Official 47 Sedan Bridge Owners Group

looking at buying a 47DB this week as an upgrade from my 40SDA with 3116 CATs, 350 hp each. Can anyone comment on 47DB cruise speed, @ what RPM, fuel consumption, etc. I'm finding numbers all over the map. I'm spoiled by moving around at 23-25 mph at <20 GPH in my SDA, and anticipate doubling the fuel consumption simply based on added HP of engines in 47DB. Thanks y'all! BTW, our SDA goes on sale this week. Hope we like 47 as much.
 
Fully loaded with a tender, fuel, water, food, clothes, everything, and a cleaned hull..... I'm burning 48 GPH. Cruise is somewhere around 20-21 knots. Depending on seas and tide I have seen a low of 19 knots and a high of 24 knots.
 
Fully loaded with a tender, fuel, water, food, clothes, everything, and a cleaned hull..... I'm burning 48 GPH. Cruise is somewhere around 20-21 knots. Depending on seas and tide I have seen a low of 19 knots and a high of 24 knots.
Thanks so much for your reply. I've seen a lot of crazy claims, and yours is right about what I thought the boat should do. Going on my sea trial in Lake Michigan and will let you know how it goes. Boats ride a bit deeper in Fresh water...so I'm curious to see if that makes a small difference. Bon voyage....
 
Good luck with your sea trial. It’s a great boat. We love ours.
 
Fully loaded with a tender, fuel, water, food, clothes, everything, and a cleaned hull..... I'm burning 48 GPH. Cruise is somewhere around 20-21 knots. Depending on seas and tide I have seen a low of 19 knots and a high of 24 knots.
Thirsty boat; are you sure on that number? This is a 52DB with 660HP Cummins QSM11's pretty close to loaded.
IMG_5679.jpg
 
I wish I was wrong but at 85% load, that is what vessel view shows.
 
IMG_3029.jpg


The boat is fully loaded with fuel water and dinghy running at approx 21.5 knots. Port engine is at 84% load, starboard is at 82%.
 
Question for other 47 owners. Have you taken a close look at your shower sump? Look at the most aft connection, mine is labeled AC Condensate. Where does this line go?

In my continuing saga of chasing water in my forward bilge, I have been seeing a great deal of dirty water in the section under the master bed by the bilge pump. I assumed it was from my shower sump but could not figure out how and why. The previous owner had used silicone and sealed the top of the sump. Based on that I assumed that somehow the shower sump was leaking while underway. Upon further investigating, I found the aft line labeled AC Condensate was not connected to anything and ended in the section of the bilge between the shower sump and forward bilge pump. Every time I brought the boat up on plane, the shower sump was emptying into the forward bilge!

Thanks

Mike
 
Question for other 47 owners. Have you taken a close look at your shower sump? Look at the most aft connection, mine is labeled AC Condensate. Where does this line go?

In my continuing saga of chasing water in my forward bilge, I have been seeing a great deal of dirty water in the section under the master bed by the bilge pump. I assumed it was from my shower sump but could not figure out how and why. The previous owner had used silicone and sealed the top of the sump. Based on that I assumed that somehow the shower sump was leaking while underway. Upon further investigating, I found the aft line labeled AC Condensate was not connected to anything and ended in the section of the bilge between the shower sump and forward bilge pump. Every time I brought the boat up on plane, the shower sump was emptying into the forward bilge!

Thanks

Mike

AC condensate would be the incoming line from your AC pan. If the hose has come off, the condensate is running straight onto the area under the AC. It is also very easy for the drain on the AC pan to get stopped up with crap and the pan will then run over. Removing the hose from the shower sump and sucking it out with a shop vac will clean the line and drain area out nicely.....

Bennett
 
I have a suspicion the hose was never connected to anything from day 1. I don't see anything it should connect to in the bilge so I'm wondering if other 47 owners have the same issue.
 
Not much activity here these days; I hope your boats are all doing well!

I thought I'd share a recent upgrade -- I replaced my original Clarion stereo/head unit on the bridge with a new Fusion head unit. As part of that, I ran a few wires from the bridge stereo compartment, across the bridge ceiling, through the stainless steel supports, down through starboard walls into the salon and then over to the original Bose surround system. Now I truly have whole-boat audio, and I'm streaming music on the bridge, cockpit, salon, forward and aft staterooms. It was very challenging running the wires, but I'm super happy with the results.
 
Keith. Can you prove a little detail on how you ran the wires down into the salon? This is on my todo for the winter.
 
Keith. Can you prove a little detail on how you ran the wires down into the salon? This is on my todo for the winter.
Sure thing.

Setup:
  • Get a fish tape/wire such as this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010ON965W
  • I fed my audio wires (more on that below) starting in the stereo compartment in the bridge ceiling.
  • I fed the fish tape from opposite direction, in sections, and used duct tape to attach the audio wires and pull them through the respective section.
Routing overview:
  • From the stereo compartment in the bridge ceiling, the wires will run starboard and slightly forward over to the forward steel support tube.
  • From the forward steel support, the wires will run down through the tube into the lower bridge wall (next to the bridge hatch; access through a 6" porthole)
  • Wires run forward about 3-4 feet to a (tightly packed, and difficult to access) conduit which runs vertically down behind the microwave.
  • From behind the microwave, the wires will run forward about 4 feet in the fabric covered ceiling trim to the first (aft-most) window pillar/pillar cover.
  • Wires route down through the pillar cover and down behind the cabinet/couch area.
  • Feed the wires in the wall behind the couch, and across to the audio equipment cabinet.
Routing procedure:
  1. Remove your stereo.
  2. You'll be feeding your new wires starting from the stereo compartment
  3. Remove the rectangular plastic ceiling cover next to the starboard steel supports.
  4. Feed the fish tape from the rectangular ceiling hole slightly aft and towards the port side over to the the stereo compartment.
  5. From the stereo compartment, reach in and grab the end of the fish tape
  6. Attach your fish tape/wire to the end of your new wires (I used duct tape). Make sure you have covered the ends of the wires well enough that they won't get snagged on something.
  7. Pull the new wires through, with about 45" of new wire now hanging down and around your bridge sink.
  8. Remove your fish tape from the wires
  9. Close the bridge hatch over the stairs, remove the two forward circular hole covers, and the speaker.
  10. Route the fish tape up through the forward steel support tube.
    • Note: there are other wires in there, so careful not to get your fish tape stuck. I kept tape on mine to avoid a snag.
  11. Like you did in step 6 above, tape the new wires to the fish tape.
  12. Pull the fish tape from the bridge hatch area down through the steel tube.
    • Note: I couldn't fit all of my new wires through in one bunch, so I had to repeat this twice -- once for the RCA cables, and once for my ethernet and speaker wires.
  13. Route the wires forward to the conduit just aft of the bridge floor speaker.
    • Note: The conduit it pretty tightly packed, and includes AC, DC, and water lines. You may have to create some space in the conduit for your new wires. It was challenging because there's so little room in the conduit, and a difficult to reach area.
  14. Go into the galley and remove the microwave (Easy, but refer to the fridge/microwave cabinet disassembly posted on this forum).
  15. Grab a beer from your fridge; consume.
  16. From the bridge and shine a flashlight down through the conduit. Then back in the galley behind the [now removed] microwave, you should see the light shining through the upper left corner.
  17. Feed your fish tape up and through and attach your wires, as done previously. Pull your new wires through into the compartment. You should have a little more than 1/2 (25 ft) of your new wires in the microwave compartment now.
  18. Remove your ceiling starboard wooden AC vent
  19. Fish your fish tape from the vent over to the microwave compartment. Rinse/repeat the attach and pull through process.
  20. Remove the first starboard window pillar cover (it just pulls off), and then remove the secondary cover (secured with 2 6" screws)
  21. Route your wires down next to the pillar and behind the galley cabinet. The new wires should now be down at salon floor level.
  22. Your choice here...
    • Remove your couch (easiest path to complete the job)
    • Squeeze into the removed cushion holes to grab the wires the A/C compartment area
  23. Route the wires behind the A/C unit over to the cabinet with the Bose stereo.
  24. Attach RCA cables the input of your choice on the Bose unit. I chose the AUX input.
  25. Return to the fridge and grab another beer; consume.
  26. On the bridge, connect your RCA cables to the appropriate output on your stereo.
  27. Put everything back together.
  28. Return to your fridge...

Wires:
  • I originally wanted to use an optical cable, but after testing (before routing everything), I found a ~1/2 second audio delay between my Fusion head unit and the Bose system. The music was noticeably out of sync. I believe the delay originated from the Fusion head unit, but regardless, it was unacceptable for me so I ended up using RCA audio cables (no delay).
  • I also ran an ethernet cable. The ethernet cable allows my Fusion stereo to tie into my wireless router, and then I can control the Fusion from multiple iOS devices (phone, ipad, etc...). Without that ethernet cable (or a Fusion that has built-in wifi), you can only control the unit from a single iOS device over bluetooth.
  • I ran another set of speaker wires for future use -- I figured I may need them at some point, and didn't want to do this again.
  • All wires were 50ft in length.
Hope this helps! Good luck!!
 
Keith, Wow, great write up. Thank you

I have been trying to decide how to handle my music for the boat so this gives me a great start. Did you upgrade the remotes too? Were they wired???

So if you kept your original Bose, how are you handling the sound from the TV? I am toying with getting the sound from streaming out of the TV and into Bose. If I am taking the time to take all of this apart, I can run wires from the TV to the Bose.

Thanks again.

Mike
 
I did upgrade the remotes, but went with the wireless Fusion option -https://www.crutchfield.com/p_917ARX70W/Fusion-MS-ARX70W-White.html. The Fusion remotes are smaller than the original Clarions, so I still need to do some trim work to make them look pretty.

That said, I don't use the remotes too much, as I can control the stereo through my iPhone and Garmin watch.

I didn't have to change wiring for my TV sound to play through the Bose. I have the original Sharp Aquos TV that pops up from under the counter, and added an Amazon Fire TV Stick. My TV has audio-out via RCA cables, which already routed back to the Bose system into the TV input. When I want to listen to music, I set the Bose system to 'AUX', and set the Bose system to 'TV' to watch the TV.

BTW.. I think I saw you upgraded your master stateroom TV. I did the same. On my installation I removed a section of the original trim/TV box. A 32" Toshiba TV fits perfectly in there now and is completely flush with the wall. Looks like it came from the factory!

Oh, and another btw... in the process of the stereo upgrade, I ran cabling and installed a subwoofer underneath the bench seat directly in front of the helm. The cables for that routed in the same way, just through the port-side steel support tubes. Powering the subwoofer was easy, as there's a 12V strip in the helm cabinet.
 
Last edited:
Has anyone sorted out a source for the cabinet material for this boat. Have been through a few life changes and am starting the process of moving back up to a sedan bridge that would allow for longer distant cruising. Having previously owned this model and knowing it fairly well it is high on my short list of boats. The one that I did see recently would need some of the cabinet work done.
 
I have searched for a good alternative overlay material, and gotten quite a few samples of similar 3M colors. None of them were a good match. I've concluded that there's three paths here:
  1. Build new custom cabinets - labor intensive and expensive (I thought I saw/heard $10K in a thread somewhere, which seems light)
  2. Use a completely different 3M or similar overlay material, and change the look of the boat. Expensive, but not as near expensive as cabinetry replacement. Also, you will have to smooth out or remove the existing overlay where it's peeling/cracking.
  3. The path that I've taken is a little out-of-the-box... On three different pieces now, I've stripped the tinted/transparent overlay material that was peeling/cracking. This leaves an unfinished cherry board underneath. I've then applied a couple coats of red mahogany stain to darken the wood up. Next, applied a few coats of polyurethane, and then finally, sanded/buffed to a high gloss finish. The finished product looks like new. Cost is low. Labor will be intense to do the whole boat.
 
  1. The path that I've taken is a little out-of-the-box... On three different pieces now, I've stripped the tinted/transparent overlay material that was peeling/cracking. This leaves an unfinished cherry board underneath. I've then applied a couple coats of red mahogany stain to darken the wood up. Next, applied a few coats of polyurethane, and then finally, sanded/buffed to a high gloss finish. The finished product looks like new. Cost is low. Labor will be intense to do the whole boat.
Great idea. I am going to give this a try on a piece in the master head. Thanks!

Mike
 
@Smokeio - my first attempt ended up a little light on the color. Hence, I used a few coats of stains on the next pieces. The sanding/polishing of the polyurethane takes a bit of practice too in order to get a high-gloss smooth finish. It's best to remove the pieces and work with them in a shop/garage or similar space.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,950
Messages
1,422,861
Members
60,932
Latest member
juliediane
Back
Top