1984 Bertram 42 Motor Yacht Gas Engines

Great boat. Lots of beam, hull V and heavy.
<-- Our 58 is bombproof.

Headroom and room to access most service points.

Never understood the split master bunks.
I had a friend with the 42, he remodeled his master with a single big bed. He also had 3208 TAs.

Sadly, Your going to gasp at the fuel consumption.

https://www.**************/yacht/1984-bertram-42-motor-yacht-9625971/
yachtworld dot com

I you just do short local trips and don’t mind running at an 8 kts hull speed, especially if you don’t put too many hours on the boat every year, I guess the gassers are ok.

the one thing that you need to be aware of are the inherent risks of gas boats. Fuel system maintenance is critical, along with sticking to procedure (bilge blowers), making sure your bilge fume detector works along with CO detectors.

having enjoyed the safety of diesel for 25 years, I don’t think I would step back down to a gas boat and would prefer a boat which may take a bit of effort to bring back to par. The peace of mind of diesel can. It be overlooked.

Others here comment that fuel is a small part of ownership in the big picture.
This comment has merit , to a point.
Our boat is paid for. I do most of maintenance my self. Our Bert is behind our house on our dock, all paid for.
Insurance smarts but paid for every year.
Were retired and a fixed income.
We (try to) operate all year down here.
So, It does sting the wallet when pouring in thousands of dollars of a consumable product every fill up.
Savings does get clobbered come vacation time but that is what a savings account is for, to us.

Then, your shopping a gas boat.
Safety has to stay a top priority every use and future values and plans considered on your next boat.

Do you have any cabin cruiser experience?

For the lakes, a few local trips a year, it should be fun.
IMO; Ya got to get that price down.

I would not have anything to do with gas engines. Have you looked at this one with 671's ?
https://www.**************/yacht/1977-bertram-42-motor-yacht-9506328/

There's one a couple years newer with a lower asking price with diesels. To be frank, if you're that "worried" about fuel, then maybe you should be looking at sail boats or golf carts.

1/10 of a gallon per hour per horse power.
So, at 340HP each, that is 34+GPH each on the pins.
Your probably going to cruise around 3000 to 3500RPM. I SWAG 225HP to 300HP,, 23 to 30+ GPH.
These fat girls are not fast.
Pending lots of conditions, your looking at 2 - 3 gallons per mile on plane. Around 1 gallon per mile at hull speed.
Then another gallon per hour for the gen-set.

Cut those numbers in half for turbo diesels.

Buddy ran his 30 ft. low hours gas powered Sea Ray from Ft. Laud. to St. Thomas VI. One of the gassers crapped out around Haiti. The saga went on for 3 MONTHS trying to get it fixed. Eventually had to replace the block and eventually made it to St. Thomas, later telling me, " never again with gas engines." Had myself a gas engine failure on a return to Ft. Laud. from South Bimini in a Don Aronow built Magnum. Limped home the last 20 miles on one but was lucky they were able to replace piston for the repair. Sure anything mechanical can fail but IMO gas engines are just not tough enough for boats.