Bayliner 32xx gas

On Craigslist in New York State is a 32xx Bayliner, very reasonably priced. (Maybe too reasonably). It has 2 140 hp Volvo 4 cyl for propulsion. Now that is probably noY a popular option, but the engines themselves have a good reputation. I am interested in hull speed only. I haven’t asked for engine hours, wanted to know first about what the collective wisdom on this site about an engine like this pushing a boat this large at hull speed. Thanks in advance. I am restoring a land n sea diesel, so I do not need another project?

Volvo marine engines have a terrible reputation, that is fact.

Now, determining if that reputation is deserved or just a nasty rumor is your job.

But, remember, generally , where there is smoke there is fire..

pete

Chuckd said:

On Craigslist in New York State is a 32xx Bayliner, very reasonably priced. (Maybe too reasonably). It has 2 140 hp Volvo 4 cyl for propulsion. Now that is probably noY a popular option, but the engines themselves have a good reputation. I am interested in hull speed only. I haven’t asked for engine hours, wanted to know first about what the collective wisdom on this site about an engine like this pushing a boat this large at hull speed. Thanks in advance. I am restoring a land n sea diesel, so I do not need another project?

Click to expand...

To maintain 5.5-6.5 knots on a 32 Bayliner requires less than 30 hp - those engines will not have a problem for that task.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

I believe the Volvo gassers have an average to pretty good rep. Even diesels are reliable...... just legacy support and parts prices have the bad rap I know of. The company I worked for bought Volvos be cause they fortunately had a good dealer to work with.

Even if parts and service are lacking....gasser maintenance is easier to find and compared to diesels....proportionately cheaper.

When towing, I came across more than a few Volvo owners who were pleased with them....and Volvos were not a disproportionate number of my tows.

Time changes all reputations for the most part....so check around specifically on parts availability in your area and online for when cruising.

With any of the common marine gas engines, including those 3 liter I4s, Volvo, Mercruiser, and Crusader all marinized the same basic engines. It's mostly things like pumps, manifolds and risers that are different between them. So being a Volvo isn't too scary, as there's not a lot of Volvo-unique stuff about it.

Chuck
On an inboard powered gas vessel older than say 15 years I'd budget upfront the replacement of every hose and fitting that comes in contact with fuel. A read of the active thread on TF where a Bayliner at North Saanich burned with loss of life is a reminder.

The older Volvo four bangers were based on the auto derivative as best I recall. I had several Volvo car four bangers and they were indestructible. Not sure if the newer ones stuck with Volvo base engines.

Carburetion on the older marine version was challenging to keep in tune. My marine experience with these is pretty dated but look over the fuel and ignition systems carefully. As previously mentioned assess parts availability first hand.

Pete Meisinger said:

Volvo marine engines have a terrible reputation, that is fact.

Now, determining if that reputation is deserved or just a nasty rumor is your job.

But, remember, generally , where there is smoke there is fire..

pete

Click to expand...

To be fair, Volvo gas and Diesel engines have a great reputation for being reliable and repairable. Volvo’s reputation takes a hit on replacement parts cost and lack of support in some parts of the world. In the PNW there is great Volvo support and in the I/O fishing fleet in Alaska it is the package of choice due to reliability and support.

I would never walk away from a boat just because it had Volvo engines. I would factor in repair costs and support vs other options.

Welcome aboard. The 3288 is a very neat boat. The engine size is certainly more than adequate. However Volvo has a really bad rep for either slow or lack of parts availability. Also the parts can be very precious. Personally I had Volvos in a previous boat and would not own them again, but your experience may be better than mine was.

A plus is that the boat may not be heavy. Those small gas engines save a ton (literally) of extra engine. And there may be other reasons related to the fact that this boat is one of the few that are really mass produced.

More info

I work as a sales associate at west marine in Stiwater Mn, primarily for cheap parts. In the past I have asked a couple of brokers about the AQ series, and they have good things to say about the little gassers. I suspect parts are going to be an issue. I asked for engine hours and they were 1990 + on both engines. Not much for a diesel but not sure about a gasser. Isn’t 2000 about max before an over haul.
Owner stated they were economical. Sigh I wanted gph.

Price is less than 7k, there is a 32xx here on the St Croix, for 9900, a V6 gasser. So gas powered 32xx are lower priced than the hino diesels. Any thoughts on engine life would be appreciated.
Thanks again

Brokers tend to tell you whatever you want to hear, although there are some really good brokers out there. The problem is figuring out if the broker you are working with is one of the good ones. 2000 hours on a gas engine is high. That isn’t to say they are done, just high hours. It would depend on how they were run and how they were maintained. Those things are difficult if not impossible to find out. Ask the owner and they were not run hard and they were maintained very well. So you get a good mechanic to do a survey on them and hope for the best. Even then the mechanic may not find a problem that will bite you in the butt 2 hours after you take possession. It is a bit of a crap shoot. Good luck.

2000 hours is high on a gas engine, but if compression is good, oil pressure is good at hot idle and oil use isn't high, I'd call it healthy with plenty of life left. One of my 454s has a bit over 1600 hours on it and checks out just fine. IIRC, psneeld indicated regularly getting 4000+ hours out of gassers in tow boats. Must die of neglect or abuse rather than actually wearing out.

rslifkin,
I would think if compression is good, oil pressure good at hot idle and oil use isn’t high I’d be inclined to think gas engines are capable of well over 2000hrs.

They can go higher, having put maybe 4000+ on a mercruiser block in an assistance towboat. Which is probably 2X the work of any rec boat.

But at 100-200 hrs per season with overheats and water ingestion from manifolds, over 2000 is ""high" but not necessarily the end.

I'm a happy owner of that exact boat - a 1981 3270, with Volvo AQ-140 4-cylinder engines.

As most other posters have mentioned - the Volvo 4-cylinder engines are pretty much bullet-proof, BUT.. parts are getting harder to find, especially for the transmission. And 'peripherals' like coolers, o-rings, pumps, etc. can be problematic.

The first thing you need to check is: have the factory aluminum fuel tanks been replaced? If not, you need to budget for doing that immediately. They will eventually leak. That would be bad enough with diesel, it's deadly with gasoline. I replaced both of mine with Mueller poly tanks.

I paid $5000 total for my boat, with one seized engine and one very tired engine. I bought it because it was a very nice dry hull with an excellent interior.

Since then I've replaced a lot of stuff, including two rebuilt Volvo 4-cylinder engines, fuel tanks, custom poly fresh water tank, all new canvas, radios, cockpit sink compartment and much more.

Yes it's been a project, but i've sure learned a lot and I know the boat inside out.

Speed is of absolutely no interest to me. I was raised on sailboats, so the 3270's cruising speed of 9 knots seems just right. Nobody spills their drink, and if you hit a log it's no big deal.

You can do 24 knots with this hull with pair of big V8's, but the fuel bill will be heavenly..

The most popular version of this boat is the one with Hino diesels. But often the price is double (or more) the gas version.

This was THE most popular cruiser of all time.. over 3500 hulls produced between 1981 and 1995. There's a good reason for that. Unmatched living space, incredible value, and quite reasonable performance. Want a fancier newer boat? You can easily pay 10x that amount for a similarly equipped 32 footer.

Here in the PNW you'll find a handful of Bayliner 32's in every marina.

I think they're like the Ford F-150 of the boating world. Nothin' fancy but it definitely gets the job done.

Yes the 3270 has it's drawbacks.. every boat is a compromise. But I've never met a Bayliner owner who didn't (mostly) love their boat.

Check out: bayliner32xx.com and baylinerownersclub.org for lots more info.

Good luck!

32xx

So glad to read your post, a owner is usually the best source, so thanks.

Do you know the gph you are burning at 9 knots?

Have you wished that you would have waited and purchased a diesel, even if it is more costly.

I have little desire to go fast,so the little engines are good enough fore

The boat is being sold with all life jackets, anchor chain etc included.

I will definitely ask about the fuel tanks. No desire to be a Roman candle.

I have looked at 32xx.com, and there is a lot of knowledge there.

Thanks again

Chuck D. Stilwater Mn

Happy to help.

You'll find long and complete discussions about gas vs. diesel elsewhere on this forum. Basically it depends on how you'll be using the boat.. the more 'miles' you intend to put on it, the more diesel makes sense. But if you do mostly short hops, you will NEVER recoup the additional cost of diesel power from fuel savings.

The only other reason to prefer diesel is safety. You'll find some boaters who simply won't have gasoline on their boat because of the greater potential for fire and explosions.

But if you are extremely mindful of this in all your boating endeavours, including replacing those fuel tanks and probably all the hoses and connections that carry fuel, (and always blowing out the bilge before starting) you can greatly reduce that risk.

And make sure everything in your engine room is 'marine' grade, especially things like alternators. Previous owners may have tried to save some money by using automotive parts.. very dangerous (sparking).

If I buy a newer version of the same boat (which I might someday..) I would look seriously at V-6 engines. I don't think the factory ever offered that as an option, but many owners have opted to replace factory power with V-6's. I see that as an excellent possible compromise - more power when you need it, but much better fuel efficiency than V-8's. And still much less expensive than diesels.

I currently burn about 1 - 1.5 gallons per hour, per engine. If I'm in no hurry I'll run one engine, which gives me about 5.5 knots, and costs under $10 per hour in fuel. Can't beat that!

Brent wrote;
“Can't beat that!“

If I ran 5.5 knots I’d be burning .5gph.
30’ 8 ton boat. See avatar.

You probably don't want to hear this but I would consider the boat, but only if I planned to drop another $20,000 to $40,000 on her. That fact the engine has high hours is a good thing, not a bad thing. Under utilized boats and engines do more damage to the engine than high hours.

But if it were me, I'd just go for an engine build right away because I guarantee you, promise, will sign it in blood, when you are out on the great pond you will think - "I wonder when these engines are going to conk out on me." I bought a boat with an older Merc Cruiser 350 and it turned out to be a rebuild, so it wasn't the original engine. I did a repower.

If the boat is everything you want except you are nervous about the engines, take them out, install new fuel tanks (poly's) and go with a single engine repower. This means the two holes you probably have in the back will be glassed in and a new hole for a single engine installed. And if you are nervous about one engine for maneuverability add a bow thruster.

For a "get back home" engine in a scenario that my engine died for whatever reason, I'd side tow with my 9 1/2 foot rib with a Merc 9.9 kicker.

I believe the Mercruiser/Volvo 3.0/140 is one of the longest production run engines of all time (at least the smaller 120 hp version is). You can find parts for these engine anywhere and you can find decent drop in used 3.0 motors on craigslist, Ebay and such between $1000.00 and $1500.00.

I repowered my 17 foot strait inboard Shamrock with one of the 3.0 Mercruisers that was pulled out of an old scrapped SeaRay. I used a Volvo raw water pump bracket and water pump and used the Volvo style side mount engine mounts. The transmission is a velvet drive 71 series.

I do not know the availability and pricing of the Volvo specific parts but you should be able to easily swap over to the Mercruiser equivalents.

Two of the big pluses are that these engines have a small footprint and are very easy to work on. As mentioned previously these engines are often referred to as bulletproof.

32xx

Thanks for all in the input. I texted the owner and he is the second owner and in the 18 years he has owned it, he has not changed the fuel tank.


Gas vs diesel, ends up being how are you going to use it, I have a 36 foot 18,000 pound fifth wheel, that I tow with a Volvo class 8 semi. It has a small cummins (11.1 liter) but still change oil by the gallon. The problem with the semi is not using it enough, and things like air compressor, dryer valves, emergency brakes that look up, etc, etc etc. Don't get me wrong would never go back to a pickup, but big trucks are safe and pricey to maintain.


I suspect the diesel in a boat would not like sitting idle for long periods of time.


The neat thing about the small gassers in a trawler is they can be fairly fuel efficent because of the low boat speed.


Bayliner 32xx came with Nissan diesels early on, and they operated strickly trawler speed. I happen to have 2 with less than 500 hours, but it seems to be so pricey to repower a boat even with free engines, that it it probably better to pay more for a boat powered the way you want it.



I want to use the boat on Lake Michigan and Superior looping around both of them - weather permitting. I enjoy the North Shore particularly Grand Marais where hiking is king.


i am also looking at a 36 Gulfstar in Michigan, that has a single Ford Lehman Diesel and it maybe the right time to make an offer. Asking 17,500 but they paid signicantly less than that 3 years ago, and it has pretty much been in storage since then - that has its own set of problems.



Have no idea what to do right now.



chuckd stillwater Mn, where we have 50 year floods every 5 years