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Ye
old Hat. It's really a sad thing walking the docks these days
and not seeing any new small Hattteraii around, and this example
of an old Hat shows why. For those of you who may not have noticed,
Hatteras seems to be pretty much out of the small boat business.
I'm willing to venture that that is a decision they will come
to regret in the not to distant future.
Now 14 years old,
this boat is a great example of what a good quality product is
all about. Originally a half-million dollar boat, it is selling
a decade and a half later for half its original price. Not bad,
not bad. And for those of you who wonder about how Hatteras
stacks up against others in terms of quality, let me just say
that this is not a top end yacht. Hatteras quality is just simply
good, not great. Its not luxurious, not plush. Its not upholstered
from one end to the other and doesn't try to wow you with all
kinds of slickness. It will have absolutely zero appeal
to the cocktail cruising crowd. It doesn't look like an escapee
from a balloon factory or the land of no straight lines.
Its just sensible design with the right materials used in the
right way and with first class engineering.
Its got the right
stuff. And because it is the right stuff, it lasts. You maybe
heard it said that fiberglass boats can last forever? This one
proves it.
Let's start with
the structure. The hull above the waterline and the superstructure
are balsa cored which, because of the acoustic quality of the
material, gives the yacht a softer feel. Having just done
an even older Hat last week without a balsa cored hull, the difference
is noticeable. Underway, the sound of the water against the hull
is noticeably more muted than a solid hull, and much more so than
a foam cored hull.
There were no flaws
in the layup and no water in the core. Everything about this one
is rock solid, even when you jump down on the deck from a high
dock. Stress cracks on the superstructure? Forget it, there aren't
any. Nor were there any cracks along the toe rails. That's one
of the premier signs of a well engineered fiberglass structure.
If you're looking at a boat that's full of stress cracks all over,
rest assured that the builder wasn't paying much attention to
his engineering. The hull is stong, strong, strong.
 Take
a look at the photo right that shows a piece of the hull framing
detail. Here, a knee is added in way of the rear engine mounts to
strengthen the bottom to make sure that the engines are sitting
on a solid foundation. But notice too, that all the framing and
stringers are on an inverted "T" section to make sure
that there are no concentrated stress points where the bottom skin
meets the frames. That, folks, is GOOD engineering. And what it
all means is that the bottom of the boat isn't going to be flexing,
eventually causing your engines to go out of alignment, eventually
wrecking the transmissions. Did you know that many transmissions
become damaged because the bottom of the hull is weak and the engine
is moving? Well, now you do.
Sometime in the early
1980's Hatteras had Jack Hargrave redesign all of the earlier Hatteras
hulls which were rather inefficient in terms of their shape. With
a shallower keel and less deadrise aft, she planes a lot easier
than, say, a 1980 model. In fact, with the little 6V92's she gets
up and running right quick without digging a big hole in the water.
With no GPS on board, we didn't get to clock the speed but would
guess its a solid 24 knots at WOT and she'll cruise at 20-21 knots
no problem at a very good attack angle. However, I should point
out that this boat had no owner's stuff aboard so she was light,
but she was loaded with all the fishing goodies, including
a Rybo chair and 3D riggers. Knock 1-1/2 knots off if you're gonna
load her up heavy. Knock another 2 knots off heading up into a 25
knot breeze with that marlin tower, but add it going downwind.
While everyone's in a rave these days about German diesels, check
out all the class action lawsuits against them posted on the web.
At double the cost and you'd have a hard time proving to me that
they're any better. How come I see so many new engines from brand
new boats with the parts scattered all over the dock? Caterpillar,
MAN, MTU's -- brand spanking new and in pieces. How come?
Me, I still love Detroit Diesels and the 6V92 is one of the sweetest
little engines going. I look at those things and still have a hard
time believing that they can turn out that much power without flying
apart. But they do. They crank a ton of power out of these
things and they're cheap (relatively speaking, of course) and easy
to fix. Base overhaul cost is about $10,000 (minus other parts);
triple that for der Deutchsmoteur. There just isn't any sweeter
sound to my ears than the wonderful, deep growl of a two cycle diesel.
Of course, I'm prejudiced in favor of an engine design that proved
itself for 60 years.
Altogether this boat
performs very well with more than adequate speed and handles rolling
three footers just fine (I don't overestimate wave size).
We took very little spray over the bow, so she's also fairly dry
with her moderate bow flair and high freeboard.
Hatteras also managed
to get the weight down from the usual 1,000 lbs/ft. to a more reasonable
39,000 lbs, which is 7,000 lbs less than the 46 Bertram, which gives
her a considerable edge over the Berty on speed and efficiency.
Speaking of which, the engines in this boat showed no sign of ever
having been overhauled. There was so much paint on them that clearly
all the major parts were original, so for those of you who keep
hearing horror stories about the 92 series engines, think again.
Properly cared for, these are good engines that will give good service
if you take care of them. That's 14 years without ever even pulling
a head.
A few words
about boat weight and performance. By the time you do a
few thousand sea trials as I have, you develop a pretty keen sense
for how a boat "feels," and whether it feels "right."
There are light boats, and there are heavy boats, but somewhere
in between is the ideal weight. Go out on some late model boats
and you'll get a good idea of what a light boat is all about. Some
of these are pretty awful. You know the expression "It bobs
like a cork?" You can take it from there. Light boats have
very rapid reaction times to the effect of waves, which can be rather
unpleasant. Very heavy boats, of course, don't perform as well in
terms of speed, and prior to Jack Hargraves redesign of the Hatteras
line, most of their boats were simply too heavy to yield the kind
of speeds people demand these days.
In a Hatteras, most
of that weight is in the structure, so that when you go to sea in
one, there is no doubt in your mind that you are on one very solid
boat. Crashing into a head sea, you can feel that it is the boat,
not the waves, that are winning the battle, hard as it may be. The
ideal weight of a boat is the highest weight that can be achieved
without undue sacrifice of performance. The heavier the boat, the
less it is influenced by wave action. At 39,000 lbs. I feel that
the 45C is at an ideal weight. Blasting along at 24 knots out in
the stream, the mass and momentum of this yacht hurtling along pushes
oncoming seas smoothly aside without undue bucking and shuddering.
This is something that is very difficult to describe that, like
fine wine, the ability to savor it's feel comes with experience.
Its not until you've run a few poorly designed boats that you develop
an appreciation of what good design is all about. Its not about
increasing profits by reducing weight. And while you may save a
few bucks on fuel, and gain some speed in a light boat, figure on
either beating your brains out or staying home a lot more. The 45C
has the feel of a much bigger boat than it really is, a real pleasure
to operate.
Continuing.
One machinery drawback are the Allison M20 gearboxes, which are
discontinued, and you'll pay through the nose for new parts if you
blow one. The good news is that there are zillions of them around
that can be scavenged for used parts, so there won't be any shortage;
just high prices.
Even with the generator
in the engine room, there is adequate space for maintenance. The
batteries are located aft under the cockpit deck and not outboard
of the engines. As usual in a Convertible, the engine room is not
as neat as it should be; the sea strainers are poorly placed on
the outboard sides and there is no deck in the bilge so you get
your feet wet and track oil all over the salon carpet. Ventillation
is through very large openings through the rear bulkhead and up
beside the cockpit liner, so the salt spray entering engine room
problems of earlier models has been solved; this engine room runs
pretty cool, and the under side of the deck is well insulated. With
four turbochargers down there though, they really scream. so this
is fairly noisy boat.
I think the layout
of this boat is near perfect, with the cockpit, house and just about
everything else apportioned just right. Even with the large Rybo
chair and footrest sticking out, there is plenty of room in the
cockpit for four guys and gals back there without falling over each
other. Plus the bridge layout is equally good, with plenty of room
behind the pedestal chairs, and adequate seating in front of the
helm. To achieve this however, the helm console itself is a bit
small and only the overhead electronics cabinet attached to the
tower (or pipeframe top) makes for convenient mounting of your electronic
goodies. Otherwise, this stuff has to go in the lower cabinets --
you know, down there around your knees where you can't reach it.
But they managed to give you just enough space for a large CVS or
radar, take your pick.
No itty bitty steering
wheel here, she's got the full 20 incher mounted ten degrees off
horizontal, which puts quite a spread between throttles and shifters,
but that's a fairly minor thing. Wondering how to sit and
steer? You use your feet. Its a perfectly comfortable set
up. What I've always disliked about Hatteras panels is that
the engine instruments are not paired, but separated in two groups,
which leads to a lot visual searching around to find the gauge you're
looking for. With a standard bridge ladder, there is no hole in
the deck for you to accidentally fall through. Good thinking there
. . . .
While she's got an
in-deck bait well and a large fish box in the aft deck hatch (which
is easily removed), and like most fishermen, gear storage is a bit
sparse. There's good access in the lazarette to service all the
stuff back there, but no storage. You can drop the fenders and stuff
on top of the battery boxes in the forward hatch, but then you've
got to pull them all out to check the batteries. As with most older
boats, you don't have all sorts of nifty cabinets and wells built
into the gunwales. HOWEVER: building all those things into the gunwales
has a serious draw back! We've mentioned before just how important
is a foot cove in a kitchen. Lacking the gunwale overhang, it is
very awkward standing against the gunwale since your feet can't
go under it. This causes you to have lean forward because you can't
brace your thighs against the gunwale. If you want to see just how
significant a little detail like this can be, just go aboard a newer
boat where they have all that stuff built into the transom gunwale
and stand there, and then try to lean over! Lacking the overhanging
gunwale, its pretty easy to end up in the drink. Personally, I would
not trade the ability to safely lean over the side for all those
cubby holes. No way.
The interiors on these
boats is a veneered plywood called afromosia; its not teak though
it looks similar. It is a VERY hard veneer that holds up very
well and can be easily refinished, as this boat was. Original finish
is cottonseed oil, so when the finish darkens with age, you just
send in a crew with cabinet scrapers and scrape all that darkened
oil off and refinish it as nice as can be. Yeah, it is dark stuff
that currently is out of style. But wait! Dark wood will probably
be BACK in style soon enough. And while light color furnishings
in a convertible is not a good idea because it gets dirty fast,
I'd be inclined to do it anyway just to lighten up the interior
a bit. If you like lots of wood on the interior, this one has it
in spades. Its all very good quality stuff and holds up very well.
With the old style
galley down arrangement, the salon is comfortably sized, and frankly
I prefer it that way. The pullman style galley is large enough for
some serious cooking, yet you can relax in the salon and watch TV
or have a conversation without being too distracted by what's going
on in the galley. Problem is, the L-shaped settee is angled in the
wrong direction. Oh, well. There's a moderately sized galley sink,
but room enough for something bigger. As I did long ago, more and
more people are discovering that convertibles aren't just good for
fishing, but make good cruising boats, too. With a galley as large
as this one, and seven large storage cabinets, living and
cooking aboard the 45C is plenty convenient. And while there's a
big drop down into the forward spaces, the stair risers are wide
and not steep. Very nice for a big up-and-down, proving again the
importance of good design.
The salon has a built-in
L-shaped settee which can be removed and refurnished as you wish.
Otherwise, there's not much room for any other furniture unless
you want to place chairs in front of the electric panel doors on
the port side. As of 1984, Hatteras was still putting the panels
down on the floor. Arrgghh. In later years, they moved them up high.
You'll find many of these boats with the front windows blocked out
and cabinets built in up under the windshield where there is a pool
table-sized space. This one hadn't been altered. I have to
admit, its kinda nice to be able to look forward through the windows
and see where you're going. There's a good reason to have windows
in front, even if they do leak. Down side is all the sunlight that
comes in, heating the salon up, and there's no way you can install
drapes up there and be able to reach them to close them. Some people
have tried hanging them vertically, but this doesn't look so good.
Best you can do is outside covers, which really aren't so bad. This
one had neither and I was a bit surprised to see that the woodwork
either hadn't been faded, or had been refinished very recently.
The master stateroom
has the double berth in the outboard corner, a nice layout that
gives you more floor space and a bit of room to move around. Yeah,
its tough to make up the bed, but I'll take this trade off because
I love my floor space and hate falling over things. The forward
stateroom is a vee berth cabin, which is not too cool, but that's
what you get for having a hull design that is sea kindly. There's
no way to get a cavernous stateroom up there AND have a boat that
handles a head sea well. The
head with stall shower is also a bit on the smallish side, and not
a place where anyone is going to spend much time in front of a mirror,
but it's adequate.
While the salon has
huge windows all around, the forward quarters are a bit cave-ish;
the hatch covers are translucent fiberglass that casts a sickly
yellowish glow down below. This would be a good place for a couple
of deck prisms to lighten things up a bit. Or modify the hatches.
Plus, the interior lighting is just plain lousy. Altogether, there's
plenty of interior storage except for clothing lockers which are
a bit meagre. Lots of drawers though.
This boat is on its
second coat of paint, but the anodized window frames were not painted
and are holding up well. Only one of the forward windshields was
leaking a bit.
So how do I summarize
the 45 Convertible? A good boat built the way a good boat
should be built. A near perfect meld between strength, durability,
weight and performance. This design has been perfected over
a lot of years and there's little room left for improvement. Maintenance
wise, its about as easy and low budget as it gets. If you're
looking for a tried and true winner, this is it. A new one fitted
out like this goes out the door for nearly a million bucks.
You can pick one of these up for a quarter that price. You won't
find another production boat any sweeter than this honey.
| These
are "reviews", not surveys, and bear no resemblance
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We do not publish the results of the surveys that we perform.
Please note that the purpose of these reviews is educational,
to help you discern the differences in quality among boats
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Posted April 28, 1998
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