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Post 42 owners - check my maintance cost assumptions?

Discussion in 'Post Yacht' started by incoming, May 11, 2023.

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  1. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Yes, back to that rule of thumb.
    There are just so many set expenses.
    Dockage, insurance, scheduled maintenance (oi changes ect), maintenance on wear & tear items (props, zincs, wiper blades, soft goods, divers, washers, bottom services (haul & paint) and more.
    Washing your own boat and some maintenance items you could do your self and save ?? some??

    Then the budget allowed expenses;
    Updates/upgrades. TV, electronics, carpet, more soft goods.
    Then the large UhOh expenses;
    Overhaul, shafts, deck replacement, windows, ect, as required.

    Now, That elephant in the room nobody has mentioned yet;
    There are only so many hours in a day;
    When can you start and complete these projects?

    You remember the shoe cobblers story? He worked all day, when he came home, his family were all bare footed.
    Our own boat was bare footed from time to time.

    Like the phrase from Pirates of the Caribbean; Not rules, their just guidelines.

    BTW;
    Now that I have retired, I can not figure how I had to time to work. I still can not get my projects completed.

  2. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    The only ball park number I ve heard when it comes to ownership cost on used boats is 10% of the boat value, which like all such formula is not accurate. Never heard of $1000 per foot.

    there are too many factors starting with the age of the boat and how it was maintained or upgraded. The biggest factor will be brand of engines. Mans or Volvos will cost a lot more to maintain than Cummins or Cats. And even with a brand there will be big variations. Cat 3412Es for instance are pretty bulletproof and inexpensive. Later Cats with aftercooler issues will cost more. Three years ago, I had a bad ECU on a C32…. That was $3k. I doubt a Man or Volvo Ecu will be that cheap. I just lost an MTU engine display (Blue line)… $21k new! Hoping to get it repaired for “only” $4k.

    You have to look at each boat based on its equipment and history.
    FL000 likes this.
  3. incoming

    incoming Member

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    this is worth addressing. I’ll go back through my receipts when I get a chance and post parts vs labor

    I suspect this is another area though where it will depend on the size and type of the engines. With a mid size 6 cylinder, like a 480ce, nearly every part of the engine can be handled by a single person. I did most of my maintenance and repairs myself on my 38’.

    On my 58 with mans, I don’t even change my own oil. I probably could but the implications of screwing something up are devastating. Even if I did things myself, most jobs require a 2nd person. On a larger boat, this extends beyond the engines. Only exception is the genset, which is pretty manageable unless you go really big.
    FL000 likes this.
  4. incoming

    incoming Member

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    May be pulling the trigger on a 2000 42 that seems to be in excellent condition - would like input on anything specific to what to look for in the survey. 480 HP Volvo TAMDs w/ ZF 280’s, painted, and davit and small dinghy.

    According to one review, the boat has a solid fiberglass hull and “lighter cores in the decks and cabin tops.” Not sure what they mean by lighter. Anyone know if the core is balsa or foam?

    As, with any boat, will look for moisture around deck penetrations, especially for load-stressed areas like the Davit and windless, as well as windows and hatches. I can tell just by looking the caulking around the windows looks like it needs to be replaced - hopefully that’s not a sign of something worse.

    Decided to part ways with my 58’ Viking. Thought about starting a new thread but this seems like this is close enough to the original topic.
  5. incoming

    incoming Member

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    BTW if anyone knows this specific boat I’d appreciate any insights!

    It’s the one in Ft. Lauderdale on YW
  6. DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    Curious what type of issues you were having with your Viking? Surely you weren’t spending $150k/year on standard maintenance? Did you just have a series of bad luck large failures?

    I don’t know the specific Volvo engine models but I have several friends that had Volvo diesels and all complained about cost and lack of availability of parts. This could just be a regional thing and perhaps in your area you won’t have the same challenges.
  7. incoming

    incoming Member

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    Some bad luck, some catching up on things the PO said he did but really didn’t, some typical things that go wrong on a 25 year old boat.

    I am a little worried about the Volvos. I had similarly sized Cummins in my 38’ Bertram and getting parts was as easy as ordering them online at sbmar. Could log in to quickserv for serial number specific parts list, and call Cummins direct if I had a question. I don’t think I knew how good I had it. I’m not expecting that kind of convenience but there are plenty of Volvo people in Florida. As far as parts costs go, it looks like coolers are around $10k, injectors are $1k each, raw water pump $3k. Didn’t price turbos. But seems like parts are maybe ~50%-100% more than the Cummins equivalents, very roughly. Not excited about that but not horrible after taking care of 1200hp mans.

    I’ve found a lot of posts from people who love the TAMD74’s so I’m hopeful they’ll be good. They appear very well taken care of, but only superficially inspected them so far.
  8. Drew1217

    Drew1217 New Member

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    Hi incoming. First time posting on here. I know this thread is a little dated but it appears up until at least a couple of months ago you were still considering the 42 post. We have had our 2000 42 with the tamd74s for almost 2 years now figured I would add a little input from our experiences.
    The boat is kept in NJ for the year so obviously insurance is way cheaper for us then you being in Florida. We pay 3k per year. 220k value.
    Fuel we burn around 35gph with the generator running. I am assuming that number will be about half or more of the 58 viking.
    I am meticulous on our maintenance schedule as we are right at 2000 hours on the mains. So far we have replaced both exhaust mixers for 1k per side (actually cheaper then my old boat with cats.) We have had the injectors rebuilt (only because of age and run time) which was really reasonable I want to say somewhere around 200$ per injector, I would have to check my receipts for an exact cost. I was told by mechanic the injectors are very easy and common to get outside of volvo around 500$ a piece for new right from the U.S. This winter we are servicing all of the coolers as they haven't been done in 4 years. I had some odds and ends like a fuel injection pump shield that needed replacement which was cheap maybe 35$. Oil and all filers and impellers changed yearly, Props sent out Etc. Not adding up to any more then my 3208 Cats bills previously all in all.
    So all in all I have been very happy with the engines they push the boat well 24knts with a full load. Parts to this point (knock on wood) have not been hard to get. I have heard issues with the ecm on these engines and many issues with the earlier versions the 72 and 73 series.
    As far as the boat. We love it. It is the perfect size and layout for my wife and young son. We Looked at 48 oceans ,50 posts, 50 oceans etc. and decided between the added storage, slip, fuel burn, extra heads, extra a.c units. extra money spent all over we were comfortable with this boat over the bigger boats for now anyway. I fish the boat pretty hard in the northeast for tuna with long runs to the midshore and canyons. We pick our days I don't tournament fish it so Im not out in 8ft tight seas but I have definitely had her in some uncomfortable seas. My only and common complaint with the boat is the following sea issue. If I am light on fuel I have to run no tabs and 20 knts or so in a following sea with no auto pilot. It has taken getting used to but I feel pretty good running the boat in all sea conditions now.
    If you have any questions definitely let me know, I would be more then happy to answer and hoped this helped a little.
    chesapeake46 and incoming like this.
  9. incoming

    incoming Member

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    Thanks, I will take you up on it and send you a message. Glad to hear you haven’t been hammered too hard on the upkeep costs. I found a 2000 post 42 for what I thought was a pretty good deal. I haven’t owned it long but so far it seems like it will be a great fit for what we “need.” I’d love to compare notes and info on the boats. Particularly on the following sea part. We almost broached several times bringing the boat home in 3-4’ tightly spaced quartering following seas. I had to fight it big time with the throttles. Turned out later I found a trim tab was stuck partially down. I’m hoping with that instability resolved it won’t happen any more. I’ve always run my previous boats (tiara, Bertram, Viking) tabs up in a following sea. Even the Viking and betram got a bit scary if I accidentally left the tabs down in a following sea so I don’t think that’s anything unusual.

    Also welcome to the forum. Hopefully we can keep building the knowledge base on maintaining these.
  10. Drew1217

    Drew1217 New Member

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    Awesome to hear ! Is it the yellow hull one that was in lauderdale? and that tab being stuck even partially down was definitely causing a majority of your issues. If I use even the tiniest bit of tabs in following or quartering seas the boat has a mind of its own. Yes I am for sure more than willing to compare notes with you as I have never really found any resolve to the issue other then keeping the stern heavy and tabs up. I have even reached out to seakeeper and they can not confirm it would help the problem while underway at all.
  11. incoming

    incoming Member

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    yes that’s the one.

    My understanding is that seakeepers are largely designed to counter roll and pitch, not yaw - so I doubt it would be much help. Regardless, as long as the boat runs fine in following seas with tabs up, I don’t really see it being a problem. Hopefully that ends up being the case.
  12. 993RSR

    993RSR Senior Member

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    Consider this...
    Boat maintenance cost depends on what kind of an owner you are. Most everything on board has a manual and maintenance schedule. Windlass, dripless shaft seals... very few owners keep the maintenance where it should be. Wait for things to break or leak.
    Newer the boat the less the maintenance cost.