The Official 450 Express Bridge Owners Club

Hey Jim,

What a great way to save $700! Our cockpit and flybridge carpeting is getting a little weathered as well, so we will be looking to replace them in the near future also. I'll be interested in seeing how yours turns out.

Thanks for sharing with the group!
Keith

keithmo said:

Hey Jim,

What a great way to save $700! Our cockpit and flybridge carpeting is getting a little weathered as well, so we will be looking to replace them in the near future also. I'll be interested in seeing how yours turns out.

Thanks for sharing with the group!
Keith

Click to expand...

Thanks Keith!
I am sending in my templates, measurements and the diagram required by Corinthian early next week so hopefully I will have the completed product back soon. We are going with their AquaMat line. https://corinthianmarine.com/aquamat/
If anyone wants to use my best attempt at a diagram, here is what I came up with:

A little update on my outside flooring order. We ended up going with Corithian's "Solar Tan" https://corinthianmarine.com/aquamat/?view_product=1159 although there was a slight hiccup. The pattern I made for the cockpit was too large. The rolls of material are 8ft wide so they could not make it in one piece. We ended up making the pieces that go out the two transom doors and around the ledge separate from the cockpit piece to make it work. There will be a total of 16 pieces. Total price without the snaps (I'll order those separately) with the 15% Club Sea discount came out to be just a little over $2,800. I was very happy with the price and the turn around time of only 2.5 weeks.
We made a visit to the boat this past weekend, still working on other little projects. I welded up a tray out of angle iron to go above my new batteries. Pretty basic design, but I wanted a place to mount my tool box up and out of the way. Now that I confirmed it fits, I'll have it powder coated and then wrapped in rubber to hopefully avoid any issues should it come into contact with the batteries. And for a little bling, I ditched the ancient Jensen marine stereo and put in a Fusion along with three remotes. I mounted the head unit in the stock helm location in the cabinet, but I might move it up to the dash later. I was very impressed with the improved sound quality, the Fusion app and the wireless remotes that I placed on the dash, cockpit and above the transom shower.

New steering wheel from FP Marine. Matches the gauge panels better than the stock unit.

I replaced both of my fresh water pumps this weekend. I posted this in the General section and received a comment about the “tubing” mounts. I thought they were original to the boat, probably for noise purposes. My macerator/discharge pump is mounted the same way in the bilge. Any other 450 EB owners out there with the same or different set up?

Yep, both my freshwater pumps and the Sealand holding tank pump are the same.

After I upgraded my water pumps, I believe what was once a pinhole leak in the Pex connection to the hot water heater decided after 22 years that it was time to give up. There is some rust around the bottom of the heater that suggests the leak has been there for a long time. I did notice that with both the old pumps and the new pumps, they would cycle occasionally, but I thought it might have been a toilet or something minor. I'm glad I caught this in the slip and not out on the hook.
I had a heck of a time trying to locate the leak. I could hear it in the aft or third stateroom so I pulled the mattress and the flooring and there was no access to the hull. I then crawled in the hatch in the galley floor near the sink and could see the Pex lines going from the center of the boat to starboard. I then pulled the mattress in the midship or second stateroom and found the access panels for the water heater, AC pump and water lines. I certainly learned something new about the boat.
I would suggest, if you haven't already done so, for all 450EB owners to inspect this section of your boat. It is one of those "out of sight, out of mind" areas that deserves some attention.

And here is the fix:

Here is a quick picture of the battery tray that I built. I made it out of angle iron that I first had powder coated and then rubber dipped. For the top I used a black cutting board. The toolbox fits nicely on top and is out of the way for a change.

I was looking for a wiring diagram and found this 2003 450 EB Owner's Manual online. Lots of good information if you need it. Also a nice profile drawing to use for those custom t-shirts etc.
https://owners-resources.searayweb....ress Bridge_450_Express_Bridge_Supplement.pdf

I decided to replace all 6 of the Bomar porthole glass seals on the boat this weekend. Luckily the prior owner had purchased 4 and stored them in the center storage compartment near the galley sink, but he never replaced them for some reason. I did a little research here on CSR and the process seemed to be pretty straight forward. I ordered the 2 additional seals I needed from Go 2 Marine and they arrived very quickly. https://www.go2marine.com/Bomar-Gas...MI2NH-mdHn7wIVQTytBh0POwgKEAQYASABEgKwO_D_BwE
I will note the two portholes in the master stateroom are a little different than the four aft (two heads and the two other staterooms). For the master, you remove the stainless inside trim ring, but you do not need to remove the window. Once the ring and the three dog latches are out, pull the old seal. For all of the seals, I found it was easier to pull it out from the top and usually it would come out in one piece. Once the seal was out, I used a small wire brush to clean the area along with a scotch bright pad. I finished the cleaning with a little acetone on a rag. Seating the new ring on the master windows is tricky. I started by pulling the off the orange tape and putting the seam at the top center. I then worked around both directions. The tough part was getting the seal into the two corners. Once it is in, you reinstall the trim ring and the dog latches. Make sure to keep the dogs fairly loose, because the new seal is fat. You then rotate the dogs and tighten the screws to further help seat the seal.
The four aft seals were much easier. You do not need to remove the trim ring or dogs, just the glass. The seals also slide in really easily and the corners are a breeze. I found however that the aft portholes were more prone to a little rust. I ended up using a spray rust remover applied with a rag on the glass, hinges and the inside of the ring, followed by fresh water. Towel dry and then use the acetone. Take your time making sure everything is clean and your seals are in properly. I also used a silicone grease on each seal after they were in to keep them fresh. https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Silicone-Grease-1-Pack-88693/dp/B000DZFUPC
I would say I spent 3 hours doing this work. Sorry no pictures this time other than this stock picture of the seal.

FYI, I made a few minor repairs in case you run into the same issues:

• Replaced the trim tab rocker switches with a Bennett Marine ES2000 Euro-Style Rocker Switch (Hydraulic). The springs wear out in the switches, making the trim tabs inoperable. You'll notice a decrease in resistance when engaging the switch before they give out entirely.
• Repaired the Glendinning auto-sync with new flex shafts. One was out of alignment and broke in half, causing the boat to abruptly pull hard to one side -- one engine idles while the other stays engaged. Pretty scary when you don't know what is happening!
• Replace the master berth AC controller with a new Crusair SMXII keypad from Flight Systems. The Heat option did not work at all. Thanks for the recommendation, Jim.

I saw this 450 EB today in Alamitos Bay. This is first time I have seen a crane on one.

Shoyrtt,

Can you post a pic of your dingy and weaver set up on the back of your boat. I saw it somewhere on here before but cannot find it. My buddy needs to do this on his and I want him to see yours as I remember it had the securing rod and the pivoting motor mount also. At least i think it was a post from you....

Grant, I don’t have a picture of my exact set up but this one is similar. I have two stand-off poles and I don’t have a separate support rod for the outboard. I’m running a 15hp on the dinghy now, so Weaver made a double tube davit to help with the extra weight. I also picked up a 10”x10” piece of quarter inch stainless plate that I mounted on the underside of the swim platform to beef up the stern davit. Weaver only provides some small fender washers that I was not confident in.

That’s the pic I was lookin for... Thank you. Send me yours next time you are on your boat.

ocgrant said:

That’s the pic I was lookin for... Thank you. Send me yours next time you are on your boat.

Click to expand...

Grant, here are a few pictures from this past weekend. I should have removed the flooring on the swim platform, but you can see the general set up.

I'll add a little bit of information for anyone that is interested in how our outdoor flooring turned out. Corinthian was having supply issues with their AquaLoc backed products. We had the templates to them in early February, but after close to two months, we ended up with their HydraFelt backing instead. I will say that Debra at Corinthian was wonderful to work with during the process. I confirmed with her that they have my templates that will be scanned and placed into their system in May.
Now one word of caution. My templates for the flybridge are close, but not perfect. The piece at the aft of the flybridge is a little bit too large. I had to remove the Sunbrella binding and trim them slightly around the helm and the cut out for the captain's chair to get it right. Debra offered to sew the binding back on after my screw up, but I have a bit of a time crunch and shipping it back to Georgia would be a problem. I ended up just using a local upholstery shop to sew the binding back on.
The cockpit and stair pieces all turned out perfect. Remember, I used the multiple SeaDek templates from Kelly Key to make my larger and fewer templates for Corinthian. Here are some pictures along with our new teak table.

LMBoat said:

Looking forward to this thread. We've has ours for 10 years w Cummins 6CTA's and could not be happier. We've put 1,500 hours on it and have gone from Jacksonville, FL to Key Largo, to Bimini and all points in between. just an awesome boat for our family. Does anyone know how many 44's & 45's were made?

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Larry, I sent an email today to Sea Ray and asked them how many 450 EB were made from 1998/9 to 2004. The response was "approximately 230."

The main purpose for my email was to get the gelcoat information for my boat. According to Sea Ray based on my 1999 HIN it is Artic White WG-MP-1949PN.
I believe that Spectrum is the main source for gelcoat so I gave them a call with the number from Sea Ray. The lady there told me the code I gave them was for a 2000-2008 boat. She also advised me to purchase through IBoats.Com.
So here is my question, it looks like there are two options. I can buy the gelcoat that Spectrum recommends at this link: https://www.iboats.com/shop/spectru...lor-boat-gel-coat-patch-paste-repair-kit.html
Or the product that Sea Ray suggests that is correct at this link: https://www.iboats.com/shop/spectru...lor-boat-gel-coat-patch-paste-repair-kit.html
Anyone out there have any help with this one?

keithmo said:

FYI, I made a few minor repairs in case you run into the same issues:

• Replaced the trim tab rocker switches with a Bennett Marine ES2000 Euro-Style Rocker Switch (Hydraulic). The springs wear out in the switches, making the trim tabs inoperable. You'll notice a decrease in resistance when engaging the switch before they give out entirely.
• Repaired the Glendinning auto-sync with new flex shafts. One was out of alignment and broke in half, causing the boat to abruptly pull hard to one side -- one engine idles while the other stays engaged. Pretty scary when you don't know what is happening!
• Replace the master berth AC controller with a new Crusair SMXII keypad from Flight Systems. The Heat option did not work at all. Thanks for the recommendation, Jim.

Click to expand...

Interested on your engine sync repair. The sync on our boat did exactly what you described on our sea trial. Previous owner just said it has never worked.

Would love to fix this on ours!

Shoyrtt said:

After our first trip on the hook this past Summer, I was not impressed with the amount of generator use needed to keep the house batteries charged. The previous owner had installed an AGM and lead acid battery in the house bank. The lead battery was on it's last legs, so I did some research on the possibility of installing lithium batteries along with a a new inverter/charger to update the 21 year old systems. My research along with some recommendations lead me to Battle Born from Nevada. https://battlebornbatteries.com/marine-systems/
I ended up with one of their marine kits that came with 6 batteries, the charger/inverter, a battery monitor, a alternator protection box and a solar module (solar panels not included). I made the phone call and found out that beautiful California would charge some sort of an import tax on lithium batteries coming into the state if I had them shipped here, so we opted to send them to Arizona first. Here are the boxes:
View attachment 97931
And the contents:
View attachment 97932
View attachment 97933
Out with the old:
View attachment 97934
View attachment 97935
And in with the new:
View attachment 97938
View attachment 97939
View attachment 97940
The battery monitor is also bluetooth compatible so I can monitor it from my phone. With the old stuff I had 400 amps that I could draw maybe 50% of. The new set up is 600 amps and the people at Battle Born say I can draw 90 to 95%. I still have to make a cover for the batteries and a small divider wall between the two banks of batteries, covers for all of the terminals and tie up some minor items, but I'm happy with how it came out. I'm not sure if I will add the solar module and panels at this point. I set up the inside breaker panel with another breaker next to the generator and shore power breakers so that with the inverter, I can run the port systems and galley systems on the 110 side from the batteries. I'm hopeful this will drastically reduce the use of the generator out on the water.

Click to expand...

Shoyrtt said:

After our first trip on the hook this past Summer, I was not impressed with the amount of generator use needed to keep the house batteries charged. The previous owner had installed an AGM and lead acid battery in the house bank. The lead battery was on it's last legs, so I did some research on the possibility of installing lithium batteries along with a a new inverter/charger to update the 21 year old systems. My research along with some recommendations lead me to Battle Born from Nevada. https://battlebornbatteries.com/marine-systems/
I ended up with one of their marine kits that came with 6 batteries, the charger/inverter, a battery monitor, a alternator protection box and a solar module (solar panels not included). I made the phone call and found out that beautiful California would charge some sort of an import tax on lithium batteries coming into the state if I had them shipped here, so we opted to send them to Arizona first. Here are the boxes:
View attachment 97931
And the contents:
View attachment 97932
View attachment 97933
Out with the old:
View attachment 97934
View attachment 97935
And in with the new:
View attachment 97938
View attachment 97939
View attachment 97940
The battery monitor is also bluetooth compatible so I can monitor it from my phone. With the old stuff I had 400 amps that I could draw maybe 50% of. The new set up is 600 amps and the people at Battle Born say I can draw 90 to 95%. I still have to make a cover for the batteries and a small divider wall between the two banks of batteries, covers for all of the terminals and tie up some minor items, but I'm happy with how it came out. I'm not sure if I will add the solar module and panels at this point. I set up the inside breaker panel with another breaker next to the generator and shore power breakers so that with the inverter, I can run the port systems and galley systems on the 110 side from the batteries. I'm hopeful this will drastically reduce the use of the generator out on the water.

Click to expand...

Shoyrtt said:

After our first trip on the hook this past Summer, I was not impressed with the amount of generator use needed to keep the house batteries charged. The previous owner had installed an AGM and lead acid battery in the house bank. The lead battery was on it's last legs, so I did some research on the possibility of installing lithium batteries along with a a new inverter/charger to update the 21 year old systems. My research along with some recommendations lead me to Battle Born from Nevada. https://battlebornbatteries.com/marine-systems/
I ended up with one of their marine kits that came with 6 batteries, the charger/inverter, a battery monitor, a alternator protection box and a solar module (solar panels not included). I made the phone call and found out that beautiful California would charge some sort of an import tax on lithium batteries coming into the state if I had them shipped here, so we opted to send them to Arizona first.

Click to expand...

I’m curious if you have an update. I engaged with an installer to put a 3,000 watt inverter on my 2001 EB. He recommended I add three additional lead batteries to support the inverter separate from the house battery, which I liked. The challenge is that there is not much room in the engine compartment for another 3 batteries. I had recommended considering the space below the floor in the galley, however he nixed that idea due to lead batteries having a potential smell which would be better off in the engine room.

I was watching this guys blog who installed those same battle born batteries. He has the batteries stored beneath his couches, which I would surmise means there is not an issue with odor.

I reached out to my installer about these batteries and he said “At this time I do not do lithium batteries. There are various reasons. We could talk about it sometime.”

This conversation just happened, so will discuss lithium biases.

I have the same legacy house battery setup you show in your picture. Appreciate your update.