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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
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.
The published record
| Length overall | 37.0 ft |
| Beam | 12.33 ft |
| Draft | 2'11" |
| Fuel | 200 gal |
| Water | 72 gal |
| Holding | 49 gal |
Source: PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht.
A listing that disagrees with these numbers isn't necessarily wrong — but the
disagreement is a question to resolve before it costs you.
Roomy for her size, with a low published clearance. With gas engines and 200 gallons, her burn at slow speed is the question to answer.
The Silverton 322 Motor Yacht is an aft-cabin cruiser built from 1998 to 2001, 37 feet overall, with Silverton's SideWalk layout: no side decks, a full-beam salon and twin staircases. The PowerBoat Guide lists 13'6" of clearance and 2'11" of draft, both comfortable numbers for the Loop, though the guide doesn't say what the clearance measures. She runs on gas with 200 gallons of fuel, and no source we opened gives a burn figure. What she burns at 7 to 8 knots decides her range on the Loop's longest legs.
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.
Reading the boat
QUESTION
Is this the 322 Motor Yacht, or one of the Silvertons it gets mistaken for?
The PowerBoat Guide dates the 322 Motor Yacht to 1998 through 2001, at 37 feet overall. Two other Silvertons sit close in size: the older 34 Motor Yacht (1993 to 1996), also an aft-cabin boat, and the 330 Sport Bridge (1999 to 2007), a single-stateroom boat on V-drives. Our Silverton 34 Convertible profile is a different boat again.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.): Silverton 322 MY, 34 MY and 330 Sport Bridge pages
Your move: Read the model and year off the hull identification number and match them to the 1998 to 2001 run.
CLAIM
No side decks: the salon runs the full beam and the bow is reached from the flybridge
Silverton's SideWalk design trades side decks for a full-beam salon with twin staircases. The PowerBoat Guide rates foredeck access from the flybridge highly, with wide molded steps and sturdy rails. On the Loop that route matters in every lock, because whoever handles the bow line gets there over the flybridge.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
Your move: Walk the route from the aft deck to the bow cleat the way you would in a lock, and find where a midship line would tie off.
Air draft
CLAIM
Published clearance is 13'6", and the guide doesn't say what it measures
The PowerBoat Guide lists 13'6" of clearance. It doesn't say whether that includes the hardtop, radar, antennas or a mast light, and we found no owner measurement. Against the Loop's 19'6" limit that leaves 6 feet for anything the figure leaves out, so this is a number to confirm with a tape. We don't expect it to be the problem.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
Your move: Measure from the waterline to the highest fixed point with the antennas up, and note what folds.
Draft
CLAIM
About 3 feet of draft
The PowerBoat Guide lists 2'11" of draft, comfortable for the Loop's shallow stretches and anchorages.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
Your move: Confirm the loaded draft with the seller, since fuel, water and gear add to it.
Fuel & range
QUESTION
What does she burn at 7 to 8 knots?
She carries 200 gallons of gas, per the PowerBoat Guide, and we found no published burn figure for the 322 at any speed. The longest leg without fuel, Alton to Paducah, is about 250 miles. With 10% held back, 180 gallons has to carry her those 250 miles, so she needs better than 1.4 miles per gallon (250 ÷ 180). At 8 mph that's a burn under about 5.8 gallons an hour for both engines together. If she can't manage it, Loopers carry extra fuel on deck for that one leg.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
Your move: Ask for a fuel-flow reading at 7 to 8 knots on the sea trial, or an owner's fuel log at that speed.
CLAIM
Cruises at 15 to 16 knots on plane
The PowerBoat Guide gives a 15 to 16 knot cruise and a top speed in the mid 20s. No source we opened gives the burn at that speed either, so a range at planing speed can't be worked out yet.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
Your move: If you plan to run on plane, get the burn at that RPM on the sea trial and work the range from it.
Handling
CLAIM
Top-heavy, with an uncomfortable ride in tall waves
The PowerBoat Guide calls her profile ungainly and top-heavy, and says it can make for an uncomfortable ride in tall waves. On the Loop's open-water legs, like Lake Michigan and the Gulf crossing, that means waiting for calm days.
src:
PowerBoat Guide (2016 ed.), Silverton 322 Motor Yacht
Your move: Plan the open-water legs around the forecast, and ask an owner how she rides in a beam sea.
Hull & structure
QUESTION
What did the surveyor find at the stringers and their limber holes?
A moderator on the Boatered forum, writing about a 1991 Silverton 34, called unsealed limber holes in the stringers "a very common problem found in Silverton boats" and said it isn't a deal breaker until a core sample shows rot. That's one voice about the brand, written about a different model, so treat it as a place to look.
src:
Boatered forum, Al_Prisco (moderator), Nov 4 2010, on a 1991 Silverton 34
Your move: Ask the surveyor to take moisture readings at the stringers and limber holes, and a core sample if the readings are high.
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.