Buying a new boat, 3 options. Searay Vs Bayliner.. help plz.

I had a 1987 SeaRay 17 with 3.0L, I now have a 2004 SeaRay 185Sport 4.3L, on normal runs I make the same exact trip everytime, with the old boat it took about 9 to 10 gals gas to make the round trip, with the new boat it takes about 10 to 11 gals gas to make the trip. Yes the difference in power is worth it. I have a friend with a 220SD 5.0L MPI B3, I don't think he burns much more fuel than I do.
 
sorry for posting the link,

how much worse would a wakeboard boat be with a 300-330 hp motor inboard be on fuel?

with the boat being so light, and having such a huge motor, would be be a lot worse? like you burn 9-10 gallons with the 3 litre, and 10-11 with the 4.3, so would the v8 wakeboard boat get like 13-14 maybe? or worse?
 
I don't think you'd notice much of a difference. But I don't pay too much attention to fuel cost or consumption. Seems like I'd fill up once or twice a month and that was towing folks each weekend with some during the week.

It has always been more about fun for the family to me than costs. I'm afraid if I sat down and figured out how much I spend on boating I'd get sick.
 
One reason why I wouldn't weigh fuel consumption as a major selling point for you is due to the fact that it's a small river boat. When you wake board or pull a skier, you're not going at cruising speed for an hour straight. Typically you stop, start, run 3000 rpms for a minute, skier falls, then you start all over. After you're bored of skiing, you float on the river, have a sandwich, have a bottle of water, start up the boat, and finally break out the skis again. Gas consumption just won't be that much of a factor in your case.

Doug
 
shocker45 said:
sorry for posting the link,

how much worse would a wakeboard boat be with a 300-330 hp motor inboard be on fuel?

with the boat being so light, and having such a huge motor, would be be a lot worse? like you burn 9-10 gallons with the 3 litre, and 10-11 with the 4.3, so would the v8 wakeboard boat get like 13-14 maybe? or worse?
Click to expand...

Where in Canada are you? If in BC, I have an idea.
 
well i just got one,

found one in California, so i flew down. picked up a motor home and picked it up and drove 2800 miles.

2005 Sea Ray 185 sport, 4.3 mercruier with a wakeboard tower. im pretty excited to try this thing out.
 
the only thing im unsure about is tower speakers.
im looking at the NVS Addictions, but they need almost 11" of clearance.

and about 6" below the tower is my bimini top.

so what should i do? take the bimini top off? would i ever use it? or just find smaller speakers that wont sound near as good?
 
Congrats. Sorry, somehow I missed your post. Since you did travel to Cali, my idea may have worked. Ok well, I hope your new boat is awesome.
 
im taking off the bimini top and buying these NVS addiction speakers. i would never use the top, i would much rather have a killer set of speakers.
 
Check out Wet Sounds if you want some truily rockin tower speakers. But... they are a pretty penny!!

Just do a google search!
 
shocker45 said:
well i just got one,

found one in California, so i flew down. picked up a motor home and picked it up and drove 2800 miles.

2005 Sea Ray 185 sport, 4.3 mercruier with a wakeboard tower. im pretty excited to try this thing out.
Click to expand...

That should make a good boat for you.
 
whats better, wet sounds or NVS.

i heard both are the high end speakers.

will i have to change my alternator? im going to be running stock deck, stock interior speakers, stock amp,

then 1000 watt amp for tower speakers, and 1000 watt amp for 2 subs.

can you upgrade the alternator?
 
What alternator do you have now? 55amp?

Look at it this way... take your total wattage... double it to account for amplifier inefficiency, so 4000 watts/13.8 (charging system voltage)=290/3 (amps typically average out to constant 1/3 draw of peak)=96amps.

I'd look into an upgraded alternator; I've seen 140amp marine alternators advertised and that's likely the route I'll go when I add my tower speakers. 140 amps will give you a solid 40amp's left over, which is more than enough to run the typical runabout (mercury ran 35a alternators for a LONG time on their 3.0's)

I personally would get Wet Sounds; they build all of their products in house and specifically for the marine industry. Only downside is they're line of amps has not went into production yet (John Gyver from wet sounds tells me look for them late spring/early summer... no specs available yet). But, the biggest thing I feel wet sounds has going for them right now is the WS-420... get on their site and check it out.

Also, I'd try to stay away from a mono-block amp for your tower speakers unless it's class B or Class A/B (most are class D though). Class D amps are very efficient, but MOST also have VERY HIGH amounts of distortion. However, recent advances in semiconductors have made class D amps available that are crystal clear and Hi-Fi, so if you decide to go mono-block class D, check the signal to noise ratio and check into how the manufacture advertises the amp and advises it's use... you WILL pay a premium if you find one of these though!!

Also something to consider... If you're going to run 2000 watts, you really need to be running high quality 2ga wire; what kills you are the long ground runs. I'd also bump your ground right off your engine block if you can. Then try to upgrade your boat's main power wires to 0ga... this will help out your alternator in efficiently supplying it's full load of power to the battery terminals. This is especially important if you opt to run your amp ground to your battery - post. You'll want at least a 100a fuse for your + wire... Add up the fuses on the amps to verify, and then run that as your main fuse. The fuse really isn't there to protect the amps as they are fused themselves... it's to protect against wire over-heating and electrical fires.

Last but not least, pick up some sealant lined shrink tubing and liquid electrical tape. Make all connections with solder covered with the shrink tube; if it can't be covered with shrink tube, use the liquid tape. Then run all of your wires in plastic loom to prevent chafing.
 
OHHH almost forgot... and if you want to run all of these speakers without the boat running, do yourself a favor and pick up the biggest Die-hard Platinum PM-1 (31M)... It's an AGM battery. This monster would run your whole stereo for somewhere north of two hours without recharge; Optima are great batteries, but they have nothing on this. I run optima in my vehicles and my boat (simply because I hadn't learned about these yet)... but when it was time to upgrade to better batteries for my armored vehicle at work with a full electronics kit, I installed two of these batteries; I can literally run 4 radios, full camera system (5 cameras), DVR system, 6 LCD monitors, spot lights, red/blue lights and 750 watt stereo for somewhere in the ball park of 4-5 hours off two of these. But they are heavy!!!

Remember, run a two battery set-up; keep your charging battery and add the "stereo" battery for when you go up on the beach or decide to go for a swim.
 
holy i knew it was going to be a lot of work but now im questioning if i can even do it. i might have to get it professionally done. i know a bit, but thats getting to be a lot.

where can i find a 140 amp alternator that will fit? biggest ive found is a 70 amp.

so that battery is better than the blue-tops?
is it hard to wire it up to be a 2 battery system?
 
Well, it's still totally within the DIYer's means; it just take some time. I spent two days installing the stereo on my boat. Granted, if I used crimp connections and weren't so anal about having everything covered in loom... I might have been able to do it in one day. I'm always very leery of "professional" install places. They usually take a lot of short-cuts to get it done quickly that... while it may not be bad, there are better ways to do it. Know what I mean?


Ebay has some 140amp alternators listed...
alternatorparts lists 140amp versions under marine alternators
as does "db-starter-alternator"

Generally they will be "universal" alternators, but they should fit just fine. Might have to swap over a V-drive pulley for a serpentine, but usually if you call them up, they can set you up with what you need.

The die-hard is hands down better than the blue top. But the truth of the matter is, both are top quality batteries. You just get a more capacity for your money with the die-hard.

I have yet to figure out how I'm going to run my dual battery set-up because I have an on-board battery maintainer which charges the batteries separately; this creates a problem for the typical dual battery set-ups that include a discharge isolator because it interconnects the batteries when they charge. You could still run something like this if you're not worried about an on-board maintainer/charger. Chances are that I'm going to just end up running a dual battery switch with the A, B and Both selections. Use the A for my starting battery, B for my aux. battery and when it's running, just switch it over to both. At least this is what I'm thinking I'll have to do as of now. I'm still looking for ideas that would allow me to run an isolator instead of a switch (I've got some time yet before I put in the second battery anyway) Anyhow, you can get a main power switch and isolator kit through west marine, overtons... various marine sales sites; then just install per directions. Just make sure the isolator will handle at least 150 or so amps; this will ensure you don't end up frying it!
 
A couple other notes... upgrading your boat's power wiring is simple really... piggy back the existing wiring; never remove it unless it's in bad shape. So find where your ground from engine block to battery is, and just piggy back it with at least 2 or 0 gauge wire. Do the same for your alternator to battery lead. In cars this is called upgrading the "big three"... which on a car are battery pos to alternator, engine to chassis and battery neg. to chassis. It's the same principle, just easier for a boat.

I would STRONGLY advise you solder all connections; crimp connections are alright, but I have seen them wiggle loose before. So things to have on hand prior to starting would include:
-all necessary connectors (blade type connectors for speakers to amp and power to amp, ring terminals for power wires)
-shrink tubing-sealant lined of various needed sizes (check with a radio or electronics store)
-liquid electrical tape (autozone)
-plastic loom (various sizes, automotive store or radio/electronics store)
-soldering iron
-flux
-some sort of electronics spray cleaner (for the flux!)
-silver bearing solder (only use silver for electrical!!! no lead/tin)
-medium size butane torch or propane torch with localized flame (you don't want one that spits out a huge, non-coned flame)
-zip ties a plenty

I have the torch listed because, I'm not sure how much soldering you've done... but it's impossible to use a soldering iron to solder a ring terminal 6ga and larger. You've got to heat the terminal with a torch, using intermittent heat until you can melt the solder on the end where the wire goes in. It's tricky because the point between just enough heat and having your wire's insulation melting/on-fire... well, it's pretty close... My best advise is go slow. I always slide the shrink tube over the wire before I remove the insulation. Remove just enough to get the wire to almost fill the hole (the insulation will shrink back from heat allowing the wire to go further into the connector)... once it cools down, clean the flux off, shrink your tubing over the new connection... you'll still have the exposed side of the wire (end of the wire, soldered to the terminal)... cover this end in liquid electrical tape... give it two coats; this ensures the end is sealed against any moisture. Another tip would be to pick up some dielectric grease... any connections you make, give it a light coating of the grease... this will further ensure a good connection and stop any chance of corrosion (example... your fuse holder will likely be gold plated steel)

Also, if your batteries are located where they could see fuel fumes... you have to mount your fuse for your amp power as close as possible to your battery, so if you mount it in the same compartment you need to get ignition protected fuses; the standard fuse from the auto store is not ignition protected (this one didn't hit me until after I'd already been running my stereo!!! Could have been a big OPPS!)
 
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