So I am looking at buying a Catalina 28 Mk II, and one of the things that spooks me is that it has a Universal 25XPB with a ZF10M gear box. It vibrates excessively at about 900-1000 rpm (yes I understand that the idle is set way to slow), and it smooths out when the engine rom is advanced to 1300 rpm or so.
One of the previous owners had the transmission replaced at 255 hours (when the boat was 4 years old). That was about 500 hours and 7 years again.
I know the 25XPB has a bad reputation of eating gearboxes. That scared me away from a Cat 310 I was looking at (owner had replaced the gearbox 2 years earlier).
Am I just paranoid from reading forum comments too much, or is this a real concern? $4-5k every 6 years on a transmission is a bit much.
One of the previous owners had the transmission replaced at 255 hours (when the boat was 4 years old). That was about 500 hours and 7 years again.
I know the 25XPB has a bad reputation of eating gearboxes. That scared me away from a Cat 310 I was looking at (owner had replaced the gearbox 2 years earlier).
Am I just paranoid from reading forum comments too much, or is this a real concern? $4-5k every 6 years on a transmission is a bit much.