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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
Bayliner 4788 Pilot House Motoryacht
What the published record establishes about this model, what owners report,
and the questions worth asking while a boat is still a listing. This page is about the
MODEL — a specific hull always gets its own homework.
A very Loop-friendly pilothouse cruiser whose value hinges on proper propping, aftercooler/pump upkeep, and a measured, lowerable air draft.
The Bayliner 4788 Pilothouse Motoryacht is one of the most popular and frequently cited Great Loop boats, valued because its pilothouse layout, moderate draft, and lowerable air draft address both the shallow-water and fixed-bridge constraints of the route. It was the flagship of the Bayliner line and, along with its Meridian 490 successor, enjoys a solid coastal-cruising reputation. Most were fitted with twin Cummins 6BTA 5.9 diesels, and the model has well-documented owner communities (Bayliner Owners Club, Meridian Yacht Owners Forum, Trawler Forum) that catalog its recurring issues — chiefly over-propping, engine-room access, and aftercooler/raw-water-pump maintenance.
How to read this: 🟢 Fact = confirmed against a document, spec sheet,
or owner. Everything else — Claim, Pattern, Question, Context — is not yet
verified: things to check, not settled truth. Sources are linked where published.
Engine access
CONTEXT
Outboard sides of the engines are very cramped to reach
Owners' most-cited layout complaint is engine-room access. Centerline items (filters) are accessible if tight, and removable hatches reach the tops of the engines, but the outboard sides — battery charger, blowers, and other equipment — sit in a very cramped space that is hard to reach.
src:
Bayliner Owners Club; Meridian Yacht Owners Forum
Your move: Crawl the engine room yourself at showing and confirm you can physically reach both outboard sides for service.
CONTEXT
Look for a centerline-hatch access modification
A common owner fix is adding a centerline hatch (alongside the two outboard hatches) so engine checks can be done without crawling aft from the stairway; this was later incorporated on newer Meridian builds. Some brokerage listings specifically note this upgrade.
src:
Bayliner Owners Club; Curtis Stokes brokerage listing
Your move: Ask the broker whether a centerline access hatch has been added, and prefer a boat that already has it.
Air draft
CLAIM
The arch is the tallest point and is the variable that decides Loop clearance
Published bridge-clearance figures for this model vary widely by listing and configuration (brokerage specs range from roughly 14'6" to over 18'), and higher numbers are typically measured to the top of the arch only. The arch, plus anything mounted on it (radar, antennas), is the governing air-draft element, and stripping or folding it dramatically lowers the boat.
src:
Brokerage listings (Leap of Faith, Foreign Exchange, Cherish); Technomadia Great Loop blog
Your move: Physically measure air draft to the true highest fixed point and identify exactly what can be removed or lowered; do not rely on the listing's clearance number.
CONTEXT
Owners strip or fold the arch to clear the lowest fixed bridges
For the lowest fixed-bridge segments, owners have removed everything from the arch to get the boat to a bit over 15 feet, timing passages for lower water. At least one 4788 was fitted with a custom hydraulic folding arch bringing air draft to just under 13 feet in under ten minutes of effort — a well-regarded solution for full Loop capability.
src:
Technomadia Great Loop blog; Bayliner Owners Club
Your move: Ask whether the arch is fixed, removable, or folding, and get the achievable stripped/folded height in writing.
Reading the boat
CONTEXT
Low annual hours are typical — watch for sit-related neglect as much as high hours
There is no fixed minimum hours-per-year for this model; the often-cited average is around 100 hours annually and many owners use their boats far less. Very low-hour boats that sat for long stretches can carry deferred-maintenance issues (impellers, seals, fuel, aftercoolers) that offset the low hour count.
src:
Bayliner Owners Club
Your move: Ask when the boat last cruised extended distances and prioritize service records over the hour meter.
CONTEXT
Well-regarded flagship, better built than the Bayliner reputation suggests
The 4788 was the flagship pilothouse motoryacht of the Bayliner line and has a good reputation for coastal cruising, widely considered an exception to the general 'Bayliner' stigma. It is repeatedly named among the most popular Great Loop boats because it balances air draft and shallow-water capability.
src:
SYS Yacht Sales; Technomadia Great Loop blog
Engines
The engines research — factory options, tested performance,
and the engine-specific questions our members' dossiers carry — is part of the
full profile inside the product. It travels with every dossier and survey brief
built on this model.