OFFICIAL - 450DA Owner's Thread****

Jim @ BOE Marine is the sponser of this site and has an amazing electronics business. I would definitely point you to him.
 
Welcome to our little corner of the world! I have some local connections as well if you need them. Contact me anytime and glad to “meet” you online as well.


Josh
 
Well survey day has come and gone.... Let’s just say starting back at square one. IF anyone knows of any 450DA for sale let me know.
 
Hello 450DA owners.
My name is Mark and I am contemplating on purchasing a Sea Ray 450. I have a long history of maintaining and bringing back aging boats to pristine condition. Up until now I have stayed with boat in the 25-30 foot range, gas powered, stearndrive, and usually a Cobalt of Formula. I have a lot of experience working with fiberglass and coring material, just never used any of it in a hull. I also have a lot of experience rigging mechanical and electrical systems.
I am trying to familiarize myself with Sea Ray and diesel power because of the vessel I am looking at. This is a "friend of a friend's" boat that has spent most of it's life in the fresh/brackish water of the California Delta. I have only seen pictures of it so far; but, I am going to take an initial look at it today. From the pictures the boat looks to be in excellent condition. The owner lost interest in boating a couple years back and gets very little use now. From my understanding, he does go down to the boat on a monthly basis and runs the engines but rarely leaves its slip. It is a 1996 Sea Ray 450 with Caterpillar 3126 with less than 600 engine hours and about 350 hours on the Westerbeke generator. As of now I don't know much more than that.
I have read the entirety of the this Official 450DA Owner Thread and it is enlightening...a lot of great information! I am a Sea Ray rookie, so please help me out. I have been aware of the balsa cored hull issues for years (David Pascoe's article from yacht survey); but, have never really dug deeper into it. It sounds like Frank Webster on here is the most familiar with these claims and has put a lot of confidence in me that it was only a limited number of boats and typically due to circumstances outside of Sea Rays's controls. Sometime back I remember it being said only certain manufacturing facilities used the Balsa cored hulls and other didn't and could be identified by the Hull ID. The boat I am looking at is SERP2898H596. Is this true and can anyone give me more insight to this? The Caterpillar 3126 sounds like it was the desired power of this model year? I have an impression that these engines are fairly reliable but if maintenance needs to be done it is best to leave it to a qualifiedCaperpiller technitian. Does anyone here do their own service on maintenance on these engines? Can someone give me guidance on known pitfalls of this model and year and anything I should look for. Obviously I will have a full survey done if it appears to be a good boat.
Sorry for having a lengthy first post. Thank you for any help.
 
First, every Sea Ray HIN# has the factory identifier in it. Your boat is an SERP HIN and the "SER" means it is a Sea Ray; the "P" means it was produced in the Palm Coast FL factory. The HIN# also tells you when the boat was produced. The last 4 digits, "H596" indicate that the boat was built in August of 1995 as a 1996 model boat.

Most boats built in Palm Coast were cored hull boats and the 450DA was for sure.......I know, I have owned a 96 450DA since 1997.

In researching the cored hull issues I discovered that most of D. Pascoe's "Sea Ray is Bad" writing pertained boats he surveyed in the mid-1980s. Sea Ray admitted some layup problems back then and corrected them in the early 90's. Within Sea Ray, the contact point for problem boats was Customer Service. Sea Rays Customer Service folks at Palm Coast called the 450DA hull the "Ice Breaker Hull" because they have had almost no problems with the 450 hull. I think the main reason is that the only way moisture can get into the hull core is via one of the following: Holes sawed in the hull to mount docking lights under the rub rail at the bow, a transducer mounted in the wrong place, physical damage to the hull that pierced the core or poorly repaired physical damage. The hull's designed layup adequately sealed in the balsa core, plus, Sea Ray mounted the hull vents on the 450 above the rub rail thus insuring that there is almost no place that water can enter the core.

That isn't to say that the boat cannot have core damage because the deck assembly is fully cored . There are a number of spots water can enter the deck core, but all are manageable with proper maintenance: Windlass cut out, rail stanchions, spotlight mount, center bow rail mounts, windshield mounting screws, port lights and deck hatches.

On any boat this age, you MUST have a full hull survey that includes moisture testing.

The 420hp Cat 3126 engines were the highest hp option in 1996, save a few left over 435hp Cat 3208's. The 3126 is a great engine package because it employs Cat unit injection system which is very efficient and smoke free. It is, however, complex and requires about $1500 worth of gauges and tooling to service. The required service intervals are at 250 and 2000 hours, so the infrequency of need makes this a service need better left to the professional. I do everything else myself.

The very low usage on this engines.....±25 hour/year..... means you probably have some cooling system issues: heat exchangers fouled, transmission oil coolers fouled, anodes need replacement, sea water pumps need replacement, and you can expect the shaft seals to need replacement. You definitely need to have a Cat technician do a mechanical survey on the engines and generator.

If you can take some photos (as many as possible of the engines) and email them to me, I'll look at them if you are interested in pursuing this one. Just send me a Private Message and I send you my email address.

 
I had my props removed by the yard where I am storing my 450. I have only owned the boat for one season and want to have the props tuned. I was wondering if anyone can explain the different numbers stamped on each prop. Each is stamped 22x24 one has a R and the other a L. On each prop the 24 has two “XX”stamped through the 24. The R prop is re-stamped 22.75 the L prop is re-stamped 21.8
I imagine they have been worked on over the years, just trying to figure out what has been done to them before bringing them in to the shop. Thanks
 
Last edited:
my 450 is 22x24 r(ight) & l(eft)... it sounds like someone had them re-pitched. Call your prop shop and ask them and this should have been noted in your pre-purchase survey.
 
my 450 is 22x24 r(ight) & l(eft)... it sounds like someone had them re-pitched. Call your prop shop and ask them and this should have been noted in your pre-purchase survey.

The surveyor only noted the following:
“Propeller: The two Hi Torq 22" x 22" bronze four blade propellers were free from corrosion or damage.”
I have dinged one of the props, but I’m short about 75 rpms on both engines since the engjne/performance survey prior to purchase. (During the season I have the Hull cleaned by a diver). Wanted to see if shop could adjust the pitch... on a side note in the sea ray parts manual, the props are described as 21x23 1.75 Not sure if minimal growth could drop both engines by 75rpm or if the dings are responsible (but the ding was only on one prop). Thanks again
 
I was wondering if anyone can explain the different numbers stamped on each prop.

Props are expressed with two numbers with diameter always first, followed by pitch. So, your props are 22" in diameter, and have a pitch of 24". Pitch is the distance the propeller would travel on a single revolution. The L and R are for Left Hand and Right Hand rotation when viewed from behind the boat. Think of it like a screw. The right hand pitch advances when turned clockwise (righty-tighty) and the left hand pitch advance when turned counter-clockwise.

The XX'd out 24 on each prop tells me that the pitch was changed. R is now 22.75" and L is now 21.8".

Jaybeaux
 
Props are expressed with two numbers with diameter always first, followed by pitch. So, your props are 22" in diameter, and have a pitch of 24". Pitch is the distance the propeller would travel on a single revolution. The L and R are for Left Hand and Right Hand rotation when viewed from behind the boat. Think of it like a screw. The right hand pitch advances when turned clockwise (righty-tighty) and the left hand pitch advance when turned counter-clockwise.

The XX'd out 24 on each prop tells me that the pitch was changed. R is now 22.75" and L is now 21.8".

Jaybeaux
Thanks for the easy to understand explanation.
 
First, every Sea Ray HIN# has the factory identifier in it. Your boat is an SERP HIN and the "SER" means it is a Sea Ray; the "P" means it was produced in the Palm Coast FL factory. The HIN# also tells you when the boat was produced. The last 4 digits, "H596" indicate that the boat was built in August of 1995 as a 1996 model boat.

Most boats built in Palm Coast were cored hull boats and the 450DA was for sure.......I know, I have owned a 96 450DA since 1997.

In researching the cored hull issues I discovered that most of D. Pascoe's "Sea Ray is Bad" writing pertained boats he surveyed in the mid-1980s. Sea Ray admitted some layup problems back then and corrected them in the early 90's. Within Sea Ray, the contact point for problem boats was Customer Service. Sea Rays Customer Service folks at Palm Coast called the 450DA hull the "Ice Breaker Hull" because they have had almost no problems with the 450 hull. I think the main reason is that the only way moisture can get into the hull core is via one of the following: Holes sawed in the hull to mount docking lights under the rub rail at the bow, a transducer mounted in the wrong place, physical damage to the hull that pierced the core or poorly repaired physical damage. The hull's designed layup adequately sealed in the balsa core, plus, Sea Ray mounted the hull vents on the 450 above the rub rail thus insuring that there is almost no place that water can enter the core.

That isn't to say that the boat cannot have core damage because the deck assembly is fully cored . There are a number of spots water can enter the deck core, but all are manageable with proper maintenance: Windlass cut out, rail stanchions, spotlight mount, center bow rail mounts, windshield mounting screws, port lights and deck hatches.

On any boat this age, you MUST have a full hull survey that includes moisture testing.

The 420hp Cat 3126 engines were the highest hp option in 1996, save a few left over 435hp Cat 3208's. The 3126 is a great engine package because it employs Cat unit injection system which is very efficient and smoke free. It is, however, complex and requires about $1500 worth of gauges and tooling to service. The required service intervals are at 250 and 2000 hours, so the infrequency of need makes this a service need better left to the professional. I do everything else myself.

The very low usage on this engines.....±25 hour/year..... means you probably have some cooling system issues: heat exchangers fouled, transmission oil coolers fouled, anodes need replacement, sea water pumps need replacement, and you can expect the shaft seals to need replacement. You definitely need to have a Cat technician do a mechanical survey on the engines and generator.

If you can take some photos (as many as possible of the engines) and email them to me, I'll look at them if you are interested in pursuing this one. Just send me a Private Message and I send you my email address.
 
30w in the PNW and I believe Frank runs 40w in Florida because of the warmer climate...
Great thanks. I saw alot of discussion on brands what to and what not to use. It just got to where I just call Cat lol. Is there a less expensive and more accessible brand?
 

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