I'm in the market for a 45' to 55' sport fisher and wondering about the pluses and minuses for these motors.
Engine model numbers would help. All have good engines, all have bad engines? Some even have great engines but to answer your question, need engine model numbers to discus them better. Then you need a good/great shop to support you.
How long is a piece of string? Without knowing year/model/hours and the boat itself, it's an impossible question to answer. Overall I'd choose common rail Man's, cat's and DD would be a very distant third.
Thanks for the reply. Without actually seeing the boats yet the best I can tell you is that one has DD 8v92TI 's with 300 hours since rebuild. Boat is a 1989 50' Bertram. Also thinking about a 1990 48' Hatteras with the same engines with 1780 hours. I guess I thought MAN's might be harder to find parts and mechanics for. I'm looking in San Diego.
Nobody wants 92 series detroits anymore. Series 60 are ok, but parts are hard to find and getting harder. Stick to MAN or CAT.
For general comments without exact model numbers; If you must look at 2-stroke Detroits, stay with the 71s. Still old but more forgiving. IMO the 92s are a headache now with a worse future ahead. The series 60 engine is great, sadly the MTU displays sux. Look for the later and larger displacement models. Early Cat engines you want to weed out the 31** and 32** series. 34**s were great. When you start shopping for a later "C" or ACERT model, let us know. Some good / bad thru all that. I luv new & old MANs just more display and ECM issues on the later. Parts for all are expensive. Service for all will still be the largest issue. You will have to find a trustworthy and reliable shop. The best engine in the world is worthless without a great shop to support it.
After first deciding on the 46' Bertram (not the 46.6) model I wanted, found all but two of them had Detroit's. One that had been repowered with CAT's was sold and the other with the 820 hp. Man's now at my dock. Problem I ran into was finding a DD shop in Ma. to survey Unless you can pick one up with Detroit's cheap enough the cost of repowering won't kill you I would skip over all those with Detroit's. Also, until 1986 the 892's in the 46.6 Bertram's didn't have the 735 hp. models and even at that were at best 20 knot cruise so a 50 with them not even that.
Boening in Boca Raton,FL fixes the MAN engine monitoring/alarm board that loses the engine hours very reasonably if you ship them to them.
A few years ago I had to get an ECU replaced on a C32, under $5k and available overnight. i recently had an MTU helm display fail (16V2000)… $11000 rebuilt… new was over $20k. My MTU mech told me the ones we have in the ER which allow engine control are over $40k… he had been waiting 4 months for a $60k+ ECU for a boat hit by lightning… yes, some engines are a lot more expensive to maintain
I have MAN 820's in a 53 Viking. They have been flawless for me. I'm planning on a full service over the winter. I find the MAN's to be relatively quiet and fuel efficient. 1000-hour service is pretty expensive but overall, I would not hesitate to buy another boat with them. I do have a MAN shop that's very trustworthy in my area and that would be an important factor for me if purchasing.
I would personally choose cat c18’s at least for the bottom half of that range, c32 for the top half. Or 3406 for an older boat that doesn’t require a lot of hp or 3412 for a larger older boat like a 55’ hat. Cats are just easier to order parts for, as long as they are the American made ones, not the rebranded foreign engines (I believe the rebranded ones have a “.” in the designation - like “c7.1”). Cummins are even easier to find parts but I don’t think you’ll have Cummins options except at the very bottom of that size range. People really like common rail man’s but you aren’t going to find them if you are looking at a boat older than maybe 2005 or so. Lots of post 50 owners love the 820hp mechanical Mans. I’ve owned Mans and would consider them again but really would prefer cats. I would not buy a boat with 2 strokes due to obsolescence and resale reasons but if you have a tech that likes working on them and you don’t care about resale I suppose they offer a lot of value for the money. I would also recommend against buying a boat with a plan to repower unless you really have done your homework and have a plan already worked out with a reputable shop who specializes in repowers. There are just too many horror stories of people spending 3x what they thought it was going to be, only to still be unhappy and having to take a huge loss to get rid of it. Let us know what engine combos appeal to you and can get into more specifics - lots of us own and/or have shopped sporties in that range. I owned a 58 Viking, now own a 42 post, and have a 48 Cabo or 50 post on my list of 10-foot-itis possible remedies, and a later model 54 hat as my post lottery win boat…
