550 Sedan Bridge is now ours

Your new boat came from the same harbor I'm in, I watched the whole thing happen and wondered what the hell was happening and where it was going, I figured it was going over seas. I saw the flybridge wrapped and just sitting there for days, I wondered what they were doing with it, thought maybe the forgot it, j/k!! Small world...
 
douglee25 said:
Boy those guys don't mess around with the crane portion, huh?
Click to expand...

Nope, Lampson Crane is one of the largest crane companies in the world and their headquarters are right here in town.

We live in a relatively small area that doesn't have a large boat yard so we don't have a TransiLift or Travelift available. If you want a boat lifted, they're the ones who can do it. Them boys play with some pretty big toys.

Here's one that was just sitting around in their yard. With the aid of the 960,000lbs of ballast on the back end it can lift 11,000 TONS.

P60110221.jpg


P60110231.jpg



Thanks for the congrats on the new little boaters in the family. We think they're pretty special, but we may be prejudiced.

Miles Anthony, born 5/23...
P5230957.jpg


Addisyn Lee, born 5/31
P60109941.jpg
 
And here I thought the 600 ton 'over the road' crane that we just used on a project was big? lol That one is massive!!

Cute babies! Congrats!

Doug
 
I'm available for adoption?? I would also donate my small boat as a tender! If you need any crew members, I'm available!!

With that crane in the way on the swim platform, it makes you wonder if it ever left the dock? I'd be tripping over it and continuously falling in the drink!

GREAT looking boat and I agree, I like the older designs better. I can't put my finger on it, but I do!! There is something about the flat glass that I like!!

Now I see WHY your signature is GoFirstClass!!! Congratulations on the new addition! It's BETTER than Christmas!!
 
Last edited:
Is that yard on the Island? I have never seen that are pictured? We are in Portland, just wondering where that is. Glad that everything is progressing as planned.
 
If they didn't shrink wrap, be prepared to remove lot's of Diesel sud! Been there with two coast to coast relocations.
Good luck with the boat, looks very nice!

Manfred
 
Hi Everyone,
I own a 1995 Sea Ray 55 Sedan Bridge CAT 3406's, it's the sport fish version with the metal ladder instead of the molded staircase. I purchased it in Florida in May 2009, shipped it to USVI, and spent weeks cruising through the Caribbean with my Family of four (wife Pat and two children Rushell (then 14) and Jordan (then 13) all the way the down to my home in Trinidad the most southernly island in the Caribbean, just North of the South American mainland. We have since cruised back up the islands about five or six times on just about every long weekend or holiday season that comes around. Just name it Christmas 2009 and the 2010 New Year in Grenada, Easter 2010, the Grenadines, six weeks of endless summer 2010, Grenada, Union Island, Tobago Cays, Petit Martinique, Carriacou, and back to Grenada the laid back capital of the world, where we have been adopted by friends which we now consider as family, where we spend the sunset hours on Grand Anse beach after watching our children (who are both top ranked sailors on Trinidad's National Sailing Team and have travelled to quite a few countries to compete in regattas ) teach their new friends to sail their Olympic class 420 sailboat which we secured on the bow of Tall Order for the journey, we were able to store the sailboat without charge at the Grenada Yacht Club where our children volunteered to be coaches at their GYC 2010 Summer Sailing Camp, this seafarer gesture of kindness, love of sailing and service have awarded with memories and friendships that would last a life time.
All in all I thank GOD and I know that we've been blessed, we are having great times and the platform that supports this lifestyle is our Sea Ray 55 Sedan Bridge which is very livable even for me a BIG and Tall man at 6 feet-7inches (hence in part the name TALL ORDER), even when rough Atlantic seas rushes in during our open water crossings or when the infamous Caribbean Squalls just blows in (and mind you, IT GETS ROUGH OUT HERE!), the vessel is in its element and she handles her own.
On this boat We've fought and release our first billfish a 400lb Blue Marling at Diamond Rock Is. just off of the Caribbean's submerged active volcano "Kick EM Jenny" and fishing back at home on Trinidad's north coast a few weeks ago we landed 13 sizable Mahi Mahi (Dorado, Dolphin fish not the friendly mammal) which provided both a great dish and even greater fisherman's tales when sheared with friends at Rushell's 16th birthday party.
We've been to 3 Florida boat shows since and haven't found one boat in the same range that we love as much, not even Sea Ray's brand new version which has all the luxury on the inside but lack the diving........fishing........outdoor sportsman element of our model. The Sea Ray salesman said their vision has since changed, and we should purchase in their Cabo line if we like the outdoors attitude of our current Sea Ray..........However in a market where multi-purpose seems to be the driving word in just about every market I think that the Sea Ray company should keep a keen eye on the Ferretti group as the broacher for their new Bertram 54 reads like a perfect description of my older series Sea Ray 55 Sedan Bridge Sportfish.

Note: Russell was last seen at the marina changing oil and preparing stuff on "Tall Order" for a 3 week cruise to Grenada for Christmas 2010 into New Years 2011.

P.S. Most of these 55's has the Detroit Diesel package so I've not been able to assess data, I would like to compare your performance specs sometime soon as we have never seen anywhere close to 30kt WOT
 
Last edited:
Tall Order, Congratulations on finding the 550 with the CATS in it. That's what mine have and I love 'em. I haven't checked the fuel mileage but at hull speed it seems like the fuel gauge doesn't even move.

I can't wait to see pics of your boat.

FYI, my boat came with a slant back canvas package that I don't know has ever been used. It was not mounted on the boat when I sea trialed it and I now have no use for it. It's sitting in my garage. I don't know if all the miscellaneous hardware is there, but if anything is missing it would be easy to replace.

I had a rear bimini made for my boat so I'd like to make someone a GREAT deal on the slant back canvas. Here's a picture of the bimini. If you are interested in buying the slant back rear canvas drop me a PM. I'll make you a deal you can't refuse.


P80300331.jpg
 
Hello guys,
I'm now trying to understand the site and I'll post some pictures later on in the week as I get better acquainted with the site.
I'm looking at Gofirstclasst's boat.......what a beauty! I got the same canvas package included when I bought my boat, it was a bit torn....and I got rid of it as with nearly all boats in the Caribbean the weather allows us to keep that cockpit open and ready for what we call a "LIME" (a group of friends just hanging out). I like your bimini, when we're just "LIMING" I really miss having one, but when we go out fishing it a total NoNo......I'm trying to come up with some compromise that could fully roll or slide forward. And yes at hull speed we can troll for 2 full days covering possibly 240-300 miles before the any true movement on the fuel gauges, in this mode it's almost free miles.
Please tell me what H.P. your engines are, mine are 580 each and they run great, I'm no speed freak but you have me wondering...My boat was advertised as having a 24kt cruise and a 27kt top speed, I have to check, but if I remember right at sea trails the figures were more like 19kt at cruise and 23kt at WOT and I don't think that we could have held it there for very long without the temps going up. I've since service everything that could be serviced and I keep her in a ready to run condition.........but with full fuel, full water and a diver cleaned bottom, my best speed has been 20kt at cruise and 24kt WOT with borderline temps, generally I do 100 - 125 mile open water crossings at around 1750 RPM with speeds around 15-17kt (this seems to be the "ZEN MODE" for both the boat and the engines). At this speed she's quite comfortable in just about any sea condition and the temps are around 195*, the turbos are softly singing, not howling at this RPM and the fuel burn is lower than my earlier 20-21kt runs @1900-1950 RPM.
I've always been quite comfortable with the speed and I've even been planning to probably take about 1/2" off of the props in order to reduce the load and up my running RPM just a bit.

After seeing your WOT specs I'm a bit puzzled?? I've never been able to compare as most of these vessels have the GM's which I purposely kept away from. What's your H.P.? Are your specs similar when loaded? Does anyone have performance figures for 55's with CATS
Thanks
 
TAC, please excuse me for not getting back to this thread to answer your questions. I've been busy, but that's not a good reason.

TALL ORDER CATS said:
Please tell me what H.P. your engines are, mine are 580 each and they run great, I'm no speed freak but you have me wondering...Tall Order, you and I both have the same engines. They're CAT 3406C's and are rated at 580hp.

My boat was advertised as having a 24kt cruise and a 27kt top speed, I have to check, but if I remember right at sea trails the figures were more like 19kt at cruise and 23kt at WOT and I don't think that we could have held it there for very long without the temps going up. We ran this one at WOT for 10 minutes to make sure it didn't overheat. That was recommended to me by a tech write for one of the major boating magazines. During that WOT run it was running right at 30.0-30.1kts and at 2150 rpm's. You might check your WOT rpm's because if you can't get to 2150rpm's your boat is overpropped. If you get to 2150rpm's but the speed isn't at 30kts the boat is underpropped. Either way you won't be getting good fuel economy. Also, by running it at WOT for 10 minutes and not getting any overheating I know that there are no impediments to air frow into, through, or out of the engine.

I've since service everything that could be serviced and I keep her in a ready to run condition.........but with full fuel, full water and a diver cleaned bottom, my best speed has been 20kt at cruise and 24kt WOT with borderline temps, My boat cruises real easily at 1750rpm's and at 19.5kts. That's just about 80% of WOT. Temps at that range never get to 150°.


generally I do 100 - 125 mile open water crossings at around 1750 RPM with speeds around 15-17kt (this seems to be the "ZEN MODE" for both the boat and the engines). At this speed she's quite comfortable in just about any sea condition and the temps are around 195*, the turbos are softly singing, not howling at this RPM and the fuel burn is lower than my earlier 20-21kt runs @1900-1950 RPM.
I haven't really had a chance to check the fuel economy but the gauges don't seem to move much at hull speed. Here are a couple of my rpm's and speeds for comparison

idle 750rpm's...8.5kts
900rpm's.....10.5kts
1100rpm's....12kts
1750rpm's....19.5kts

I've always been quite comfortable with the speed and I've even been planning to probably take about 1/2" off of the props in order to reduce the load and up my running RPM just a bit.

After seeing your WOT specs I'm a bit puzzled?? I've never been able to compare as most of these vessels have the GM's which I purposely kept away from. What's your H.P.? Are your specs similar when loaded? Does anyone have performance figures for 55's with CATS As I said above, you and I have the same 580hp CATS. The speeds above were done with about 1/2 fuel, full water, 2-3 people on board and all of our gear (read that as mountains of gear).

Do you know what pitch your props are? Here's what I have...
P7290014.jpg

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Hi Gofirstclass,
Thank you so very much for all of your data, I don't know the size of my props but I intend to haul out to redo the bottom paint sometime over the next 2-3 weeks, I'll get the sizes then, and I'll also check the size on the spare pair located in the lazerette, when I get her back into the water with a brand new bottom I'll recheck my performance, tomorrow I would pull the last performance spreadsheet I created a few months ago after fully servicing my fuel system. During my original Survey and Sea trials I remember the boat being fairly light (about 50% fuel and water) and only getting up to around 2050 RPM, I was told that the missing RPMs were due to the TNT stern lift and the heavy tender, I have since removed both for better fishing access and I still think that I'm fighting hard to make 2100 RPM, (this along with the running temps is the reason I was looking to have some reduction to the prop).
Now thinking of it I think I'll have a diver check the markings on the props tomorrow.
Being so close to rated RPM do you think that proping could make a significant difference in the performance?
Do you agree that 1750 appears to be the 3406's "SWEET SPOT"

We spent the past weekend dealing with Hurricane Tomas, which missed us but hit some of the islands to the north like Barbados, St. Vincent & St. Lucia pretty hard. We are currently dealing with another system...........But that's the price of living in PARADISE.

Once again thank you very, very much and I'll update you when I get the prop sizes.

TALL ORDER CATS
 
Tall, you're welcome for the data. I hope it helps. I was told that the boat could easily run all day at 80%-85% of WOT. If your WOT with these props is 2100, you're right there with that cruise speed of 1750 rpm's. I would give Sea Ray Customer Service a call to find out what prop size was on your boat when it was built. When I get to work I'll PM you with the contact phone number I have. You'll need the HIN, year, etc. Also ask them for a Build Sheet. It' gives all the specs on your boat as far as what was standard equipment and any optional equipment that was put on the boat when it was built.
 
Hello GOFIRSTCLASS,
Sorry for just falling off of the map, but on quite short notice I had to fly out to China on business for nearly 3 weeks (horrible experience! but thats another story), I only returned today from a very cold New York (our hub to and from China). So far I haven't been able to make use of all the info you passed onto me but I'll try my best to at least contact Searay this week before my family gets aboard next week for our planned cruise to Grenada for Christmas and the New Year.
I planned to haul out and repaint the bottom before this upcoming trip......but the China visit got in the way so I'll have to hall out come January 2011. I would try to pull my past performance data before speaking with Searay and I'll give you a full rundown on their comparisons.
TALL ORDER CATS
 
GoFirstClass, Tall Order Cats and everyone,
Thanks for some awesome reading. Almost every threat I read I learn something and they give me something to think about.
TOC - have a wonderful cruise - sounds awesome - wish I was going with you.
GFC really nice boat and thanks for sharing from start to getting it home and the way you want it. Good luck with the grandchildren. We have one 4 year old, oops I mean 4 and a half year old (as she reminds me). Truly besides our sons she is the joy and blessing in our life. Plus, the girl loves being in the water, boating and steering the boat. You have a lot to look forward too.
It's all good! :thumbsup:
 
SeaRayBio, you're welcome for the info and the stories about getting her home. Buying this boat has been a great adventure, but not without the headaches along the way. Probably the biggest two were not being able to trust the selling broker's word, and the same thing with the trucking agent. Both left a dark cloud over what should have been a great experience.

That being said, the further in the past those dark clouds get, and the more we get to use and enjoy the boat, the less signifcance those dark clouds have.

Someone asked me if I'd ever buy another boat from a distant state. I didn't have to even think about it to answer "yes". But along the way I've learned some things about the whole process that would make it easier the next time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,148
Messages
1,427,289
Members
61,058
Latest member
Axlthepaxl
Back
Top