Sea Ray SSS 1993 63 ft

Hi Rob, I've been around but haven't dropped in as much once you got settled and into your daily routine. I'm happy to see things still seem to be going well for you although I've skipped over several months of posts so I'm sure I've missed some trials and tribulations. Last I read was a charter venture you were trying to get started. As it starts to turn winter here I'll stay tuned to your summer adventures.

Thanks for the comments on my boat. I love the lines of her for sure and we've really enjoyed the upgrade from my old 400EC.
 
Last edited:
Hi Rob,

Yes I have had my gopro for a while now...looking at buying some of the new addon's for it like WiFi and a rear mounted viewer so I can see what I am filming. One of my hates with the camera is when mounted you never knew it was on unless you stuck your head in front of the lens and check for the red light.

I hope to have the bits arriving this week for the rear helm unit..I hope it will make a huge difference steering the boat near the swim platform. ..All the parts will only come to around $2500 yet when I have the reps in from various companies it is been around $10,000 plus.. just shows how we can be ripped off as all these items are just plug and play..

Ozzie
 
Makes sense cop I think quite a few people dropped off once all the excitement of shipping and importing ended. Was an interesting trip all around :) the regular happenings r not half as cool or exciting! Just figured I would keep posting since I'm already part of the community and enjoy to write etc etc
If I could do it all again I would follow your lead and get a boat like yours in that size range. Have learned bigger is not necessarily better lol yours is a real beauty do you have any more pics of her anywhere the inside and all that? Are you in an area where once winter comes boating is over or are you somewhere year round like Florida?
Boaters in cold places must hate the onslaught of winter and the end of the boating season! Sounds like there is a heck of a lot to do to winterize a boat as well!
Wait I remember your
In Texas right which means year round boating :) sort of like here it gets cold and everything is less fun but
You don't have to stop
Good to have you back in the game cop and I hear you on enjoying your upgrade that is one stunning boat you have !!

Ozzie: wow they did hit you hard on labor!! Goes to show that unless you want to spend a fortune with these things you have to do as much of it yourself as possible! The second it's anything to do with a boat the price quadruples so wrong! Some things are just out of that scope of what we all can do and I'm sure something like a helm station you want to get right !!
I am positive it will make docking way easier for you like you hope, probably be a breeze after being used to doing it all the old way. It's hard to judge distance etc from a camera and sticking your head out the side window to dock nuts I have no idea how you managed that one safely!! You must be damned good :)
I think they must have gotten complaints about what you mentioned with the gopro as the new one has a red flashing light on the back now that lets you know it's recording also came with a rubber vibration damper that I think is new that prevents the vibration sounds. It's a great little camera the video quality is just amazing although im at 13 hours uploading and not done with my latest 5 min vid! I remember the video you took with your tender now that I think about it, that was a really great little video on your way out to the big boat. Have you ever mounted it to your jetskis ??
I want to get the helmet mount have figured out how to attach it for how to my Cree head lamp harness.
Do you have any videos posted anywhere that you have made??
 
Douglee: well in my
Opinion you have it all down really good and are a great all around guy have taken the time to give me excellent very helpful advice many a time so stuff the people that may think otherwise :) send em over here for a clobbering lol

Techmitch: I guess you are right I didn't look at the numbers just guaged it by the number of replies I get. Well if you guys ever get sick of me waffling on just say so and I will shut up haha I continued after the boat got here as a bunch of people showed interest in me doing so :)

I do my best to drive as
Much traffic to CSR as I can I talk about it in my books and videos and send every boater I meet here. I'm a very loyal CSR member :) I figure the more traffic the site gets the better for the owners who provide such a great place for all of us!

Part of why I'm making the videos to keep it interesting plus I figured you all would enjoy to see the sights of Sydney since I have talked about it all so much, put some sights to the forum post locations.

Gave up on uploading the HD version at 16 hours upload time it locked up and would have had to start again. So compressed it for the upload. The quality is still decent.
One more test video is done just a 1.8 nm run each way, only included the way back.. Was for supplies as I was on day four of being out. It was too and from the swing mooring at Taronga zoo in Athol Bay to Rose Bay public wharf . It was pretty choppy so a bouncy ride I got soaked and froze half to death , added some slow motion effects for when the waves hit and splashed etc. also shows how easy it is to launch and recover a tender with a hydraulic platform. The tender is recovered and secured in under a minute love that platform its so great! Makes using a tender a walk in the park.. Plus
Is great in the summer put it down and people can sit waist deep in the water :) also really helps for scuba diving!! So if anyone is considering a boat with a hydraulic lift I would highly recommend it can't imagine having a boat without it as its just such a useful part of it all!

Almost ready to start making the good interesting video. I have a problem with some flashing green screens in each video and it only seems to be after the video editing not in the originals so have to figure that out. If any of you go to my videos do me a favor and click like for me so they can be well rated in YouTube. I'm always open to constructive criticism I never take offense and value everyones input and opinions in anything I do :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqM89uJPdPU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
I love my boat but won't want to live on it. I fantasize about spending long periods of time living on a boat in the islands or on the coast somewhere but if I ever did it I'd want a sedan bridge boat where I could sit inside and see out and have a little more elbow/storage room. I got a little serious about a friends 420SD in my boat house but a couple of things turned me off.

Yep, in Texas we'll boat all year round. We may have a couple of freezes along the way but we keep bilge heaters plugged in to prevent any damage. This last February we went out when it was 25 degrees (F), had the canvas up and the cockpit heat going. We were the only boat out and it was perfect.


QUOTE=rszarka;614333] If I could do it all again I would follow your lead and get a boat like yours in that size range. Have learned bigger is not necessarily better lol yours is a real beauty do you have any more pics of her anywhere the inside and all that?
Wait I remember your
In Texas right which means year round boating :) sort of like here it gets cold and everything is less fun butYou don't have to stop[/QUOTE]
 
Wow, what a read! spent the last week and a half reading this book, made me late a few times lol, what a great adventure Rob, great stories! I just got back into boating after a 15 year break, picked up a 04 380 DA Aug 27th and found CSR and this thread, exciting stuff! the jet is very interesting to me, probably too heavy for my platform, I wonder how it would tow? it weighs 650 lbs?
 
Cop: I hear what you are saying with if you live on a boat let it be a sedan bridge with an enclosed cockpit and windows to look out!! That would be amazing! Nice thing about the rivieras like Ozzie has is it has the salon upstairs like that!
That is the one complaint with my boat where if you are downstairs you don't see much especially
In the mb, dunno why they didn't put a window in there. I sleep in the VIP berth often just for the port holes! But it's very comfy for me since I am alone, for one person this thing is huge like a 2 bed two bath apartment and the cockpit is massive when I want outdoors time! Way more room than I actually need!
What was wrong with the 420 SD you were considering?
Hey did you notice, it seems like sea ray may be naming newer boats as if they were bigger but they are the same size just newer than the previous model?
I saw a sea ray 550 at darling harbor but I could have sworn it was no longer than my boat pretty much the same as mine except they flipped the salon galley and sofa on the opposite side and the new 510 sure seems to be no longer than the 500! Seeing as usually their boats names correspond with the size it implys they are bigger, guess they are changing things up.
25 degrees F is below freezing lol your a trooper! but with the curtains up and heat on must of been nice in there :) its great isn't it when the weather chases everyone away but you find a way to be comfortable out there and get the whole place to yourself :) I always liked that when the environment is hostile around you but you found a comfy way. When I was working on a cruise ship in Alaska I loved to go on the top deck and get in the hot tub, swimming while Ice bergs floated by was so cool just the thought of it made it cool! The run indoors when wet in negative temps, not cool haha hopping into the steam room right after awesome :)
I really hope one day you get to live your dream and live on a sedan bridge around some islands! The longer you have to wait for your dreams the sweeter they are when they finally happen :) you want em bad enough you always find a way !

Where abouts in Texas do you live? I always enjoyed my trips there!

Someone from this board imported a boat a few years back from your state I think to Australia and lived on it for 3 weeks while waiting for shipping and loves every minute of it , they told the story way back in the beginning of this thread. I think it was Ozzie or paul Svenson can't remember.
 
Skylark: welcome to the thread and back into boating :) yeah it's a huge read attempted to go through it from the start a month or two back and realized I did not have the time to read it all lol
Sorry for making you late for things!!

I went and looked up the exact specs on the jet for you as did not want to give the wrong advice. The newer version of mine which is the same just has digital guages instead of analog and a few small diffs like some teak panelling weighs in at 628 lbs. not sure what your platform can support. It is 10"6 long.
If you want to see the specs on the different models Avon makes you can find it here avoninflatables.co.uk.

I have to soo highly reccomend this as a tender not only is it so fun and so fast but a head turner people turn and look as it looks and sounds so cool. It handles amazing I have been out in 6 ft seas and tore through it. Just the most amazing little boat there is I think really great stuff. Carries three people legally but I have had six on there for fun haha.
I do things with it that people don't normally do with a tender like 20 mile round trips etc as its just so fast and can take just about anything the sea throws at it on. I use it like a taxi many times rather than All the hassle and nerves of moving the big boat to a dock I just shuttle people on and off many times. One down fall to it looking so cool and fast it definately makes you a target for the maritime naZis as you look obnoxious like a guy in a souped up sports car lol they always stop me and hassle me for no reason haha

So yeah if you can I would say make this your tender I would bet my life on it you would not regret it!! Very simple motor so very easy to fix and maintain!!
If you live in the states check gumtree etc prob have luck finding one for around 3 k used. New they are around 40 k a bit over like 43.

As for towing I have towed mine a time or two. If you just tie a rope to the cleat in the front it doesn't tow well swerves around. I then put a towing harness on the row front cleats and she towed fine dead straight. No engine or any junk like that hanging in the water she can go in depths as shallow as 3ft.

You would love this boat as a tender, I get so many complements on it and it almost draws as much attention as the big boat lol I hope your swim platform can handle it :) I have noticed with my swim platform the starboard side where the engine of the tender is comes up a tad slower than the port my guess is from the extra weight.

I should become an Avon and sea ray sales man lol I rave about them so much haha too enthusiastic.

I have had my share of problems too but not because of the quality of the boat but my ignorance in running and maintaining it. Ozzie from this board took a picture of me last NYE as I jumped in the tender cast off and it didn't start lol there was a strong wind I had a hard time paddling back to the big boat. He posted the pic and said rob always confident casts off before starting the pic showing me paddling way away from the boat haha was funny and typical of some of the stupid stuff I do I just happened to get caught this time :)

If you do keep it behind your big one wouldn't you have to worry about electrolysis and the bottom getting nasty? Oh and theft! I know mine has two anodes at the back near the jet water exit. I left it in the water at berth for a few days once and in that short time I already had growth forming!

Anyways I hope you manage to get one and end up raving about it like me haha
Buy the jet buy the jet buy the jet. See over enthusiastic !

Paul who posts in this thread often aka sweets also has one but I think newer and bigger than mine. Mine is the smallest in the range. Avon super sea sport jet 330i

Again welcome aboard if you have any other questions or just want to chat jump right in and join us anytime :)

Rob
 
your stories are costing me money lol, I'm looking at LED's, go pro and the jet, the one I'm looking at is a 2001 320 Seasport Jetboat yamaha engine, I'm in Ontario Canada, fresh water boating, so leaving it the water should be fine, the marina is safe to keep it at, what year is yours?

we're just getting ready to head out on the boat for a couple of days and enjoy the last part of our season, today is a high of 15c with a cool breeze but tomorrow and monday look decent around 21c.

anyone have a link to the ebay seller with the LED's

Gary
 
Skylark:

Noooo stop reading now if you value your bank account you will end up broke believe me lol ... Which Led's are you looking for the house lights or the underwater lights??? Heck hold tight a second i will post the links to all of the led lights i got!

Pretty sure when i looked up my boat on the link i posted earlier it said 628 lbs ??

ok gimme a couple of minutes to get all the LED links BRB

Just some tips i learned getting the LED lights ...normal intensity bulbs for the bathrooms as you want it nice and bright in there or the women will hate you hahah ... warm white for the salon and rooms.... the underwater LED spotlights they use in ponds also work amazing for on your trim tabs but cost 2000 percent less!! If your light fixtures are the same as mine the disc shaped flat ones fit in the salon fixtures ...for the bathrooms you get the tower shaped bulbs that have less 360 around ... anyways will post the links shortly..
 
The underwater spotlights, i would recommend getting four two for each trim tab... you just clamp them onto your trim tabs works great!! just as bright as the lights designed for boats accept these cost 18 bucks and the ones for boats cost like 500 bucks lol so yeah great way to get the water lit up behind your boat at very little cost!!
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=110898206380&view=all&tid=876360625001

These guys have all kinds of LED bulbs including the strip lighting like what i put in my engine room vents http://showcase.inkfrog.com/bestselling1010

this is the blue led strip lighting i got for the engine room vents ...he also has all other colors and remote controls and adapter for them along with a wide assortment of bulbs http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Blue-5M-...Accessories&hash=item2564f4982c#ht_4060wt_907

These are the globe halogen replacement led bulbs i got for my bathrooms http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10x-24V-...ghting_Fans&hash=item3a6e009b56#ht_4081wt_907

for your stair and courtesy lights http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/42mm-9-L...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19cbe3abd2


These are the type of bulb i got for my salon and bedroom lights ...except i got it in warm white ...now that you know the name of them for this link just search within ebay for the same think in warm white and you will find tons
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/24-Volt-...ghting_Fans&hash=item35b910a008#ht_4556wt_907


another globe one ...http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TEN-12V-...=AU_Gadgets&hash=item3a70ed891d#ht_4810wt_907
just go to the links i provided and see exactly what they are called and do ebay searches to find the best price of what you want ...there are tons of led distributors nowadays ..the hardest part for me was figuring out the names of the exact type of bulb i needed ... so you have that part down now and it will be a breeze to find what you need :) Any other questions or any other way i can help just say the word my friend :)

have a great time out on your boat over the next few days!! Gotta live it up now aye as im sure there is no winter boating in canada!!

wow almost 5 am im off to bed !!
 
Hi Rob,

this is the video on the Jetski...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7py0SK1nd50

and this one is with Camera on my head..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ng7EZQ46AA

the thing I have learnt as seen in both video's is you can have condensation in side the housing and as soon as the sun hits the camera you have this on fog on your lens..apparently the way to have it not happen is to place some toilet paper around the camera.. Also with water droplets someone mentioned to lick the lens.. So start licking

Ozzie
 
Ozzie-iv said:
Hi Rob,

this is the video on the Jetski...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7py0SK1nd50

and this one is with Camera on my head..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ng7EZQ46AA

the thing I have learnt as seen in both video's is you can have condensation in side the housing and as soon as the sun hits the camera you have this on fog on your lens..apparently the way to have it not happen is to place some toilet paper around the camera.. Also with water droplets someone mentioned to lick the lens.. So start licking

Ozzie
Click to expand...

Try to find some tiny Silica Gel packs and put in with the camera. All my consumer dive cameras come with them and the "suck" the moisture out of the casing. So I have never had any moisture collecting on the inside of my dive cases. There is better Silica Gel packs than others. If you have bought any electronics you might have one or two around anyway. You can revitalize some of them by putting them in the oven for a bit. I don't remember the temperature scale because I have not had to do it yet.
 
Skylark: Mine is a 1997 so a little older with the analog gauges but i did get her for only 2.5 k!! the guy selling it got her as payment for some job and just wanted to be rid of it. I got lucky as the topic he listed it under in gumtree was the wrong one he got no traffic to his ad and it had been up awhile so jumped on the first chance he had to sell it.. if he would have listed it in the right place it would have been gone in 5 mins at 3k!! So yeah that was a bit of luck for me the exact tender i wanted at half the price i thought i would have to pay!

Kaz: great idea with the silica gel!! Thanks for that no more condensation coming right up :)


Ozzie: great great videos!! Hey isnt the jetski one the video you made the day i saw you in refuge bay?? Where is the skiing one thredbo or perisher? Love the music you picked Cherry Bomb lol awesome!
I heard about the licking thing too lol but the way i understood it is you should lick the outside of the water proof case where the lens is so water droplets don't stick if you don't have rain x haha i think putting anything on the lens of the camera itself is a bad idea as it has an optical coating! great videos , thanks for posting them!!
 
If I were spending more time on the boat then I'd prefer the 420SD over my boat, however I much prefer the much larger shower of my boat and the cockpit configuration when cruising with crowd of people. You're just so much more part of the action than being isolated on the bridge away from many of the people and away from the water.

To your point about SR model designations, my '05 is a 420DA while my neighbors '06 is a 44DA. Exactly the same boats except he has bigger windows in the hull side. Funny thing is that he pays more for weekly cleanings and bottom paint because our marina goes my model size.

Many years ago I left work when it started snowing (pretty rare here) and took the boat out. It was dead calm, incredibly peaceful and beautiful.

I live in the Dallas area but our boat is 75 miles away on the Northern Texas, Oklahoma border. It's the largest, nicest lake in our region where, from end to end, you have 40-50 navigable miles to cruise.

I think one of the limiting factors of us living on a boat in the islands for any length of time is my wife. I'm not sure she's sold on that idea really. We're doing a 10 day BVI bareboat cruise on a 48' aft-cabin boat in May. This will either help or hurt my goal depending on how the trip goes. Before anyone suggests it, regardless of how it turns out, I'm keeping the wife!


rszarka said:
Cop:
What was wrong with the 420 SD you were considering?

it seems like sea ray may be naming newer boats as if they were bigger but they are the same size just newer than the previous model?

I always liked that when the environment is hostile around you but you found a comfy way.

Where abouts in Texas do you live? I always enjoyed my trips there!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]

I just heard from Kaz regarding his boat. His import is successfully done he is on his new boat now :) this is what he wrote! many congratulations to him, he posted for the first time around 2 months ago when he was just looking at the boat at the time, now its in his slip at the marina!!! [/FONT][FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]My boat has cleared customs. Legalised papers are FINALLY on their way with FedEx as we speak. Once they arrive I can start registration procedures. Boat has been anti-fouled and slightly polished. :) Marine Max in the US ****** up (again again again)- so I had to drill two 4 inch holes to get the Radar Arch back on - since the bolts had fallen down inside the "wall" - but now it is mounted. Now all I'm waiting for is the Mercruiser service guys to finish servicing the boat - and if I am lucky it will be in the water today :) and at least being parked at my berth until I can go for the registration.[/FONT][FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Just finished "Application for Registration" and now in about 15 minutes I'll go and pay for work done so far. Then she will be put into the sea - and I'll sail her home to the berth (only permitted trip until "safety inspection" at time of registration) - but it will be the FIRST trip! on the boat EVER. :) I am a little nervous[/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Cop: Makes total sense about the cockpit issue you brought up ...thats one thing i never cared for with the sedan bridges myself! Thier cockpits are usually so much smaller than the cruisers and like you said you are way up there when everyone is downstairs having a good time!! How is your current boats interior configured...MB under the helm and berth up the front both with ensuite bathrooms? I am guessing pretty similar to my boats layout?[/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]although being way up top like that might make captaining easier because you can see everything so much better![/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI] That would be so amazing to be out on the water in the snow with your boat!! I think that is an experience i will never get to have!! Im jealous of that one!![/FONT]

See the new scheme of naming that does not correspond to the actual size even confuses the marinas lol ...i wonder why sea ray is doing that!! That would suck to get charged more for things when your boat is actually not the length the name implies! They must have known it would create some confusion!

Is the lake you have your boat on lake Texoma?? I just looked on a map of the area, if it is that is one massive lake, no shortage of places to go and explore thats for sure, looks like a really awesome spot to have a boat!! Do you have any pictures posted anywhere of you boating on it? Would love to see what its like!

hahha i laughed my ass off when i read the part of keeping your wife! Yeah i think it would be hard to get most women to want to live on a boat unless its a super yacht type deal..they like to nest too much and find boats too restrictive i think! But again if the boat is big enough where its more like a house it may be easier to convince them :)

10 days in the British Virgin Islands will be amazing for you guys!! Love that area its so beautiful! What is a bareboat ? 48 aft cabin, meaning you have the aft cabin on a 48 ft boat? Sorry guess i still don't quite have all the lingo down yet! Reminds me of back in the beginning where some one here kept talking about the admiral and i thought he had a real retired admiral in his family that he went boating with lol felt pretty stupid after he explained it to me hahaha

Well i really hope you and your wife have an absolutely amazing time in the BVI and right after your wife turns around looks you in the eyes and says I want to live on a boat for awhile in the islands :) If she has a good enough time it may just happen :) Got my fingers crossed for you Cop!!

I have some friends that live in Florida that just bought a charter boat business in the BVI, they currently have a 48 sedan bridge, they are packing now selling up in miami and will just sail over in their current boat. They will live on her and use the charter boat to earn their living ..its a 68 catamaran, succesful well established charter business they bought!! What a life they are just sailing off into the sunset to go live on their boat and run a boat biz:)
 
Hi Rob et All, :)

Rob thanks for posting progress. But my boat is finally home.

I had it painted with CopperCoat anti-fouling - supervised by the local CopperCoat distributor. That is supposed to last for 10 years (if put on correctly) and with the supervision of the local CopperCoat Brit - I hope it will. :) I'll keep you posted.

Anyway - here are a few pictures:

First - me and boat hanging in the lift - engine hatch open to check for water leaks - since I had a lot of hoses replaced.

DSC_0785.jpg


And this one - finally she is home :) at my berth

DSC_0789.jpg

So now I am waiting for security approval - and then I can go for the safety check and have the local "transponder" system installed. Once that is done I will get my registration paper and sailing my boat will be legal. I hope it will happen this week.

But all is not joy... Generator wont start - tries to start for about 10 seconds - then shuts off with OU error (Over Voltage) - so now i'm waiting for Kohler to respond. Generator was repaired just before leaving the US....

A/C did not work either since water had drained from the system - and pump is not self priming. And since generator can't start - I could not start A/C while running the boat - so water gets scoped into the system. So I had to "attach" my garden hose to the A/C drain output - and "reverse" refill the system.

But I got the strainers cleaned in my ultra sonic cleaner.. They look brand new now.
 
Thank you for the links to the led's, I'll check them out.

There's not many jet boats for sale in my region so it's hard to get a grasp on market value, I guess I can't use your purchase price for that lol.


We're at anchor now in a quite little bay on Georgian Bay about 25 miles from port, last night the starboard engine was throwing steam out the exhaust, I shut it down immediatly, after we were anchored I found the water pump shaft was leaking, posted on the service forum and got great information on the repair, we will pull up anchor shortly and limp back 25 miles on the port engine
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,253
Messages
1,429,348
Members
61,130
Latest member
VaBreeze
Back
Top