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Garage, Galley & Hangar
GG&H
Technical Owner's Manual
Vessel Profile30' 7"Photograph pending
FIG. 1
30' 7"
BERTRAM YACHT
Bertram 31
The Complete Owner's Reference
REV 1.0 · 125 PP
POWERBOAT · 30' 7"
GARAGE, GALLEY & HANGAR
9 chapters · 58-term glossary · 26-entry index
Powerboat · Bertram Yacht

Bertram 31

The Bertram 31 is the first production deep-V, drawn by C. Raymond Hunt and built by Dick Bertram's Miami yard from 1961 into the early 1980s: a light, sharp-vee twin-inboard sportfisher that runs through a chop where flatter hulls pound. It suits the buyer who wants the rough-water seakeeping that made its name and accepts the trade that comes with it, a wet ride, a heavy fuel bill, and a hull that rolls at rest. This reference is honest about where these boats age, from the balsa-cored decks and hull sides to the boxed-in belly fuel tank you cannot inspect, wet stringers, and the six-figure diesel repower that separates a cheap project from a finished boat.

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A sample of what's inside

Specifications

Length overall30 ft 7 in (9.32 m)
Beam11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
Deadriseapprox. 24 deg at transom (constant deep-V)
Displacementapprox. 10,600 lb light (climbs fast loaded)
EngineTwin inboards: gas V8 originally, Cummins 6BT/6BTA diesel repowers common
Used marketapprox. $20k to 40k project hull, $150k to 200k restored and repowered, condition-driven

Known issues, covered honestly

  • Balsa-cored decks and hull sides wick water at every fitting and delaminate under flexing, the signature cost-driver that turns a cheap 31 into a costly one (a strip-to-hull rebuild has reached $155k).
  • The centerline belly fuel tank is glassed in and boxed against the stringers, so the one surface that corrodes and leaks, the bottom sitting in bilge water, is the one nobody can inspect.
  • Molded fiberglass stringers over a plywood mold core rot in the wettest part of the bilge, clustered around the engine mounts and fuel-tank bays, and almost never turn up as the only bill.
  • Tired fifty-year-old gas engines and a thirsty deep-V push most buyers toward a diesel repower that runs well past $100k, which is exactly why a project boat and a finished one differ by six figures.

…and the full survey guide, service schedules, systems, and parts sourcing in the complete volume.

Custom Edition

Make it your boat.

We fold in your year, your engine, your electronics and refits, your hull number, and your vessel name and your own boat's photo on the cover. The book stops describing the boat that left the factory and starts describing the one in your slip.

$260
personalized to your vessel