340 Dancer with 8.1 Volvo's?? Anyone have Volvo's on their SeaRay?

M

medic3538

Member
Aug 17, 2008
151
Charleston, SC
Boat Info
2005 260 Sundancer. 2003 F250 Super Duty V10 Ford Tow. 5.0 KW Kohler genset. Old school Naman GPS.
Engines
350 MAG MPI, Bravo 2 drive.
Due to recent changes in my life status I am now looking to get a bigger Sundancer. I love my 260, but have found that I take it out so much and overnight so much, that a larger boat would be key. We all need to have our reasons to upgrade!!

Loooking at this 05 340 Dancer in Florida and to my surprise it has 8.1 gas Volvos. Asked the owner if it was a typo (thought Mercury was owned by Brunswick) and he said no, he ordered the boat specifically with the Volvo's.

I have become a fan of Mercury (obviously because the 260 Sundancer has the 350 MAG and I have had NO problems with it) and I just have never heard of a Volvo's on a Searay.

He went on to say that he had the outdrives recently upgraded to the Volvo Ocean-x outdrives this year.

Does anyone have Volvo's on their Sundancer?

What has been your experience if so.

The price is right and I of course would have the joy of running it up the ICW back to her new home, just wondering?
 
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Ahh, good call SeaRide. Will do. I think that takes care of the banter for this thread.
 
If by chance it was delivered with a VP drivetrain, I would also ask if the original drives were the standard DP Drives or composite clad Ocean Series Drives as these units had several bulletins issued regarding the bellows/u-joints.
 
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Here is the listed from the SeaRay website for a 2005 340.

STANDARD PROPULSION
T-VD-MX6.2L MPI MerCruiser® Gasoline V-Drives
(T-320 hp - 239 kW)
Options/Accessories

OPTIONAL PROPULSION
Twin Gasoline Stern Drives:
T-MX6.2 MPI Bravo® III MCM* (T-320 hp - 239 kW)
T-MX6.2 MPI Horizon Bravo III MCM*
(T-320 hp - 239 kW)
T-496 Magnum® Bravo III MCM (T-375 hp - 280 kW)
Twin Gasoline V-Drives:
T-VD-MX6.2 MPI Horizon MerCruiser
(T-320 hp - 239 kW)
T-VD-8.1 S Horizon MerCruiser (T-370 hp - 276 kW)
Twin Diesel Stern Drives:
T-Volvo KAD 300 EDC/DP** (T-268 hp - 202 kW)
Twin Diesel V-Drives:
T-VD-Yanmar 6LP-STP** (T-306 hp - 228 kW)
*Fuel-Injected Engines Std. w/Stainless Steel
Propeller & Remote Oil Filter
(SmartCraft™ Systems N/A on Diesel
Engine Applications)
**Raymarine® Tridata ST-60 (Depth Finder,
Speed/Sumlog, Water Temperature)
 
You can order them with almost any engine. I ordered my 250 with a 5.7 LX EFI. They offered the 5.7 LX, 5.7, 5.7 EFI, and several 7.4's, but not 5.7 LX EFI. I wanted the most HP I could get in a EFI 5.7, and I got it.
 
Hampton said:
You can order them with almost any engine. I ordered my 250 with a 5.7 LX EFI. They offered the 5.7 LX, 5.7, 5.7 EFI, and several 7.4's, but not 5.7 LX EFI. I wanted the most HP I could get in a EFI 5.7, and I got it.
Click to expand...

Maybe someone with a little more knowledge can chime in but:

The difference between a 5.7 EFI and 5.7 LX EFI is going to minimal, internal parts I assume whereas the difference between a 8.1 Volvo and an 8.1 Mercruiser is substantial. Motor mounts (maybe), electronics modules, mounts for all the accessories, alternators, etc. I don't think you can just swap a Volvo for a Mercruiser and vise versa.

My point is , I don't think you can just order a SeaRay with Volvo power. I could be wrong and would like some more knowledgeable people to chime in on this one.
 
medic3538 said:
Due to recent changes in my life status I am now looking to get a bigger Sundancer. I love my 260, but have found that I take it out so much and overnight so much, that a larger boat would be key. We all need to have our reasons to upgrade!!

Loooking at this 05 340 Dancer in Florida and to my surprise it has 8.1 gas Volvos. Asked the owner if it was a typo (thought Mercury was owned by Brunswick) and he said no, he ordered the boat specifically with the Volvo's.

I have become a fan of Mercury (obviously because the 260 Sundancer has the 350 MAG and I have had NO problems with it) and I just have never heard of a Volvo's on a Searay.

He went on to say that he had the outdrives recently upgraded to the Volvo Ocean-x outdrives this year.

Does anyone have Volvo's on their Sundancer?

What has been your experience if so.

The price is right and I of course would have the joy of running it up the ICW back to her new home, just wondering?
Click to expand...

I would far prefer Volvo's over Merc and Crusaders over both. Be VERY careful for the ocean drives. Great concept, lousy execution.
 
I have seen Sea Ray use volvos in a few applications. In my experience Volvo outdrives are far superior to any Merc outdrive out there. They shift so smooth and are very quiet.

Put it this way, Sea Ray would rarely tell a customer NO in order to sell a boat.
 
Not sure about Sea Ray and Volvo's, but my previous boat had a volvo engine. Loved the engine and it was near bullet proof. The downside was that there are very few Volvo mechanics in my area and tons of Mercruiser mechanics. The Volvo mechanics could charge me whatever they wanted due to, supply and demand.

I would look into if your shipyard has Volvo skills as well before deciding on those engines.
 
Lot of Volvo engines in boats here in Europe.
These engines are bullet proof, quit and very economic.

Of course you USA boy's see a lot of Merc, Cat and cummins but here the marine standard on boats our size is Volvo or Yanmar.

Peter
 
mmcguire2002 said:
The downside was that there are very few Volvo mechanics in my area and tons of Mercruiser mechanics. The Volvo mechanics could charge me whatever they wanted due to, supply and demand.
Click to expand...

I always consider this when thinking about the next boat. Not having few skilled mechanics in your area could keep you at the dock for a while, especially if you're a seasonal boater. So, unfortunatelly we're in tough pisitions sometimes to choose something not as bulletproof, but at least we know we can get it back on track when (not if) repairs are required.
 
Although I don't have experience with Sea Ray with a Volvo platform, I do have experience with Volvo engines and drives. I must say that the Volvo platform is far superior than the Merc counterpart, for both the engines and drives. The drives shift like butter, the corrosion issues aren't present like the B3, and the engine setups just seem to be engineered somewhat better. I hear many people say that Volvo may not have a service presence where they operate. I just don't think this is accurate.

I just searched on Volvo penta's website for both marine gasoline and marine diesel service and parts facilities. Volvo returned 1722 dealers for just the US. Seems like a big presence to me.

http://www.volvopenta.com/volvopenta/na/en-us/applications/dealer_locator/Pages/dealer_locator.aspx

Since many people do their own maintenance, I have no problem getting parts to me within a couple of days from Volvo direct. There are also countless vendors that stock Volvo parts. If boating is in your area, chances are Volvo will be present in some way.

If in fact this Sea Ray has a Volvo platform, I would not hesitate with pursuing this boat if the survey pans out.

Doug
 
My experience with Volvo's is a bit dated, but back in the early 90's I wanted to repower my 79' 26 sundancer with a Volvo package and discovered that the transom cut-out needed to be changed as well as all the gauges and controls. It required more changes then what I wanted to do.

The rule was you could go from Merc to Volvo but you couldn’t go back. (Volvo's transom cut-out hole was bigger). I believe that Volvo was changing their design to match Mercruiser's cutout to make it easier for boat manufacturers to offer Volvo as an engine package.

At the time the main advantages for Volvo were Duoprop, smoother shifting, better corrosion protection and the trim cylinders were inside the boat. The basic engine was still a 4 bolt main, Chevy 350, 454, or 502. Volvo just painted them red instead of black. The real difference was in the drive. I have always considered Volvo to be an upgrade over Merc.

If you are looking for a 340 with stern drives, I would consider the Volvo package a positive.
 
SeaRide said:
If by chance it was delivered with a VP drivetrain, I would also ask if the original drives were the standard DP Drives or composite clad Ocean Series Drives as these units had several bulletins issued regarding the bellows/u-joints.
Click to expand...

To SeaRide's point, my mechanic said that Volvo has stopped manufacturing the composite I/O.

Jeff
 
Vince_nj1 said:
My experience with Volvo's is a bit dated, but back in the early 90's I wanted to repower my 79' 26 sundancer with a Volvo package and discovered that the transom cut-out needed to be changed as well as all the gauges and controls. It required more changes then what I wanted to do.

The rule was you could go from Merc to Volvo but you couldn’t go back. (Volvo's transom cut-out hole was bigger). I believe that Volvo was changing their design to match Mercruiser's cutout to make it easier for boat manufacturers to offer Volvo as an engine package.

At the time the main advantages for Volvo were Duoprop, smoother shifting, better corrosion protection and the trim cylinders were inside the boat. The basic engine was still a 4 bolt main, Chevy 350, 454, or 502. Volvo just painted them red instead of black. The real difference was in the drive. I have always considered Volvo to be an upgrade over Merc.

If you are looking for a 340 with stern drives, I would consider the Volvo package a positive.
Click to expand...

Though I've never owned a Volvo, I have had so many problems with all 4 Merc I/Os that I've owned that if were to ever buy another I/O (unlikely) it would definitely be a Volvo. Here's why:
  • I've been told by multiple mechanics that Volvo manufacturers it's gearing to higher tolerance than Merc, they even stamp the tolerance on the gears and Merc does not.
  • Volvo I/O are more rugged than Merc; go to your marina shop and try picking up both dirive; there's more metal in a Volvo, it's just a beefier drive.
  • Putting drives aside, Mercruiser is well known for problems with exhaust manifolds, risers and other mechanicals on the engines. So while all companies share the same basic blocks, how they complete those blocks difffer. Merc seems to base their business model on reppacement parts.

One minor downside to Volvo is that there are far fewer certified repair facilities than Merc and the parts tend to be more expensive.

Disclaimer, while I like my Sea Ray and very much dislike Mercruiser so I am biased.

Jeff
 
Related note, Sea Ray offered Volvo diesel sterndrives on the 2006 320:
Twin Diesel Sterndrives:
T-Volvo D4-260/DP**
(T-249 hp - 186 kW)
T-Volvo D6-310/DP**
(T-298hp - 219kW

If I ever repower likely I will be considering this option as I have looked into it in the past, so it's good to know that Sea Ray has already incorporated this power package.
 
This has been educational, thanks for all the info. So here is what I found out today. YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS ONE!!!

While trying to find a Sea Ray with gas Volvo's. I found the same boat on another sale website with Mercury 8.1's. The ad was very similar, same photos, script, but a different phone number. . I called the number and the REAL owner said I was the 2nd person to ask him about this in 3 or 4 weeks. Here is what he said:

So, the sales person at the "dealer" (actually figured out appears to be some sort of used only boat mover, no mechanics, not a liquidator, fly by night, you get the picture) has been copying ads, changing them up and when the person calls to inquire about the boat in question, the person states that the boat is sold, but has a similar product available. I guess a bait and switch with "disclosure" or something. What's weird for me is that the person never told me the boat was sold, he said he had it and it had the Volvo engines and the drives had been changed out to the Ocean-x. I used the words; "I will come down there next week and get it surveyed", but he did push for a deposit. I told him he was welcome to sell the boat if I did not make it out to him in time. CRAZY!!!

The actual owner of this boat gave me a HIN number and a moderately higher price point and advised me he has contacted the BBB about our ad stealer friend. The actual owner thinks the person who is doing this is using a MAC product and switching out information. He appears to have mixed up a Regal boat with a Sea Ray is the only thing he and I could come up with.

By the way, the number on the ad with the 340 dancer with Volvo's is disconnected. Imagine that....I called Yacht Trader and advised them as well.

Well, that was interesting. Still getting a 340, but apparently not with Volvo's. Love the Crusader idea!!
 
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