Seeking info about 1988 Jefferson Yachts

I have a 1988 Jefferson Monticello I bought almost 2 years ago and love it. It is powered by Caterpillar 3208TAs. They have 2400 hours. The only issue I’ve had was a blown head gasket last year. The CATs are strong motors until they start adding turbos and increasing the horsepower. The high horsepower engines seem to have their issues.
Hope you enjoy her.

Yes, this one has 435 HP which worries me a bit, but the guy has been a really good owner and kept them up well and has only done cruising. They have 2300 and 2500 hours. Did you hear it when you blew the head gasket or did it shut down...loss of compression...RPM's dropped.

I guess I was lucky. Boat ran great but when I was docking I saw a lot of steam coming out of the exhaust. After docking I shut her down and noticed that the coolant level was down and the oil level was high. The day before I noted that the coolant level had risen and couldn't explain it. I suspect that was a sign of exhaust gasses getting into.the cooling system. Fortunately no other damage was done but as long as I was replacing the gasket I had the heads rebuilt. Running great since.

Good to know Knot! Good luck this winter. I’ll let you know if I d0 get the Jeff tomorrow. Heading to do one last look at that Hatt tomorrow in Alabama. We shall see. I love the Jefferson.

I just ripped my dinette out! We hate dinettes! Put MAJOR storage cabinets in that place.

Well I have a big family and we use the dinette a lot for eating, playing games, and it turns into a really good additional sleeping spot. I got to Chattanooga for the survey, seat trial, etc this Friday. Wish me luck! I'll take a look and see where the city water goes in on this 1991, if it changed at all. BTW, does your electrical hook up look like this?

Nothing that fancy! Just a 50 amp plug-in by the Starboard Door from the salon to the fore-deck. (Not like there's a PORT door.)
I added my own city water inlet, by cutting a Y Valve into the supply between the 12 volt water pump and the accumulator.

Perfect! I guess I will find all of this out this Friday. If you ever find a manual, let me know and I will do the same.

We're loving our 87 Rivanna 52. We have a pair of 3208s in the basement. Ours had forward down dinette. Now it has major storage where that dinette used to be. That's the only place on the entire boat where you can install 7 foot high pantry cabinets. We'll buy an apartment sized table and chairs for the salon. In fact, I'm in the port berth amidships - it's my office, with two bunk-beds which I am thinking about ripping out for MORE storage.

I'll post up some pics, once I get them down-sized. I wouldn't want to get a nasty-gram from the admins saying my pics are too big!

Sounds very cool Bob. Yes, we need the dinette for family activities. And since we will typically be cruising less than 10 days at a time, need less storage. So, for now, I’ll keep it. We have had the survey done now and are awaiting oil samples! I hope a;l goes well as I really don’t want to be searching for another!