susanandlance
Well-Known Member
Looking for performance and fuel economy numbers on the 380 DA, are they as bad as the 36 DB??
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Looking for performance and fuel economy numbers on the 380 DA, are they as bad as the 36 DB??
They’re really nice boats. I looked at a whole bunch of them before deciding to go with diesels instead and moving the search up to the one that resulted in my 410.
IMHO: The 380 Sundancer was a much better boat for us than the one 360 DB we looked at, but with either boat you are at your limit with what you would want if you are looking at fuel numbers.
A few years ago I was where you are now and I fell in love with the 380’s, but like you, I was questioning the fuel numbers. Honestly, you’ll get much better fuel efficiency and range from a diesel boat.
At cruising speed on trips I average about a mile a gallon. If I’m just running around locally at cocktail speed the damn thing barely uses any fuel.
The icing on the cake is the fuel efficiency of the diesel generator. I can run the AC units all day long while on the hook and it uses about half a gallon an hour.
There aren’t a whole lot of diesel 380’s out there, and the very few that were for sale when I was looking were priced the same as the diesel 400’s and 410’s at the time.
If you’re afraid of diesels (I was) and can’t get past it then the gasser 380 is a fantastic boat. You’ll be very happy with it and you’ll save a bit initially on the purchase price. If you can get past the fear of the unknown with diesels then look at some 400’s and 410’s. Basically the same boat. Just a bit wider with a slightly bigger cockpit, a little more private aft cabin and a second head.
I became a diesel convert pretty quickly. Still learning my way around them two years later. The maintenance is super easy. There isn’t really much. Still a bit afraid of them if they break, but it seems like if you keep up with the maintenance they almost never break.