OFFICIAL 250 DANCER THREAD

This is a mod I want to make to our boat. What did you guys do with the flourescent light above and a bit to the stern of the galley?
 
I spent all day cleaning up my 250 today - and yesterday. It was nice to not have to clean the bilge - it was spotless already. I don't normally run the engine without having gone boating, but I did today, because I hadn't run it in a little while.

It ran really rich at first, and had me a little worried. But, after it got up close to operating temp (it got to 150 out of 165), the light blue smoke quit. At least when you go boating, when you rinse the engine, it's already up to temp.

I tested every system using every source of power - shore, battery, alternator. Everything works great!!!!!

Someone's going to get a great boat when they buy it.
 
mine too, I had my maniflolds and risers pulled and checked out, and all new ignition, new impeller, out drive pulled and new u joints installed and drive serviced. spent over a grand getting all that done.
 
Are there any stores that would carry the LED lights so I can buy them locally instead of using Ebay? I tried Autozone and Advance Auto but their LEDs are all either red or blingbling colors.
 
Not that I know of, the only place that I have found is on Ebay. I'm sure there are plenty of online retailers, but I don't know of any brick and motar stores
 
Hey guys, not purchased any LEDs for the boat yet, but it's on my list.

Slack250, which specific lights did you get? Can you give me part #s and ebay seller? Thanks. The options are so many, I would apprecitate knowing what's worked for you.

Here are some LED sellers I've found and bookmarked but not purchased from:

http://www.yachtlights.com/item--IML-LED-Cluster--64

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR&cart_id=2113314.3352

http://www.sailorsams.com/led-lights.htm

http://www.fourwinds-ii.com/ledinterior/ledinterior.htm#mag

http://www.lightingfx.com/item--LED-G4-Bulb--LEDG4

http://www.imtra.com/product/marine_lighting.htm

Look around each site, as most sell lots of LED products, not just the page I linked to.
 
I'd like to hear some about how these boats perform. Top speed at what rpm, curise speed at what rpm, how they handle x size waves, how they do at watersports, with what size engine. I'm starting to kick around ideas about my next boat and these (mid 90's) seem like they might be a pretty good choice for an "all around" boat. By all around I mean some inland lake watersports and weekend trips on Lake Erie.
 
Hi Shilo,

With our 7.4L and a BI drive, we can easily waterski and pull pull-toys.

Our speedo doesn't work, so I'm not able to give you info on speed/RPM. It's a fast boat, though.

We also boat on an inland lake, so the wave handling info is sparse, too. I can tell you that it's solid in all the chop we get from other boats, much better than our 19' bowrider.
 
Hello to ALL! We have a wonderful 250 Dancer also. Fully optioned with the 7.4/300HP engine and a Bravo III drive. I also installed LED Cockpit lights. I changed out the original fixtures with Red lights purchased at the local Auto Parts store. If Red is good enough for the US Navy it's good enough for me! I maintain the Heck out of all my stuff and during the process have found the Bilge on our boat to be too tight. It wouldn't be if Sea Ray had given us a bigger Hatch. Otherwise for us empty Nesters it's just right. Al W.
 
I'm starting to get really turned on by these boats. :cool:
We're looking in to upgrading for next spring. Either a 215EC, 240 or 250 Sundancer. I kind of want to take small steps upward from our current 175, so the 215EC seems like a good buy. But then we're afraid we may not have it long before we want to jump to a 240/250. We also need to stay in the 1995-1998ish range for cost considerations. The 250 seems like a nice fit.

We are a family of 4 with girls 5 and 3. We mainly cruise around in our little boat which is waaaay undersized for what we use it for. We'd like to stay out on the hook occasionally and visit other places near (or far?) by. We also like to fish in the Chesapeake and Potomac rivers.

BUT, I would still like to be able to wakeboard, waterski and tube. That seems the only drawback with going for a cruiser. Can sking be done with a 240/250? I assume if so, it will definately suck the gas way more than my 175! But we only do it rarely, so if it can be done at all, that'd be ok.

Thoughts?! Anyone have one for sale in my area?! (need a trailer too).

Thanks,

Tom
 
I'd suggest just going right to the 240 or 250 size boats. I think if you go to a 215 then your just going to end up wanting to move up again. With a growing family of 4 I don't think a 215 size will give you the room that you want. A few posts above Anderson states that they don't have any problems pulling skiers or floats with their boat. Of course he does have a 7.4 in it. This is what I'd like to hear about; is a 5.7 enough engine in the 250. To me it doesn't seem like it would be. I'd like to see some more information reguarding the performance of the 250's with what size engine.
 
Tom, we made the move from 19' bowrider to 250 Sundancer in one jump. It was a smooth transition.

Our 250 was a low-hour (200) 1997 with the 7.4L engine and BI drive.

We can tube and waterski behind the boat with no problem. If you went smaller on the engine you'd have a more roomy and comfortable engine room to work in, but I'm not sure you'd have the power to ski.

Gas consumption is indeed higher. About 12gph when pouring it on, which we normally don't do. The skiing is comfy at about 3200 rpm, which on my GPS equipped phone is about 28 mph (if I remember correctly). The speedo on our boat doesn't work, and we don't really care.

Having the 2 berths in the cabin, the enclosed head, the fridge and the cooktop has extended our boating time greatly. With the bowrider we'd check the weather and go out one day of the weekend, if it wasn't going to rain.

With the 250, we don't care about the weather. We go out Friday nite and come back Sunday evening. If it's rainy or cold, we are still on the boat, comfy and dry, reading, playing games, etc. We had a slip for July & August, but now we trailer it each weekend. We've learned to understand the tricks of that, and it works well.

We have the full camper canvas, which I recommend highly. It increases the usable space, especially when it's raining or buggy. Helps when it's cold outside too. Keeps the place warm and the breeze outside. The double bimini is up all the time to keep us in shade at least some of the time.

We added an extended swimplatform from swimplatforms.com. With shipping it was just over $1,700. I put it on by myself with some help from the Admiral during the bolt tightening. Having that is also highly recommended. We have a small pedestal mount gas grill on the platform.

The boarding ladder on the new swimplatform is vastly superior to the one that came with the boat. Much easier to get out of the water with the new ladder.

There are a lot of 250s around, we found ours through www.boats.com. A hull survey and a mechanical survey are two things you can't omit when purchasing a boat this old. It's been a bit daunting for me to begin to understand and maintain all the systems this boat has. It's much more complex than the 19' bowrider. Much more fun and usable, too.

If you're looking at a boat with a Bravo III (BIII) drive, be sure you understand the potential drawbacks of this drive. In the year-range you're looking for the problems with that drive had not been fixed. A search for BIII corrosion or galvanic problems should net you lots of reading.

Good luck. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
 
Eric, man you have me drooling. Thanks for your great informative comments and similiar background. We also want to extend our season, so the camper canvas is a must. Sking is something I can live without, but if I can, I will...and glad to hear it's possible. We also plan to trailer it, if for nothing more than to service it at home, or for the very rare trip to another location. I just want to be able to pull it if I want to.

Didn't know about www.boats.com ; I'm going to check them out now.

Thanks again,

Tom
 
Been awhile since this thread was last updated. Still researching our next boat...whenever the finances will allow. The only thing we have noticed in looking at lots of 240DA's in the 1995-1999 range is that a fully enclosed fiberglass head wasn't even available until late '99. Similiarly with hot water and refrigerator (they just had iceboxes).
I recently came across a 1997 250DA and it had *everything* we want; fiberglass head with sink, hot and cold water, microwave, windlass, heat and air, etc. So it seems we're going to start focusing in on the mid-late '90's 250DAs.

One question I have....does anyone have a generator onboard?
 
There are some 250s with air & genny, but I have not seen one myself. Plus, after you enjoy the 250, you'll realize that you won't spend that much time in the cabin. When we overnighted back in Florida it was miserable, and we wished we had the gen and ac then, but now in TN, there has been no need, even in the summertime.......

Overall, we have been thrilled with our 250, but you will get the 2 foot itis, pretty quick.

good luck..

Andy
 
Alarm Sounds but no obvious fault condition

I have an 89 250DA with Mercruiser 5.7 (new 100 hours ago) and new Alpha one outdrive (new this year). When running the boat anywhere from about 2,000 rpm to WOT the engine runs fine and the temp, oil pressure, and volt guages are normal. After about 10 minutes the alarm goes off. I can almost anticipate it sounding as the engine seem to subtly fall off a couple of hundred rpm about 15 seconds before it goes off. I can speed up/down and get the alarm to silence. Have checked outdrive fluid level, oil level, risers not overly warm to the touch and as stated before all guages are normal. Any one else have a problem like this? Many thanks for any thoughts.
 
Hi there -

I am a new owner of a 1995 250DA with newish 5.7L Bravo II.

The boat is in great shape and doesn't need much of anything but the the ladder on the swim platform which I believe to be an OEM part has about had it. Does anyone have any ideas on a replacement? Is this a Sea Ray manufactured item?

 
The ladder is not a Sea Ray manufactured item. However, your local dealer should be able to assist you in getting a replacement that will fit. In the mean time if you want to search the internet for one you could start here...

http://www.fpmarine.com/

The site is in no way complete so give them a call & they may have some more direction for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,119
Messages
1,426,570
Members
61,036
Latest member
Randy S
Back
Top