jmerckling
New Member
- Jun 19, 2018
- 1
- Boat Info
- 1995 Sundancer 290, Raymarine C80 classic GPS
- Engines
- Twin 2013 Mercruiser 4.3L TKS V6 190hp, AlphaOne Gen 2 Drives, Solas HR Titan SS 14 1/8inch 19P
So this is my first post on the forum. And my reasoning is for sharing an experience so if others have same situation they can learn the easy way instead of the hard way. So I bought my boat early this season from a DIY guy. Its a 1995 Sea Ray Sundancer 290 with twin 4.3L Mercruiser with Alpha 1 Gen 2 outdrives. Both engines were replaced in 2014 and had about 120hours on them when I got it. The outdrives were supposedly serviced with new impellers, water pumps and seals, new u-joints on the shafts along with the gimbal bearings and bellows. Boat had a set of 3 blade Mercury Marine Quicksilver Laser 2 SS props 14inch 19P (which come to find out was the problem).
So get the boat and every time I went out it took forever for me to plane out, even shifting weight around and having people climb into the v-berth to plane out. It didn't matter if I hammered the throttle or gradually increased it would slug along for 1-2minutes (NO KIDDING!!). No change with trim tab use either trying to plane. It would gradually increase speed all while engines are screaming at like 4500RPMs. Eventually it would plane out, most of the time. It would get up to about 28kts with motors trimmed up little once on plane at WOT of 4500-4700RPM's. I could back it down to 4000RPM's and get down to about 22kts, any lower and I would fall off plane and then be plowing again. Talking with the PO who was very nice and able to be contacted said yeah that is how it always ran. Even looking on this forum previously for planning out problems people had said the 290DA with the twin 4.3L are underpowered and take forever to plane out. So I took it as that is what is and forgot about it. I never had a boat this size/weight, previously I had always been on open hull center consoles <22ft. What did I know.
Also every time I was docking I was having tremendous difficulty maneuvering. I would have to gas it to spin or get any sort of backward thrust or prop walking going. It was very hard to handle not being able to dock when I had previously never had a problem, although I know there is a big difference with twin I/Os vs Single Outboards which was all I used to do.
So one day docking I wrapped one of the piling really good with the prop because my maneuverability was horrible and had no one on boat to assist that day. didn't think much of it. Next time went out and once in open water tried to power up and could not get over 8kts, or plane out doing any of my little tricks to try and plane the boat off. So turned around and went back to dock. Talking with several people at the dock noted that I probably spun a hub on the prop when I hit the previous time, so pull the props off. One was slightly dinged/bent, so took both to Prop shop (Bossler and Sweezy, Bellport, NY). The guy there was in stark amazement that I had taken those props off an I/O, and said they are completely wrong setup for my boat. He said I could recondition them and put them back on for cheap but I would continue to have the same problems. He said for $$$ he would order me the right props and I would notice a big change on the boat. So I pony up the money and had them order me new props hoping it would help my cruising problems.
The new Props are Solas HR Titans, SS, 4 Blade 14 1/8 19P. They were expensive about 450 each. So I put them on with fingers crossed that I would at least be able to get up on plane. OMG I motor out the bay, at idle my boat is noticeably going faster, old props about 2.7kts, new ones about 3.5kts. I get out the bay and just hammer the throttle (even with 2 200lb guys on stern) and the boat jumps up to 3200 RPMs and out of the water almost immediately on plane, I had to hold onto the steering wheel it took off so fast. It cruises up to about 4500RPM's/WOT with motors trimmed all the way down doing 30kts. Then playing with engine trim at WOT staying around 4400-4500rpms I get it up to about 34.5kts. I was amazed. I could drop it down to 3000rpms still keeping the speed at 19-20kts on plane with doing complete pinned steering turns almost 360degrees on plane at 3000rpms and 20kts. OMG I have a new boat.
The thing that annoys me is I thought there was a problem, but the PO and some posts on this forum said Nope, that's just the way it is! I suffered for almost an entire summer with this boat. Well let me tell you, if you have a gut feeling about something, Trust it. If your having cruising/planing problems with your boat then maybe props are not the right ones for your boat and talk to a good prop shop, because it has now changed the way I boat and dock. I am a much happier boater with the proper setup. So again, just sharing experience on this. Have a good one.
So get the boat and every time I went out it took forever for me to plane out, even shifting weight around and having people climb into the v-berth to plane out. It didn't matter if I hammered the throttle or gradually increased it would slug along for 1-2minutes (NO KIDDING!!). No change with trim tab use either trying to plane. It would gradually increase speed all while engines are screaming at like 4500RPMs. Eventually it would plane out, most of the time. It would get up to about 28kts with motors trimmed up little once on plane at WOT of 4500-4700RPM's. I could back it down to 4000RPM's and get down to about 22kts, any lower and I would fall off plane and then be plowing again. Talking with the PO who was very nice and able to be contacted said yeah that is how it always ran. Even looking on this forum previously for planning out problems people had said the 290DA with the twin 4.3L are underpowered and take forever to plane out. So I took it as that is what is and forgot about it. I never had a boat this size/weight, previously I had always been on open hull center consoles <22ft. What did I know.
Also every time I was docking I was having tremendous difficulty maneuvering. I would have to gas it to spin or get any sort of backward thrust or prop walking going. It was very hard to handle not being able to dock when I had previously never had a problem, although I know there is a big difference with twin I/Os vs Single Outboards which was all I used to do.
So one day docking I wrapped one of the piling really good with the prop because my maneuverability was horrible and had no one on boat to assist that day. didn't think much of it. Next time went out and once in open water tried to power up and could not get over 8kts, or plane out doing any of my little tricks to try and plane the boat off. So turned around and went back to dock. Talking with several people at the dock noted that I probably spun a hub on the prop when I hit the previous time, so pull the props off. One was slightly dinged/bent, so took both to Prop shop (Bossler and Sweezy, Bellport, NY). The guy there was in stark amazement that I had taken those props off an I/O, and said they are completely wrong setup for my boat. He said I could recondition them and put them back on for cheap but I would continue to have the same problems. He said for $$$ he would order me the right props and I would notice a big change on the boat. So I pony up the money and had them order me new props hoping it would help my cruising problems.
The new Props are Solas HR Titans, SS, 4 Blade 14 1/8 19P. They were expensive about 450 each. So I put them on with fingers crossed that I would at least be able to get up on plane. OMG I motor out the bay, at idle my boat is noticeably going faster, old props about 2.7kts, new ones about 3.5kts. I get out the bay and just hammer the throttle (even with 2 200lb guys on stern) and the boat jumps up to 3200 RPMs and out of the water almost immediately on plane, I had to hold onto the steering wheel it took off so fast. It cruises up to about 4500RPM's/WOT with motors trimmed all the way down doing 30kts. Then playing with engine trim at WOT staying around 4400-4500rpms I get it up to about 34.5kts. I was amazed. I could drop it down to 3000rpms still keeping the speed at 19-20kts on plane with doing complete pinned steering turns almost 360degrees on plane at 3000rpms and 20kts. OMG I have a new boat.
The thing that annoys me is I thought there was a problem, but the PO and some posts on this forum said Nope, that's just the way it is! I suffered for almost an entire summer with this boat. Well let me tell you, if you have a gut feeling about something, Trust it. If your having cruising/planing problems with your boat then maybe props are not the right ones for your boat and talk to a good prop shop, because it has now changed the way I boat and dock. I am a much happier boater with the proper setup. So again, just sharing experience on this. Have a good one.