JDMerkel
New Member
- Jun 21, 2013
- 18
- Boat Info
- 1988 16' Seville
1989 268 Sundancer
07 Dodge 2500HD 4x4 w/ 5.9L Cummins
- Engines
- 100 Horse Mercury on Seville
Twin 4.3 Mercruisers w/Alpha I outdrives + 9.9 Suzuki aboard 268
Hi all.
If you'll bear with me I'd like to share our initial impressions of our new to us Sea Ray. Any advise, recommendations or hints are greatly appreciated.
This is how she was set up for last weekend:
1989 268DA w/ twin 4.3L LX engines + 9.9HP Suzuki as a kicker, each main engine has a dedicated starter battery + two house batteries located under the helm seat. All engines set up to charge batteries during use. She's got two sets of props, a set of Michigan 15x19 SS on her at the time and a set of Mirage 48 13700 19 props as spares. Altitude is almost exactly 5300 feet. Full fuel, water and potty + gear for a family of 4 for three days. All MPH is per GPS
Launching was really a non event, I was at first intimidated by her size but she floated right off the trailer & my 14 year old mate & me walked her around the courtesy dock, moored her & I parked the rig. Returning to the boat fired up the engines & warmed her up. Taking a deep breath had son slip & toss the mooring lines aboard as I backed out of the slip & he stepped on the swim platform & into the boat like he'd done this all his life. Talk about a proud papa moment. Idled out of the no wake zone turned hard to starboard to follow the accepted skiers circuit & slowly advanced the throttles.
Giving the outdrives a two second up bump she came up on plane surprisingly fast at full throttle, increasing the up trim on the drives to approximately 25% she topped out at 38 & change MPH for 4 laps of our tiny lake. Roughly 2 miles long by .5 miles wide. Above this she porpoised a little much for my taste, Gotta lose some weight on the false transom!!! Engines were turning 4500 RPM with these props & trim angle, at 0 trim engines turn 4200 rpm.
At this point the kids are clamoring to put the tube in the water so we do & off we go. I quickly discover that with full down trim tabs and 3100 rpm she'll plane out nicely at 22-24 MPH & seems to want to walk away with us unless I keep a close eye on the throttles. Also discovered she's a magnet for jet ski's! C'mon people! Got a new boat towing young teenagers for the first time gimme some room. Was extremely surprised at her maneuverability, The first few times the kids dumped I idled around them wide to bring the tube back. I soon discovered I could whip her around as fast as the ski boats & still maintain a safe distance from the kids in the water. Needless to say the rest of the weekend was much the same with the highlight being the fireworks right over the boat on the 4th.
Pros:
1. The boat rides beautifully & is surprisingly nimble, just took awhile to get used to the list during cornering while we're 6'+ above the waterline
2. The boat sleeps wonderfully!!!!!!!
3. Was surprised that I used only 35 gallons of fuel for 47 miles of travel per GPS at a mixture of full throttle, pulling the kids on tubes and practice maneuvering
4.The biggest!!! In three days with no cell phones,internet,kindle & other "connectivity" the kids & the Admiral were never once bored, all the kids can talk about is planning our next trip.
Concerns:
1. Still wondering about the props...too much pitch?
2. Port engine "cackles" at full throttle through the carburetor on occasion...Maybe timing or floating valves? To fast for a burned valve at the RPM's Will have to purchase a timing light...LOL Gave my old one away years ago.
3. Bimini top is a PIA to use with the radar arch & wish it didn't obscure vision foreward while its snapped to the windshield.
Thanks
If you'll bear with me I'd like to share our initial impressions of our new to us Sea Ray. Any advise, recommendations or hints are greatly appreciated.
This is how she was set up for last weekend:
1989 268DA w/ twin 4.3L LX engines + 9.9HP Suzuki as a kicker, each main engine has a dedicated starter battery + two house batteries located under the helm seat. All engines set up to charge batteries during use. She's got two sets of props, a set of Michigan 15x19 SS on her at the time and a set of Mirage 48 13700 19 props as spares. Altitude is almost exactly 5300 feet. Full fuel, water and potty + gear for a family of 4 for three days. All MPH is per GPS
Launching was really a non event, I was at first intimidated by her size but she floated right off the trailer & my 14 year old mate & me walked her around the courtesy dock, moored her & I parked the rig. Returning to the boat fired up the engines & warmed her up. Taking a deep breath had son slip & toss the mooring lines aboard as I backed out of the slip & he stepped on the swim platform & into the boat like he'd done this all his life. Talk about a proud papa moment. Idled out of the no wake zone turned hard to starboard to follow the accepted skiers circuit & slowly advanced the throttles.
Giving the outdrives a two second up bump she came up on plane surprisingly fast at full throttle, increasing the up trim on the drives to approximately 25% she topped out at 38 & change MPH for 4 laps of our tiny lake. Roughly 2 miles long by .5 miles wide. Above this she porpoised a little much for my taste, Gotta lose some weight on the false transom!!! Engines were turning 4500 RPM with these props & trim angle, at 0 trim engines turn 4200 rpm.
At this point the kids are clamoring to put the tube in the water so we do & off we go. I quickly discover that with full down trim tabs and 3100 rpm she'll plane out nicely at 22-24 MPH & seems to want to walk away with us unless I keep a close eye on the throttles. Also discovered she's a magnet for jet ski's! C'mon people! Got a new boat towing young teenagers for the first time gimme some room. Was extremely surprised at her maneuverability, The first few times the kids dumped I idled around them wide to bring the tube back. I soon discovered I could whip her around as fast as the ski boats & still maintain a safe distance from the kids in the water. Needless to say the rest of the weekend was much the same with the highlight being the fireworks right over the boat on the 4th.
Pros:
1. The boat rides beautifully & is surprisingly nimble, just took awhile to get used to the list during cornering while we're 6'+ above the waterline
2. The boat sleeps wonderfully!!!!!!!
3. Was surprised that I used only 35 gallons of fuel for 47 miles of travel per GPS at a mixture of full throttle, pulling the kids on tubes and practice maneuvering
4.The biggest!!! In three days with no cell phones,internet,kindle & other "connectivity" the kids & the Admiral were never once bored, all the kids can talk about is planning our next trip.
Concerns:
1. Still wondering about the props...too much pitch?
2. Port engine "cackles" at full throttle through the carburetor on occasion...Maybe timing or floating valves? To fast for a burned valve at the RPM's Will have to purchase a timing light...LOL Gave my old one away years ago.
3. Bimini top is a PIA to use with the radar arch & wish it didn't obscure vision foreward while its snapped to the windshield.
Thanks
