Sea Ray Sundancer 290 Re-Power Options

Block both holes up stick it on your mooring and buy a good rib to flirt up and down the Medway ,even better horror one of big lumps he can’t use all is together
 
simonfraser said:
they are just trying to give good financial advise, so as not to lose any money on the deal, we all make a profit out of our boating .....
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Tbf if I wanted financial advise I would of asked "Should I buy this boat" I bought the boat for a number of reasons not one of which involved profit or resale. Appreciate the help but it would be nice just to get help on the whys and wherefores of the options I have suggested rather than people telling me to sell the boat. I wonder if they would be first in the queue if I did
?
 
jrudge said:
I had a look back at your last posts and there was a reference to paying silly money for the boat.

£5k for a aged boat with no engines seems like a lot of money.

On line there is a 1996 for £17k, so it can be bought for ..... less than that ( old petrol powered boats are not that popular).

Your option 2 which is not optimal and will as per other posts make it even harder to sell is £7k before all the other bits you need to buy ( steering? Instrumentation? numerous odds and sods). I dont know the cost of option 1, but option 2 does not really seem great. The boat will stand you in at some £13-14k for a boat with i assume second hand outboards that should not have outboards in the first place ...

The options to me would seem

1. try to sell it

2. Option 3 ( if it is financially viable) as at least it will have an engine configuration that it was supplied with so there is some chance of selling it. On a personal level I would not buy a boat modified from 2 to 1 engines, but others may differ.

If considering this you should find out if there are other modifications when there was one engine. I am thinking different tabs, placement of batteries / water tanks to allow for I would assume quite a different weight distribution.

Also bear in mind that the instrumentation, throttles etc will also need modification which will be more time and cost.

Many come along to this forum looking to repower boats. I believe I the universal view is dont do it. I dont know how many of those have gone on to actually do it.

Good luck
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Please post the link to a 1996 for £17,000 I would be very interested in seeing it. I presume it's this side of the pond???? ?
 
thesaintlyone said:
It isn't nessacarily a bad Idea just because it's not the done thing to do ?
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You seem to have had very good advice that what you want to do is not feasible. Perhaps you should have asked all these questions before you bought the boat. From the way you have asked your questions and your surprise at the potential cost suggest that you have a gap in your knowledge about the subject.
 
Bouba said:
Why? Without the engines, there’s plenty of room for lead acid batteries and the boat is big enough for solar panels.
Just need to source a motor
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I was surprised that a 75hp 55kw motor was below 2k. So I thought I'd work out the cost of battery required to run it for 1 hour with speed controller. A rough estimate of 4000A/hr was just shy of 7k and the same again for a speed controller although what I found wouldnt fit in a boat that size but I used the price anyway. Then you'd need a drive adapter, charging system etc etc. Im guessing a figure of 25- 30k to put in a leccy system heath robinson style is the minimum you'd get away with. A proper job an order more
 
Lloydroberts said:
If you are going to quote me please quote my entire reply.

Twas an attempt at humour......a poor attempt....admittedly. :o
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No, I got the joke and it was funny ;) and made me laugh. I was just trying to bump the electric idea back to the top
 
BruceK said:
I was surprised that a 75hp 55kw motor was below 2k. So I thought I'd work out the cost of battery required to run it for 1 hour with speed controller. A rough estimate of 4000A/hr was just shy of 7k and the same again for a speed controller although what I found wouldnt fit in a boat that size but I used the price anyway. Then you'd need a drive adapter, charging system etc etc. Im guessing a figure of 25- 30k to put in a leccy system heath robinson style is the minimum you'd get away with. A proper job an order more
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I was thinking something like a second hand electric forklift
 
Tranona said:
You seem to have had very good advice that what you want to do is not feasible. Perhaps you should have asked all these questions before you bought the boat. From the way you have asked your questions and your surprise at the potential cost suggest that you have a gap in your knowledge about the subject.
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The general reason that people have debunked the outboard option is purely on resale value!! . I have not heard any advice suggesting the affects of power, weight, design performance alteration. Just don't doit because you won't be able to sell it. Or it won't be worth as much. Which is why I have become frustrated. I was aware of the costs involved and my options and yes sorry I did consider electric briefly but for performance/cost I think it just isn't viable
I an thinking more and more along the lines of the outboard and to awnser an earlier question I am thinking two for the upgradeability
The back to twins option is still a possibility if I could find two engines and two legs at the right price but because I need all of it I expect it will mount up

Let me put It another way
Twin Option
Engine One £5000
Engine Two £5000
LEG One £2000
LEG Two £2000
Extra Parts £2000

Thats large amounts of money each time I have to find for each part.

Now compare to the outboard conversion

Outboard Pod Fitted £3500
Outboard One £900
Ourboard Two £900
(Upgradeable at a later date)
Extra Parts £1500

One of the most attractive points of the outboard conversion is that I can start with a pair of 60hp outboards and upgrade as nessacary because the pod will be designed to be able to take a pair of 250hp outboards

I have done research and spoken to a professional who does a few of these Conversions each year and he has said it is very viable.

So unless you guys can give me some good for and against arguments and practical advice regarding the outboard conversion idea that doesn't involve resale value then thanks but no thanks
 
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The forum is full of knowledgeable people.

If you don’t which to hear their advise then far better not to ask !

As per my earlier post many many come on here asking for repower advice. The advise is usually the same and I am not aware of anyone reporting back that they actually did the work ( most happy to be corrected).

Good luck in your project
 
jrudge said:
The forum is full of knowledgeable people.

If you don’t which to hear their advise then far better not to ask !

As per my earlier post many many come on here asking for repower advice. The advise is usually the same and I am not aware of anyone reporting back that they actually did the work ( most happy to be corrected).

Good luck in your project
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If I had come on the forum asking if this was a good boat to buy then I would be happy to discuss the whys and wherefores of project buying. I did not I asked what were the pros and cons of each option. Perhaps I should of made it clear that I was not interested in making a profit or any resale value.
This is not my first project and a Sailing Boat project I did got the same responses sel sell sell. I now have a 31ft sailing boat moored up on the Medway regularly enjoyed that would have taken me either a high interest loan or many years of saving to own out right. As such it took a saved £4000 and gradual outlay over two years to complete not one of which I regret.

One of the other things you said in your earlier post was of a 2006 for 17k care to share the link.

I am asking what to Re-Power with not should I so I can make a profit.

Regards
 
I have seen plenty of sterndrive boats that have been converted to outboard. Most seem to run pretty well and get the benefit of a huge lazarette. Personally I would consider the outboard approach. My only reservation would be using a pair of £900 outboards. I suspect they will give you nothing but trouble. Personally, on the boat in question, I would stick a single 300hp Etec G2, but that may not be within your budget constraints, although the principle of one large, good quality, outboard over two smaller older units would always be my preference, even if that means starting with a single 150, rather than a pair of 60's.
 
CLB said:
I have seen plenty of sterndrive boats that have been converted to outboard. Most seem to run pretty well and get the benefit of a huge lazarette. Personally I would consider the outboard approach. My only reservation would be using a pair of £900 outboards. I suspect they will give you nothing but trouble. Personally, on the boat in question, I would stick a single 300hp Etec G2, but that may not be within your budget constraints, although the principle of one large, good quality, outboard over two smaller older units would always be my preference, even if that means starting with a single 150, rather than a pair of 60's.
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I think this line of thinking regarding one outboard or two is 100% correct.

GL
 
The logic for me is to have a pod designed to take upto the optimum 300hp then I can stick anything suitable on the back that is in current budget and then upgrade easily later.the benefit of the conversion.
Joystick controlled Yamaha anyone ?
 
The link I posted in post #18 is well worth a read. It goes through the full project to refit a 32ft sports cruiser with two big outboards. The project was a big success, not cheap but I guess it’s not too expensive to buy fuel in the States.
A pod system with twin 150hp 2 strokes would probably work fine. I think you’d be wasting your money buying smaller outboards with a view to trading up unless you have use for them. Big 2 strokes are cheap these days as everyone wants 4 stroke.
Overall, I agree with your principle, a lot of folks on here have big budgets or the ability to pay big boat loans. I have always bought cheaper boats and refurbished or upgraded them to make them perfectly usable. It’s a different way of ending up with something similar.
 
This is not the first time that you have sought advice and then decided to moan at the folks who have taken the time and effort to give you a response.

One of the things about asking for views on any subject is that you will get a variety of different views on the same subject. Certainly we can't all be right all the time, but your response to our views borders on rudeness It wont be long before we all have you on ignore!!
 
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