Sea Ray Sundancer 290 Re-Power Options
- Thread starter thesaintlyone
- Start date
julians
Well-known member
That's a lot of boat for the money, I wonder what sort of condition the engines and drives are in, could well be a good purchase for someone.
Grubble
Active member
This is a public forum where people are free to post questions and others are free to reply - in years to come this thread will be viewed by many other people also thinking about buying a "cheap" boat and putting new engines in - its only fair that they get to read opinions that suggest its a daft idea - their objectives might not be the same as yours after all. You can always scroll past the answers that aren't of interest to you - they are all given freely and you are free to ignore them.
Anyway, back on topic, you could always source one secondhand V6 Mercruiser and leg, install that as the port engine, block up the starboard hole, put a few bags of sand in as ballast on the right and then if you ever want to upgrade you just need to add a second engine.
Simples.
Grubble
Active member
The advert doesn't say, so you would have to assume both legs need at least new bellows, impellers and oil change, the engines will also need a service including possibly new risers simply due to the age. Add the cost of that to the €20,000 asking price, compared to the cost of the OP buying brand new pattern engines and legs and fitting them to his £5,000 boat and you are going to end up at a similar cost, except one boat will have new EFI or MPI engines and legs and the other 22 year old carbed engines and legs.
I know which option I would favour if I really wanted a pair of petrol V6s on outdrives in a 32' boat.
BruceK
Well-known member
Ahh, no. I've tried cruising on one engine in a pair. The boat crabs all over the place. Cant keep a straight line for toffee and turning during close quarter handling is fraught. No, on the balance of things that is a truly horrible idea
Grubble
Active member
Its not going to go in a straight line anyway - less than 10mph in a planing hull.
BruceK
Well-known member
yes. And sharp turns one way and lazy turns the other. It's doable. I've shredded enough impellers trying to chase a problem down to do it much more than once. But it's a get home solution not one to take forward as a viable solution. Maybe if the OP has a bow thruster it might alleviate the docking but I dont and it took, let just say, a lot of crew to get her alongside the pontoon.
Grubble
Active member
It was only a semi-serious suggestion, no madder than some of the other suggestions on the thread.
If the OPs budget is tight, he can start on one side and then when funds allow do the other - he could fit a rudder on the starboard side in the meantime.
[2068]
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Decent enough looking engine for sale here:
(no drive or transom shield).
I'd install it in the middle, not to one side.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercruiser-7-4-Engine/192285679071
(no drive or transom shield).
I'd install it in the middle, not to one side.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercruiser-7-4-Engine/192285679071
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simonfraser
Well-known member
no one has suggested a lee board and some sails yet, i'll get my coat ....
GSL
Member
I think I would be very worried buying an engine on Ebay from a Seller with a feedback score of 87%.
Very troubling.........
Very troubling.........
Grubble
Active member
If you look at the feedback its just one bad transaction which the seller cancelled. £3800 is very close though to the price of a brand new base V6 from repower marine.
[2068]
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I could be wrong, but I thought the repower marine base engines didn't come "dressed" ... you need to add on manifolds, risers, ECU or carbs, alternator, pulleys, belts, hoses, power steering etc.
.
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Grubble
Active member
You're right - those extra bits will add up if you aren't swapping a broken engine.
alb40
Member
I re-powered a Fairline Fury, also at Wateringbury, belonging to a friend after the original 5.7l V8 became unreliable and uneconomic to repair. This was a single engine boat though that made the choice easier. The original 260hp engine was too big for river cruising, with the 5 knot limit being broken at just above idle. This mean a cool running engine and continuous fouling of spark plugs and an inability to give it a blast to clear the lungs.
In the end we settled for a 130hp volvo penta diesel, bought second hand from a well known seller of second hand spares in Kent. We bought the engine as a running take out, and we was shown it running well under load prior to agreeing purchase. Some would argue the engine would not be powerful enough, however it suited the environment it was in on the river and would achieve 5 knots at only 1500rpm. On the tidal it would still achieve 20 knots at a push with a couple of bods on the bow weighing it down - but that wasn't the intention, it was to get a broken boat running again.
When Portguide Marine traded out of Wateringbury I can recall them replacing a few inboards with outboards on stainless steel mountings which appeared custom made to the boats. This was on smaller boats though less than 23 feet in length.
My own feeling would be to go with whatever single inboard engine you can get at a reasonable price and convert from twins to single. Even the modern 4 cylinder volvo and mercruiser 3.0l would give ample power for the sort of cruising you intend, but the boat will not be fast by any means. However it will suit river cruising and be less costly than larger units.
Sure this will result in a boat that is potentially undesirable to a later owner that wants to bomb around north of 30 knots, but you can't do that on the Medway and it's all about what you want to do with the boat, not what who owns it next might do...
In the end we settled for a 130hp volvo penta diesel, bought second hand from a well known seller of second hand spares in Kent. We bought the engine as a running take out, and we was shown it running well under load prior to agreeing purchase. Some would argue the engine would not be powerful enough, however it suited the environment it was in on the river and would achieve 5 knots at only 1500rpm. On the tidal it would still achieve 20 knots at a push with a couple of bods on the bow weighing it down - but that wasn't the intention, it was to get a broken boat running again.
When Portguide Marine traded out of Wateringbury I can recall them replacing a few inboards with outboards on stainless steel mountings which appeared custom made to the boats. This was on smaller boats though less than 23 feet in length.
My own feeling would be to go with whatever single inboard engine you can get at a reasonable price and convert from twins to single. Even the modern 4 cylinder volvo and mercruiser 3.0l would give ample power for the sort of cruising you intend, but the boat will not be fast by any means. However it will suit river cruising and be less costly than larger units.
Sure this will result in a boat that is potentially undesirable to a later owner that wants to bomb around north of 30 knots, but you can't do that on the Medway and it's all about what you want to do with the boat, not what who owns it next might do...
[2068]
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A 7.4L would be fun for blasting down the Estuary at some point in the future, but a single 3.0L petrol would be an option for river use for now.
Question is ... where to get a good 3.0L engine and drive at a reasonable price?
The "well known seller of second-hand spares in Kent" seems to have a very limited stock of engines at the moment.
Question is ... where to get a good 3.0L engine and drive at a reasonable price?
The "well known seller of second-hand spares in Kent" seems to have a very limited stock of engines at the moment.
Bigplumbs
Well-known member
Wouldn't trouble me at all... Just do your own checks
Cavalierbond
Well-known member
Thinking of doing the same to a maxim 3000 .. happy to buy it with problem engines as a already stated you end up with known engines ..
what’s people’s thoughts 4.3 v 5.0 and some come with disels but are rare
what’s people’s thoughts 4.3 v 5.0 and some come with disels but are rare
Cavalierbond
Well-known member
And what are people’s thoughts on twin Volvo 5.7 petrols .. essex boats have a nice chris craft with the in
Boat2016
Active member
I would do the same, never trusted the feedback system as I left negative for a seller that failed to deliver once and when I eventually got the money refunded he got the feedback removed so his next victim would be none the wiser.
