Thoughts on 290 Engine/Drive (single Vs. Twin)

Strecker25 said:
Those look good. The only thing I will say is the dealer put the lowers on new and handed the boat to my surveyor who of course ran the boat WOT, well prior to the end of the SEI break-in period of 10 hours. I don’t buy it, but they say it contributed to the failure. The failure didn’t occur for another 60 hours. The sheared shaft was because the clutch jammed the propshaft and locked the lower up, thankfully it didn’t shred my OEM upper.

Anyways, sorry to derail the thread, back on track!
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All good information!!! look pretty dar good for 750 hours, dam near looks new.
 
Strecker25 said:
check these out. First one blew the pinion gear through the side of the housing. The pinion gear went at cruise rpm of 3k, engine revs shot up and gear lube flowed into the lake.

The second one sheared the vertical driveshaft off. right at the entrance to the upper. This was at idle, so no big fireworks, just a stalled motor. You can see the shaft is twisted by looking at the gears. Even though we're under the 300HP max of an alpha, those shafts just dont seem big enough for the size vessel. But, I'm no mechanical engineer and as I said they were chinese made SEI's, so who knows. Hopefully we're ok for the future now, I baby the throttles


View attachment 52282 View attachment 52283
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WOW - what a bummer!!! Hopefully you're all done with breakdowns!!
 
dpostman said:
Thanks for the offer!!! My brother lives in Shelbyville, TN. So jealous you guy get to boat most if not all of the year!!!
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Well............right now as I'm typing this, south of Nashville, its 14 outside
 
I have a 2001 290 with twin 5.0 Mercruisers and Bravo IIs. And love everything about it. Great combination and enough power. I agree with a previous post regarding twins will maintain greater resale and has a larger demand.

I looked for twins because I boat off RI and weather can change quickly. If I have a motor go down in bad weather, I wanted another remaining that I could keep the boat righted with until a tow service arrived or until I limped back to my slip. Have your only motor go down in bad weather and there is no telling what the outcome could be. Just my humble opinion. By no means the the right decision for everyone.
 
dpostman said:
That's about where I am at right now with younger boys (smaller for the moment), thanks for the information!!!
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I have a 2001 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer with Twin 5.0 EFI engines and Bravo III drives. 5.0 kw gen set, A/C, windlass.

1998 to 2001 290's are a different size boat then the 1989-1991 270 and the 1992-1997 290.
The 1989-1991 270 and the 1992-1997 290 are the same boat. transom to bow is 27' (LOA-29'4") Beam is 9'8" Dry weight is 7,700 lbs.
1998 to 2001 290's from transom to bow are 29'8" and LOA is 31'8" including bolted on swim deck. Beam is 10'2" Dry weight is 10,500.

2,800lbs is a significant weight increase.

I am very unhappy with my hole shot with my 5.0's with bravo III's.
(factory props were 24 pitch). I have gone down to 20 pitch and with a full tank of fuel, water, food, beer, whiskey ect and 4 people and trim tabs down. and "celery" stick on bravo 3 drives repositioned to allow drives to go down farther. It struggles to get on a plane.
(keep in mind the generator is in the back of the boat, which doesn't help)
It's a well known fact that 5.0/305ci Chevy engines do not have the torque needed for pickup trucks or boat applications. 5.7/6.2/6.3's are a better choice for boat applications.

I have been through all the tune up procedures to ensure I was getting all 240 ponies out of these engines. So I decided to pull my engines about a month ago and replace them with 5.7 260hp ATP vortec long blocks.

An Acquaintance of mine has the same boat with out all the options and doesn't load a boat as heavy as I do and when we are tied up next to each other, floating in the middle of the lake he sits 5" higher then I do. His boat does much better with the 5.0 Bravo 3's do to not having as much weight as my boat does. He has 24 pitch props and reports to me when he is full of fuel and 4-6 people, his boat is slow to get on plane.

My suggestion with a 1998-2001 290 Sundancer with all the heavy optional equipment. I would buy it with twin 5.7l EFI Bravo III's and prop with 22/24 pitch props.

If I was buying a 1989-1991 270 and the 1992-1997 290, my engine preference would be a 7.4l 454 with bravo II/III. It will give you a lot more room to work in the engine compartment. (You could always repower with a 375/425hp 8.1 496 engine).

I boat on interior lakes and have always had a kicker motor on my boats for fishing and back up. If I was in the salt water or the great lakes. I would prefer twin engines. If you want to stay in the early 90's sea rays. I would recommend the 1989-1991 sea ray 280DA or 1992-1994 300 Sea Ray 300DA. They are the same boat. I would get it with twin 5.7 350's 10'6" beam makes it nicer to work in the engine compartment with twin motors.

Hope this helps,
Columbia Beach Bum
 
Ship Happens said:
I have a 2001 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer with Twin 5.0 EFI engines and Bravo III drives. 5.0 kw gen set, A/C, windlass.

1998 to 2001 290's are a different size boat then the 1989-1991 270 and the 1992-1997 290.
The 1989-1991 270 and the 1992-1997 290 are the same boat. transom to bow is 27' (LOA-29'4") Beam is 9'8" Dry weight is 7,700 lbs.
1998 to 2001 290's from transom to bow are 29'8" and LOA is 31'8" including bolted on swim deck. Beam is 10'2" Dry weight is 10,500.

2,800lbs is a significant weight increase.

I am very unhappy with my hole shot with my 5.0's with bravo III's.
(factory props were 24 pitch). I have gone down to 20 pitch and with a full tank of fuel, water, food, beer, whiskey ect and 4 people and trim tabs down. and "celery" stick on bravo 3 drives repositioned to allow drives to go down farther. It struggles to get on a plane.
(keep in mind the generator is in the back of the boat, which doesn't help)
It's a well known fact that 5.0/305ci Chevy engines do not have the torque needed for pickup trucks or boat applications. 5.7/6.2/6.3's are a better choice for boat applications.

I have been through all the tune up procedures to ensure I was getting all 240 ponies out of these engines. So I decided to pull my engines about a month ago and replace them with 5.7 260hp ATP vortec long blocks.

An Acquaintance of mine has the same boat with out all the options and doesn't load a boat as heavy as I do and when we are tied up next to each other, floating in the middle of the lake he sits 5" higher then I do. His boat does much better with the 5.0 Bravo 3's do to not having as much weight as my boat does. He has 24 pitch props and reports to me when he is full of fuel and 4-6 people, his boat is slow to get on plane.

My suggestion with a 1998-2001 290 Sundancer with all the heavy optional equipment. I would buy it with twin 5.7l EFI Bravo III's and prop with 22/24 pitch props.

If I was buying a 1989-1991 270 and the 1992-1997 290, my engine preference would be a 7.4l 454 with bravo II/III. It will give you a lot more room to work in the engine compartment. (You could always repower with a 375/425hp 8.1 496 engine).

I boat on interior lakes and have always had a kicker motor on my boats for fishing and back up. If I was in the salt water or the great lakes. I would prefer twin engines. If you want to stay in the early 90's sea rays. I would recommend the 1989-1991 sea ray 280DA or 1992-1994 300 Sea Ray 300DA. They are the same boat. I would get it with twin 5.7 350's 10'6" beam makes it nicer to work in the engine compartment with twin motors.

Hope this helps,
Columbia Beach Bum
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I agree with all these points. Our boat is not a speed demon by any means, but we have never been unable to get on plane with 5.7EFI's and alphas. I carry full fuel and water nearly all the time, have the genny, 3 group 27's, and all our gear. The only time I had someone walk forward to stand next to the helm to get on plane faster was with 6 adults on board and enough gear for a 3 day trip to Canada.
 
For what its worth, my 97 330 with twin 454's and v-Drives pops on plane really quickly and will cruise all day at 3,400 rpm running 32 mph and getting about 0.9 miles per US Gallon. 3,200 RPM = about 28 mph.

Space in the bilge is pretty tight, but the hatch is basically the entire rear cockpit floor so access from up top is pretty good. Its just the reverse layout of the v-drive engines that makes access to the alternator and water pumps challenging.
 
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