Another new guy considering buying a 280

C

c310pilot

New Member
Oct 19, 2012
28
Richmond VA
Boat Info
2003 280da
Engines
5.0 MPI
Bravo 3
Kohler 5kw gen
I am looking at purchasing my first boat. I have been reading lots of threads and asking lots of questions locally. Now I am trying to see what people are actually paying vs advertised price. Here are the specs:

2003 SEA RAY - 280 SUNDANCER $55,000
Engine: TWIN MERCRUISER 5.0L MPI 260 HP
Engine: Hours: 335
Outdrive: TWIN BRAVO III
No trailer

Its a one owner boat. He owns a small outboard marine store and was very hands on. Power Squadron member and seems really OCD and mature. Age, mid 70's? So it seems as if the boat was pampered and not ridden hard and put away wet. Please give me your thoughts as I am just learning. Thanks!

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Looks very nice and I like the 5.0's!...Mike.
 
I'd recommend a full engine inspection including the risers. Bought a boat from the same place where you're looking at and made it about a 1/4 mile from the dock before the engine overheated. Risers were full of mud. A new engine was required less than a year later. Don't let them talk you into just pulling the OBD codes for your engine survey. That said, it may be a very nice boat.
 
Nice looking, clean boat. Looks like he did a Smartcraft Gauge Conversion (was not available from factory in 2003) however it appears he did not change out the 4-in-1 gauges. As I recall someone, (maybe HenryBoyd?) had said Mercury best practice was to get rid of all analog gauges when you convert to Smartcraft so something to think about down the road. Not a show stopper though. Drives look good and the owner had a good idea by adding the prop anodes that were not originally on that generation of Bravo 3 drive.
 
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Does this boat have a generator? It looks like the exhaust thru hull mignt be blocked off but I can't tell for sure in the picture.
 
Yes it does. The owner said he didn't know the hours on it but they should be very little. He ran it several times a year just to make sure it didn't sit, and yes he did do the Smartcraft gauge conversion. He also put 2 new H2O pumps on it last year. Any thoughts on pricing?
 
c310pilot said:
Yes it does. The owner said he didn't know the hours on it but they should be very little. He ran it several times a year just to make sure it didn't sit, and yes he did do the Smartcraft gauge conversion. He also put 2 new H2O pumps on it last year. Any thoughts on pricing?
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One more question- Is/was this a saltwater boat? If so, did he have any information on manifold/riser replacement?
 
I am pretty sure that the manifold/riser replacement has not been done. The boat is a Chesapeake Bay boat so salt is a yes. What is the recomendation on the manifold/riser & est cost? Can an inspection be made or is this a schedualed service?
 
c310pilot said:
I am pretty sure that the manifold/riser replacement has not been done. The boat is a Chesapeake Bay boat so salt is a yes. What is the recomendation on the manifold/riser & est cost? Can an inspection be made or is this a schedualed service?
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That is not a maintenance item I have had to deal with since I am on a lake so I will let others comment on that. I do know from what I have heard from other here, it is likely that needs to be done. As far as his asking price, if everything checks out on a survey, in my opinion it is fair asking price with some room for negotiation. Alot of the negoation part depends on whether it needs riser/manifold replacement because I know that is expensive. Other than that, the boat appears to be in great shape. A survey is a must though.
 
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c310pilot said:
Jason,Are you pretty happy with your 280?
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Yes, I am. I have had it for 3 years this month. Great Boat. I have said this many times here but I am almost positive this model 280DA is the Sea Ray cruiser that went the longest amount of time with the same hull. Changes with the finishes were made every year but the boat itself was the same from 01-09. I think that really says something about this model having the sales to keep it going for so long. I have been considering selling mine to upgrade because like everyone else, I would like to have a bigger boat but everyone I know with a bigger boat wants a bigger one than they have so it is a never ending cycle. It is also nice to be able to reasonably trailer it. Any bigger than this and it becomes a pain to trailer if that is somethign you want to do. For this size cruiser, this model 280DA is great. Only other option I would advise you to look for is Freshwater (Closed) Cooling since you are on salt. Not a must but certainly a good thing to have. Mine is equipped but I have not seen many that are (except the single 496 where it is standard) however they are out there. It was an expensive option from the factory for the twin engine models.
 
I just got off the phone with the owner and he said he flushed with Salt Terminator after every use. That being said the manifolds should be in good shape. I guess if I can determine a fair asking price I should get a survey done. Maybe I should buy your boat so you can upgrade. I would like to have a trailer and this one does not have one. Not that I would use it much but the occasional road trip would not be out of the question. Up to DC or down to Lake Gaston (friends have a house on the water) would not be out of the question.
 
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If the risers/manifolds have never been done I would agree that they need to be changed. Even if the motors are flushed the salt that runs through them during normal use will destroy them after 9 years. Have them checked at the very least. Cost for both motors is roughly $4000 -$5,000 with parts and labor.

THe 280da is a great boat and with the 5.0's you will have plenty of power. The price looks fair as well.

Jason, my 2005 has the smart craft gauges but also has the analog 4 in 1 gauges off to each side. All my gauges are redundant (digital and analog). I thought this is the way they came? Am I wrong?
 
Bucit said:
If the risers/manifolds have never been done I would agree that they need to be changed. Even if the motors are flushed the salt that runs through them during normal use will destroy them after 9 years. Have them checked at the very least. Cost for both motors is roughly $4000 -$5,000 with parts and labor.

THe 280da is a great boat and with the 5.0's you will have plenty of power. The price looks fair as well.

Jason, my 2005 has the smart craft gauges but also has the analog 4 in 1 gauges off to each side. All my gauges are redundant (digital and analog). I thought this is the way they came? Am I wrong?
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Can this be a DIY job? I am a machinist and I work with a well seasoned truck/engine mechanic. Is their a good online parts supplier or better yet a tutorial somewhere? I am guessing this is pretty much it *2 http://www.ebay.com/itm/MerCruiser-...687091&pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&vxp=mtr
 
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Bucit said:
Jason, my 2005 has the smart craft gauges but also has the analog 4 in 1 gauges off to each side. All my gauges are redundant (digital and analog). I thought this is the way they came? Am I wrong?
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Your 4-in-1 analog gauges are actually Smartcraft System Link gauges. Essentially they display whatever the TACH they are connected to tells them to display. There is a slight cosmetic design difference in the Smartcraft 4-in-1 and the older (non smartcraft) 4-in-1 other than the obvious technical differences. I can tell by looking at the pictures he posted that this boat still has the pre-Smartcraft 4-in-1 Analog (analog) gauges. It would seem that for some reason, the person that did the conversion chose to keep those rather than change out the 4-in-1 gauges to System Link. Not sure why as it would not have been much more to do. I only brought this up because it has been mentioned here before by someone that did a Smartcraft gauge conversion that a "hybrid" setup like this is not recommended by Mercury because of voltage differences between the two systems. I actually have (2) System Link 4-in-1 gauges for sale right now but they would not work for this application because they have fuel indicators where trim indicators would normally be on the 4-in-1 designed for a sterndrive boat, not to mention the 280 only has one fuel tank. You can look at the ad and compare the System Link gauges to the Analog shown in his pics. http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/55125-2-Sea-Ray-Smartcraft-System-Link-4-in-1-Gauges
 
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Thanks for the info Jason.

In regards to the reisers/manifolds, I went with a custom stainless steel set up but I have the dry joint exhaust and OEM was about the same costs. There have been many discussions on OEM versus aftermarket manifolds. To each his own I guess. Depends on how long you are going to keep her and how often you want to change them. As far as changing them out. It's not that hard a job and you can do it yourself. It will save you alot of money.
 
I'm not familiar with the SC 4 in 1, but I'm kind of surprised they weren't converted. It is easy to check though, if the 4n1 gauge plugs into the tach it is SC.

If they are not SC then;
The concern with mixing non-Smartcraft and Smartcraft gauges is that the non gauges work on 12 vdc, and Smartcraft like the ECM it is connected to is 5vdc. When I was doing my upgrade Mercruiser told me that they were worried a ground loop could be created and 12 volts could be fed back into the ECM and fry it. I don't know the exact cost of the ECM, other than it is in excess of $ 1000.00, and without it the engine won't run.

Swapping out the four in one is pretty painless. Besides the gauges, a tank harness will be needed. The only real work is to tap into the fuel tank sending line to connect the sending unit to the SC harness and then attach the harness. The only caution is to make sure that you plug into the sender and not the 12 volt source end. I ran a line to the helm and connected there. The tank setup for the 280 is pretty simple because the tank is symmetrical, so you don't have to go through the empty, quarter fill, three quarter fill calibration process.

The other suggestion I would make is to get rid of the horrible Lowrance depth gauge. Spend the money and get the depth display up on the Raymarine display.

Henry
 
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