Comments on QSC8.3’s new Diesel owner.

[Mike Johnson]

Excellent forum! In a short time we will be proud owners of Cummins QSC8.3 powered 44 Sundancer. The boat is a 2006 with 760 hours shown on screen. we are having an engine survey done but, am looking for your educated comments for what to look for or point out. We will be receiving the maintenance documentation soon. From speaking to others the rust stains could be signs of issue or not. Plan on touching up chips w/ rust o leum. Thanks in advance for you comments. Mike J

Topic

[Steve Lewis]

Mike,

1% sounds good to me. Nothing is going to be perfect so as long as things are within the published tolerance(5% on the Cummins performance chart for the engine) then you should be fine. If the water pumps continue to leak you can always replace the pumps with the SMX designed pumps. Yours have some age on them. It’s always an option.

My wife and I just offered on a 2005 460 Sundancer with 480CE’s. The seller accepted the next day. The water pumps are on the list of things to switch out in addition to a whole host of items. Our offer accounted for the vast majority of the cost of the remediation work that will be done so this boat made economic sense, it is the size we are looking to grow into and it is very clean. Survey and Sea Trial are coming in a couple of weeks. Things are busy over here in Ohio so the surveyor said week of the 29th. We are working with Skipperbud’s Marina Del Isle and our boat that we are selling and the 460 are both at the same physical location. Kinda convenient.

We saw an episode of “Ariel America” on the Smithsonian channel. They covered Wisconsin and Milwaukee looked like a place we want to come visit by boat. Maybe we will see you out and about in a couple of years.

[Mike Johnson]

Follow up from Survey

A followup from the Survey, We noted two anomalies #1 When in running with engines in sink, one engine was a Lower pressure, lower fuel usage and less percentage. This was 1% or less percent.

Cummins said, this is due to one engine working the transmission in reverse while the other was rotting normal. Did not see issue.

Item #2 both water pumps have a leak. Very slow drip did not get worse under load. A new impeller and O-Ring will solve. ( It was last changed 1 year ago.)

They had diapers positioned under the motors and saw no signs of oil or coolant dripping. Looking forward to seeing the print out and service history.

Oil was new so no test needed.

Mike

[Steve Lewis]

This is yet another reason why I love this site!

Dave,

That is another nugget of gold that I am going to add to my list of items to check at Sea Trial in my boat buying write up, if the data point is available on any particular engine management electronics. That data point about the intake air temp as compared to the water temp is awesome! I am a bit of an enginerd so the whole “Delta Tee” thing appeals to me.

Real world practical advice is priceless!

Thank you

[Dave Carlson]

I have had 3 QSC 500 powered boats of this vintage including an 06 44 like the boat described above and that turbo wrap has been on all three. While easy to remove the wrap is a bear to install. The exhaust on these boats is the doomed to fail design if it has not been replaced. Local Cummins mechanics told me to just put a new elbow on every 5 years!

One way to get an indication of the aftercoolers is to go into the Smart Craft and check the manifold intake air temp. I have found after cooling system/aftercooler service the intake air temp will be no more than 10-12 degrees above sea water temp even here in Florida. I dropped the temp over 20 deg. on my last boat after service.

As far as the 06 44 Dancer goes this is is a great package which is why they are selling so well. Get a good survey and figure in aftercooler service and enjoy!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Tony Athens

[Tony Athens]

If you DO NOT remove both exhaust insulation wraps for the “proper eyes to look at” (ours in this case) , you are no better off than being at a roulette wheel betting on your most lucky number in Vegas regardless of a survey or not………………………………This would not put you in a good position to move forward..

This forum is not at profit here ———————— But everyone else guiding / pushing you is.. Think about that….

[Mike Johnson]

No Additional Pics at this time.

Tony / Rob-
I thought I had enough pics to show. Will get more on Survey next week. Will continue to read up, make a list of what to look at. You guessed it, I’m putting much faith in survey being done on our behalf. Thanbk You for input. Mike

[Rob Schepis]

Can see just enough of the exhaust coming off the turbo to show that it is non-self draining seawater jacketed. Some pages on this issue:
https://www.sbmar.com/?post_type=post&s=doomed
If you have more exhaust pics, post them.
15 years in saltwater – this should not be ignored.

[Tony Athens]

What really matters on a 2006 saltwater vessel will 99+% not be found with a survey as point out.

Yes——————————–Let’s “see” under the exhaust wraps–ODD looking to say the least.

Do you have V-drives? lets “see” them.

Visually, things seem to “look OK”..

[Mike Johnson]

Steve- No not boat From Charlevoix, Mi. We did bid twice on that boat!. Not a fan of Jefferson Beach or at least the broker representing that boat.
We lost 4 others in this wild time. This is East Coast boat if all goes well will have hauled to MKE.

From what we understand all maintenance was done by yard & owners Checkbook.

Appreciate your input!

Mike

[John]

Good luck!

The wrap / heat shield around the turbos look new and non-traditional. Be interested to see what it looks like under them.

ZF trans?….def make sure to service them if so. Looks difficult to access so maybe neglected.

Yeah, document, fuel burn, speed, rpm, load, etc. to make sure all is in order. This will probably tell you everything you need to know about health really. Make sure engines are stone cold before survey, i.e., not warmed up before.

Obviously, regardless of what the maint docs show, if you end up buying it, do it all over because you really don’t know what was done. Better even if you do it yourself or can watch it getting done if you’re paying someone to do it.

[Steve Lewis]

How long do you intend to keep the boat?

Some thoughts and a document to read. She’s an ’06 so 15+ years of Marine Age are at play!

Based on the green discoloration on the main engine strainers, that boat has seen salt water exposure. You will want to have the entire raw water cooling circuit serviced to make sure that any salt water corrosion is fixed and halted. The aftercoolers are of prime importance to have serviced. Plenty to read about and too much to type as it has been typed before……..

Read about the QSC in Tony’s Tips section of this website. Sea Ray over props their boats from the factory so you will want to pay particular attention to fuel burn at seatrial. I cover that in the attached document. The discoloration on the turbos does not look bad on this one. Also the nice thing about the 44Dancer is the engine room access. The 44 dancer is the last in the Sundancer line where the cockpit floor lifts on a hydraulic ram. Both Aftercoolers are relatively easy to remove and service.

The engine survey will not tell you all that much about the condition of the aftercoolers, heat exchangers and the fuel/gear oil cooler unit. That can only be done by getting them off the engine and servicing them. You can account for that in your offer if you choose to do so.

This 44 wouldn’t happen to be in Charlevoix, MI listed by Jefferson Beach? My wife and I are selling our ’06 40 trying to move up. It’s been a little crazy with how fast boats are being sold. We have “Lost out” on 3 48 Dancers……… We are on Lake Erie.

Give this all a read and some thought and then let us know if you have further questions. The forum is here to help.

[Author]

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