Now the proud owners of a 1986 Sea Ray 300 DA

S

Sacriverfolks

Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
RO Number
30800
Messages
55
So we just came home from signing the contract and paying $4,000 of the total $6,500 price for the boat. She's in great shape hull and mechanical wise. The fellow is in the process of going through the motors and drives (he owns a local boat shop) and is going to be putting all the mechanical and mechanical/electrical back together for me. All the interior upholstery and carpeting is about brand new and although it is in need of a serious top to bottom cleaning, even the admiral was impressed with the fact that the interior looks very much like a nearly new Sea Ray cruiser. We will be spending the winter putting everything back together (he is letting me keep it at the yard until we are done) and putting a fresh coat of bottom paint on in preparation for warmer weather.

Things that will need to be done (eventually):

- purchase a full canvas (it has a radar bridge so I believe it
is a two piece on this model).

- new stereo (speakers are in place, but the admiral wants
a satellite/ipod model!).

- make sure the fridge is good (he can get me one cheap if
not).

- Install a flip down TV/DVD combo player for weekends out.

She has a 4.0 Onan genny that turns over fine, but needs to be tested to make sure it's putting out adequate power. Clock says it has 331 hours on it, so it may need a new spool - we'll see when we get her all together. We are going to buff out the gelcoat ourselves and re finish the teak spots on the forward deck, the anchor pulpit, and the two sections on the swim step. She already has an automatic power windlass and a remote spot as well as being equipped to davit a dinghy.

Anyway, you're probably all bored by now, but any and all advice and suggestions are more than welcome and I am sure that I will be on here fairly often looking for such!
 
Congratulations! Bring her down the river to Bethel Island next summer and see the rest of the Delta!
 
Sounds like a steal at that price! How about posting some pics? We move up to a '89 300 DA this spring and love the boat. I have to admit that it wasn't quite as cheap as yours (jealous). It certainly is a buyers market now.
Congrats!
 
I had meant to take some pics today (as before shots for the admirals blog ;-)!) but I was late to pick up my son from sunday school so it will have to wait for a few days. It's not looking it's prettiest right now on deck and inside with most of the seats and doors/panels off for the re-upholster, but the hull is basically blemish and ding free (except for the two matching spots on the outer rails where some idiot obviously tried to put it into too small of a space at to much speed!). Thanks for the encouragment and FB we are for sure gonna be doing some cruising down to the Delta (and hopefully eventually the Bay) next season when she's all set to go!
 
That's incredibly cheap and I hope it all works out. PLEASE post some pictures so we can compare models and notes. I wish I could have bought ours for that amount! Even double or triple that amount would have been a GREAT deal!
 
We're tied up with Thanksgiving stuff through tomorrow, but I am planning on going down on Friday morning to power wash it down and begin the detailing process. Any recommendations re: bottom paint and anti-foul (I have seen some pretty good deals online - especially for blue water paints), and gelcoat buffer/seal/polish?
 
I DO hope you realize that for what you're paying for that Boat you're really only buying the Generator and getting the Boat for free?

THAT....is an absolute STEAL and you should go directly to Jail....

Congrats.....
 
Thanks, I'll take the compliment and run. Fortunately, I have a very tolerant fiancee' who has been very patient - especially during the last six months - about my intense search for the best deal for our first large cruiser. Another question I have for anyone who might know here. The props are in OK shape for right now, but I am thinking about just replacing them with stainless before we put her in the water (lots of crap in the Sac river in the spring). Now I have heard some people say that is a good way to ruin a drive if you hit something, and an equal number claim that it is more protective of the drive. I have no idea who is right, but I do know that the couple of larger (log type) drive impact that I have had in the past with a ski boat (20' and less than 3500#) the prop was pretty mangled but the drive was not impacted at all. What is the opinion here, and does anyone know what is the ideal prop pitch to have on this boat (Alpha one drives) for a nice belnd of performance with fuel economy?
 
We hit a submerged something about 4 years ago at about 6 mph....
Stainless Props on Alpha 1's.......
Cost of repair was $3800.00
Keep the Aluminums
 
In a river with all sorts of stuff floating by, I'd stay with the aluminum since they will shread and protect your outdrive. The stainless prop will transfer the force right into the Alpha where gears and shafts will get stripped. It's a sound I don't want to experience!
 
Ditto on the Aluminum props for all of the above reasons. I'll have to check my props to see what pitch they are and let you know.
 
That all makes good sense, and the aluminium are quite a bit cheaper and easier to find anyway. Scorpio if you can get that prop pitch, that would be great.
 
So I actually traced a thread here and found out that I could look up the info on the Sea Ray site and i found that the recommended is 14 X 19 on the props for my boat. Now the question is - since I cannot test this until at least the spring - is that the pitch that people with that boat find to be the best performing?
 
I think we're running a cupped 14 x 17, but now I can't remember. I have NO problem reaching 5,000 RPM's when fully loaded and yes, I know the max RPM should be 4800! I should probably switch to the 14 X 19! I have them sitting in the bilge too! Planes pretty fast compared to our old 250 DA with the 454 Magnum! :-) I know the 14 X 19 would probably give a better cruise. I'll have to try them next year!
 
I have the 14x19 props on mine and she performs well, tops out around 38mph at 4500 rpm. My props are banged up a bit and have some corrosion too. I'm going to replace them next spring and keep the old ones as spares. I'm going to stay with the 14x19 pitch.
 
Here's a little item that came up today that I am not sure what is happening. Obviously at this point the boat is still sitting on a trailer in the yard. The jr. seaman (my 7-year old) and I went out today and did a really thorough scrub down of the control area and the aft deck/hatch covers with soft scrub -and now we have white decks! Anyway, when I rinsed off the decks all the drains seemed to work just fine - after pulling out the loose leaves - but when I went down in the cabin, there was a full bilge of water in the aft cabin floor sections again.
A little history, last week after the purchase I got in with the wet vac and sucked all the accumulated rainwater out of that area so that there wouldn't end up getting mildew growing in the new carpet! I ended up getting out about 25 gallons of water.
Anyway, I figure that this is happening just because the bilge pumps aren't on (there are three, correct? forward, mid/aft-cabin and stern is what I have found), which is in direct relation to the fact that the batteries are off with the drives off and the starboard engine still out for its' refurb.
Just thought I'd ask because I am curious as to how the water is getting there in an otherwise tight cabin (no window leaks or any other access source that I can find).
Also, I found some 45% copper bottom/anti-foul paint online that is made by rustoleum for substantially cheaper than the common marine brands. Anyone have any experience with this product? It's only around $40-45 a gallon, and having been a painter in my past life, I have found that the most expensive paint is not always the best value if the content is the same or close enough to not have an effect on the outcome.
 
My 89 300 DA has a pump in the aft cabin sump, mainly for A/C condensate and shower water. I also have a Rule 2000 in the main bilge with another Rule 2000 mounted higher as a backup. I don't have any pump mounted foreward of the aft cabin. As for the water getting into the cabin sump, I'd empty it and then have your son sit in there and watch while you hose the deck, windshield and hull and try to determine where the wate is entering. Another method is to dust baby powder lightly all over the cabin sump and then hose the decks etc. any water flowing thru the powder will leave a trail. That may help you track down the source.
I've never had rain water or wash water in my cabin sump only the main bilge. Is there a limber hole from the cabin sump to the main bilge? If so, then you could be getting back flow from the the main bilge.
 
That was kind of what I was thinking was gong on as the way the boat is sitting right now it is on a spot on the parking area that has it slightly nose down and port tilt (maybe 3-5 degrees). When I sucked the water out of the main bilge and accessory areas, it was sitting mostly forward on an obvious slant.

I have three rule 1000 pumps, but right now there is only enough juice in the batteries to run the dash clock. I might think about replacing them before we get it in the water if they do not seem to be working at capacity once I get the juice flowing (need to charge the batteries and get it in the water to run the genny).
 
I'm not that familiar with your boat but had a similar water problem with my Carver. It turned out to be a ripped drain hose between one of the drains on the rear deck and the through hull that it was supposed to drain through. It was just draining into the bildge. Also, if your drain plug on the transom is still in, I would take it out to prevent water from reaching the electrical stuff on your motors while you find the problem.
Jim
 
The plug is out - for what that is worth with the boat sitting in a bow down attitude. That is an interesting point as I already know that all the blower hoses are shot and need to be replaced.
 
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