The official pre-clinton era sr sport cruiser thread

I just thought I would pass along a recent pleasant experience.

I happened to meet a salesman at a Sea Ray dealership near where we slip our boat this past week. I had stopped in just to check the place out for something to do and check for possible sources of a voltmeter gauge for our 89 300.
His inquiries regarding what boat we had, revealed he recalled the boat being a custom order when new and thus the reason for the big blocks. It explains why the big blocks are more common over 30 feet. As well, I was able to glean a bit of history regarding the boat's life and at the end of the day made me feel good about our purchase last fall.
I have actually had the boat inspected again since the spring launch, as the marine survey last fall mentioned a couple of high moisture areas in the stringers, and very pleased to be informed we are the owners of a very good, solid boat.
Also, I finally found the area on the forum where most of the people reside that have been so helpful with my recent requests for info on water pump impeller changes etc.
So I will say thankyou again.
Ken
 
Wow!

The 300 has the Big Blocks in it!
If you ever have to pull those things out, my guess is it will sound a lot like a cork being pulled from a really big wine bottle :lol:
 
Wow!

The 300 has the Big Blocks in it!
If you ever have to pull those things out, my guess is it will sound a lot like a cork being pulled from a really big wine bottle :lol:

Now you can understand why I did not tackle the water pump project.
 
Now you can understand why I did not tackle the water pump project.

Totaly understandable!

Just wondering what kind of speed and fuel consumption you get with the 'big guys' sitting in the bilge?
The old sports car racer is interested in the speed, the engineer is interested in the fuel consumption....
 
Totaly understandable!

Just wondering what kind of speed and fuel consumption you get with the 'big guys' sitting in the bilge?
The old sports car racer is interested in the speed, the engineer is interested in the fuel consumption....

Based on the tachs and gps, I can run 23-24mph at around 2800 rpm with full fuel, water, and 2 adults. Similarily 3200 rpm generates 28 mph. The tachs are within a couple of hundred rpm and I tend to go with the lower number, however at times the tachs agree. Synch gauge is a key instrument. I have got a bit agressive with rpm around 4100 and speed about 35-36 but did not take the time to retrim. I have always used trim tabs, however was recently advised to try running around 3100-3200 rpm with no tabs. I have not tried this as of yet but plan to do so. The secondaries just start to open around 3000 rpm so I think I could probably run at this rpm with little difference in gph. But we shall see. I do not have fuel flow meters and from what I can tell so far it looks like the gph at 28 mph is between 22-23. We do not run the boat hard at any time other then to set some benchmarks. Tons of power if we need it and nice to know it is on tap. I never go to WOT to get up on plane as I do not believe in that method. In fact I am seldom above 2800 rpm. Manouverability at docks and backing into our slip is simply awesome. Pivot point is just slightly forward of the radar arch base. Also for a 30 ft boat the beam is 11 ft which makes for a very stable platform and lots of elbow room (except between the big boys)
Ken
 
Sounds like your pivot point is just about where you are standing the helm (fore to aft) that has got to be nice.
Do you know if your piviot point is considerably different than a Weekender with small blocks?
 
Sounds like your pivot point is just about where you are standing the helm (fore to aft) that has got to be nice.
Do you know if your piviot point is considerably different than a Weekender with small blocks?

northshore
I am certainly no expert as this is our first twin engine boat. I would think the pivot point is more determined by the position of the engines which will be a function of the type of drive system (direct,V or I/O) depending on the style of boat. For example, since the Weekender model has no mid cabin as does the Sundancer the engines can sit further forward. It seems most older mid cabin models have V drive inboards or stern drives. I quite like the direct drive as it seems to be the simplest as I feel the fewer moving parts the better. But that is just me. The boat will do a 360 in its own length. I will mention one thing. Our previous boat was a Sundancer with the raised cockpit floor to allow for a mid cabin. I very much prefer the floor design of the Weekender and did not like the higher center of gravity feeling of the 230DA.
Ken
 
Lots of good information on here! I will post pics as soon as I figure this out. (not computer savy). After seeing everyone's pic, I am even more excited about bringing our baby back to life.

Rhonda
 
Lots of good information on here! I will post pics as soon as I figure this out. (not computer savy). After seeing everyone's pic, I am even more excited about bringing our baby back to life.

Rhonda

Rhonda, the easiest way I have found is to go to www.photobucket.com and open a free account and you can up all the pictures you want, then just copy the img. code and past it in the forum reply and your pictures will be nice and big.
Hope this helps
 
Been a while since I've been on and I come back to find Sprink cruising around with a speedboat, and still keeping the eye out for the big flybridge. I miss Sprinks boat, I really love the 390's. Dream boat would be the late 80's 390 with Cat's, and a traveling mechanic!
I want to take a vote to kick Pietro out of the group. Since he is finally done the "rebuild" of his boat, he needs to go hang out with the newer guys since he doesn't have anything old left on that thing! (I've reread that post about 100 times, just amazed at everything that was done, and how great it turned out)
It's interesting that this keeps going, and new members are always logging in.
Good to see all the other oldies chugging around the world.
 
Mark
We all await completion of your reclamation project! Stop by every now and then!
 
There's actually one old thing left on my 390..... ME!!!:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

Btw, don't worry, I'll be soon back with some more modifications I'm planning for this winter :wink:
 
Hey guys...just checking in to say hello. My old 390 is now in the hands of new owners on Cumberland Lake , KY...my my she gets around ...does she not???:huh:

Anyway...still playing with and enjoying my Formula 255 Liberator "Go Fast".

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Meanwhile ....my wife Michelle is pushing me to get another Sea Ray..."comfort boat". I'm looking at a '98 48 DB down here next week....you never know....with the numbers in free fall like they are...I might be back in a Sea Ray soon...but I'm keeping my Formula!!! :thumbsup:

Talk to you soon...

John F. aka sprink56

Hey John glad you are enjoying the Formula, I have a line on one my sister said an older gent at Church collects go fast boats and has a Formula for around 3k so I will be checking it out. Ya never know in might look good behind the 70 C/10 I am building
 
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum and new to boating for that matter (since I was a kid).
We just bought a 1991 250 Weekender with a 454 Merc in it. I'm trying to do some research on it and I'm coming up empty handed. Are there any more of these out there?? Any suggestions on where I should be posting to communicate with other owners?

Thanks!
 
Crazy...
what you did is probably the best move. Post here and start your own thread. They'll probably come out of the woodwork. Takes some time usually.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new 21yo boat!
 
I believe the treat switch was for the Vac-u-Flush system original with the boat...back in the day when it was legal to treat your blackwater waste with a couple chemicals and dump it overboard. My 193 310 sundancer still has all the parts for that, but I think there were disabled some time ago...if anyone has the manuals for it please let me know.
deweyvmartin@gmail.com
 
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894359E6-F819-4B8C-B638-C2E11CC0C5A6.jpeg
I haven’t read all 32 pages yet, but am glad it came back to the surface.

I don’t know what all this “horrible decor” and “plastic pulls” stuff is about, but here are a few picks of my ‘83 360 SRV.
 

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