Are Cat C30 engines good?

The Cat C30's are good motors. They are an evolution of the 3412's and Cat's last 12 cylinder single cam block. The C30's make good power and were more fuel efficient than the C32's in the same HP rating 1550. A Pair burns 122 GPH at 80% load. I'm guessing they're in a 54' SF which is a great running boat and combo. It should run 32 knots at 80% with a tower, 33 knots with a hard top. I ran one with a tower for a while. They're reliable engines and run good, just change the aftercoolers every 6 years like CAT mandates now and all will be well in the world with them.

Heard they are good engines, as were the 3412's. I just got out of a boat that had c32's D-rated to 1550's, and they were great engines. I just closed on my own 10 year old Hatteras 60GT sportfish with the c32 Acerts at 1800 hp each. As mentioned, normal maintenance and new aftercoolers when advised, and you should be in great shape. I am replacing the ones on my new to me boat as I type.

Yeah, the only issue with the 1550HP C32's compared to the C30's was the C32's burned just over 140 GPH at 80% and the C30's sipped 122 GPH. You could bump up the C32's to 1650HP version just by reprogramming the computer (that's exactly what CAT did). The 1800's are good motors and burn around 175 GPH at 80% if I remember right, I've been running the 1900's lately so can't remember everything. The 60' GT rides good, is stable on the troll, a touch wet.