on the engines and other systems (true for any boat design). People can tend to lose sight of these issues and focus on the interior comforts.

CPseudonym said:

I've heard the first line quoted above at least 100 times and 100 ways both here and at the marina. "Normally" but not "always" from a husband that went out and found "his" ideal boat and fell in love with it. Then he went and got her to look at it and basically approve his purchase choice before buying it and calling it "their" boat.

I am curious. If your wife was attracted to the Carver 355 how'd you wind up with a Camano? Two completely different, but very nice boats.

My wife was not crazy about the whole boat idea either until I let her help find "our" boat. Now my wife is the one asking me if we can go to the boat this weekend. She is also now leading the charge to find our eventual next larger boat.

Click to expand...

More than anything it was our first boat and we agreed that we needed something as new as possible, easy to handle and economical to operate. I also got a great piece of advice from one of the forum members: "Buy the smallest boat that will do everything you need". The Camano fits the bill perfectly in all those respects and it was a good choice for what we need now and for the next five years. I'm just looking ahead to the future possibilities.

Let me rephrase. The raw water cooled after coolers are one of the few problems with the Cummins B series. That and the Sherwood pump.

Fair enough.

The smallest boat advice is followed by myself and many others here too. In our case it happened to be an old 27' boat. For still others it can be a brand new 120' Nordhavn. For most it falls somewhere in between.

If the wife isn't too enthusiastic with the Camano you may have missed a bit low on her minimum size. Your stated desire around $80k brings a lot of roomy mid 30-40' sundeck style trawlers with a lot of space in and outside. Diesel engines are standard in them too at lower HP ratings.

Has your wife seen any of them? My wife kind of likes a particularly well kept PT-35 she has been aboard. Everybody has different likes and dislikes but if my wife wasn't happy with our boat I would sell it tomorrow and buy something she did like.