38 Dancer Performance

Aerobaticflyer

Aerobaticflyer

New Member
Mar 24, 2009
263
Bradenton, FL.
Boat Info
390 Sundancer 2005
Engines
Cummins 380's
As we contemplate moving up from our 300 we really like a lot about the 38 Dancers. My only concern is their range and power (performance). Difficult for me to see how essentially the same power plants from a 340 can adequately push a 38 and have a good range with 250 gal fuel capacity.........

Let's hear from you 38 owners (8.1S; 8.1HO; diesels). Are you completely satisfied? In the end I really need to get behind the helm of one of course.

Thanks!
 
We were very much interested in the 38da and i sea trialed an 08 new with 8.1 horizons - Cruise was about 3900 RPM burning a good 40 GPH, pushing 26 MPH. Because we cruise distance i ruled this out and moved up to an older diesel boat, 420. Those gas engines work hard to move 20,000 lbs. If we were doing local day boating, this would have been fine.
 
I moved up form a 300da to a 370da . My friend went from a 34 to a 380. Both boats feel about the same. I travel from Montauk to Lindenhurst every year about 5.5 hour run in the ocean. I burn about 140 gals. That leaves plenty of room. The 38 is a great boat you will love it. Plan on a lot of long weekends.
 
You didn't say whether you were considering new or used. I would study this hard and skip past the 38 and go straight to a good 420 or similar of 2004 - 2007 vintage? You will be glad you did with the extra space and relative fuel economy of the diesels.

As an aside, if you stick with the 38 and the 8.1's expect it to be very, very thirsty.
 
 
I have a 08 38DA with the 8.1 HO's it cruises at 25mph burning 35GPH, The engines have enough power to move the boat, but I agree that fuel capacity at 250gal is a bit short, has anyone installed extra fuel tanks? where?

Javier
 
HokiesFan said:
You didn't say whether you were considering new or used. I would study this hard and skip past the 38 and go straight to a good 420 or similar of 2004 - 2007 vintage? You will be glad you did with the extra space and relative fuel economy of the diesels.

As an aside, if you stick with the 38 and the 8.1's expect it to be very, very thirsty.
Click to expand...

I did the same - After sea trialing a 40 with Diesel, decided on a diesel boat. Hard to find a 40 Diesel and the prices werent far off the 420.
 
2003 was the first model year for the 420DA, and there are some really low prices out there right now on 03-04 420DAs with Cummins Power. If you can live without a hard top and thruster there are deals to be had....survey and sea trial any used boat, of course. I bought my 03 420DA (delivered new in Jan 04) in Feb 06. The Cummins had 107 hours on them, the Onan had 89 hours, and the mains and hull still had residual warranty. We have put 450 hours on the boat since we bought it and we remain very pleased with 420DA with C Series Cummins.
 
FireIsland1 said:
I moved up form a 300da to a 370da . My friend went from a 34 to a 380. Both boats feel about the same. I travel from Montauk to Lindenhurst every year about 5.5 hour run in the ocean. I burn about 140 gals. That leaves plenty of room. The 38 is a great boat you will love it. Plan on a lot of long weekends.
Click to expand...

I like your choice of boats............
 
I have a 40DA 2008 with a cummins QBS-425 we love it! the hull of this boat is perfect for offshore seas and perfect for a weekend close to your marina
 
Thanks everyone for some great feedback. I like the 420....just hadn't considered it before when looking at the 38.

Now to get the 300 moved!...........:wow:

Thanks All!
 
Aero....if you think you may end up being interested in a 38DA...I know of freshwater, in a covered slip, with about 50 hours on the engines...that could be purchased for less than 200K. PM me if you are interested in more details.
 
We have an 2008 38DA with Horizon 8.1L and get about 33gph at 23~24mph. As mentioned the 8.1Ls are thristy but we don't travel far and the extra cost of diesel didn't make sense for our use. In general we are happy with the boat and the DTS is a nice feature.
 
We cruise Lake Michigan which is 80 miles across, so the 250 gallons is OK with us. At 3600 rpm we burn about 36 gal/ hour for 26 mph. At 3900 rpm we run about 28 mph and its in the 40 gal/hr range.

We run generally with smaller stern drive boats, so they like to go 30 mph plus, so they wait for us.

We got the 38 when we were looking at a 40 which we really love, but it was an end of season 07 and we couldn't pass up the deal.

In general, the performance is about the same as our 320 with 350 Mags.

We do like our 38 as compared to the 320- the hardtop, forward berth with inner spring mattress, larger size refrigerator and freezer, and the E120 and auto pilot are a plus for heading across the lake. We wanted the bigger jull windows. The ride is nice, I have to say much better than a friends 2001 380. The handling is much better than the 320. We are very satisfied given the deal and that a 40 or 44 were quite a bit more with the diesels.

Still waiting for the 40 redesign with Zeus, hopefully this fall.
 
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