180 Bow Rider Thread... Questions & Answers or just chat!

[hondaslave1342]

Thanks. I finally got in but so many options, man did they put lots of combo's in these. I believe mine is the 175 series but can't find correct # manual. I think it's a #7 or #25. My eyes hurt I'll let you know. Thanks

 

[hondaslave1342]

Thanks. It's #7. Appreciate your advice

 

[Old Machinist]

Recently purchased a 1999 180BR in pretty good condition. Only had it in the water twice but took it on a 55 mile round trip down the Flint River to the Jim Woodruff Dam last Wednesday. Trimmed out to 43 MPH with my wife and daughter and I. I am surprised that the speedometer is dead on with the GPS.

 

[Tommo]

Recently purchased a 1999 180BR in pretty good condition. Only had it in the water twice but took it on a 55 mile round trip down the Flint River to the Jim Woodruff Dam last Wednesday. Trimmed out to 43 MPH with my wife and daughter and I. I am surprised that the speedometer is dead on with the GPS.

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That's a gorgeous boat, my man! Congratulations!

 

[Old Machinist]

Took the 180 out to the first marker at St Marks Fl on Saturday. Had a pod of 15-20 dolphins swim around and under us for 30 minutes.

 

[JonnyDepth]

Hey, y'all. Just recently purchased an 05 180 Sport sundeck with 294 hrs. I tripped over this site in search of a swim platform for it. Already made some modifications like added 2nd battery, added speakers up front, amplifier, and subwoofer.

 

[Old Machinist]

Nice looking boat Jonny!

 

[Tommo]

Hey, y'all. Just recently purchased an 05 180 Sport sundeck with 294 hrs. I tripped over this site in search of a swim platform for it. Already made some modifications like added 2nd battery, added speakers up front, amplifier, and subwoofer.

Good looking, Jonny! Can you share your 2nd battery setup? I bought the Add-a-Battery-Mini kit and need to buy the accessories (fuses etc) to start wiring it up. Any tips or tricks you can offer me would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JonnyDepth]

Sure! I mounted the tray to the flat area next to the trim pump. I have a before-photo, but I didn't take an after-photo yet. The next time I pull her out of storage, I'll snap a photo of the setup.
Battery: EverStart Platinum BOXED AGM Battery, Group Size 24F 12V, 710 CCA https://www.walmart.com/ip/612749200

Tray: Attwood 9092-5 Battery Tray with Strap, 24/24M Series Battery, 7-Inches L x 11-Inches W, for Up to 10 1/2 Inches Tall https://a.co/d/5EhNueS

Isolation kit: [ALL STAR TRUCK PARTS] 12V 140 Amp Dual Battery Isolator - Voltage Sensitive Relay (VSR) Pro Dual Battery Kit) https://a.co/d/9Zb0S9a

 

[fabric8]

Hi all, I have a 1999 Bowrider 180 which we've owned now for 3 years and it's been a great boat. This past Saturday, after a day of playing in the water and getting ready to leave the spot we beached, when attempting to lower the sterndrive, it wouldn't go down. The pump didn't run or make any noises. But it would go up just fine. After trying about 10 times pressing down on the switch, it finally started to work and the pump brought the sterndrive all the way down. Thinking it might be a bad switch, I took the remote control apart, but the switch is sealed and can't be taken apart. I have a Mercury MPC 4000 throttle control. While the boat was back in the garage, I tested raising and lowering the sterndrive multiple times, and it worked perfecly fine every time.

We went back to the lake on Sunday and the sterndrive went down just fine after I launched the boat from the ramp. After finding a nice cove, I raised the drive, beached the boat and relaxed in the water. As we got ready to head out and pull the kids on the boat, the drive would not go down again. Once again, no noise from the pump or anything. After trying multiple times again pressing the down button, the pump suddenly started to lower the drive. I kept it down the rest of the day fearing if I raised it, I would not be able to lower it back down and have to limp home.

I've been doing some reasearch and suspect it could be a bad tilt/trim switch, or a bad down solenoid at the pump. But could it also possibly be a dirty trim sender unit?

Attached is a picture of what my trim pump looks like and what looks like the up and down solenoids. Should I take a chance and replace the down solenoid with this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P71S1P4/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pd_rd_plhdr=t

Or replace the trim control switch (very pricy) with this: https://www.boats.net/product/mercu...tt02eS2DYnI0HYeYZHufx44aoy_jph6xoC7S0QAvD_BwE

What's the best way to figure out what the actual bad part is?

 

[scoflaw]

Bring a jumper wire with you. You can bypass a bad down solonoid for testing or getting your drive lowered.

 

[JonnyDepth]

What's the best way to figure out what the actual bad part is?

Hi Fabric.
The quick, painless way is to swap the solenoid coil pairs (the small wires) between the two solenoids. The trim directions would now be backwards to the switch. If the intermittent issue changes to the up trim direction at the switch, your trim down solenoid is faulty. The trim senders are typically there only for a trim gauge.

 

[fabric8]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go ahead and will try that.

A few minutes ago, I took apart the trim limit sending unit (I did not touch the trim guage sending unit). It had some water in it which I'm guessing is not good? Anyway, I cleaned it up. The contacts were not corroded and there was some grease present. Now that it's all cleaned up and dried, I'm going to apply dielectric grease on the contacts and silicone grease on the orings. While it was apart, I tested raising and lowering the drive. With the trim sending unit apart, the sterndrive will not raise unless I press the trailer up button. Down works just fine. So the trim sending unit has no effect on going down.

So it's either a bad pump down solenoid or switch. I'll report back in about 3 weeks when I'm able to get back to the lake. TIA!!!

 

[Althepal78]

Can we include 190 bow riders too? The 180s and 190s are the forgotten lengths now that Sea Ray seems to end their sport boat numbers with a 5.

I think they have 190s now but they not bow riders
I am late to this one lol

 

[GypsmJim]

Fix it for sure before you ever take that boat out again. If it sticks up in the water you won't be able to get back to the dock. If it sticks down you will not be able to get it back home.

 

[loggerboots]

my 2005 180 sport is odd. It doesn't have an hours meter in the tach. It also doesn't say 'sport' on the seat. Those were standard features, not options, right? Model number is 180spbr engraved under the HIN (and HIN does confirm it is indeed a 2005).

 

[Althepal78]

my 2005 180 sport is odd. It doesn't have an hours meter in the tach. It also doesn't say 'sport' on the seat. Those were standard features, not options, right? Model number is 180spbr engraved under the HIN (and HIN does confirm it is indeed a 2005).

The HIN should

 

[techmitch]

my 2005 180 sport is odd. It doesn't have an hours meter in the tach. It also doesn't say 'sport' on the seat. Those were standard features, not options, right? Model number is 180spbr engraved under the HIN (and HIN does confirm it is indeed a 2005).

Please post the HIN.

Edit; A pic of the HIN would be even better.

 

[blaster]

my 2005 180 sport is odd. It doesn't have an hours meter in the tach. It also doesn't say 'sport' on the seat. Those were standard features, not options, right? Model number is 180spbr engraved under the HIN (and HIN does confirm it is indeed a 2005).

It could be the seats have been re-upholstered and the gauge was replaced.