Official 400EC thread

[Air O'Nautical]

Mine has one pump conecting two units.
Pump is mounted on the forward engine room bulkhead.
See if you have a splitter comming off the ac pump (like I do).
If yes , try blowing air thru it.

 

[thebig4-0]

Joe:

There is only one intake for the air conditioner. In through the seacock you just mentioned, then out through both units. If one unit is running then you should see water out of both. If either the salon or front unit turns on, it turns on the pump relay, which then assumes that both units are running, and supplies water to both. The water exits both sides. Hope that helps.

 

[Searaybio270]

Joe:

There is only one intake for the air conditioner. In through the seacock you just mentioned, then out through both units. If one unit is running then you should see water out of both. If either the salon or front unit turns on, it turns on the pump relay, which then assumes that both units are running, and supplies water to both. The water exits both sides. Hope that helps.

Thanks - that does help. Now I can focus on isolating something else. Joe

 

[expressboy]

AC question: I have two units on my boat. The one in the forward berth isn't pumping out water. I checked the line from the unit to the through hull. It is clean. So I disconnected the discharge hose and turned the unit on. No water was flowing through the system.
Here in lies the question: Is there one or two sources of water coming into the boat? Ie., one for each AC. There is one I found in the engine compartment and it is on and running the salon AC.
Ok - Brain picking time - Thanks guys Joe

If in doubt... flush it out...
close the thru hull in the engine room, disconnect the inlet for the cooling water at the forward ac unit itself, and fashion up a adapter to connect to a garden hose and very slowly crack on the hose and flush out the unit.. the issue will be if the hose comes apart it will make a mess. My money is a blockage in the coiled heat exchanger at the ac unit..
EXPRESSBOY

 

[fwebster]

There was a detailed write up in another thread on flushing the a/c systems. I don't remember which thread, but I wrote the instructions so you might try searching my posts for it. It works and is cheap easy and safe.

 

[Searaybio270]

Frank, thanks for the info. I will look for it. Boating is strange. Yesterday I couldn't get the forward AC to work. Today it works. The question is why. Why today and not yesterday. However, I really like boating. So I will live with it. Joe

 

[expressboy]

" Boating is strange. Yesterday I couldn't get the forward AC to work. Today it works. The question is why. Why today and not yesterday. However, I really like boating. So I will live with it. Joe"

Being married is training for boating.... it is not a wonder why boats are traditionally named after women.. after all what works today doesn't tomorrow.. and what she will let you do today she will not tomorrow.
Good luck on the ac fix
EXPRESSBOY

 

[Searaybio270]

expressboy - Awesome and so very true!!! Wife and step-son are at Dover Air Base today for her brother's change of command ceremony. He is a LTC in the Air Force and taken over a squadron or what is 38 people. I commanded a company as a Captain (Army) with 221 people. We both laughed and I said I won't be there. She is now placed me in the back of the back of the dog house. This is after I watched her 17 year old son for a week. Got him to school, practice and feed him. You can't win. Can't wait for tomorrow!!!

 

[expressboy]

I almost hesitate to post this...
I am going to rebuild both carbs this winter to hopefully eliminate my hard start issues ..

On a second matter I have been tracking my fuel consumption of the boat, On my last couple fillings I have topped the tanks off and logged my hours and fuel used, The last fill up was 307 gal. , engine run time was 19.0 hrs... that equals 16 gph. running both engines at the same time and very minimal idle speed, less than two hours if I had to guess. I run the boat on plane at 3150 ( according to both the tachs's and the flo scan meter) which nets right at 20/20.5 MPH. As I run on the Columbia River everything is in Statute miles. The boat does have a new very clean bottom, had the props done, and the P.O. appears to have the engines over propped as fire walled the engines both spool up to 4000/4100 rpm.
When I bought the boat I made up my mind I wouldn't even look at fuel as I moved from a very fuel efficient trawler to this " go fast " boat as my kids put it.
What I find interesting is that I am getting over 1 mpg and I didn't expect that it would be that good. Don't get me wrong .. I am not complaining.. I continue to be absolutely impressed with the Sea Ray.. She he handles great, looks great, is built very well, and is pretty comfortable.
So what are my fellow 400 EC yachtsmen seeing for fuel use?
EXPRESSBOY

 

[Searaybio270]

I almost hesitate to post this...
I am going to rebuild both carbs this winter to hopefully eliminate my hard start issues ..

On a second matter I have been tracking my fuel consumption of the boat, On my last couple fillings I have topped the tanks off and logged my hours and fuel used, The last fill up was 307 gal. , engine run time was 19.0 hrs... that equals 16 gph. running both engines at the same time and very minimal idle speed, less than two hours if I had to guess. I run the boat on plane at 3150 ( according to both the tachs's and the flo scan meter) which nets right at 20/20.5 MPH. As I run on the Columbia River everything is in Statute miles. The boat does have a new very clean bottom, had the props done, and the P.O. appears to have the engines over propped as fire walled the engines both spool up to 4000/4100 rpm.
When I bought the boat I made up my mind I wouldn't even look at fuel as I moved from a very fuel efficient trawler to this " go fast " boat as my kids put it.
What I find interesting is that I am getting over 1 mpg and I didn't expect that it would be that good. Don't get me wrong .. I am not complaining.. I continue to be absolutely impressed with the Sea Ray.. She he handles great, looks great, is built very well, and is pretty comfortable.
So what are my fellow 400 EC yachtsmen seeing for fuel use?
EXPRESSBOY

Great info. I don't know what I am getting for gas usage. At 3200 I am usually running around 22 to 24MPH. Two weeks ago I ran it up the river to the marina for a short run at WOT. WOT was about 4300RPMs and we were doing 35.1MPH. Not bad - I think. Frank Webster once wrote me and said how that this boat is quick and nimble. Now that I have it running good along with the steering and tabs are full with fluid - He was right, she is a dream to pilot. I have a boat friend that has a 2008 38ft SD - Beautiful boat. He walk on my boat and couldn't believe the room.
My goal for next year is to track my fuel usage. Right now I think it is good but next year I should know for sure. Well that is the plan.

 

[rboreanaz]

I just picked up my 1994 400ec in Marblehead Ohio and ran her to Buffalo New York across Lake Erie which was like glass the whole way...about 12 hours of cruising. Both engines were tuned up and the the port engine had a newly rebuilt weber carb. She ran great until the SB engine fuel pump belt broke 10 miles from Erie PA. Limped in on one screw and changed the belt the next morning. We cruised at an average speed of 23 mph (via GPS) at 3400-3500 rpm. We averaged 31 gallons per hour.

 

[Searaybio270]

rboreanaz - sounds like it was an awesome ride in an awesome ride. I wonder if I should do better on the fuel usage as my boat is fuel injected.

 

[thebig4-0]

I brought my 1995 400 EC back to Lake Ontario from Lake St. Clair last year after the purchase. I ran at just a hair under 3400 rpm the entire way with mirror flat water all the way down the Detroit River, across to Sandusky, up the south side of Lake Erie, and across to the Welland Canal at Port Colborne. I never let the tank get below half (never trust a new boat's fuel sending units!), and by the third top-up I could tell you within 5 gallons what the boat would take.

I calculated that at 3400 rpm (about 23.8 mph statute) I was burning about 28 gallons an hour. I had both engines tuned up, the props were freshly tuned, transmissions aligned, etc by the best mechanic this side of the Pacific Ocean (Ron from "First Mate" in Harrison Township) she purred like a kitten the entire time. In retrospect, I likely could have done better for fuel if I kept it around 21 mph (statute) with a tiny bit of trim tab, but she found the sweet spot right there and being new to the boat I figured I'd go by the "feel". My top end is around 4400 rpm and 32 mph. I know now that even at a 23 mph cruise a little (tiny) bit of trim gets me almost 1 mph better efficiency which is about 5%. We have the boat loaded down with a lot of stuff and rarely take the top of the canvas off. I'm going to pull everything off the boat next spring as it will be the third season and lighten the load (i.e. toss stuff we don't really use).

On that trip I only left about a 1/8 tank of water or less, the water was like glass the whole way, and practically no breeze even to speak of. I have twin 454 carb'd engines.

tip: I always run Mobil One 15/50 Synthetic in the engines as a good friend of mine was an engineer out west in theoil patch and maintained fleets of vehicles. The Mercruiser 25W40 spec is just so you can't find anything else 3rd party to use. You can't go wrong with the Mobil One 15W50. Pepboys had a sale with a Mobil 1 filter and 5 litres of oil for $30 in the spring. I use Mobil One 10W30 in the Generator (7.0 kW Westerbeke) but we only use the genny about 3 hours a year and that's just to keep it from siezing up.

-George

I almost hesitate to post this...
I am going to rebuild both carbs this winter to hopefully eliminate my hard start issues ..

On a second matter I have been tracking my fuel consumption of the boat, On my last couple fillings I have topped the tanks off and logged my hours and fuel used, The last fill up was 307 gal. , engine run time was 19.0 hrs... that equals 16 gph. running both engines at the same time and very minimal idle speed, less than two hours if I had to guess. I run the boat on plane at 3150 ( according to both the tachs's and the flo scan meter) which nets right at 20/20.5 MPH. As I run on the Columbia River everything is in Statute miles. The boat does have a new very clean bottom, had the props done, and the P.O. appears to have the engines over propped as fire walled the engines both spool up to 4000/4100 rpm.
When I bought the boat I made up my mind I wouldn't even look at fuel as I moved from a very fuel efficient trawler to this " go fast " boat as my kids put it.
What I find interesting is that I am getting over 1 mpg and I didn't expect that it would be that good. Don't get me wrong .. I am not complaining.. I continue to be absolutely impressed with the Sea Ray.. She he handles great, looks great, is built very well, and is pretty comfortable.
So what are my fellow 400 EC yachtsmen seeing for fuel use?
EXPRESSBOY

 

[Air O'Nautical]

All 400EC owners will notice all the updates this boat has had done to the interior.
Looks great and gives me some ideas for mine.

https://www.boattrader.com/listing/1995-Sea-Ray-400-Ec-358173

The cherry look and Vitrifrigo refrigerator are updates and custom.
Many other updates are from a much newer 400EC.

Nice and if the owner is a member here....well done!

Mark.

 

[douglee25]

Amazing! Looks awesome!

Doug

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Stolen idea from the above pic of the nicest 400EC I've seen yet..

I am working on mounting my new 29" TV on the same bulkhead so, it can swing out 45 degrees to face the main seating area in the saloon but, still fold back against the wall to be out of the way.

I wanted the thinnest mount available because, the old TV space will become storage with a matching door (I'll make later).
A pair of standard door hindges and 1/2" plywood worked great! I still need to add an adjustable strut to hold it securely at any given angle and some sort of clip to hold it against the wall.

I'm very happy with the results and spent a whopping $125 (so far) including the TV and all the wiring!

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Also, in the 2nd pic you can see the LG DVD player mounted under the counter top since the TV doesn't have it built in.
I'll add a Roko unit under there as well, to enable Internet TV like Netflix while in a Wifi area. This new arrangement will face the seating better than the old 13" VCR combo.

Hate to admit it but, TV entertainment on my boat for the kids is as important as a cold beer in the fridge for me.

Hope this helps other 400EC owners ideas..

 

[AvaLee]

Nice idea...I am restoring a 1993 400EC & trying to decide about doing this same thing...if you run across any good upgrade ideas please continue to share

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Nice idea...I am restoring a 1993 400EC & trying to decide about doing this same thing...if you run across any good upgrade ideas please continue to share

Gladly,

Not much I don't know about the 400EC, just ask.

Still love this boat.

 

[hottoddie]

Also, in the 2nd pic you can see the LG DVD player mounted under the counter top since the TV doesn't have it built in.
I'll add a Roko unit under there as well, to enable Internet TV like Netflix while in a Wifi area. This new arrangement will face the seating better than the old 13" VCR combo.

Hate to admit it but, TV entertainment on my boat for the kids is as important as a cold beer in the fridge for me.

Hope this helps other 400EC owners ideas..

Just an FYI re: watching TV via wifi on your boat. Marinas usually run off of a single 15-20 mps service. All it takes is 2-4 devices running streaming video on a single system to cause it to slow down or shut down completely. So if your streaming video stops working it may not be the marina's fault there may be too many users on the system.