Shopping 28 TEs

[bcmiflfish]

Hello, all:
My current boat (23' express) is almost on it's way to Australia to fish. Looking for the next boat and the 28TE is at/near the top. Only have been on them in port at a boat show years ago. Like the hardtop, fuel efficiency and large cockpit. Have read some of the engine box vs flush items here and am open. Looking forward to any good-bad-ugly on them. I plan on reading much of the appropriate forum here. Use will be fishing (trolling) at 7mph or so. With the range I imagine these boats have, the Bahamas are in reach from a Florida keys home port.
Thanks in advance.

[jcollins]

Hello,

The Good:
There is a ton of good things to say about these boats. I'm sure you'll find plenty of testimonials around here.
The bad:
Not so much. Even more depends on your level of skill. Close quarter handling is always a challenge for newbies. I'm assuming your 23' is either I/O or outboard. No matter how good you are at docking that one, forget about it the first time you back a single inboard into a slip. My previous boat was a single I/O. I was very experienced at handling that one. The first time I tried to back Afterglow into a slip my wife looked at me and said "what's wrong"? It was a whole new world. After a couple of seasons...no problem.
If your one that prefers a bone dry bilge, you will have water in the forward section. Many have added a second pump for that. Personally I don't worry about it. But that could be considered a bad point.
It can be a bit challenging in a following sea. Again, it depends on your level of experience.
I can't think of much that I don't like about this boat. Others will jump in here, I'm sure.

The Ugly:
Gelcoat on colored models. You can wax and/or Poly Glow until your arms fall off. Or, you can Awlgrip and that's the end of it.
I wet-sanded mine a few years ago. I wax every 3 months. It still looks pretty good.

[bcmiflfish]

Thanks, John.
I can imagine the steep learning curve with the 28. I have put almost 1000 hrs on my current OB powered craft in the last 4+ yrs. 30+ years boating but all OB or IO powered. I feel I am up to the challenge. Can you confirm the "only turn to port" and other details as layed out in the forums here are good? Seems like the advice is well established and well thought out. Would help a lot for sure.
Heard that "water management" were issues with the boat. Think that refers to a wet mid/fwd bilge you describe. Does it drain rearward underway or is it bulkhead confined? Source of water is the cockpit?
Don't wish to dwell on the negatives, but wish to know of what issues to look for. All boats have some sort of weaknesses.
Thinking fuel economy should be excellent. What is your experience? Talked to one seller with a 2005, 315hp version swinging a 19x19 prop. His cruise speed is 3400-3600, 20mph. Seems like too many revs for longevity...Any comments.
Thanks again,
Bill

[RobS]

Can you confirm the "only turn to port" and other details as layed out in the forums here are good?

Confirmed

Does it drain rearward underway or is it bulkhead confined? Source of water is the cockpit?

It flows aft when getting on plane, it is not bulkhead confined. Source of water is overflowing of the the gutters/drains at the cockpit floor hatches.

Thinking fuel economy should be excellent. What is your experience? Talked to one seller with a 2005, 315hp version swinging a 19x19 prop. His cruise speed is 3400-3600, 20mph. Seems like too many revs for longevity...Any comments.

That is running it a bit hard, his WOT would be good to know..

[jcollins]

That is running it a bit hard, his WOT would be good to know..

I agree with Rob on that one. That's 17.5 knots? I would call that a fast cruise. In a hurry but not WOT.
I usually cruise around 15 knots. (17 mph) That's 27-2800 on my Peninsular.

[Dudley]

I bought a 1994 28TE with a Peninsular which had 500 hours and got very hard to start and would go 17 knots WOT. I bought it in 1998. In 2001 I put in a Yanmar Diesel 6LPA-STP. WOT was 27 knots using the prop that came with the boat. However, the mechanic decided that I needed an additional method to change the oil. He installed a banjo bolt in the bottom of the oil pan. This normally holds the dip stick tube in place. A banjo bolt is a standard bolt with a hole drilled in the end and through the side so that it compresses the dip stick holder next to the oil pan. This banjo bolt also had another opening with a rubber hose attached. This is intended to supply an additional hose to drain the oil. At 650 hours the bolt rusted through and spilled a gallon of oil into the bilge. Since the dip stick tube was rusted a new one was ordered and this arrived one day later. The new bolt was $1.50 and the final bill was $1,350. They took the boat out of the water to drain the oil out of the bilge and then flush the oil out of the bilge. When we first noticed the oil decrease on the dip stick I thought the engine was just using a lot of oil. In retrospect I am ashamed that I did not realize that there was some extraneous source of the lowering oil level. Oil was actually leaking out of the bottom of the bolt. We called Boat US sea tow. Thank goodness we had insurance. The rescue came at once and hauled us to Deanton's in Oriental, NC. The owner is a Yanmar dealer and he said that he had never seen this bolt go bad. Now he has.

The boat yard also did many other necessary repairs. Now my WOT is 24 knots at 3,600 rpm. I cruise at 18 to 20 knots at 3,000 rpm getting 2.01 miles per gallon. Also, the yanmar starts instantly. I also changed out the bow thruster. My albin was made with the small rudder so the bow thruster is essential. I put in the next size larger bow thruster and the yard bill for that was $7,000. Needless to say I have changed boat yards. Also, my dripless stuffing box started leaking and we replaced it with a standard stuffing box which we can adjust without taking the boat out of the water. My neighbor's Albin 28TE dripless box started leaking and her boat almost sank. She replaced it with the dripless box and keeps a closer watch on her boat.