Considering a 1990 280 and have questions.

[riley1374]

Hi everyone! I am looking at converting to the dark side and buying my first powerboat. The wife has grown tired of the sailing routine since our two sons have come along. We are looking at a 1990 Searay 280 for $15,000. Can anyone tell me anything good or bad about this model? The boat has original 5.7 motors and alpha1 drives with 950 hours, no rebuilds. I am a little leary of the hours, but the owner claims it has only been used about 60 hours per season, and both motors and outdrives were serviced at the beginning of each season. Recent additions were manifolds and risers replaced, and gimbal and bellows replaced this season. Boat has AC, LCD flatscreen, and looks like it will be plenty comfortable for my young family. My sons are 1 and 3. Also, any idea on GPH on this boat. Thanks for all your inputs.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Ask around (near you) for a reputable shop or surveyor to check it out. Don't forget things such as the AC unit, hot water tank, head system, etc. There's nothing inherently wrong with the boat (other than any wood coring that is rotten - but unlikely) - just a lot of systems that are old. I would guess somewhere between 13 - 20gph at cruise.

For more info - try doing a search on this forum. There are quite a few threads about 'what to check out on a used boat'.

 

[Alegria]

We liked our 90 280. I had the 5.0L and Alpha 1 drives and she cruised pretty nice I am sure the added power from the 5.7's will be a big improvement.

I agree that the systems need to be looked at. AC/hot water heater/refrig/ stove would be suspect if orginal...

As for leaks they are easy to spot just look at the cloth headliner and look for the dark spots. Usually around bow rail stanchions , windows, hatches etc..

As everyone says get a survey and at least compression tests on the engines for piece of mind on the purchase.

The boat is awesome at 10'6" beam it makes it very comfortable to run and roomy roomy on the inside. The aft cabin is a bit closed off but that could be a good thing.

I would recommend a vacuflush head over the pump out porta potty ours had. Hopefully this one has one. The pump out porta head will fill up WAY too quickly with your little ones on there.... The forward berth is roomy and comfortable, king sheets will just barely fit it.

Check the folding seat in the cockpit, the hinges are plastic and most likely either replaced by now or broken. Windsheild may show some signs of corrosion or may need to be re-bedded....

Where are you located? Just curious if you were in the MD area that could be my old boat!!! Who knows... I know on that one I added AC after purchased her and put in a 12K BTU unit and it was cold no matter what the temp was outside!!!

 

[riley1374]

Thanks guys, we have a surveyor in the family so he will be coming along with us. Alegria, the boat we are looking at is in NY, so I doubt it is the same one, but you never know. Just curious if you think I should be concerned about the motors and drives with 950 hours and no rebuilds? How long do these typically last?
And last, can two people comfortably handle this boat? My wife is starting to think we should start out with a 24 or 25 sundancer, but I keep trying to tell her that we will out grow it too fast. Am i right? LOL

 

[Alegria]

I just re-read your post your boat has the 5.7 ours 5.0 so no not the same boat... But still I liked the boat! I think the 950 hours question is two sided. Yes at some point of the engines lives you will need to re-build them and yes you are 950 hrs closer. But you have to look more, for me at least, at hours per season you will put on the boat. I have heard from kind folks here that have engines with well over 1300 hrs and still in proper shape. It all depends on the care and feeding they had from the previous owner (PO). I think the closer time line items are the shape of the outdrives (corrosion, cracks, etc causing replacement or repair), manifolds and elbows, gimbal bearings, bellows, those are the items more concerning to me then the 950 hrs on the engines. Compression, Leak down test, maybe Oil analysis if you want to go all out.. That should give you a baseline on the condition of the engine. If they are tight (compression/leak down) then that is a good first sign.

Now onto size. No Way! You will out grow the 280 in 2 seasons I am certain of that. In 2 seasons you will be looking at a 340 as the kids grow for sure. That boat is easily handled by two people. That was my first boat I ever owned (aside from riding on our family 22ft cuddy). My wife who cannot swim and had NEVER been on a boat before handled the docking just fine. Was there a learning curve OF COURSE! We were the entertainment on A pier at the marina for the first season. Heck first time we took her out I never trimmed down the drives came through the no wake zone and tried to dock her with the drives trimmed up what a laugh, one of our slip mates was helping with docking and said are your drives down?? D'OH!!!

I would recommend not going with a 24-25 ft boat, you will be on top of each other, add in a guest or two and that is too small.

If the vinyl is in good shape, any leaks (there will/would have been leaks around the hatches/windows previously) as long as those have been taken care of then that would be my big concerns. Normal wear and tear on the boat is to be expected, we have 3 kids so we were not looking for a mint boat because we knew our kids would be rough on anything so we found a boat that met our needs, had been serviced, and most importantly fit our budget so we could actually maintain her and use her!!!

Best of luck with her! Some Pics would be great!!! She is a very comfortable cruiser! As for fuel usage. Our 5.0's would cruise at about 18 gallons per hour, I would expect your 5.7L engines to be a little bit higher... 20-22 gph???

 

[capfoley]

I have the same boat and am very pleased. It seems that the price is very good assuming the boat is in good condition. Not only can two handle the boat, but I often go out alone without a problem. We run at 3500 rpms, about 26 mph and burn about 1.2 gpm.