Stitch King

I'm heading into retirement and plan to take it easier so towing is pretty much out of the question. I'll pay to have it transported if need be but we will pretty much use the boat up and down the intercoastal in Florida with an occasional trip to the Bahamas.

The extended platform was mentioned by a previous poster and that is a must have since I plan to dive and snorkel from the boat. I believe it's available in the aftermarket by Swimplatforms so if the boat does not have one it's not a deal breaker. I installed one of their platforms on my previous 44 Sea Ray and was happy with the product.

We have an appointment to go look at an older 400ss on Friday so I'll let you guys know how it goes at the end of next week.

Thanks for all of the great advice guys!

MR.HAPPY

Hey Stitch King... Did you find a boat???

Stitch King

Not yet. Have physically been on both a 370 and 400. Thought for sure I got lucky and drove 3 hours to see a 400 that turned out to be pretty ratty. On top of that the broker showed us a completely different boat than advertised. Not even similar colors. We expected Red and the boat we saw was Blue. I could have looked past some of the issues but the boat had a fake plastic teak flooring in the cockpit and in Florida that stuff is miserable. Cannot walk on it in bare feet or you will fry. Yes I know it can be pulled up but not knowing the condition under it really turned me off. The worst part was in the cabin where the vinyl on the walls had holes in it. I'm guessing they kept bikes down there and they got bounced around, It was a mess.

Layout of the 400 cabin is just like everyone says and getting into the mid berth looks easier than the 370.

The nice thing about living in Florida is I have all year to do this.

fossil fuel

We went through the same thing when looking. The great lakes is a good place to look as the boating season is shorter and most are winter stored in heated barns. The little advice i have is the 525/ bravo 3 setup is good for lakes but any ocean slop or big weather is tough on the drives. The early Volvo Penta 350's have 6 computers that need to all talk to each other....as we know salt and ocean makes that difficult even on a good day. The later 370's have one on each engine and the helm control chip. Way better communication and about 5 miles less cable....The volvo DPH drives are made for heavy. The gears are twice a big as a bravo 3

Stitch King

Yes, we're looking for a more base engine setup. I'm a former master mechanic and a mechanical engineer so I want a powertrain I can work on without complex electronics so the Volvo is out. Merc tools, diagnostic tools and parts are readily available so I'll be able to do most of the maintenance and repairs myself. The sweet spot for us will be a boat around 2009 (wife wants the sunpad instead of the trunk) and closer to stock power so I don't have to deal with headers in salt. Also anything that requires regular valve adjustments is out. I don't even want Joystick functions. If they are present it won't be a deal breaker but I could care less as I've been handling twin engine boats (without a thruster) for over 20 years.

MR.HAPPY

Anybody know if the rear storage engine cover can be swap'd to the rear sunpad engine cover on these???

t500hps

Someone did it awhile ago and I believe they said it was $15K back then. They support team at Formula can tell you, they are usually great to work with.

hogie roll

It looks to me like it could be modified by cutting out the upper structure and building a platform maybe out of starboard that extends past the transom a bit.

fossil fuel

I agree, A black engine setup will be way easier on drives, without $20K worth of CMI to replace. Most of the diagnostics on my 370's is done through the on board evc...not the case with the 350's. We love our 400. We stayed on it in Goodland for a month and then in Marathon for 3 months. Hauled it home and were going back in the fall to Marathon for another 6 months. Great boat for 2 people full time.