My 300 Weekender makes a lot of noise...

J

joenofish

New Member
Dec 14, 2010
55
St. Petersburg, FL
Boat Info
300 Weekender
Engines
Twin 260 Mercruisers
I'm new to my old (1986) Sea Ray 300 Weekender. I really do try not to ask dumb questions but I have to ask....how loud should she be when up on plane? My wife and I took her off shore into the Gulf of Mexico about 25 miles last Sunday. This was the first time we had her on plane for almost an hour (we run inshore most of the time). The noise made it hard to talk, we had to shout over the racket... We have stock exhaust, eisenglass wrapped around the deck, we're out of the wind ahd under a top. I don't know how to descrice the noise, it's partly a pair of 350 chevys spinning at 3400 RPM (the engines have 800 hours on them, run perfect, well maintained), throw in a little exhaust sound, some "growling" I can only guess are the safts passing through the hull and cuttlass bearing. My diver tells me the shafts are not sloppy (throught the cuttlass bearings). I'm all ears! Should this thing be sort of quite? Should I insulate the bottom of the deck?
Thanks in advance,

Joe
 
Well I know when I am on plane, typically cruise around 3200-3400 rpm, I have to jack my stereo up in order to hear it when on plane, but all sounds normal to me, I have a marina mate who has a boat exactly like mine and his sounds the same as mine when on plane, and at the same RPM range.
 
we both need water lift mufflers,i think they are called verna lift from certek.
 
I've noticed mine is heaps louder with the camper canvas on verses just the bimini. Seems to bounce the noise towards the helm.
 
Should I insulate the bottom of the deck?
Thanks in advance,

Joe[/quote]
Joe, The underside of the hatches and deck on my 300 WE came from the factory insulated with a one inch layer of neoprene foam. If yours aren't this would cut down on the engine noise. But at speed the boat is noisy in the cockpit.
 
Do you have to run 3400 RPM's to keep on plane? I typically get on plane 2300 - 2500 RPM's, and like to cruise 2800 - 3000 RPM's.

3400 seems a bit "high" for sustained cruising to me.

I never run with eisenglass on (occassionally Bimini up, but rarely). I talk louder than normal, and will usually crank the stereo a few notches, but nothing out of the ordinary.
 
We owned a new 86 30 express with straight 350 cu" inboards. It had a nice exhaust note that got a little louder as you powered down from 3200 to 2900 rpms. It was kind of a cool sound but not one you would want to listen to on a 150 mile run. On balance, I'd say our boat was not too loud at all.
 
I think it's the nature of the boat from what I gather. It is what it is. We are going the run her about 400 miles on a ten day vacay this summer (200 miles each way), we may have I-Pods on for some of that! I don't think our exhaust is super loud (we have a pair of the big "cans", "Sea Hush" or something like that), it sounds cool (loud) when it first starts but thankfully it goes quite once the water starts flowing. I'm over loud stuff at this point in my life.
I will pull the trottles back to 3200 and listen for a little while this weekend. I still have no installed the FloScan system so I don't really know the RPM "Sweet spot" yet, I know she chugs a LOT of fuel if not fully up on plane. 2800 RPM will not keep her up I don't think...
Does anyone know if the prop shafts ride on bearing as they pass thru the hull? Or are the shafts only supported by the tranny and cuttlass bearings (meaning the thru hulls only serves as glands for the shaft packing?) I need to be sure she's in good enough shape for out trip and did not plan to haul her out until fall. I'm starting to re-think the haul out, might be cheap insurace to inspect the underwater stuff that moves!

Thanks everone for the help and advice.

Joe
 
Might be a good idea to have the engines/shafts aligned .They can do it while the boat is in the water.It should be done once every other year anyway,usually after the boat has been launched and the boat has time (a week or two)to "relax the hull".There are directions in the mercruiser manuals but i let my mechanic do it .
 
I question whether or not you're running the right prop pitch if you can't get on plane at 2,800 RPMs...
 
I own this boat and I think by the nature of the design with the prop pockets and all it just has that loudish swishing sound.

I run my boat at about 3200- 3400 and I don't know what size props I have but would be curious to know what was oem and what others have used?

It is something that I have thought about more than once. I have a second set of wheels inboard also.

Joe if you pull the boat I would have the wheels checked and balance so at least you know what you have.
 
I am not certain if we can get fully up on plane @ 2800, what I do know is 2800 to 3100 is the super thirsty speed for our boat, when i push it to 3300 ish we seem do do way better on fuel, it also yeilds a speed of 25 knots (GPS). It seems to me that boat has two speeds, 6 knots or 25, everything else will put me in the poor house buying gas.

I have only had this boat since september, I have run it for a little over 100 hours, there is a lot to learn (hence all the posts with questions)...

1956OLDS mentioned shaft alignment, I spoke with a mechanic yesterday and he (the mechanic) agreed. I failed to mention here that the boat "howls" if I make a turn at cruse speed, that info is what the mechanic felt was a good indicator that the alignment needs attention.

So, I plan to align the engines and when she gets pulled I'll have the props ballanced and address any other isses we find.

As I'm cruising along at 25 knots in a 5 ton plus boat I have to think the hull alone would make a fair amount of noise (if we could remove the engine and drive sound) there is a buch on water getting moved around. I do love the wake she makes, to me it's a beautiful thing.

Well, it's superbowl sunday, my wife and I will no doubt head to the marina to see our marina neighbors, tell lies, and play with the old boat.

Thanks for the help everyone,

joe
 
Last edited:
Off topic but how close is your boat to the St.Pete Grand Prix course?

I'm think about coming down for the weekend. Just curious.
 
KatzNDogs said:
Off topic but how close is your boat to the St.Pete Grand Prix course?

I'm think about coming down for the weekend. Just curious.
Click to expand...

The St. Pete GP is held very close to the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina (I avoid that area during the race, it may actually run right past the marina). That Marina is on Tampa Bay, we keep our near the Gulf. Two hour boat ride, twenty min car ride. It's starting to warm up in St. Pete!

Thanks,

Joe
 
I was just reading over this thread and was thinking that part of what he is hearing is the echo from the top and the eisenglass in place. I have the same boat (87) w/ the same power and it makes a big difference wheather I have everything buttoned up or not. With just the bimini top up and nothing else it is much quieter, although I love the sound of the exhaust anyway! If the bimini top is rolled up and in the boot it is thant much more quiet. Just a thought.
 
You should check out the zinc clamps on your driveshafts i had one come loose and it made alot of noise and a slight vibration.
 
whoever is able to plane at 2800.What props are on your boat?Are you running the 17x16's still?I am trying to figure out what props to put on my boat.1988 30 weekender twin 350's.
Thanks
 
I don't have a clue what props I'm running. My shaft zincs seem to go away fairly quickly (my diver replaced them twice since last October) so I have new zincs. I did learn something since I first started this thread, my 300 Weekender makes quite a bit more noise in rough water. Please bear with me regarding my newbie discoveries, I'm new to this type of vessle. When I'm running intercoastal at 25-30 MPH she's fully up on plane, I backed off on the throttles to about 3200RPM and she's smooth as silk. Of course the exhaust and water noise is present but the other noise (that I hear in rough water) is gone. I ran her 32 miles offshore last weekend and kept her at 25 MPH all the way, she was a little noisy in 2 to 3 foot seas and got quieter as the sea calmed down. Again, the noise sounds to me like an intermittent roughness with the shafts and cuttlass bearings, probably due to some side loading that would be less noticable in calm water.

Our marina neighbor has the same boat as ours, he says his is louder if he runs with the rear covers on, we always have our cover off however ours has a permenant top and is wrapped on three sides with isenglass.

Anyway, I think what I hear is the nature of the design, and I'm OK with that, I enjoy every aspect of this old boat until I pull up to the pumps...

I'll still do the shaft alignnment when she get her bottom job later this year. I'll have to aks around, should the prop ballance get checked while she's on the hard?

Thanks for all the advice everyone,

Joe
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,274
Messages
1,429,824
Members
61,147
Latest member
Boudica
Back
Top