1989 Sedan Bridge 300

M

Mkguyvr

New Member
Apr 20, 2016
6
Port Saint Lucie
Boat Info
1989 Sea Ray Sedan Bridge 300, twin 7.4/ quicksilver 4.0 gen set
Engines
7.4 FWC Mercs
Hi, I just bought a 1989 Sedan Bridge 300 last weekend in Miami and sailed it home Sat/Sun to Jensen Beach (120 miles). Stayed the night on anchor in Lake Boca, at the mouth of the Boca Inlet. It was a great trip home, a bit windy (18 mph) even at night. Cruised at about 7 knots all the way home, got somewhere in the .95 miles per gallon. Took about 18 hours of travel. Few minor issues that made the trip less than ideal but I paid accordingly.
First thing was the black tank was almost full and the overboard pump was stuck on dump( good thing there was a ball valve on the discharge line (no Y valve) just a T. The trim tab motor was not responding to the switches, boat will not plane off without them (fully loaded with fuel, water, sewer and 4 occupants on the bridge, and some gear. I don't know the performance of these boats yet but with these engines it seemed like it should have been a little more but like I said, no tabs working, just a huge wake and a bow up attitude with a 3000 rpm achievable like that. ( maybe someone can chime in on this if it seems normal in this case). Generator has a fuel starvation issue I think, starts and runs then shuts down after a few minutes, starts again but only for a few seconds, let it sit for a couple minutes and it will seem to reset to like in the beginning of starting. Probably a bad fuel pump and or filter (I have the part number to covert to AC Delco). AC pump is trickling water when running, I think the sea strainer is clogged. I stopped at the first chance I got to inspect the bottom in a very clear water area, bottom was in great shape, no growth of any kind. I cleaned all of the water intake through hulls with a wire brush and checked the through holes for critters. The forward AC is working good but I turned it off until I can service the pump, the rear AC isn't starting up. It may be a water flow issue. The stove top electric side isn't working, I haven't tried the alcohol yet, the fridge and ice maker aren't working at the moment but pretty much everything else is in good working condition. It's a mild project for me, I've had May more projects that were a lot worse so I'm not worried and like I said I got a good price on it. Looking forward to you comments and advice, good-bad or indifferent I welcome you input on this model and the Sea Ray products overall, thanks ahead of time.
Guy
 
Congrats on the purchase. Sounds like you have a few items to tend to in order to make it yours.

Generator may be shutting down as a protection to overheating if the impeller is bad. Make sure water is flowing out the exhaust.

Good luck and welcome


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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The generator might be experiencing an overheat shutdown as mentioned above. Were you testing all these items on shore power or the generator? If the generator isn't making the proper 60hz of electricity many of the electrical systems on the boat won't operate. AC especially. The unit needs a good 60hz to run. I'd check the governor on the generator or test at the outlet to make sure you have 60hz.

The generator might also be ****ting off on an over-speed condition as well. The engine is running too fast and making too much electricity so it shuts down. Could also be low oil or a hot exhaust.

Good luck with the boat. Enjoy!
 
Thanks for the ideas on the overheat possibility, I will check the exhaust for water at the same time I will clean the sea strainers too. Just went down to check on it today and the gen set would only run for 3-4 seconds and shut down, it did sound like the governed is working though, rpm holds nice and then stalls.
 
Hi. We also have an 89 Sedan Bridge 300 and have experienced some of the same issues.
We do have to use the trim tabs to get the boat on plane. We have the same engines as you, but the boat has a lot of weight for it's length. Our running speed is about 30 mph on plane, and while we don't have a real measure of gas used per mile, it can be significant depending on water conditions.
Edit -- Looked again and saw that you have the bigger engines -- maybe someone else can chime in too, but you may still do better at getting on plane with the trim tabs
We have replaced both of the AC, reverse Heat units, along with the pump, and went to a sea strainer with 3 times the volume of the original. We also replaced all of the AC water lines. We have found that we still need to flush the lines of sediment at least 3 times a year. We live on the boat, so the system is in constant use. The thru hull, sea cock valve, and bottom hull strainer are all original, and even with the new pump and sea strainer, the water flow through the system wasn't as strong as expected until our bottom cleaning company used a Caviblaster up into the thru hull. There must of been small shells stuck up inside that flushing and normal cleaning hadn't dislodged.
We also had some issues with our original Vacu Flush, San X system. Our main problems were a tank that was cracked on top, and the power control system box which is under the salon seat. We found a rebuilt system with a good tank the same size as the original, and the identical power control box and bathroom control box at Marine Sanitation. If the primary control box doesn't work, the system won't work. Ours didn't have a waste pump out so it was just a straight line overboard. We added the waste pump out.
Our generator was hopeless. It ran 15 minutes and stopped. Tried again and we had water everywhere. It ended up having water in the head, so the original Quicksilver is gone, and a Westerbeke is waiting to be installed.
Good luck with your boat! We love ours and really like piloting from the flying bridge on the bigger boat. We have a lot of boat traffic with kayaks, paddle boarders, and tiny boats running in the same waters as big boats and yachts. It is so much easier to see everyone from the bridge. It can be a little challenging to back into a slip because of the loss of sight lines of the swim platform, but it responds well to the shifter method of backing in.
Congratulations!
 
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I also wanted to add that your waste tank won't empty if you have a clogged air filter on your sanitation system's air vent line. The air filter has charcoal in it and can clog the vent line if it gets wet. We had that happen when we first got the boat. Also, you have to make sure that you do the controls for the waste in a sequence if you pump overboard. Turn the head breaker off, turn set the empty switch to off. Turn the breaker back on, and then set the switch to treat and empty.
Again, congrats on your purchase!
 
Hey FlSunfish, thanks for all of the good info, that picture in you signature line is is a beauty, we have a bit of work ahead of us but we are ready to get started. Going to head down to the boat for a few hours on Saturday and spend half the day Sunday as well. I've already made a punch list of odds and ends, going to start chipping away at the little stuff first. The boat needs a spring cleaning first thing.
 
Thanks, there's always something to get after when you have a boat. :grin: We've made some upgrades on the inside, and now we're starting to work on the canvases.
I have the digital files for the manual, parts manual, and wiring diagram if you need them. They've been a big help to us.
 
I would love to see some interior pics of any upgrades on the inside, we are in the process of deep cleaning the interior. Some things will need recovering like the rounded wall behind the dinette with the grab bar, it has a few small tears and is brittle. We will be hauling in a week or two, going to do the bottom, through hulls, trim tabs and re-mount the swim platform, not looking forward to the expense but looking forward to piece of mind....
 
Most of what we did to the interior was to make the boat easier to live on, so they may not be what you're looking for.
First was to take out the at least 25 year old carpeting. We used vinyl plank flooring to work with all the curves. We also took out the lower berth to give us extra storage and allow us to put in a counter high freezer. We just added a new cooktop, microwave, and water heater in the last few weeks. The water heater is cool because it's coated with polypropylene to help protect it in a damp environment.
I'm adding the link for my photo bucket for a few pictures of the inside. The background of the bird picture shows a good view of the cabinets and drawers. Thank goodness that the previous owners had left the inside in good condition.

 
Wow the boat looks great, I love the wood floor look, we also have the rose color seats, our carpet is some old Berber that will be coming out, we are thinking about the wood look, we also want to have an easier time with the curves, I'm thinking some sort of veneer for the vertical pieces and not sure on the floor yet. We were very fortunate that the previous owner did not change much as well. Btw what does your boat have for the table bed area to convert to a bed, I found the cushions but no support for the cushions to keep them up off the foot area. I would think there should be a couple boards that interlock on their sides to support the cushions?
 
Ours has a ridge around the edge under the front of the seat cushions. When we take the legs off of the table, it will fit into that ridge. The cushion then will fit on top of it.
The hardest things we found with changing out the carpet was that there are thousands of little carpet staples that have to be pulled, and that it can be difficult to get adhesive to stick to the bare fiberglass under the carpet. The vinyl floor adhesive wouldn't stick by itself, and we had to add extra flooring adhesive that took a little time to dry. It was messy to use!
Your carpet may have already been changed once. Ours was the original pink almost shag style. I wasn't sure I wanted the boat when my husband first looked at it. All of the window canvases were on too, and all that pink with the pinkish glow from the windows too looked like all the cabin needed was a disco ball! Lol
 
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I have the 88 model and a similar list to work on, only have owned it a couple weeks. The hard to get on plane seems common from what I have read. Good luck and keep posting.
 
TracyT said:
Hi Strypes,

Did you end up with the Sedan Bridge? Looked pretty nice.

TracyT
Click to expand...

No. It was in great shape! We personally didn't care for the layout though. Still looking...
 
FLSunfish said:
Thanks, there's always something to get after when you have a boat. :grin: We've made some upgrades on the inside, and now we're starting to work on the canvases.
I have the digital files for the manual, parts manual, and wiring diagram if you need them. They've been a big help to us.
Click to expand...
We would be interested in the parts manual and wiring diagram. We have an 88, 305 Sedan Bridge and are looking for the master mattress dimensions and also where we might be able to get the see through plastics to connect our Bimini and the cockpit. Just had all the canvasses remade... now trying to figure out where they go!!

Thank you!
 
Mkguyvr said:
Wow the boat looks great, I love the wood floor look, we also have the rose color seats, our carpet is some old Berber that will be coming out, we are thinking about the wood look, we also want to have an easier time with the curves, I'm thinking some sort of veneer for the vertical pieces and not sure on the floor yet. We were very fortunate that the previous owner did not change much as well. Btw what does your boat have for the table bed area to convert to a bed, I found the cushions but no support for the cushions to keep them up off the foot area. I would think there should be a couple boards that interlock on their sides to support the cushions?
Click to expand...
We have the 305 SB, and for added 1', 1.5" PVC legs to help support the table when used as a bed. Have not found any cushions for it though, was planning to have one made.
 
Jerald Dunn said:
We would be interested in the parts manual and wiring diagram. We have an 88, 305 Sedan Bridge and are looking for the master mattress dimensions and also where we might be able to get the see through plastics to connect our Bimini and the cockpit. Just had all the canvasses remade... now trying to figure out where they go!!

Thank you!
Click to expand...
FLSunfish said:
Ours has a ridge around the edge under the front of the seat cushions. When we take the legs off of the table, it will fit into that ridge. The cushion then will fit on top of it.
The hardest things we found with changing out the carpet was that there are thousands of little carpet staples that have to be pulled, and that it can be difficult to get adhesive to stick to the bare fiberglass under the carpet. The vinyl floor adhesive wouldn't stick by itself, and we had to add extra flooring adhesive that took a little time to dry. It was messy to use!
Your carpet may have already been changed once. Ours was the original pink almost shag style. I wasn't sure I wanted the boat when my husband first looked at it. All of the window canvases were on too, and all that pink with the pinkish glow from the windows too looked like all the cabin needed was a disco ball! Lol
Click to expand...

Hi there...new to this forum and have a 89' 300 Sedan Bridge. I was wondering if you still had the digital files for your 305 that you would be willing to share. Thanks Rich
 
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