380 sundancer caterpillar 3126

I don’t know how you advertise a boat with radar that doesn’t work, and not willing to fix it. Last year I bought a 2000 380, I know it’s not going to be perfect, hell it was 19 years old. The survey came back with a few things. What I made them fix were needed items, one engine low compression on 2 cylinders, windlass motor quit working during survey, fuel guage for port tank.... the other stuff I chalked up for me to do, but you made a smart decision not to fork out the survey money if he wasn’t going to fix or compensate for the radar...

Rebbe said:
No I didn’t...they accepted my offer but I backed out before we did a survey because the owner was very unreasonable once I started noticing things were not right with the boat. Example the boat was listed that it was immaculate with radar etc. Had someone go out there and check it out before I lined up a survey and noticed radar wasn’t working and the owner wasn’t willing to compensate or repair the radar. So I walked away before I got in to deep unfortunately. Not sure how he plans on selling it acting like a broke ass. Yet he is looking to upgrade to a 300k boat..makes you wonder why he just doesn’t fix the small amount of issues or make it right with a potential buyer. It was in Charleston sc. Plus it was used for bachelorette parties as he own a charter company... there is more to it that led me to pull out but it was mainly the seller was unable to do anything to help the sale.
Click to expand...
 
Very helpful thread...I'm in process of purchasing and have found two 380's, both 2002 we like one with gas (Merc 8.1 Horizons) that several surveyors and mechanics seem to be fond of, and one with diesel CAT 3126 350HP. Coming from the sailing side of boating, we're most familiar with diesels but realize service is more expensive. The option with diesel is about $25k higher in price, but also includes a newly installed bow thruster. Would appreciate opinions from this experienced group on pros and cons of each, preferrances, value of bow thruster etc. Thanks!
 
I boat in salt with 15' tidal swings on a daily basis, so there's current & wind. I had our thruster installed after one season, $13K, and have never regretted a penny of that purchase. Gas vs. diesel, I wouldn't go back to gas if fuel was free for life (maybe). Think about resell value down the road too...Diesel vs gas maintenance is 6 gallons of oil for my CATs vs 5 quarts for gas. You have filters too, but there might be less maintenance on diesels than gas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,177
Messages
1,427,986
Members
61,086
Latest member
MrWebster
Back
Top