Sea Core Engines Good or Bad

[Ralph vaughn]

i have a chance to buy a sea ray with low engine hours at a good price. How good is the sea core fresh water cooled engines and the adjacent corrosion protection of the Bravo 3 outdrives.

TIA

Ralph

 

[pyro]

My opinion may be slightly different than the majority you'll hear. Of course closed loop cooling is better than raw water, but I never really hear about an engine block itself corroding to death, so I don't particularly worry about the engines. The biggest difference imo is the manifolds will last much longer saving some cost over time. According to parts list, seacore engines come with stainless engine mounts, which tend to rust and not look very nice.

The bigger advantage I think is in the outdrive and transom. They claim to coat it with some protective coating which I don't know much about. But most important is that the gimbal housing has a stainless steering pin instead of the steel pin which eventually rusts, eats away the o-ring and starts leaking small amounts of water into the boat, and slowly corroding the gimbal housing from the inside. According to Mercury's parts list, this stainless steering swivel shaft pin is $13 more than their steel version (and found much cheaper aftermarket). Absolutely insane they did not use stainless for all models at a cost of +$13.

 

[pyro]

I just saw another post from you asking about a manual for a 2008 290. I'm not sure what boat your looking at, but I should have added I'm replacing two gimbal housing's due to the above leak/corrosion problem on my 2008 290.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

My opinion may be slightly different than the majority you'll hear. Of course closed loop cooling is better than raw water, but I never really hear about an engine block itself corroding to death, so I don't particularly worry about the engines. The biggest difference imo is the manifolds will last much longer saving some cost over time. According to parts list, seacore engines come with stainless engine mounts, which tend to rust and not look very nice.

The bigger advantage I think is in the outdrive and transom. They claim to coat it with some protective coating which I don't know much about. But most important is that the gimbal housing has a stainless steering pin instead of the steel pin which eventually rusts, eats away the o-ring and starts leaking small amounts of water into the boat, and slowly corroding the gimbal housing from the inside. According to Mercury's parts list, this stainless steering swivel shaft pin is $13 more than their steel version (and found much cheaper aftermarket). Absolutely insane they did not use stainless for all models at a cost of +$13.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

Thanks for all the good info

 

[Ralph vaughn]

I just saw another post from you asking about a manual for a 2008 290. I'm not sure what boat your looking at, but I should have added I'm replacing two gimbal housing's due to the above leak/corrosion problem on my 2008 290.[/QUOT
Yes

 

[Ralph vaughn]

Yes you are right. We’re goi g to look at a 2008sea ray 290 with 220hours. HaS DTS throttles and gps and radar. Supposedly in freshwater on lake pontchartrain La.

What caused your problems. Do you have the sea core engines and outdrives

Thanks for you text

 

[pyro]

What caused my problem was simply wear n tear in salt water environment with the standard (non seacore) steel pin. Seacore has been pretty rare to find in my experience. I do not have it. Ironic that you found it in a fresh water boat!

Since I have my engines out, I was also considering swapping out my front motor mounts bolts to the seacore version which are stainless steel. It may be an easy way for you to verify that the engine package is truly seacore and that someone didn't just simply add the closed loop cooling package.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

Thanks pyro. Just put an offer on this boat yesterday win sea trials in a couple of weeks. The boat has been maintained by marina since the lady bought the boat new in 2008. I’m getting a marine surveyor and will have compression checked on both 5.0 engines. The generator has 125 hours so I probably won’t gets compression check. The broker is telling me the boat has mostly been in fresh water. The only rest is on swim ladder and around some parts of the generator. Any ides of other things I or the surveyor should check. Thanks for all the good info. Will definitely check the motor mounts to see if they are stainless steel.

 

[bologna128]

Thanks pyro. Just put an offer on this boat yesterday win sea trials in a couple of weeks. The boat has been maintained by marina since the lady bought the boat new in 2008. I’m getting a marine surveyor and will have compression checked on both 5.0 engines. The generator has 125 hours so I probably won’t gets compression check. The broker is telling me the boat has mostly been in fresh water. The only rest is on swim ladder and around some parts of the generator. Any ides of other things I or the surveyor should check. Thanks for all the good info. Will definitely check the motor mounts to see if they are stainless steel.

Have the surveyor check for moisture up at the front deck bow area. Concentrate on the bow cleat, anchor pulpit hardware, spot light hardware and hole where the wires go through, windlass, windlass foot pedals if you have them. There are so many opportunities for moisture to creep it's way into one of these holes in the deck it's almost a guarantee this area has some moisture. I would be surprised if the moisture meter shows dry in that area. I rebedded all my hardware with butyl tape. Good luck.

 

[JimT]

Pay attention to the rollers on the cabin door. They fail and are a bitch to replace.

 

[Ralph vaughn]

Thanks everyone so far. You’ve given insight on items I had not thought about. Yes there is some moisture in throw salon.