Buying a 60 ft. 1975 CC Roamer... Any advice??

There are more than a few highly qualified DD mechanics in San Diego... have you asked your broker any of these questions?

He should be able to refer at least three or four. Speak to each of them and pick one that you have a comfortable rapport with.

Larger turbos, bigger injectors, blower bypasses, etc etc......More air, more fuel, generally means more HP at the expense of longevity of course.

I own a 60' Roamer with 1271 TI's. It is a nice package for that boat. I am probably quite a few years from rebuild.

She plows pretty good at 1,500. I run her at 1,250 mostly. It is just past hull speed and provides enough load to keep her good and warm without plowing a massive wake and killing you on fuel. That is around 10 knots. I do run at 1,000 some when I need to slow down to minimize wake. Every so often I will push her up to 2,000 - 2,250 for a bit to clean her out. That is a pretty good indicator of how you have been running. If if blows lots of smoke, I have not been running quite hard enough. Moderate smoke is ok. NO smokes means I have probably pushed her up within that last run or so. Somewhere between 2,000 and 2,250 you can drop the tabs and she will nose over on plane. She gets up there pretty quick.

CC roamer

"Moderate smoke is OK " well now there is a statement that tells a story.

Yeah, you caught me after a night of entertaining clients.

Let it get good and sooted over after having to run at 1,000 RPM for a few hours and it will blow some pretty good smoke when you stand on it. Kind of like most diesels of that era. It goes away after 15 seconds.

Run it well and it will hardly smoke when you stand on it. It will blow some smoke for a few seconds and then very clean.

In between = moderate smoke.

1250...maybe 18-20 gph. I don't know exactly. I don't have a fuel scan.

1,500? I have not a clue. I don't run there much. It digs a big hole in the water and burns a bunch of fuel. It is not unhappy but you are probably burning 2 x the fuel as 1250 and not gaining much speed. If I run harder, I may as well get on it and run 2,000.

There is a guy on this forum named Gary that installed a fuel scan in this boat. I will probably contact him and get the numbers.

Dennis, you sit there and say they will only last if you run them at cruise and this and that. 90% of the yachts out there cannot run them at cruise even 50% of the time. Mostly due to having to operate in the ICW or other inland waters etc. How many yachts only travel in the ocean, when it's calm enough to run at cruise, and always at cruise? Next to none. How many sportfishes with detroits trolled 6-8 hours a day, before picking up to cruise to run home.....MANY.....I ran a 75' Hatteras to Chicago and back 5300NM's, out of 60 days of transit time......40 of which I was lucky to have the space to be able to run at cruise for 1 hour each day.......It just is what it is and most of them are operated at hull speeds and for extended periods of time, and often and last..........

Years ago I ran a 60' raised pilothouse Marlineer Sport Fisher with 1271TI power. The boat had 1500 hrs. on it when I came on board and I ran it for seven years and 2500 hrs. From San Diego to Cabo San Lucas @ 1000 RPM or
8.5 kts none stop. Fishing for 60 or 70 days and then none stop to San Diego at 1000 Rpm but ran wo throtle 5 min. every day. Same drill for five years with two trips to Homer, AK thrown to keep things interesting. When 2014 gets here Jerry Brown will buy you new engines. Good luck In your venture.​

The 60' Roamer

Hello, Capt....As the owner of a similar Roamer charteryacht for the past 13 years (bought in CA and brought through the Canal to Boston in '98), and before that the capt. of another (60') Roamer, I can really tell you a great deal, and if you'd like to call me tonight I'd be very happy to talk with you. (*I read you have an important meeting tomorrow AM!), so please feel free to call. It's 10pm here but I'll be up quite a while longer.

Sincere regards,
Capt. Phil Elliott
Boston
617-268-1234

Moderate smoke

Any diesel that is "hot" and is showing moderate smoke at 1250 rpm under load is in need of attention, now, the reason DD"s are popular is that if all goes well you can run like that for years, does not mean the engine is in good condition.

I must not have articulated it right. My boat ONLY smokes when I hammer it. If I have been running at lower RPM it will soot up like most. It does not smoke. When I clear it out and run it up (2,000 rpm or so), she will puff a burst of smoke. If I have been running it under a harder load and then hammer it, she won't blow much smoke for those few seconds as she spools up. That is the moderate thing. If I have been running it the way I prefer (we can't do that all the time with no wake zones, etc) and then hammer it, no smoke. My engines run great. They fire right up and will push this beast right up. I run it pretty much like the prior owner did for over 10 years with no problems. He then had them rebuilt and put 450 hours on them before I bought it.

Good luck with her. I just got back from a two day trip in ours. Drop me a line and I will give you my number. I would love to hear about the boat.