The Official 450 Express Bridge Owners Club

[Forrestkk]

Here is a shot of my 2002 helm. All original equipment; no thrusters. I am definitely interested in any of the upgrades you are considering. Right now, I rely on Navionics on an iPad for navigationView attachment 105669

Nice looking helm! Does the original plotter not work right or is it just not user friendly enough?

The Garmin 5212 on ours works great and adding the second 5212 will be a nice-to-have. My second electronics upgrade will be the Garmin Wi-Fi adapter so I can use Active Captain in conjunction with the boat.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-SG/digital/p/129410

As far as my dead system monitor goes, I will probably play with original system a bit to get it going. If it isn't an easy fix I'll put this in https://aqualarm.net/automatic-sys-...4.html?zenid=0e939534381c9f8393b076fe7944c384

The alarm is not pretty, but simple and functional. I will have to see if I can find some burl to make the install look somewhat professional. This site has Sea Ray repro panels. Hoping I can just get a sheet from them. https://www.searay-parts.com/Sea-Ra...Y&sort=1&cat=842&show=30&page=1&brand=Sea Ray

I also want to remove the old depth and fish finder units.

 

[LMBoat]

Hi All,

Having just added a new Garmin unit, I thought I’d share my helm and what I have:

Garmin GPSMap 1243 XSV 12” main unit (just upgraded from a Garmin 4010 that was 12-13 years. Still works great if anyone is interested)

2 Garmin GPSMap 741 XS 7”, one port, above VHF, one strb of the steering wheel

Garmin GMR 18HD radar

Garmin GHC 20 Auto pilot, Reactor 40 pump, and w/ remote

Garmin GMX 51, XM Weather

Garmin AIS

Engine Room camera (a $20 license plate camera from Amazon, works great)

Icom DSC VHF (networked to the Garmin for emergency button)

Standard Horizon DSC VHF (I like this one better than the ICOM)

Old Raymarine tri data unit between the tachs (last bit of Raymarine electronics left. I have 2 different transducers and 2 ways to tell the depth.


All the Garmins are touch screen, except the AP which I don’t know why, it is only 2 years old. I can configure the screens anyway I want. I do like that.


You will also see PLB velcro’d to the dash. I also have an EPIRB in the ditch bag.


You will also see an empty mount above the steering wheel. That is for a Garmin GPSMap 276C. This is a smaller, old unit, but it battery powered and works great. I don’t usually have it hooked up unless I’m on a long run (going to the Bahamas). I figure if I have a catastrophic electrical issue, that this device would still work being battery powered.

In the process of installing the new 1243, I took the time to remove all of the old/unused wiring. The boat’s 22 years old and had 3 generations of electronics wiring. Most all of the NEMA 0183 wiring is gone (just GPS outs to the VHF’s). And I labeled all the wiring I could. It’s neater/cleaner. All works/integrates well, and should be easier to troubleshoot. And everything just “plugs in” to each other. The only really “wiring” was to connect 12v pwr. Gone are the days of butt connectors and heat shrink in cramped/difficult spaces.


As I type this, it occurs to me that I have spent more on Garmin electronics recently then I spent on my first boat (a ’84 260 Searay purchased in 1991)…lol. Ah boating……..

 

[keithmo]

The link/article I posted and some other great technical articles are only available to site sponsors.
That article alone, is well worth the cost of sponsorship.

http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?account/upgrades

Thanks Mitch. I just joined and agree the diesel article is well worth the cost. Looks like a great routine to start following right away.

 

[Shoyrtt]

Greetings from the hook in Avalon!

We had pretty decent 5’ west swell coming over so I wasn’t sure we could go WOT but conditions improved when we got close to the island. WOT was just a tick over 2800 at 23/24 knots. Fuel as we left the marina was at 3/4 in both tanks.
Here is the helm just before we pulled out this morning.

Back in post #64 I described everything on the helm that I could recall. I forgot to mention the portable gps puck I use with my ipad for the Navionics app. It is on the little pad above the steering wheel. Also included is the lovely ski rear view mirror the prior owner installed. I hear this a common addition to larger boats on the Delta for fast approaching jet skis and muscle boats. I tried taking it off but there is a mark on the little windshield so it stays. Maybe I'll use it someday towing a dinghy, but for the most part it is useless.

 

[Forrestkk]

Hi All,

Having just added a new Garmin unit, I thought I’d share my helm and what I have:

Garmin GPSMap 1243 XSV 12” main unit (just upgraded from a Garmin 4010 that was 12-13 years. Still works great if anyone is interested)

2 Garmin GPSMap 741 XS 7”, one port, above VHF, one strb of the steering wheel

Garmin GMR 18HD radar

Garmin GHC 20 Auto pilot, Reactor 40 pump, and w/ remote

Garmin GMX 51, XM Weather

Garmin AIS

Engine Room camera (a $20 license plate camera from Amazon, works great)

Icom DSC VHF (networked to the Garmin for emergency button)

Standard Horizon DSC VHF (I like this one better than the ICOM)

Old Raymarine tri data unit between the tachs (last bit of Raymarine electronics left. I have 2 different transducers and 2 ways to tell the depth.


All the Garmins are touch screen, except the AP which I don’t know why, it is only 2 years old. I can configure the screens anyway I want. I do like that.


You will also see PLB velcro’d to the dash. I also have an EPIRB in the ditch bag.


You will also see an empty mount above the steering wheel. That is for a Garmin GPSMap 276C. This is a smaller, old unit, but it battery powered and works great. I don’t usually have it hooked up unless I’m on a long run (going to the Bahamas). I figure if I have a catastrophic electrical issue, that this device would still work being battery powered.

In the process of installing the new 1243, I took the time to remove all of the old/unused wiring. The boat’s 22 years old and had 3 generations of electronics wiring. Most all of the NEMA 0183 wiring is gone (just GPS outs to the VHF’s). And I labeled all the wiring I could. It’s neater/cleaner. All works/integrates well, and should be easier to troubleshoot. And everything just “plugs in” to each other. The only really “wiring” was to connect 12v pwr. Gone are the days of butt connectors and heat shrink in cramped/difficult spaces.


As I type this, it occurs to me that I have spent more on Garmin electronics recently then I spent on my first boat (a ’84 260 Searay purchased in 1991)…lol. Ah boating……..

Looks great!

LOL on the last comment on electronics cost!

 

[Forrestkk]

Wow, nice place to spend the weekend.

Great shot of the helm!

Our delivery slipped a week, hoping to send you all some good shots next weekend as we bring the boat home!

 

[Blown284]

Engine Room camera (a $20 license plate camera from Amazon, works great)

What camera did you end up using and how do you control it? Wireless? Wired?

 

[LMBoat]

RE ER Camera, I don't remember the specifics other than it is just a back-up license plate camera for a car that I got from Amazon. It was less then $30. There are no controls for it. it is not wireless, it uses an RCA plug and cable. (it is a pain running wires from the ER to the helm. If anyone has any tricks on this, please let all know). I had to by an RCA to BNA adapter plug to make it work on the new Garmin 1243 (about $5). For power, I just wired it to my ER lights, so when the lights are on, so is the camera, and i need the lighting anyway to get a good pick. I'm happy with it. I just could not get comfortable spending $500 on the Garmin camera. If I'm missing something, please let me know.

 

[Shoyrtt]

Yes, they are installed from the outside. There are a few screws that hold the vent in place (no bolts, fancy fittings, etc, at least on my boat). I don't remember the epoxy I used. I scrapped out some of the wood coring (about 1" or so deep all around the opening), then did one coat of just plain epoxy to soak in well, let that cure, then next coat, I used some filler to make it thicker and "buttered it" into the void. Let it cure, then reinstalled the vent with new caulking. Not a difficult or expensive job. I guess you could do this in the water if you have a floating dock, floating platform, etc. but I did mine when on the hard.

You might get lucky when you pull the vent and see that someone has already made this repair/improvement. Then you can just inspect, re-caulk, reinstall.

FYI, the same issue exists with the port hole windows, but not as bad. They don't get the abuse from haul out straps, and are sturdier. Check them as well. At minimum, I would re-caulk them

Larry, thank you again for pointing this out. I took a look at my vents this weekend and it appears they are easy to remove. Just a bunch of phillips head screws holding them in that are all accessible from the outside. I didn't pull them off yet but I can tell at a minimum I'm going to need to re-caulk both sides. I noticed after washing the boat I get a little water in my ER on the port side. I thought it might have been a void somewhere in the cockpit, but now I believe it is from my port side vent.

 

[Shoyrtt]

I posted this in the general section. If you haven't noticed, I like to post a picture on the site if I can. I figure it helps the community see what we are talking about and may help with a little motivation for the projects we are working on or thinking about for the future. Here is the shot after I stripped the forward section of the flybridge of all of the trim pieces for upholstery work and the nasty mess under the old carpet back in January and what it looks like now with the new flooring, trim and another bling lighted cupholder.

 

[Shoyrtt]

So the first big weekend is upon us so it is time to wrap up some last minute maintenance issues. If your wife or significant other is like mine, she has a superior sense of smell. Last weekend she advised me that it was time again to check the main sump box. My broker gave me a little heads up on this last year when we bought the boat saying the sump usually needs attention every three or four months depending on use. That is all the advice I got before I cleaned it for the first time back in August after watching a YouTube video or two. I am going to go through the steps I take to help out Kevin as he takes delivery of his 450 and I am hopeful some of you veterans can tell me how you do it as I am no expert.
To start we head midship, in the hallway just outside the middle stateroom and guest head to find the hatch. Inside we find what I believe is yet another attempt by the Sea Ray engineers to make something simple, difficult. Why in the world is the sump box so far back under the floor? If they had just moved it 6" forward the job would be so much easier! As you can see here the box is barely visible.

To do the job, I picked up this small wet vac from Home Depot and I have a large selection of rags and garbage bags to clean and keep things dry. I also use a small brush and Simple Green Marine for cleaning.

The first step is to remove the clear plexiglass lid to the box. Again this would be a simple task with just 6 bolts, washers and wing nuts, but due to the location of the box, I have to summon my braille reading abilities as I reach blindly into the abyss with my arms and hands doing the work while my head remains up top looking at simulated teak flooring. And I know I'm not the first one to have this problem as this box has only 5 of the 6 bolts available because the starboard aft bolt location is impossible to reach. The abyss:

Once the lid is removed you vacuum out the box so you can see the scum and residue that needs attention.

I have found that technology is actually your friend here. I use my phone with the flash on to survey what needs attention. I spray lots of Simple Green on everything and go to town with the brush. I take a picture and see where I missed. Lots of spray, scrubbing and pictures.

At this point I want to flush out as much of the scum and Simple Green as possible. Going to the guest head, I turn on the faucet in the sink and fill the sump to a point just before the pump is about to turn on. I then use the vacuum again to suck everything out. My theory on this I don't want the scum going through the pump and don't want the Simple Green in the box after it is clean due to the foam.

Next up it is back to the guest head faucet to flush the sump. I let the water run for 3 or 4 cycles to check the operation of the pump and to get more of the Simple Green out. I then have a spray bottle with just water that I use to spray everything down. I then go back to some blind work with rags to wipe any residue away inside the sump and anywhere I can reach. The final step before putting the lid back on is a little NoFlex. I turn the faucet on again to fill the sump just before the pump turns on and then I put a 1/2 scoop of NoFlex directly in the sump. I figure I now have the digestor doing it's job so long as I don't add any more water to the sump, so I usually wash my hands on the dock or with the swim step hose.

The last step is to go back to the blind man routine and secure the lid with those 6, no I mean 5 bolts, washers and wing nuts.

I have thought about some alternatives to my impossible to reach bolt hole, but nothing seems to be viable. Any ideas out there other than moving the sump to where it should have been in the first place? I often think some retired Sea Ray engineer loves reading some of these posts on CSR as he laughs.

 

[keithmo]

We had a heck of a mess when we opened the boat back in mid-March. The mold in the sump was so thick the float wouldn’t work and we overflowed. I did some research on CSR and found several ideas for cleaning and refitting the sump. One thing I learned, and did, was to use zip ties to secure the top (all but the back 2). Now I can just snip off 4 ties when I need to open it up for cleaning in the future. I saved the bolts to put on when we sell the boat down the road. We ended up using vinegar, a small brush, and a small shop vac. We are also much more careful about what goes down the sink! Here’s a picture of my wife taking a turn with the dreaded sump duty!

 

[Shoyrtt]

Keith, I like the zip ties as an alternative to the bolts! I have to show my wife your picture. Maybe I can convince her to get down there and do some work! Good to know I'm not the only one who struggles with sump duty.

 

[Forrestkk]

Great writes ups on the sump! I know that is in my near future, thx for the tips and techniques.

We recieved sad news news this morning. While the boat has been on the hard for 10 days, they failed to recieve the shaft seal (read forgot to order it, my guess). Of course, we are on hold for another week.

Such is life...

 

[Shoyrtt]

Great writes ups on the sump! I know that is in my near future, thx for the tips and techniques.

We recieved sad news news this morning. While the boat has been on the hard for 10 days, they failed to recieve the shaft seal (read forgot to order it, my guess). Of course, we are on hold for another week.

Such is life...

That sucks. You have a big relocation trip ahead of you. Hopefully there won't be anymore set backs. The season is here!

As I was finishing up last night at sump duty, I thought I should check to see if my hot water heater fix was still holding up (see post #27). Yes I bitch about the sump, but I forgot how funky it is getting to the access panel under the midship bed. I pulled the mattress out enough to get to the hatch, crawled back there and opened it. My first reaction was "oh f*ck" when I saw the floorboard at the base of the heater was shiny. I was used to looking at the dull floor near the sump for the past hour for sump duty. Thinking the floor was wet, I reached down by the water heater to see how deep it was. Much to my surprise it was dry as a bone! I forgot that I had used bilge paint after the repair and it was still shiny and new.

 

[Forrestkk]

That sucks. You have a big relocation trip ahead of you. Hopefully there won't be anymore set backs. The season is here!

As I was finishing up last night at sump duty, I thought I should check to see if my hot water heater fix was still holding up (see post #27). Yes I bitch about the sump, but I forgot how funky it is getting to the access panel under the midship bed. I pulled the mattress out enough to get to the hatch, crawled back there and opened it. My first reaction was "oh f*ck" when I saw the floorboard at the base of the heater was shiny. I was used to looking at the dull floor near the sump for the past hour for sump duty. Thinking the floor was wet, I reached down by the water heater to see how deep it was. Much to my surprise it was dry as a bone! I forgot that I had used bilge paint after the repair and it was still shiny and new.

Yeah, that would have made my heart stop too! Glad it was dry and you get to head out!

We were fortunate, our hot water heater was just replaced a few months ago. Hoping no issues from that for awhile!

I do know I am doing the salon A/C almost right away due a heavily corroded cooling coil. Plan to do bridge A/C at the same time and upgrade the A/C raw water pump to handle the lift required. Has anyone done bridge A/C?

 

[Shoyrtt]

Yeah, that would have made my heart stop too! Glad it was dry and you get to head out!

We were fortunate, our hot water heater was just replaced a few months ago. Hoping no issues from that for awhile!

I do know I am doing the salon A/C almost right away due a heavily corroded cooling coil. Plan to do bridge A/C at the same time and upgrade the A/C raw water pump to handle the lift required. Has anyone done bridge A/C?

I didn't have to repair or replace any of the A/C units so far. The coils are all in good shape and the raw pump is still good. When you say "bridge A/C" do you mean the flybridge? If so, where are you planning to locate that? The space under the helm? Maybe under the "T" couch? I put an ice maker and an invertor under the helm. I can't count how many times I have had to pull out the icemaker again and again to get access to some wiring under the helm. Painful.

 

[Forrestkk]

I didn't have to repair or replace any of the A/C units so far. The coils are all in good shape and the raw pump is still good. When you say "bridge A/C" do you mean the flybridge? If so, where are you planning to locate that? The space under the helm? Maybe under the "T" couch? I put an ice maker and an invertor under the helm. I can't count how many times I have had to pull out the icemaker again and again to get access to some wiring under the helm. Painful.

Yes, flybridge.

I am thinking under the sink to the port of the ice maker https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ffGaWIVSrSj7PH-HtFv_qesYBHZd798x/view?usp=drivesdk . I did rough measurements on the sea trial and I think I can make it work. If not there, I saw a 450 with a whole fridge/ice maker/battery bank under the table. I don't need all that, but think I could build something nice out of starboard there that is elevated off the deck slightly and just vent conditioned air right towards the base of the captains chair to eliminate the need for a lot of ducting. Our autopilot is under the T couch, so not messing with that.

I also could be dreaming. One day, when we finally take delivery I can really measure well

We looked at a Crusiers 477, Sea Ray 560, 480s, and a 420 (all sedan bridges) and all had bridge A/C, and it was nice. We don't have too many cool months here, so our season is pretty much from March through October, and we still want to be able to head out on warmer winter days. The Christmas boat parades are also a must, so the heat is nice to go year around. Also, our summers are HOT, so hanging out on the bridge when it is 95 degrees and 80 to 90% humidty is doable, but not so much fun even at crusing speeds.

 

[LMBoat]

RE water heater leaks, I think I've mentioned this before, but just in case.....For the water heater compartment (and the salon sump floor compartment), get a water alarm from Lowes Depot. They are used for under laundry sinks, washer/dryer areas, etc at home. They go off if there is any water on the floor. They are battery powered and easy to install. i did not like the idea of a water leak down there and not know it until it became a major problem. This has saved me two water heaters (when that area floods it can hold 50-75 gal of water before the water heater floods and trips the breaker, and if you see water down there, turn off the water heater before you do the fresh/salt water thing). Easy, cheap, and a big payback in sleeping better at night, on or off the boat.

FYI, I thought about using regular float switches for this this, but they allow too much water in before they turn on. These alarms go off if any water in there.

 

[Shoyrtt]

Yes, flybridge.

I am thinking under the sink to the port of the ice maker https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ffGaWIVSrSj7PH-HtFv_qesYBHZd798x/view?usp=drivesdk . I did rough measurements on the sea trial and I think I can make it work. If not there, I saw a 450 with a whole fridge/ice maker/battery bank under the table. I don't need all that, but think I could build something nice out of starboard there that is elevated off the deck slightly and just vent conditioned air right towards the base of the captains chair to eliminate the need for a lot of ducting. Our autopilot is under the T couch, so not messing with that.

I also could be dreaming. One day, when we finally take delivery I can really measure well

We looked at a Crusiers 477, Sea Ray 560, 480s, and a 420 (all sedan bridges) and all had bridge A/C, and it was nice. We don't have too many cool months here, so our season is pretty much from March through October, and we still want to be able to head out on warmer winter days. The Christmas boat parades are also a must, so the heat is nice to go year around. Also, our summers are HOT, so hanging out on the bridge when it is 95 degrees and 80 to 90% humidty is doable, but not so much fun even at crusing speeds.

I think that spot under the sink will work. I have 8 or so life jackets there on my boat. Lots of room to make that modification which should have been an option from Sea Ray for hot/humid climates.