OFFICIAL 390/40 Motor Yacht Thread

Okay, we all talked about it, so I am going to start it! I will be closing on and taking delivery of my "new" 390 MY next week. Immediately upon delivery I will be taking it on a "shake down" journey over 200 miles to home. I plan on getting a Go Pro and documenting this journey up the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. I am getting super pumped about the journey but hope the weather, and the river, cooperates as it has rained for over a week!

Will keep everyone posted, but I invite all 390/40 MY owners to chime in and describe your boat, year, etc and pictures would be great! Let's get to know each other and our boats!

Rob

Rob, SO excited for you!! I've had mine for half of a season... made all sorts of mods this winter... was all geared up to move her to the harbor this weekend... and... devastating news when they put her back in the water... Starboard fuel tank leaking on the bottom... non repairable, has to be replaced which is a major, major job. They are pressure testing the port tank to see if it is compromised or not and if not, rig the engines to run off one tank so I can get early season in as I have to order the new tanks to be manufactured. Truly knocked the wind out of me in terms of my plans for the season. I started an insurance claim on a wing and a prayer but my broker says he's not sure if it's covered or not. We will see. Anyhow... they tell me that this is a one in a million thing to have happen. By the time I get this done, the boat will essentially be brand new, which is crazy... because I have fixed or replaced just about everything else back to new or better. Soon as I get my hands on her I will post pics and describe the mods I have done as it is really hard to find concrete info about these boats on the web. Good luck and God's speed on your journey!
Ken

Rob,

Congratulations on the new boat and safe travels. Also, thank you for taking the initiative to get this going, I hope the moderators see it and classify it appropriately so we can always find it easily.

Our 390MY is a 2004 with Cummins Diesels, bow thruster, helm heat and air, an Onan 16kw generator and the standard Sea Ray electronics package that included a GPS, Chart Plotter, Radar and Auto-Pilot. We have owned it for two years and have traveled the southern part of Lake Michigan getting used to her. She was bought new here and we are the second owners. I have the luxury of having another 390MY owner three slips down, who has owned his boat for 10 years.

We have had no real problems for a boat that is now 13 years old. One windshield leak (port side lower) that I keep trying to chase down and have replaced a couple of sump pumps is all. We changed the mattress in the Main Stateroom to a Comfortaire Sleep Number mattress. And I added another electrical outlet and antenna connection on the Port Helm doorpost so we could set a television on the port helm shelf by the stairs. This summer I am converting the lighting to LED by just replacing the bulbs. Also this summer, I am planning to be a "live aboard" to determine if any modifications or adjustments are necessary for our planned retirement time on the boat.

We have trips planned to Chicago (in June for the America's Cup races and another in late July for the Tall Ships) and another time just to visit, South Haven, MI for the Sea Ray get together in August, and Saugatuk just because we like to visit their shops and restaurants. Our most adventurous trip to date will come in late June when we set off for Mackinaw Island. We plan to spend a couple of nights but have 10 days allocated for the entire excursion and are hoping for good weather.

I would not consider myself an expert on our wonderful boats, but do have some knowledge and am more than willing to share any of it as well as ideas and opinions for what they are worth. If anyone is ever in the Michigan City area and wants to drop in, be sure to look us up, or if you need a hand we are happy to help. We plan to have this boat as long as we are in boating, so I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial thread that has been started here.

Ken, so sorry to hear about the fuel tank issue. I had the same issue on my Silverton MY. In that one, I was able to cut the salon floor out to remove the bad tank and put the new one in. Hopefully you get yours resolved timely and at lowest cost. Earl, thanks for the post on your 390, it sounds like a great boat! After we take delivery of ours and become more familiar with it, I will post updates. I would love to see pics of everyone's boat as well and I will be sure to post pics of mine soon. Plan on taking a GoPro to document our trip.
Rob

Guys, okay, tomorrow is the big day and taking delivery of the 390 and traveling 240 miles to home. I do have a question that came up in the survey. The port engine ran 200 rpms less than the starboard engine, yet the surveyor or guy from the marina seemed to think that was a big deal. I have never had a twin engine boat that was off that much between the engines. Any thoughts from the group?
Rob

Rob, Mine runs within 100-150 rpm of each other in general... then I hit the magic button on the right hand wall at the helm that has the engines match rpm.. and they are exact. Not sure if that helps.. but mine is also not spot on with that rpm match device deactivated.

Ken

Robf said:

Guys, okay, tomorrow is the big day and taking delivery of the 390 and traveling 240 miles to home. I do have a question that came up in the survey. The port engine ran 200 rpms less than the starboard engine, yet the surveyor or guy from the marina seemed to think that was a big deal. I have never had a twin engine boat that was off that much between the engines. Any thoughts from the group?
Rob

Click to expand...

Was this at wide open throttle? When was the last time the plugs were changed?

Jmwarren said:

Was this at wide open throttle? When was the last time the plugs were changed?

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All plugs just changed, and yes that was at wide open throttle.

ksweet88 said:

Rob, Mine runs within 100-150 rpm of each other in general... then I hit the magic button on the right hand wall at the helm that has the engines match rpm.. and they are exact. Not sure if that helps.. but mine is also not spot on with that rpm match device deactivated.

Ken

Click to expand...

Ken
This was at wide open. The port engine would only achieve 4400 Rpms and the starboard achieved 4600.
Rob

For diesels 200 rpm would be a big difference. Our previous boat had Mecruisers and there was less than 100 rpm difference between engines at WOT but I am not sure what is acceptable. Safe travels, I look forward to your trip reports.

Everyone, made it safe, but quite a journey! The boat performed flawlessly but gas mileage is not great! Not a marina or gas dock between Cincinnati and Gallipolis Ohio...200 miles! Had to have a fuel truck meet us in Portsmouth Ohio to refuel while sucking fumes. Very scary situation. Had to try and tie off to a makeshift work dock covered in mud in a strong current since there are no docks in Portsmouth either! Faced fields of heavy debris and high waters and heavy downpours the entire trip. Loved how the boat performed but would have preferred better conditions to make that trip. So now the question, can anyone tell me how the stereo is setup? It appears there are two power amps with one amp powering the sub with one amp powering the speakers. The issue I have is that the speakers in the cabin work fine, but the speakers in the cockpit do not work, but the sub does. Since the sub works, I assume the selector switch to select cockpit speakers is okay, and since the speakers in the cabin work, I assume the power amp is okay that powers the speakers. Any thoughts?
Rob

Update on stereo situation...appears there is a service bulletin out on this issue with this amp and head set up. After winter layups or if the power is lost to the unit, it appears there is a reprogramming sequence to go through that corrects the situation. Went through the steps and the stereo came to life!
Rob

Hello Hope thus post is in right place. We have purchased a 390 Motor Yatch last week. Lake Effect is a 2004. We are doing our maiden voyage from Whitby, Ontario to Britt, Ontario vis the Trent River Canal It's interesting so far. We have two problems. The Raymarine just stopped. Not sure why but we are using Navionics too. Our generator also stopped. Because we have at least 5 days more we will stop to have a mechanic look at it. Hope it's an easy fix. It's a beautiful ride though.
Gil
Ps it was a fish stuck in the impellor. Check the Raymarine and can't find the problem. Would be nice to have a backup.

Hello all. I am curious about the built-in swim platform at the stern of the MY 390.

How deep is the area, front to back? Does anyone fish from this platform? Are there any good aftermarket extended platforms that would help create a larger area for fishing? Would installing a railing system help for fishing?

Thanks in advance!

Good Morning! Quick update on my saga... the service center and I figured a way to install new gas tanks without taking the boat completely apart... the salon was emptied, carpet and boards taken up to access the engines... we constructed a beam system to jack up the engines one by one, move out of the way to take old leaking tank up... cut it and get it out the doorway. Then.. the new tanks were re-engineered to fit through the door... only 23" vs 25".. I lost 8% fuel capacity.. but that was better than taking the entire boat apart and wasting the entire season. I attached pics of the new tanks that just arrived from Florida Marine (who turned around the engineering spec and manufactured with lightning speed so I could enjoy the best part of the season).
Also.. while she was up on blocks, I had a large marine parasol installed on the back platform to give a shaded area (on the extended platform).
Can;t wait to get her in the water.. shooting for next weekend.. we will see. alot of things have to get put back together and tested. At that time I will document all the upgrades from last winter as I promised. Hope you all are having an awesome season so far!
Ken

Good luck! I'm digging that sun shade!

ksweet88 said:

Good Morning! Quick update on my saga... the service center and I figured a way to install new gas tanks without taking the boat completely apart... the salon was emptied, carpet and boards taken up to access the engines... we constructed a beam system to jack up the engines one by one, move out of the way to take old leaking tank up... cut it and get it out the doorway. Then.. the new tanks were re-engineered to fit through the door... only 23" vs 25".. I lost 8% fuel capacity.. but that was better than taking the entire boat apart and wasting the entire season. I attached pics of the new tanks that just arrived from Florida Marine (who turned around the engineering spec and manufactured with lightning speed so I could enjoy the best part of the season).
Also.. while she was up on blocks, I had a large marine parasol installed on the back platform to give a shaded area (on the extended platform).
Can;t wait to get her in the water.. shooting for next weekend.. we will see. alot of things have to get put back together and tested. At that time I will document all the upgrades from last winter as I promised. Hope you all are having an awesome season so far!
KenView attachment 45112View attachment 45113

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Seems like a better way to go than popping her apart at the rub rail and splitting her in two!

I'm sure many of us would love to see more photos of the process! Did you get any photos of the disassembled salon?

More detailed photos of the sunshade would be great too, where did you buy it from?

The factory platform is pretty narrow, I'm guessing just under 3ft. Swimplatforms.com makes a great extended platform. Many members here have them, there are photos posted above of a boat with them (the one with the sun shade).

Railing systems are popular in Australia and Europe...not so much over here but anything is possible.

Jmwarren said:

The factory platform is pretty narrow, I'm guessing just under 3ft. Swimplatforms.com makes a great extended platform. Many members here have them, there are photos posted above of a boat with them (the one with the sun shade).

Railing systems are popular in Australia and Europe...not so much over here but anything is possible.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!

Anyone who can post good pictures of an extended swim platform on their MY, it would be much appreciated. I saw the pictures above, but would like to see pictures from the side, and maybe pictures with a tender mounted on the platform. Also, are they sturdy enough for 2 or 3 people to stand on them and fish?

The admiral and I are going to look at a couple of local MYs this week, but none have an extended swim platform. We will probably have to figure in the price of adding one into our calculations, as I think it's a must-have for our needs. What would be a reasonable budget to buy, ship and install one from swimplatforms.com? I think I saw somewhere that their basic platform is about $3,500. Is $5,000 a good estimate to include shipping and have someone install it for me?

Thanks in advance for any pics and price info that anyone can share.

One more quick question...

Has anyone taken a 390/40 MY across 30 to 60 miles of open ocean? For example, from Southern California to Catalina or maybe South Florida to Bimini? I live in North County San Diego, and would like to make the trip to Catalina a few times a year. How does the MY do in that type of situation?