7 years with a Sea Ray 200 Select

[julians]

Hi All,

I bought my 200 Select brand new in 2006, and have enjoyed it over the last 7 seasons. I think I may be selling it on soon and getting a different boat , but thought I'd summarise my 7 years with the boat.

Its a 2006 200 Select with a 5.0mpi engine and alpha 1 drive.

In 7 seasons I've covered 400 hours, the boat has spent 365 days a year in salt water, only coming out for a couple of days a year for a service and new antifoul paint.

The following lists the things that have broken and needed replacing, you can see the majority of things have failed more than once:-

-blower motor failed x 3 (£40) - 2007, 2010 ,2012

-hose clamps corroded (£40), 2007,2008,2009

-idle air control valve failed (£180), 2009

-water pressure sensor failed (£80), 2007

-outdrive gears failed (£2000) , 2009

-thermostat stuck closed (£30) 2009,2012

-batteries failed (£400) , 2011

-depth transducer failed-(£300) 2011

-trim sender failed - £100 2009

So a total of £3540 on failed parts in 7 years, £505 per year on average.

servicing has cost about £1200 per year.

and I reckon fuel has cost approx £1700 per year.

So total running costs (excluding depreciation): £3400 per year - OUCH!

Despite the list above appearing pretty extensive, I'd say its been a generally reliable boat, the only major issue was the drive failing.

This forum has been a useful source of info whenever I've needed a bit of technical info.

Anyway, thanks for all the help on and off over the years.

 

[Aussie230SD]

No need to replace risers in that time? I did not think they would last that long when boat used in salt water.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Keeping a raw water cooled, stern drive boat in salt water year round can definitely take it's toll. But, let's take a look at the list.

Hi All,

I bought my 200 Select brand new in 2006, and have enjoyed it over the last 7 seasons. I think I may be selling it on soon and getting a different boat , but thought I'd summarise my 7 years with the boat.

Its a 2006 200 Select with a 5.0mpi engine and alpha 1 drive.

In 7 seasons I've covered 400 hours, the boat has spent 365 days a year in salt water, only coming out for a couple of days a year for a service and new antifoul paint.

The following lists the things that have broken and needed replacing, you can see the majority of things have failed more than once:-

-blower motor failed x 3 (£40) - 2007, 2010 ,2012 Very odd. Something else is going on here. Can't explain that without knowing more. Wasn't the first one under warranty?

-hose clamps corroded (£40), 2007,2008,2009 Unless the servicing mechanic is using low-quality hardware that shouldn't happen. However, if the engine isn't rinsed, at least occasionally and hopefully more, and then protected, salt water/salt air can eat away at things... hmmm... may explain the blower and some other things.

-idle air control valve failed (£180), 2009,2013 This one is more common, but often you may just need to clean/change the filter - not replace the whole thing.

-water pressure sensor failed (£80), 2007 At least it's been good, since! But why did you pay for this? Wasn't it under warranty?

-outdrive gears failed (£2000) , 2009 Could very well have been a defect in the gears. But, it could also be due to poor maintenance like using inferior lube or water getting in there (most likely) due to not changing the seals and just re-using the current ones.

-thermostat stuck closed (£30) 2009,2012 You've got salt water going through this year round and it never gets flushed out. It should be changed every other year AT LEAST, if not every year.

-batteries failed (£400) , 2011 Not failed, just at the end of the their life.

-depth transducer failed-(£300) 2011 Probably not due to anything you did/did not due. Just an honest failure.

-trim sender failed - £100 2012 5 years is about right for this device, especially when left in the water. Sometimes it fails much sooner. Just the nature of the beast... unfortunately.

So a total of £3540 on failed parts in 7 years, £505 per year on average.

servicing has cost about £1200 per year.

and I reckon fuel has cost approx £1700 per year.

So total running costs (excluding depreciation): £3400 per year - OUCH!

Despite the list above appearing pretty extensive, I'd say its been a generally reliable boat, the only major issue was the drive failing.

This forum has been a useful source of info whenever I've needed a bit of technical info.

Anyway, thanks for all the help on and off over the years.

Don't get discouraged from boating. It does cost money to play, but some of these things can be taken care of with a little more preventive maintenance. The issues you are experiencing are, for the most part, not going to change with a different boat if the maintenance isn't stepped up.

And, I agree with the riser comment above. You need to change these ASAP (or at least have them pulled and inspected) or you will be buying a brand new engine soon. Remember... preventive maintenance.

 

[blaster]

I found Julian's thoughts on his manifolds.

julians
Join Date
Oct 2006
Location
Balearic Islands
Boat
Sea Ray
Details
2006 200 Select
Engine(s)
5.0 merc Alpha 1
Posts
119
Re: Can I put my Sea Ray in a salt water slip year around?
regarding the manifolds, Merc changed the design around 2002-2003 to what they call dry joint manifolds, what that means is that the water jacket does not pass through the same gasket as the exhaust passages that used to be the case in the older design of manifolds. This means that the mode of failure where the mating surfaces of the manifold to riser corrodes, and lets water pass under/over the gasket and into the exhaust passage and then into the engine (where you then hydrolock it) is not possible any more. Hence you dont have to replace them quite so often.

You can still get failure where the water jacket physically corrodes through to the exhaust passage, but that was always less common. And you can tell when you're getting closer to this by the engine running hotter than usual. Having said that it still pays to check the manifolds fairly frequently.
Last edited by julians; 05-22-2012 at 01:51 AM.

 

[julians]

Hi All,

Just a few quick responses.

Regarding the 'failure list' - -I'm not complaining about it, just thought I'd list everything that had failed in the years that I owned the boat. Thought it might interest some people. The only thing I'm annoyed about on that list is the drive failure, and I can guarantee it wasnt due to low quality lube (always used the official merc lube), or water ingress, or poor maintenance. The drive just failed.

Regarding the questions about why werent things replaced under warranty - the warranty had expired when the things listed failed.

regarding the hose clamps - It was the original hose clamps as fitted by mercruiser in the factory that failed, once they had all been replaced with decent high quality stainless items I havent had another failure.

Most of that list is what I would file under ' no big deal' , just part and parcel of boat ownership. I did say in my original post :-

"Despite the list above appearing pretty extensive, I'd say its been a generally reliable boat, the only major issue was the drive failing."

Regarding exhaust manifold/risers - yes they are the dry joint risers on this engine, which has eliminated the most common failure point with the previous design. These could still fail by cracking through the wall of the water jacket, but this should be a far less common failure mode. If I keep the boat I'll probably replace them soon.

Anyway - this was not my first boat , and wont be my last - just trying to line up its replacement now.