Any 31's with 3208s out there?

[scot]

I know of a few 31's with V8 Cummins, but did the 31 ever come with CAT 3208s?

[nic]

I think I remember in the 80s the Anniversary Edition came with 3208s.

Have to be tight.

Nic

[IRGuy]

My now Cummins 6B powered 1983 33 FBC originally came from the factory with 3208s. After spending two and a half days last week working between the hull side and the outer side of one of my engines, I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to maintain the 3208s. Poor access equals deferred and poor maintenance. You as the owner don't want to do it, and the yard guys will charge you more for it, because it is very uncomfortable and difficult.

I have to believe 3208s in a B31 would be hell to work on, not to mention the weight. When the previous owner of my boat removed the 3208s and repowered with 6Bs he took out almost 1,400 pounds! The transom rose about 4".

[JP Miller]

I know a guy in St Pete Florida with 3208's in his 31. I'll be seeing him next week.... any questions to pass on?

[scot]

No specific questions....just curious about HP version and overall performance of these engines in a 31.

[In Memory of Vicroy]

The guy that AJ came from had another B31 with factory 3208 natural Cats that I fished on a lot. It was sold to Dr. Brian Jordan who repowered with 3116 Cats. It's now the Centurion.

With the 3208NAs at 210 hp it ran real well, curised about 22 kts and was the best riding B31 I've ever seen in a head sea. The 3208s weigh about 2400# with gears, each. This boat was a SF model with an added rear bulkhead so she had a downstairs station. To put it mildly, the 3208s fill up the boxes, in fact the factory option for the 3208 included wider engine boxes and the walkway between the boxes is narrower than the other B31s.

UV

[Sean B]

My now Cummins 6B powered 1983 33 FBC originally came from the factory with 3208s. After spending two and a half days last week working between the hull side and the outer side of one of my engines, I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to maintain the 3208s. Poor access equals deferred and poor maintenance. You as the owner don't want to do it, and the yard guys will charge you more for it, because it is very uncomfortable and difficult.

I have to believe 3208s in a B31 would be hell to work on, not to mention the weight. When the previous owner of my boat removed the 3208s and repowered with 6Bs he took out almost 1,400 pounds! The transom rose about 4".

Frank both the B31 and the B33 SF both have the cockpit engine boxes you can flip up to get at the top and sides of the engines. For accessibility those boxes make all the difference in the world.

But in the case of your B33 FBC I agree, 3208's must have been nearly non-accessible when you would have to crawl in a hole in the floor and then around the side to get at them. I get a panic reflex being wedged into cramped spaces like that, gives me the creeps just thinking about it

[IRGuy]

Hi Sean...

Yes.. I would not want to do anything with 3208s in a FBC.. I forgot about the engine boxes in the SFs though.. I can see that they would make access a lot better. My cabin floor engine hatches have about an inch of neoprene semi hard foam on their underside.. the guy I have helping me likes to rest one of them on top of the engine foam side down and lay on them, face down.. he can then reach to the bottom of the outboard sides of the engines, sort of upside down.. I prefer to step down onto the hull next to the engines, then as best as I can sort of squat down, trying to fit my knees somewhere. I will admit.. occasionally I get stuck in there and need to spend several minutes trying to get free. I can also go into the bilge fwd of the engines, and go through a hinged door in the bulkhead in front of each engine, and sort of lay alongside each engine.. definitely not a place for someone with claustrophobia! My only fear is somebody yelling.. "Get out.. she's sinking!"

I have to wonder when some of the guys I read about put those large engines in their boats how they will be able to maintain them. Poor access means poor maintenance... poor maintenance means a poor boatowner when his engines crap out due to neglect.

[FWHaas3]

I have an 82 with original 3208 Cats

[scot]

How many hours are on the engines? and have you had to deal with any major issues? What HP?

[Capt.Frank]

Frank,
I have 3208NA 210 hp, like UV says 22 knts cruise I think 14-18 gph. 1976 FBC I don't think maintance is that bad I have worked on much worse gas powered boats. My boxes have the extra 6" at the front and added side wings. I love my motors, I only have about 2000 hours on them I think.

Capt.Frank

[scot]

Capt Frank,

Glad to hear that you love the engines, that's the way it should be. Most folks are always wanting to repower or plotting and scheming the next repower....happy with your engines, good for you!

Based on everything I can gather from other forums the old 3208's are real hard to beat for durability and longevity. In the 210hp NA version your engines should make 10,000 plus hours. From what I hear the newer CAT"s aren't living up to the 3208 reputation but I don't have first hand info on this nasty little CAT rumor.

For all the folks that cuss everything except Cummins or Yanmar (both great engines)...yes they are heavy, yes they are big and yes they are out of production...but they are still fully supported by CAT.

There are thousands of the 3208's around and many really good buys on used, recon, etc. Most 31's would be real tight fit but I would consider a set recon 3208's a realistic option if funds were limited in lots of boats. I see 3208's at 355hp or 375hp listed for 10K with under 3,000 hours, complete factory recons at 12K-14K. That makes these older engines one of the best deals out there at these hp ranges with proven durability.

I have a couple of questions about your engines:

What size raw water system is on the boat? Are the pickups, hose, fittings, strainers, etc. 2"? What hose size is the intake on the pump?

Is the 14-18 GPH a combined total burn estimate?
What gears are behind the engines?, ratio, etc.

Thanks,
Scot

[Capt.Frank]

Scott,
My fuel burn is estimated I run approx. 120 miles round trip @ 22 knts and troll for 5-6 hours on 100-120 gals.
Shafts are 1 3/8" not sure of running gear think BW?
I only know of the 300 hp 3208's in a B31 the 350-375 hp don't think they will fit under the covers. The turbo take up alot of space.
Raw water just increased to 1 1/2" they were only 1 1/4" for the past 20 years. I had planned to go to 2" but the thru hulls only 1 1/2"
I have pic of the engines if you would like I am out of town until sun.
Frank

[scot]

Thanks Frank,

Don't need any photos but I appreciate the offer. My main point of interest was the raw water inlet/strainer size, shaft size and the fuel burn.

I'm gathering a little info and weighting options for a single repower with a low hour unit or recon. There are a lot of those CATs out there!

Thanks again,
Scot

[Busted Flush]

I work for a cat dealer in Ft laud in the early 80's and saw quite a few 31 with 3208's they were what we called pantropic 636s the first turbocharged 3208s. I worked on one the original TURBO CAT and while it was hard in the begging to work on they soon I had it where I could take each one out in 45 minutes, and then I would do a lot of servicing, about once a year the owner had me do it and then he was trouble free for a year( I did more maintaince at that time than most boaters would but this owner was smart) the3208 are very dependable but you cant fit an aftercooled emgine in there so the hp limit was 320 hp. but very fast and good on fuel 12 gph ea eng at wot, the cummins 370 that were also avilable were pure hell to work on too much iron for the hp

[Bruce]

I serviced one for quite a while till the owner passed away. 210hp.

Cats problem like all the others is rust. The first to go was the sheet metal pan, then the oil cooler housing on the lower left side.

I've changed many of 3208 pans.

The boat was slow compared to the diesels used now, but the damn thing was much more stable and rode more solid than any other 31 I've been on.

Anything 375hp and lower will last. Anything over 375 will grenade.
They can't keep oil on the piston skirts and cylinder walls.

2 years ago I pulled a 325hp from a charter dive boat still running but tired. Had over 18,000 hours on it with no major repairs.

Put in a used 3208 with 9,000 hours documented they picked up for 3500.00.

They are still running it today.

When going to school I worked at Crane Carrier in Tulsa building well drilling rigs with 3208s and allison gear boxes.

They ran 24/7 in the field. Most were field serviced while running including changing the oil.

I think the highest recorded hours I saw was something in the neighborhood of 28,000 hours and still going strong.