Second Battery for additional amp and tower speakers?

saadalrahman

New Member
May 7, 2013
1
Qatar
Boat Info
2012
Sea Ray 200 Sundeck
Garmin 412s Chartplotter Combo
Engines
MerCruiser 5.0 MCI
Alpha 1 Sterndrive
Hello there,

I am a first time boat owner with a new 2012 Sea Ray 200 Sundeck. I am thinking of installing the monster MTK tower as I am going to use the boat for wakeboarding most of the time. I am also looking at installing the Wet Sounds Rev3Some speakers and wanted to ask a few questions:

1. Should I look at installing a second battery to power the amp and speakers or will a single battery be fine? What kind of setup would be recommended with a battery switch?

2. Anyone installed the MTK Tower on their sea ray? I am still trying to figure out if I should mount it on the gunwale at the gripped area just where the windshield ends or to mount it on the side of the boat.

3. The boat is docked in salt water and since the weather is good year round in Qatar what would your recommendations be on the intervals for maintenance (anti-fouling, bottom painting etc)?

4. One thing I haven't seem to find an answer for here is the flushing of the engine. There are way too many opinions on this. Do I need to flush the engine with fresh water after every use or will simply draining the hose by unplugging the blue cap near the engine suffice with flushing at least once a month?


Really glad to see that there is an active forum for all Sea Ray owners. Appreciate your assistance and responses
 
Saadairahman
With respect to your #4 issue, I would suggest you regularly flush the engine with fresh water. Two schools of thought here: 1. The cast iron manifolds will rust no matter what. Water rusts iron. Don't worry. 2. Salt water is more corrosive than fresh water and so flushing out after every run makes sense to defer maintenance. Moreover, there are always low spots in the engine and letting corrosive salt water sit there will significantly accelerate corrosion in that area.
I don't know which approach is correct but I would offer the following: I have a 2012 Sundeck 260 which I had the dealer install an accessible fresh water flush system. I believe it will give me 1 or 2 or more years life to the manifold before it must be replaced. I also believe that when I sell the boat, the prospective buyer will be more interested in my boat because even though it is operated in a salt water environment, it was maintained to a higher standard. So, if you expect to own the boat more than a few years, you are probably wise to add the flush kit and use it regularly. If you plan to trade it or sell it sooner than later, maybe not a good investment. By the way, the cost here in the US with a Sea Ray dealer was less than $700 US.
 

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