URGENT Thoughts, pros cons on 98 SR 420 Aft Cabin

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Kastlercreative

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Hi All,

Going to look at a 98 420 aft this Friday, about 411 hours on 7.4 Horizons. This is the three state room layout.

Any and all input would be appreciated, experiences?

Lining up surveyor today.

Thank you!
Lou
 
several cruising buddies have them. They are generally happy but nobody likes the raised dinet in the main salon as there is no comfortable place to relax inside. The bed is apparently not a full queen size. There have been no particualr trouble items despite their cored bottom. BUT it is a big boat for gas engines.
 
A 420 with 7.4 ? Quite a large boat for gas engines........
 
Agree that it is a lot of boat to have gas engines. However, if like a lot of people, you use it for a floating condo and a few occasional trips, you can probably pick it up for a whole lot less than the asking price. Boat sales are way down and that particular boat is going to sit for a long time having gas engines.
Of course, when it comes time for you to sell it, you will have the same problem, so don't plan on buying it unless you keep it for more than a few years.
 
The alternative is Cat 3116s or 3126s----never!
 
I have a 370 sedan with twin cummins. I've read a ton of posts by folks with the same boat sporting gas engines who feel it is WAY under powered. I would be very concerned about the gas engines in a boat that size. Not very much power for all that displacement.
 
Thanks for all the input, yes power would be a concern for us too, however we do boat inland on a lake and do not do any extended cruising. I do have expereince with the 370hp Horizons (Had em in our max) and they had plenty of torque, and that boat was 21K lbs, but I'm sure a sea trial this weekend would help us to find out if there is enough power, for our liking.

We do like the third stateroom, and the layout, but are a little concerned about the cored hull, under the waterline.

any other input would be awesome too, I sure appreciate it...it's nice to get stuff straight from those whom have been on one, or had experience with them.

Thanks again!
 
Bliss: a friend has his SR420 powered by Cummins 450s. 29 kts wot. another has cats 3126 after the 5th engine was installed by cat it has ben fine.
 
My dock mate went through five as well.It was a 40+ foot Cruisers. He sold. All was well for one half of the next season. And then trouble of some sort started for the new owner.
 
go to clubsearay.com and for the most part, i think you will get some pretty strong no-no's for thinking of buying a 40+ boat with gas engines.

but, if tied to an inland lake where cruising is not a big plus for you, then you'll enjoy the happiness of a good deal now, and hopefully that will be enough to carry you through the headache, make that the migraine of trying to sell a 40+ gasser in 3+ years.

the surveyor should have his moisture meter on red alert when he looks at the bottom for you.
there's a guy at my place that has a 2000? 450EB with cats that has been on the market for 3+ years.
steal that thing.
 
I didn't realize that ANY 420EC's were sold with gas. I jumped around on some of the bigger boat sales sites, and was surprised to see several gas examples. I was even MORE surprised to see that some of cheapest ones were diesel, and there's gotta be more to the story, but the cheapest example I found had the BIGGEST diesels. The boat itself is probably in bad shape, but that also implies that several people invested $50,000 to maybe $70,000 in diesels, and lost it all.

You're right about CSR John, they tend to LOVE their diesels, but much of the information they base that affection on is, well, suspect.
 
They are a PITA to board. From a side dock you need to step over a wide "fin" to tail to reach the swim platform. the midships bording gate is wayyyyy up compared to other similar sized boats.
 
Well all, thanks for all the pointers and tips, I applied them when studying the baot this past weekend.

Here are my impressions as we just retuned from Bayport Minnesota and the sea trial and spending some serious quality time on the boat (every nook and cranny)...

Personally, the performance of the gas was much more impressive than I thought it would be, WOT about 27--29mph (remember we plan to be inland boaters for some time to come) She held plane at about 3500 rpm no tabs, 3200 with tabs... We had only about 100 gallons fuel, minimal gear and water and cargo, so I figure that will only get worse... but still be acceptable

So far as boarding, with our 40ft slip, unless i back in, we will be boarding sidedecks, about 5ft high, so I'll build some nice steps. It is possible to see the back stbd corner though with the aft deck door open.

The layout of the boat was very functional, open and locical I thought..I prefered over most of the other boats we had looked at in this size range, and with 3 staterooms ...and good sized ones at that, plus major storage, in a 42 (45loa) was impessive to say the least. Perfect for a 13 year old son, and a 10 year old daughter... Hours turned out to be 512, with 147 on genset (westerbeke)

There is some crazing on the bridge and aft deck and steps, a little on the platform, but appears to be all costmetic with the gelcoat, nothing structural, all walked well and we'd found a few other models, this model year, that this had happened... all can be covered with carpet, and we always have caanvas up, so water intrusion us really not an issue. There were no water stains below.

Boat scored a 7.5 to an 8 of ten for a deacde old boat.

Below decks were VERY clean, access was relatively good, perhaps not what you would find on a two stateroom boat, like our friends trojan F44, but still doable and much better than our current 340 in the motor room access.

Canvas is all brand new stratoglass, electronics are somewhat dated, but operable. We use our plotter anyhow.

Made up a short list for the dealer, which they will repair prior to delivery, survey comes for a complete engine/gen and hull survey Tuesday, (sparing no expense on this) if that goes well, she'll be here in about two weeks...

So lets hope Tuesdays survey goes well... I've talked to several people regarding the cored hull and the issues have been far and few between, also the reason I think you see the same boat with diesels going for less is the the cat motors they used that year.

So wish us luck, we will not have her in the water this year, but she will be fully winterized when she arrives, then reassembled and shrink wrapped

We will be doing some updating of the flooring etc, but other than that, she looked pretty good, handled extremely well I thought, and did not run bow high attitude when coming up on plane, as a matter of fact, her steering was much easier than our 340 is/was...

so I guess we'll see... : )
 
Hi Jon,

The engine/gen/above waterline survey came back today, all good, however, haulout for the hull is scheduled tomorrow, so I'm holding my breath, that is for sure... We hope it comes out well. stay tuned....
 
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