Official 330 Express Cruiser / 340 Amberjack 1997-2003 Thread

[Mike007]

Propeller and motors Question

What size propellers do you have? 3 bladed or 4? and what kind of numbers are you getting Cruise speed and RMP and wide open speed and RPM

Thanks Im looking for a second set of propellers currently I have 4 bladed 18 diameter 21 pitch cruising at 3400rpm at about 18knots motors are mercruiser 454 bluewater MPI's 340hp

 

[joeyleggz]

I’m pretty close to the numbers that you see on this chart this was “Boat test” done specifically for our boat in 1997 i’m running 18 x 20 4 blade with cup added I max out at 4250 the last time I checked at around 28 kn but I have the EFI 310 hp Bluewater motors sounds like you’re a little bit low for your set up There’s a guy on Long Island called B&S props might be worth a phone call as he knows Sea ray boats very well he did my props .I have two sets of 18x20s One with cup and one without the one with out will give me 4400/4500 max RPM but I lose a little in the mid range and that’s where I focus my boat rarely run above 3400/3500 RPM

 

[acman]

Sling Lift Points Needed

My new to me 1999 330 Express has no stickers on the hull for marking the sling locations for lifting the boat.
The boat has 3116 Cat diesels.
I'm not sure if the boat was ever marked as my parts list doesn't show the stickers.
Does anyone know where the correct lifting points are? I would like to mark the locations in case I run into an inexperienced lift operator.

 

[uplander]

View attachment 66352 View attachment 66353 Here’s a few pictures from someone else doing the job I don’t believe they are on this form though, this is what it looks like on the inside real shitty design. I believe the inside view is on the port side of the boat with drain hole at the aft corner

Finally knocked this one off my list this weekend. My boat did not have any drain holes in the “plywood box” inside the vent area. I determined the main cause for water intrusion was the PO caulked all sides of the fiberglass vent cover. With the bottom caulked water pooled behind the cover until it worked itself over the lip where the black vents sits.

My solution was to property bed the black plastic vents with lifecaulk. I then screwed in fast with about 10 small stainless screws around the perimeter. (Previously there was no caulking and it was pinned in place with three rivers.

I then reinstalled the fiberglass cover and caulked only the top. It look much cleaner this way too. The caulking on the aft side of the panel was always discolored.

About 2 hour job. Most time was spent cleaning the old caulking off the cover.

 

[Jimmy Buoy]

Finally knocked this one off my list this weekend. My boat did not have any drain holes in the “plywood box” inside the vent area. I determined the main cause for water intrusion was the PO caulked all sides of the fiberglass vent cover. With the bottom caulked water pooled behind the cover until it worked itself over the lip where the black vents sits.

My solution was to property bed the black plastic vents with lifecaulk. I then screwed in fast with about 10 small stainless screws around the perimeter. (Previously there was no caulking and it was pinned in place with three rivers.

I then reinstalled the fiberglass cover and caulked only the top. It look much cleaner this way too. The caulking on the aft side of the panel was always discolored.

About 2 hour job. Most time was spent cleaning the old caulking off the cover.

Did you install drains in the boxes? Rain water driven by wind can easily get in there and you want it to drain to avoid rot. I know mine have tubing taking the water from the box to little drain fittings on the sides of the cockpit just at the top of the step down to the lower level.

 

[uplander]

Did you install drains in the boxes? Rain water driven by wind can easily get in there and you want it to drain to avoid rot. I know mine have tubing taking the water from the box to little drain fittings on the sides of the cockpit just at the top of the step down to the lower level.

No. Mine didn’t have drain holes and it would have been real tough installing them + tubing.

I figured the little bit of rain that might get in here now can just drain to the engine compartment like it’s been doing. Prior to the fix water poured into the engine bay during downpours.

 

[joeyleggz]

Finally knocked this one off my list this weekend. My boat did not have any drain holes in the “plywood box” inside the vent area. I determined the main cause for water intrusion was the PO caulked all sides of the fiberglass vent cover. With the bottom caulked water pooled behind the cover until it worked itself over the lip where the black vents sits.

My solution was to property bed the black plastic vents with lifecaulk. I then screwed in fast with about 10 small stainless screws around the perimeter. (Previously there was no caulking and it was pinned in place with three rivers.

I then reinstalled the fiberglass cover and caulked only the top. It look much cleaner this way too. The caulking on the aft side of the panel was always discolored.

About 2 hour job. Most time was spent cleaning the old caulking off the cover.

Sounds good surprise that you did not have the drains in there you sure just wasn’t covered up by some muck? take a look on the inside of your cockpit between the outbound sides of both seats see if you see a little tiny hole there I’m curious to see if that was installed , good Job tackling this

 

[uplander]

Sounds good surprise that you did not have the drains in there you sure just wasn’t covered up by some muck? take a look on the inside of your cockpit between the outbound sides of both seats see if you see a little tiny hole there I’m curious to see if that was installed , good Job tackling this

I’ll check the cockpit for drain outlets later this week and advise if they are there. I was planning to see the inlets inside the arch and had a can of spray flex seal on hand. I did shop vac the inside looking for them.

My boat is an early 1997 (has the older layout of the dash panel switches). Maybe that’s one of the changes that were incorporated later on?

 

[Hey Ray]

I have a few questions about the operation of the hot water heater. My owner's manual seems to indicate that the hot water heater fills simply by turning on the Fresh Water breaker, but the instructions also say to MAKE SURE the hot water heater is filled before turning on the Hot Water breaker. How would you confirm that the hot water heater is filled - is it assumed filled if water comes out when turning the hot water knob? From there, how long does it take to actually heat the water?

 

[joeyleggz]

I have a few questions about the operation of the hot water heater. My owner's manual seems to indicate that the hot water heater fills simply by turning on the Fresh Water breaker, but the instructions also say to MAKE SURE the hot water heater is filled before turning on the Hot Water breaker. How would you confirm that the hot water heater is filled - is it assumed filled if water comes out when turning the hot water knob? From there, how long does it take to actually heat the water?

So when you fill your water tank with water and then turn on your water system breaker the water system pressurizes and should fill all the lines and the 6 gallon hot water heater you can confirm this by opening up the hot water knobs on any one of your faucetes until all the air is been purged out and it flows freely our boats are equipped with a heating element in the hot water heater that will heat the tank in approximately 45 minutes to an hour .we also have the ability to heat our hot water tank from the engines with a Close loop that runs off of the motors fresh water cooling system so as you run your boat and cruise around over time it will actually heat the hot water tank to whatever temperature your motors are running at so be careful when using the hot water because it can heat up to 170°

 

[Hey Ray]

Thanks that helps. Only use need hot water for dishes usually, so we've been putting a pan of water on the stove and heating that up (much quicker than 45 mins), and have used the hot water from the engine a few times (never had it get too hot though). But maybe we'll try to remember to hit the hot water button when we fire up the generator for cooking then it will be ready for dishes afterward.

 

[Hey Ray]

I have another one for you guys, excessive exhaust. I posted in General Maintenance thread but now I'm thinking there may be some issues specific to this boat, especially with the extended sun shade as one reply suggested, http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...nd-cockpit-while-underway.94033/#post-1073244. Any thoughts?

 

[joeyleggz]

I have another one for you guys, excessive exhaust. I posted in General Maintenance thread but now I'm thinking there may be some issues specific to this boat, especially with the extended sun shade as one reply suggested, http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...nd-cockpit-while-underway.94033/#post-1073244. Any thoughts?

Most of the comments from the thread that you posted are on the right track if you leave your cabin door open it is absolutely going to cause a station wagon affect if I leave my cabin door open which I normally don’t I open the center hatch into the cabin to create positive airflow otherwise my cabin door is normally closed, sea Ray will not make the camper back or sunshade for boats larger than a 31 feet because of the station wagon affect

 

[RGboatman]

Great lakes canvas look them up online they have exact replacement canvas for our boats welcome aboard !!!

As of July 22, 2019 when I called Great Lakes looking for 340 Amberjack canvas they said they don’t have it. Apparently Sea Ray made the canvas for this boat in house at Merrit Island.

 

[joeyleggz]

As of July 22, 2019 when I called Great Lakes looking for 340 Amberjack canvas they said they don’t have it. Apparently Sea Ray made the canvas for this boat in house at Merrit Island.

When I ordered my canvas from them five years ago they asked me for my Hin number based on those numbers they told me where my boat was made and whether or not they were able to furnish the canvas for it , now that you mention it I do remember them saying a certain number of boats made out of certain facility were not available I’m guessing yours is one of those sorry to hear about that

 

[CB74]

I have a 1998 330 express cruiser with 7.4 horizons. Purchased boat last season and removed engines. We tore down engines except lower end, installed new heads and pretty much all external parts of engines. This season I am having trouble with water reversion. Has anyone had any problems with this?

 

[CB74]

I have done some research and learned about condensation running back down. Could this fix be as simple as installing turbulator plates. Thanks.

 

[Jimmy Buoy]

I have another one for you guys, excessive exhaust. I posted in General Maintenance thread but now I'm thinking there may be some issues specific to this boat, especially with the extended sun shade as one reply suggested, http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...nd-cockpit-while-underway.94033/#post-1073244. Any thoughts?

As you can see in the photo below, I have a modified extended aft shade. It's not a full on camper top, but it can introduce a fair amount of exhaust into the cockpit from the thru-hulls at cruise if the side and front canvas is not either completely off or completely on, the centre windshield vent opened, and the sliding cabin door closed.

Another CSR member from the east coast had underwater exhaust installed on his 340 Amberjack and it all but totally solved the exhaust in the cockpit issue as well as making a substantial noise reduction while underway. It's a fairly expensive proposition and I've debated if it's worth it or not.

 

[joeyleggz]

I have done some research and learned about condensation running back down. Could this fix be as simple as installing turbulator plates. Thanks.

So the 7.4 Horizon motors have an aggressive cam with valve overlap issues which causes reversion There was a mercury bulletin to update the exhaust system with turbolater plates and resonators which go downstream of the exhaust tubes to break up the exhaust pulses ,which causes the sucking affect which draws the water back into the heads You should have water lift mufflers on your your boat which was also replacing the earlier log style mufflers that allowed water to run back To the motor, What are your symptoms since he rebuilt the motors? How do you know you’re having water reversion issues?

 

[CB74]

Thanks for reply. Exhaust valve stuck open which is why I probably sucked water in. Did not hydrolock engine. Removed risers and manifolds found a good amount of rust in exhaust ports and on back of valves. Seems valve stem is bent as well as pushrod. I will be removing heads. When I took risers apart there was no turbulator plate.