early 90s 61 Buddy Davis good or bad?

[Capt. Mark]

The C18 is 1015 hp and the C18 Acert currently being offered is 1150 hp

[hubris 1]

Will that push the 61 faster than the current detroits in most of them? It does seem they are a little slow at 24 knots. And they all claim 1040 hp with the detroit. Also, I would buy the boat with the blown engine on the idea that you re-power it, not rebuild it. Make your offer that way. If you can go at least 27 kts with new C-18's I think thats they way to look at it. Sell the one engine in there that has been re-built and get whatever you can for the bad one. JMO.

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

C 18's are alot lighter and are a true hp unlike the Detroits. I would think you would pick up 2 kts+ with the cats. They were the last good looking boat Davis built.

[35viking]

Thank you everyone for the information and post it was a lot of help!I like the idea of repowering it with new cats but right now the best option is just to bebuild the one motor since the other one is rebuilt already. Some way along the line the boat will have cats in it though.!

[Screw It]

Lots of opinions here but I will give a fact or two. I have a 2002 61 Viking that weighs 90,000 lbs. She has MAN 1300's and burns 87 gallons and hour with the genset on, running 28 knots at 1950 rpms. Every kind of boat is a compromise one way or another. To big or to small, to heavy or to light, good head sea, bad following sea, fast but bad on fuel. Newer boats through technology have overcome lots of strength, weight, speed and handling issues. In this economy why buy a new boat when you can score a great boat at a tenth of the price of a new one. On an older boat you will have to pick which issues you want to live with. My opinion is this, with all the boats to pick from out there do you really want to go through a 6 month refit process b/c of a blown engine. By the time your done you'll nickel and dime yourself to death b/c there are so many opportunities for upgrades while you have it all apart. In the end its the same money to buy a used boat with every feature you want. I just went through a refit and every other week I was driving six hours to check up on the process and make important decisions that came up along the way. I bought and 8 year old boat with 400 hours on it that was a cream puff so most of what I wanted done was cosmetic, fishing features and electronics. Great experience but expensive and time consuming.

I love the looks of a 61 Davis but never had the chance ride on one.

Good Luck

Jay B.

[negative equity]

hey I have had my eye on that boat (don't worry i don't have the $ ) but I have priced out some of the costs to R&R the 12v92 and other people here can comment on the cost as well.
1. a rebuilt 12v92 1050hp $47,000
2. prepping boat to R&R engine and putting boat back together and i got three reputable boat yards that are well qualified for the job. they were around $70,000 ( I could'nt believe it either but all three were at those numbers )
3. also needed is headliner and wall coverings in the state rooms that was around $7,000 depending on what you taste is.


If you decided to go with diff eng's the R&R cost would go up because of the accessories (new locations for fuel lines, wire, motor mounts, trany mounts , exhaust etc.etc.)

I hope some of this info is helpful

One last thing! If you are concerned about the boat rolling and pitching look into installing one or two of those gyros that help cut down on rolling. hey its only money and you will already have the boat apart (you can check out those gyros on youtube i think viking is installing them on some of their larger sportfish's

[HookmDonO]

Did you buy the nemesis?