Help please?

[Cookee]

Tried asking this in the Cig pages and had no luck so I thought I would ask everyone!

I am looking at a Cigarette in the UK with twin diesels (3208 Cats), and what I think are number 3 Mercruiser drives in a 41' boat - the serial number is CRT 410050480 - am I right in thinking that this is a 1980 41'?

Does anyone know what HP these engines give and what the expected performance might be?

The best answers I have so far is between 375 and 400hp and around 50mph but be careful of the number 3's with the torque from the motors - Anyone know better than that?

Any other information would be gratefully received as to how many were made, were they good offshore boats (I am planning to do a lot of offshore miles in the boat if I buy it), and is there something better out there I should be looking at? Diesels in the UK are the only option with gas prices the way they are!

Thanks!

[Tony]

I just cant see a 3208 being a good motor for a performance boat, they are designed for big torque at relatively low RPM.

[old377guy]

Cookee,
This is probably a 41' Huntress; I also got zero response over on the Cig room regarding a question that I had about this boat - go figure. The 41 that I used to see over here on the West Coast had 3208 Cats I believe. The boat did about 50 mph and the name was "Pegasus". Best of luck - Jeff

[Chris]

Cat 3208 TA was rated at 375 hp and about 800 torque. The 3208 wasn't a stellar motor and that's about max power output from it. Figure 500 hours before rebuilds- and they're expensive to rebuild.

The 41 was a performance cruiser, not an offshore boat. They were unimaginably heavy and I thing they'll run low 50's with that power- it's been over 20 years since I've been on one. But they're a roomy, comfortable ride. The III's are obsolete and the parts are getting scarce. That makes them an expensive fix. And I'd have to question how many people you have nearby that can service them. That torque on the CAT's is at or above what they were originally rated at.

Cigarette only made a handful of the boats.

[off roading]

i worked in the trucking market and we used to call those motors throw-away 8's not 3208's because they were expensive to rebuild.

[Chris]

Very true. The small CAT motors are engineered to give a service life about the same as the commercial chassis they're intended to be put in, then discarded. They never were intended to be a long-life marine motor. Pushing 375 horse out of them (or in one application 425) was alot tougher on them than the 210 horse they saw in a medium duty truck. The hulls lasted longer. I believe you can still get CAT remans for the low $20K range each. I've seen more than a few Cig 41 bare hulls in recent years.

[Cookee]

Thanks guys - I have sent a photo of one of the engines to a Cat guy over here and he reckons they are 340hp max and possibly quite a bit less - I think I'll pass on the boat as it would be expensive to make it go a decent speed!