Purchase advice for newbie

[blondinje]

Hi, we are a sundancer 240 user and are considering moving to a 2008 280 sundancer. The question / concern i have is around the engines. Do twins 4.3L w/ alpha drives perform OK? are they powerful enough to pull the boat out of the hole with a few people on board? How is docking with this boat? Should I pass up on this boat and look for one with twins 5L w/ Bravo III

 

[flflatrate]

You throw some people in the back of that 280, and it does struggle to get on plane.

 

[jason78]

This very topic has been discussed MANY times here so you may get better results by doing a search since some people get tired of posting the same things over and over.

I will give you my opinion based on what I have seen others post.

There have been a few Twin 4.3 owners who have reported the felt like they had trouble planning with those engines. I don’t know, they may have been doing something wrong or had another problem. The vast majority seem to have no problems at all with the Twin 4.3 setup.
If you are going to be carrying a lot of people, you may want to lean towards the 5.0 setup.

I really like my 5.0s and would not want anything less but then again, I can't imangine anyone saying they would be OK with less HP. :grin:

When I bought mine, I would have been open to either of the Twin engine options. I just ended up with the V8s.

Take it for a sea trial with a few friends and see if it performs to your likings.

The 280 overall is a great boat and you have made a good choice to consider it. Very possibly one of the most popular cruisers Sea Ray ever built. It was produced virtually unchanged from 2001-2009, longer than any other hull style of SR cruiser I know of.

 

[ch435]

I went from a 240 to a 280 as well. I have the twin 4.3's but with the Bravo III's. I have no trouble getting up on plane. (I have heard that the bravo III's help with planing.)

Of course, given the choice, if looking at two 280's with the only difference being the 5.0 vs 4.3, I'd take the 5.0's! More is better! (usually) But don't let a boat with 4.3's automatically rule it out.

 

[Good 2 Go]

My two cents? Bigger is always better for a couple of reasons. #1 It's not just horsepower, torque plays a big role in getting out of the hole, I'm guessing the 5.0s have much better torque numbers than 4.3s. #2 If you're not happy with it you will be itching to move up sooner than your original plan, that's costly. #3, Resale value, boats with the minimal power package are less desirable thus worth less, sometimes hard to sell at all. #4, higher RPM to get the cruise you desire burns more fuel and has to put more strain on the engine components over the long haul.

Inquire 280 owners with the different engine/drive combinations into their optimal cruise, that being best MPG and what speeds they are getting at that RPM, is that where you want to be? Could be 25 vs 30, that's a big difference if you run a lot. A Bravo III will give you a much better hole shot and probably a couple more MPH at cruise and top end. Do some reading on Bravo III corrosion issues though, the old ones were a nightmare to maintain but I hear newer ones are better.

Good Luck.

 

[Gunn]

You throw some people in the back of that 280, and it does struggle to get on plane.

I would like to know how large the people were in the back of the 280 you are referring to?! :wow:

I have the twin 4.3's with Alpha drives and had six adults and five kids on board for a short cruise late last year. I felt zero difference in the time it took to get on plane, versus a previous outing when it was just two adults and two kids. Cruised at the same speed and the same RPM. This boat does not seem to notice differences in weight due to people or fuel, IMO.

Now having said that, I would have preferred twin 5.0's just because I like big engines (has anyone ever complained they are too big?!), but...it wasn't a requirement to our purchase.

Note too that Alpha drives are way cheaper to maintain. Price the difference in props and bellows for example.

Tom

 

[Good 2 Go]

The Bravo III gear set is bullet proof, I ran 11 years on a BIII propset and never had them touched or replaced, they are hefty for sure. Corrosion of the cases was my nightmare, but as I said I think current models are better. My first was a 94, replaced it with a 2000 and with meticulous maintenance kept it going till I traded several years ago.

 

[northern]

We had twin 3.8s in a 28 footerstern drive with upper and lower helm.To get the boat on a good plane we had to run the engines at 3800 RPM this gave us 24 knots top speed was 28 knots at 4600 RPM. At 24 knots we burnt a total of 1 liter a minute. We normally had 50 gallons of water, 100 gallons of fuel in tank, 25 gallons of fuel on swim platform, two 18 foot sea kayaks and probably 200 punds of food and gear. There were 600 pouds of people on the boat. I felt bigger engines would have been better.

 

[Plennon71]

My friend has the 2006 280 with the 4.3 liter alpha 1 drives. I have always been impressed with it's performance. Not sure what kind of cruising you do, the 280 only holds 100 gallons of gas which has been a complaint of 280 owners with engines larger then the 4.3. (refueling often).

If your over 5 feet 10 inches tall I would consider a 300 Sundancer for cabin space. Maybe a year or too younger so you are at comparable costs. Much more boat and slightly better performance numbers. Here are some numbers for you from boattest.com.

280 Dancer - 8800lbs - 4.3liter 220 hp x 2 motors.
time to plane - 5.9 secs
cruise speed- 33MPH @ 3500 rpm
0 to 30 MPH - 9.2 seconds
top speed 44.6

---
300 Dancer - 12,500 5.7liter 250 hp x 2 motors
time to plane 4.9 seconds
cruise at 34.6 MPH @ 4000
0 to 30 - 8.4
top speed 44.1

 

[Kiwi Graham]

Had six adults and two children on board mine and had no issues getting on the plane, sure it takes longer but we are only talking a couple of seconds. With the cost of fuel I'd be looking at economy over a couple of seconds :thumbsup:

 

[magster65]

IMHO... there is no advantage to owning the V6's. The savings in fuel or maintenance is negligible. I think if a person is that worried about a few dollars they should buy a snailboat.
The fuel consumption at cruise speed is very close to the same. Propped correctly the V6's are going to have to turn a higher rpm to maintain the same speed as the V8's. The extra rpm uses fuel. Only when you push the V8's past the speed the V6's will go do they use more fuel... and it's minimal.
If you really don't care about getting on plane quicker, the higher cruise speed and the faster top speed then I guess there is no disadvantage having V6's.

 

[Hellman Huddle]

I would go with the single engine 496 for several reasons. Fuel consumption & maintenance costs. If money is not a problem go with the biggest. But, if you have to work on it on a tight budget go the with the single engine. Just my 2 cent, and I know everybody will give me a hard time about it, but remember two engines is twice the work and cost not to mention you need a midget to climb in there and change impellars and whatever else go wrong.

The biggest problem with twin engine cruisers is that they are made so you cannot work on them. Sort of like cars today.

I have friends with single engine 290's and they run and outperform most twins.

The good news in today's economy you are able to move up!

Good Luck and get what you are comfortable by looking at input and do your research.

 

[Gunn]

IMHO... there is no advantage to owning the V6's.

I would agree with you. Only advantage I saw when looking was that I saved having to buy 4 spark plugs!

But because they are so similiar, I didn't factor engines (other than twins) as a requirement to any 280DA I looked at. And there are a whole lot more 4.3 boats than 5.0 boats out there.

 

[floriduramax1]

I cant imagine having to work in the bilge with the V-8's and gen option! I like having the room to get in there to work on gen and bilge cleaning. I didn't know if I was going to be happy with the 4.3's, but turns out I like them alright:thumbsup:

 

[magster65]

I would agree with you. Only advantage I saw when looking was that I saved having to buy 4 spark plugs!

But because they are so similiar, I didn't factor engines (other than twins) as a requirement to any 280DA I looked at. And there are a whole lot more 4.3 boats than 5.0 boats out there.

Yeah fer' sher'.
I prefer the highest hp option but I wouldn't let the V6's or 496 set-up deter from buying a boat I liked.

 

[bajturner]

One other factor that hasn't been mentioned is the difference in operation between the Alpha I and Bravo III drives themselves. While the B-III is available with the twin 4.3s, the common pairings are 5.0/B-III and 4.3/A-I.

I only have experience behind the controls of the A-I (and outboards and jet-pumps, but that is irrelevant), but have spent time on a boat with the B-III. While I am completely happy with the power delivered by the twin 4.3s on my 280, the B-IIIs definitely seem to shift more smoothly and easily.

Apparently this is due to the A-I using a dog clutch, and the B-III using a cone clutch. The A-I goes into gear with a clunk (and a rattle if you are not deliberate enough), whereas the B-III is more of a click. It seems the force required on the throttle lever is lower on the B-III as well.

If anyone has experience with both, please comment.

 

[ch435]

I cant imagine having to work in the bilge with the V-8's and gen option! I like having the room to get in there to work on gen and bilge cleaning. I didn't know if I was going to be happy with the 4.3's, but turns out I like them alright:thumbsup:

This is what I have thought every time I go down there as well. There is definitely more space to work with a V-6 vs V-8.