Bit late to the party with this reply, but I have the same set up. 98 290 with the Merc 150/165 d-tronic Diesels on bravo 2's.Hello to all,
A very good friend of mine, purchased a (very rare example at least to my knowledge) 290 with twin D-tronics 150 located in salt water in Athens, Greece.
To my surprise, after first sea trials he was only making +/- 20 knots at cruising speed. Unfortunately, his dad was the one who tested the boat, which was very clean and passed all servey checks with success, but he (his dad) didn't bother at all about the low cruising speed, so they bought the boat.
Now after loading the boat with tons of accessories, fuel, water, hydraulic gangway and dingy plus AC, the boat has difficulty to get in plane and holds 1 knot less at cruising speed.
Any experience with the above setup? Are the numbers close to the usual diesel option or we need to look further? And a maybe stupid question... has anyone repowered with diesel engines a 290?
Thank you in advance
Nick
The boat is a little slow to plane but always gets there even if fouled/heavy etc. W.o.t. Is 29 knots and cruise is around 23/24. The big thing for us European boaters (Ireland) is the fuel economy, this boat sips fuel. I have had three Searay 290's a 92 with twin v6 gas motors, a 97 with a single Merc 250 hp diesel (a dog!) and this one. The gas one one was really not practical to run over here. Even if you could afford the rediculous cost of the fuel, almost no marinas even have gas available. Diesel pumps are common. Gas prices here in Ireland are scandalous @ roughly $1.62 for a litre, so for mid size to larger boats, diesel is the way to go. I'm fortunate to also have a 97 Searay 190 with the 5.7 gas motor, so I can still get my speed fix
Glad to answer any questions on either boat. I've owned the 190 from new, 21 years! And the 290 for 12 years. I do all my own maintenance, including an engine swop on the 190 due to leaking risers, and I've had both engines out of the 290 for different reasons. One burst an oil line, ran out of lubricant and seized and the other one had to come out because a u/j let go and destroyed the transom shield