1979 44' Gulfstar Motor Yacht

[steveb]

I'm considering the purchase of a 1979 44' Gulfstar Motor Yacht and am interested in your input and comments regarding this year & model of boat. It has dual Perkins, model 6.354 engines with 3400 hours each. What's a reasonable number of hours to expect from these engines?

Thank you in advance for any and all input.

Steve

 

[Gabe n Em]

Get your own mechanic to do a full check up on those engines (especially heat exchangers). Sickly ones will cost big money. Healthy ones last 10,000 hrs I'm told.

 

[Capstan]

I have 6-354s on our 43' Mark 1 GS. If you look for "A Bad Monkey Tail" in General discussions you will see all the work we have done on the engines.
Latest is that one of the fuel pumps has a failed O ring So they will both be removed and taken to be serviced. (Not just because of the O ring but it is time they should be done) Not a simple thing since we are in the Exumas, Bahamas.
Nether the less you should gain some helpful info from it. All the best.

 

[WD40]

Anxiously waiting for replies...
We've got the same engines (naturally aspirated) with a tad over 3,600 hours on each.
We've only put about 10 hours on em since we picked it up in November 2015.

I've been told they're good to at least 6 times that amount (20,000 hrs), but I'd rather hear from some other sources as well, especially seeing that Gabe n Em mentioned 1/2 that amount.

By the way, we had both heat exchangers serviced before we took delivery.
I noticed one of the transmissions was running 40° warmer than the other on the sea trials.
Trans housing temps (used a pyrometer) were 100-105° on port, and 140-145° on starboard.
According to the shop, it was the heat exchanger, so for peace of mind we went ahead and had them both done.


Capstan:
Thanks for the suggestion on reading your thread.
Heading over there right now.
Here's a link for your enjoyment steveb.
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/bad-monkey-tail-21283.html