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Trojan F32 buyers advice

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 1:43 pm
by Firstclass
Hey folks,

I am new here. 33 yo german guy looking for a 28-36 ft. boat as a 2nd home and few short trips on the river Rhine here in Germany.
Currently I am falling in love with Trojan boats. Generally not present much here in Germany but yesterday I checked out a
Trojan F32 from 1979. The interior is great. Timeless, good headroom, a lot of light and storage room - more modern than my current alternative
a 1980 "Carver 28 Voyager" with 2 crusader 5.7L V8 engines.

The Trojan F32 comes with two Chrysler 360 5.7L V8 engines with 225 hp

offer is published here:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... 9-211-4662

I am a bit worried about possible leakages and hope to find some help from you Trojan experts over here.
Besides the shiny pics from the seller I took some (especially from the engines). Maybe you could scroll through these to get an impression of the boat.
I've numbered the pics so that you can easily refere to them.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6jav570hj9v0 ... oDola?dl=0

My questions would be:
- What do you generally say about the Chrysler 360 in terms of maintenance/parts availability & costs?
- Can you say anything about the photos?
- The Onan 6.5 generator seems to leak a lot (owner refills about 1 liter per year, he said). Would you personally remove it and replace it by a smaller one? In my opinion it just looks exagerated huge....
- Should I take a look on other specific things of the Trojan F32?

It would be great to get some answers? It will be my first own boat though I have a licence for already 17 years.

See you,

Simon

Re: Trojan F32 buyers advice

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:33 pm
by BradZ
Hi First Class, I have a 1976 Trojan F-32 and I have been a boater for a god part of my life. I'm 55 years old. My boat has the Chrysler 360s in it also. I would not hesitate buying another Trojan. That one looks like the hull is good and solid. Double check the stringers for any rot/soft spots as with any boat stringers. The oil leak and transmission fluid leak are the most blaring issues I see in the pictures. Having the boat surveyed by a certified professional is always the smartest thing a potential buyer can do to be sure its ok. I'm here to answer any questions that I can. I rebuilt a lot of things on my F-32 so check out my posts.

Re: Trojan F32 buyers advice

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:40 pm
by BradZ
I din't answer any of your questions lol. Parts for the engines are all available her in the USA. And not anymore expensive than other marine engines. Again the engine oil and transmission fluid leaks are very concerning. You can rebuild the transmissions but it depends where the engine oil is coming from in order to fix the problem. The generator is big and heavy but I wish I had one in my boat. I personally would keep it as long as it runs good.

Re: Trojan F32 buyers advice

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:22 pm
by WayWeGo
In the 4th photo from your dropbox, it looks like the fuel line on the right side is leaking below the valve. Not a hard thing to fix, but with a gas boat, it needs to be done ASAP.

The only thing I saw that got my attention other than that is the oil in the bilge. Did it accumulate over a long time or is there a big leak?

Re: Trojan F32 buyers advice

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 1:42 pm
by Firstclass
Thank you for your answer.
I am now definitely considering to get it inspected by a boat mechanic.
But will he be able to estimate the leakage thing?

I don't know how long it took to accumulate that much of leakage, but the boat has been out of the water since September 2019.
Just before that it was driven about 3 days (8-9 hrs daily) on rivers.

The owner admits that the generator is leaking. Regarding the engines he says that he emptied the anti-freeze which could be an explanation for the red liquid (about which I thought that it would be transmission oil).

Re: Trojan F32 buyers advice

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:18 am
by willietrojan
I have had a few boats with Chryslers 360's (Not all Trojans) and never had any major issues. Remember that those engines are 30+ years old so be prepared to replace parts

As far as the boat, you need to check for Core Rot in the decks. Almost all Trojans will have this issue, believe me I have had to fix such problems on my former F32.