460 Express Cruiser (1985-1989) Discussion Area

[Skybolt]

who have the make and model of the fridge on the 46 express

Sorry for such a late reply, I guess email updates aren't working correctly.

Anyway, this boat originally came with Sub Zero fridge and separate freezer. That are no longer available and there replacements are ~$2500 each or more.

I had to replace mine this year and went with GE replacement units. I am still finishing up the trim design. and will complete it over the winter. I know this doesn't help right now, but htat is what you may need to do. Good luck.

 

[Skybolt]

Hi all.

I am unable to determine what type of transmission fluid/oil I need to use for my 86 460EC with the 6v92TA engines. By chance, does anyone out there know which I should use? I have a small shaft seal leak, and would like to keep some on hand. The boat is new to me, and I have no idea when it was last changed, so I would also like to go ahead and change it. Thanks in advance!

I am going to assume that you have Allison M15 transmissions? In most cases they require straight engine oil, 40W. I use Kendelle SAE40W for the transmissions. I use Shell Rotella in the Engines. If you PM me your email I can send you the general info section and PM section of the service manual. They cover what you need.

 

[Skybolt]

Hello, All

Curious as to what prop is correct for my 86 460EC, with DD 6v92TA Engines? I cannot find any info online and was wondering what some of you more experienced 460 owners were using. Thanks in advance!

Thats a tough one. They came with 26x26 Nibral 3 blaeded props. But when I got my boat they were 26x27 cupped. I now have 26x25 3 bladded cupped. You basically need to verify that you are getting 2350 @ WOT. But that is only the starting point however. I was getting that with the 26x26 pitch, I dialed it back a bit after reading some post's on boadiesel regarding this exact subjet and engines. When I took an inch out of the pitch I increased my cruise speed at the same RPM. I now cruise at 23.5MPH @ 1850RPM. Given the age of the engines I am not looking put a strain on them. At that RPM and pitched prop I use 36GPH at cruise total.

My boat is 36,000 LBS when it comes out of the water according to the travel lift scales. That is the other variant as well. All of these boats are water logged to some extent and there is some extra weight over the stated dry weight of 27,000 LBS when new. But that is completly dry no anything including a gereator and optional equipment, fuel water etc.

Find your self a good prop/shaft guy and they can help you out emensly. Good Luck

 

[Skybolt]

Installed the Optio Fuel sensors this week. Although they splice directly into the fuel lines, it took me a while to prepare the physical spots for flowmeter installation. Was nice to avoid running power and signal wires to the flowmeters as with my prior FloScan units.

Fired up the engines afterwards and read fuel flow rates on the Interactio app installed on my iPhone. Assuming the winds are down this weekend, I will leave the dock to have it calculate fuel efficiency and find the speed sweet spot for cruising.

More later.

How do you like them so far? Curious as to what you found out to be the sweet spot?

I know you have Cats, but what is your fuel consumption? Mine seems to be 36GPH @ 1850 RPM.

 

[Skybolt]

Haven't posted here for a while and many upgrades and changes have taken place. Here is the Galley upgrades from the dead sub-zero's to the new layout. This round I upgraded the frige/freezer to a side by side FF and added a Wine (Beer) cooler into the mix. Replaced the floor and switched to a two burner Kenyon glass top cooktop. What's left is to order a Corian counter top, the cooktop went from the princess three burner fold up top, to a glass a smaller glass top, had to make temporary fill in blocks until the new counter top is ordered. Probably not until fall, too much to do to get the counter top installed but who knows.

 

[Jeff Evans]

Haven't posted here for a while and many upgrades and changes have taken place.......

SKybolt, caught up on the reading on this site after a long absence. The galley work you did is beautiful.

Every year, "Boldly Go" gets a few upgrades. Added a semi-flexible solar bank to the canvas (440W SunPower) for the house batteries. Increased house bank to qty. 8, 4D batteries. Installed Walker Airsep air filters on the Cat 3208 intakes. Installed Infinity Seagrass carpeting in the cockpit. Had new wiper motor covers 3D printed as the originals had degraded. Replaced Simpson Lawrence windlass with a Lewmar Profish 1000. Added a King Falcon wifi antenna. Upgraded to a Standard Horizon VHF with AIS and many more smaller projects.

This spring will be stripping and re-varnishing the cockpit wood surfaces and replacing all hoses on the engines. Some cabin projects may commence depending on timing.

 

[Skybolt]

SKybolt, caught up on the reading on this site after a long absence. The galley work you did is beautiful.

Every year, "Boldly Go" gets a few upgrades. Added a semi-flexible solar bank to the canvas (440W SunPower) for the house batteries. Increased house bank to qty. 8, 4D batteries. Installed Walker Airsep air filters on the Cat 3208 intakes. Installed Infinity Seagrass carpeting in the cockpit. Had new wiper motor covers 3D printed as the originals had degraded. Replaced Simpson Lawrence windlass with a Lewmar Profish 1000. Added a King Falcon wifi antenna. Upgraded to a Standard Horizon VHF with AIS and many more smaller projects.

This spring will be stripping and re-varnishing the cockpit wood surfaces and replacing all hoses on the engines. Some cabin projects may commence depending on timing.

Hey @Jeff Evans Jeff! It's been a while. Thanks for kudos! I've been following the work you've been doing with your friend Michael? (I think his name is) on "Family Ties". Man what a lot of work you have put in with him. It would be great to see what you've been up to on your boat.

Those upgrades will go a long way, but dam! that a lot of batteries. No Generator I guess? I also have infinity carpet and love it. I do need to douse it with water sometimes in the summer sun, man does it get hot at times. Nice windlass, I still have the Maxwell 800 the boat came with. I have never heard of King Falcon wifi before, looks pretty nice though. I have gone through many iterations but have landed on using a Peplink with Starlink sat iNet.

That gunwale teak work is not for the faint of heart, I did that last year and used Awlgrip's Awlwood satin. It came out looking amazing. But with my 100lb Labrador nothing holds up that well. If you don't have dogs to worry about I would consider looking at that.

Yeah, with a boat it is a never ending story on the work for sure. Good luck with all of your work! And lets see some pics.

 

[Skybolt]

I have also converted my Detroit's over to digital and love that upgrade/conversion. I posted about it here: http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/actisense-emu-1-engine-converter-analog-to-digital.101609/

With a shot of the dash here: http://clubsearay.com/index.php?thr...-analog-to-digital.101609/page-3#post-1221685

Although, I am having a new dash made up that doesn't have all of the conversion panels on it. I will post pics when I get that back from Tecnografic.

And since I leave the boat in the water all year round, I also added remote monitoring to make me sleep a little better: http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/remote-monitoring.102913/

Also one of my first projects on the boat: http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/thinking-of-getting-a-kenyon-electric-grill.70129/

 

[Skybolt]

Well I couldn't find the post that was talking about Technografic vs FP Marine so I am going to post it here, since I am basically the only one on this forum with this boat that is still active.

I ordered the new dash panel at the end of Jan. and got this moving along with a template. It took until last Friday for me to receive the panel. Yes over two months. The panel was supposed to come with a back lit SeaRay emblem light but they left out the back light and had to be sent priority. So not until last night did I actually get this project moving.

That said, it was worth the wait. I was able to get it most installed last night. Still needs to be cleaned and some wax but here it is.

 

[Skybolt]

Can't speak to which version of panel I like better FP Marine or Tecnografic. They're completely different technologies in how they are made. So I will need to see how Tecno stands up to time.

FP Marine is a layered product that is very brittle and, for me, has cracked with expansion and contraction if the screw holes do not have enough play in them. To the point of needing a very large headed screw. To the point I have cracked the mounting holes while drilling.

Tecnografic is a layered product too but is dipped or something like it. Meaning they start with plexi (polycarbonate?) and process the cut out's etc. then dip the plexi in the pattern and then over spray with clear coat layers. There product seems to be more forgiving with mounting etc. as I had no issues when drilling.

That said I really like both products and they have their place. This is the first time I have used Techno. So only time will tell.

 

[Jeff Evans]

Beautiful work. May be a future project for Boldly Go.

Well I couldn't find the post that was talking about Technografic vs FP Marine so I am going to post it here, since I am basically the only one on this forum with this boat that is still active.

I ordered the new dash panel at the end of Jan. and got this moving along with a template. It took until last Friday for me to receive the panel. Yes over two months. The panel was supposed to come with a back lit SeaRay emblem light but they left out the back light and had to be sent priority. So not until last night did I actually get this project moving.

That said, it was worth the wait. I was able to get it most installed last night. Still needs to be cleaned and some wax but here it is.

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Beautiful work. Currently no projects underway on Boldly Go. Refinished the cockpit teak in the spring with varnish which turned out great. The rest of summer has been boating with 5 weeks out on the hook in Georgian Bay.

 

[Skybolt]

Beautiful work. May be a future project for Boldly Go.

Beautiful work. Currently no projects underway on Boldly Go. Refinished the cockpit teak in the spring with varnish which turned out great. The rest of summer has been boating with 5 weeks out on the hook in Georgian Bay.

Thank you.

Five weeks out on the Georgian bay! OMG - that is awesome. Great boat to do that with. I am jealous the longest we have done is ten days.

Post some update pics when you have a chance. Would love to see them.

 

[Snapon24]

Hi theres an 88 460EC with 550hp 6V92s for sale near me. It needs some work as its been sitting for a few years but it has 1 recently rebuilt engine. Are genuine Detroit parts still available for these or everything is aftermarket? Also what else to look for like common leaks, rot, etc. I have an 88 340EC now and would love to move up to one of these one day. Thanks

 

[techmitch]

Hi theres an 88 460EC with 550hp 6V92s for sale near me. It needs some work as its been sitting for a few years but it has 1 recently rebuilt engine. Are genuine Detroit parts still available for these or everything is aftermarket? Also what else to look for like common leaks, rot, etc. I have an 88 340EC now and would love to move up to one of these one day. Thanks

@SKybolt

 

[Skybolt]

Hi theres an 88 460EC with 550hp 6V92s for sale near me. It needs some work as its been sitting for a few years but it has 1 recently rebuilt engine. Are genuine Detroit parts still available for these or everything is aftermarket? Also what else to look for like common leaks, rot, etc. I have an 88 340EC now and would love to move up to one of these one day. Thanks

It's a mixed bag on engine parts but most are available from Stewart & Stevenson or Detroit. But Aftermarket parts are readily available and of good quality. One miss-conception about these engines is the horse power rating. Most if not all 6v92TA's put in this boat are Low Profile twin turbo rated @475hp. The 550hp were mostly DDEC or Detroit's first attempt at an electronic controlled engine. That engine does not last long, it's right at the 1:1 ratio of displacement and horse power.

The what to look for question is a tough one to answer on a 35yr old boat. They're all different, but the common suspect's are always in play. Any hardware that goes through the deck is suspect, stanchions, windshield mounting any hand holds ect. The big one is the bung holes in the stringers they always have water in and around them. The good news is, those years used so much glass that it doesn't affect structural integrity. You need to make sure the boat was made in Palm Coast, most if not all boats made in Palm Coast were solid glass hulls. Ones made else where and a few made in the later years of PC were plywood cored. Those you should stay away from regardless of it's condition. Most of those boats had their bottoms de-laminate.

When buying one of these boats, be prepared to being doing a complete restoration including wiring. I was lucky when I found my boat, the PO had already started that process. Both engines had 400hrs on re-builds and the 12v wiring for them were already replaced. The rest of the boat was still in factory condition and remarkably well kept. If you are lucky enough to find that, I would say it's worth picking up unless you are planning on restoring it.

By the way, I picked mine up from the Anchorage in Babylon. There was one in CT I was aware of but he want's too much for what it is. Good luck in your search.

 

[Snapon24]

@SKybolt Thanks for the info. I figured that about those high hp models. Like anything else the more fuel you put to it, the shorter the life. Id prefer Cats but it seems like the 375hp 3208s would be way underpowered in this boat. I havent gotten inside to see and inspect the condition of the rest of it yet, but its so cheap its almost a no brainer unless the rest is a total disaster. Ill let you know when I go look at it. Thanks again

 

[Skybolt]

@Snapon24 You are correct, with the Cats's the boat is under powered. With the Detroit's it still isn't a speed demon, but it does cruise nicely at 20knts at 1850 RPM and the fuel burn is ~40g/hr.

On the plus side of the Cat's they are a small engine and there is plenty of room to work on them, with the Detroit's there isn't much room and can be challenging at time's and two turbos instead of one as well.

Look for the engine plates on the valve cover and see what the injectors are. If they are 9225's then the engines are 475hp. Boat Diesel has PDF's that you can download all of the info on them, here is the basic nomenclature on the low profile(s).

 

[Jeff Evans]

I have the 375 HP Cat 3208's. The boat is underpowered and speed is limited to ~18 knots at 2,300 RPM. The boat lifts but does not properly plane at that speed even with additional trim tabs installed. Given the long distances we run every year (~750 NM) we run her as a trawler at ~8 knots getting 0.75 to 0.8 USGPM.

 

[Saverio]

Hi theres an 88 460EC with 550hp 6V92s for sale near me. It needs some work as its been sitting for a few years but it has 1 recently rebuilt engine. Are genuine Detroit parts still available for these or everything is aftermarket? Also what else to look for like common leaks, rot, etc. I have an 88 340EC now and would love to move up to one of these one day. Thanks

I believe the owner passed away and his children are trying to sell it.

 

[Skybolt]

I believe the owner passed away and his children are trying to sell it.

Still don't see any online in the NY area. Where is that one located?