new 08 searays

Unfortunately I tend to agree with Pascal's observation. My 260 Sundacer is the exception as are the 240 Sundancer, the 270 Amberjack, and 280 Sundancer with single engines. All of those cruisers even when equipped with Gennies are very easy to work on. As soon as you get into the twin engine v-drive cruisers, there are issues with "packaging" on many models. If you have outdrives, it helps somewhat from what I have seen because the engines are not turned around and shoved up against the transom as they are on many of the V-Drives. But if you think the cruisers are bad, most of the Sport Boat's in Sea Ray's line up are extremely hard to work on. Try changing the impeller in a Sea Water pump on a 220 or 240 Sundeck as an example and you will see what I mean. Without removing panels or standing on your head you can't even reach them.

The whole issue of engine (room) accessibilty seems to take a back seat to style or interior room which makes a lot of the regular DIY jobs that much more difficult in many of their models.
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

i don't really get this vee drive leaves no room thing... engines are the same, they take the same amount of space. the tranny adds a little bit at the forward end but not that much. you can still have a lot of room in the back of the engines for a genset, on centerline so it's accessible.

i wish i have pictures of the EC i had on my old maxum 37, I know it's a little bigger than the 330/340 but the layout was perfect with everything accessible. i could sit behind the engines for impeller, belts, etc... or by the gensets. batteries, strainers, every thing was accessible.

teh Vee drive issue is for the most part an excuse, nothing else.

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Come on now .......Last year I changed boat. The last two boats on my shopping list were a 1998 Maxum 37 and a 1995 Sea Ray 370 DA. (SR 370 was cheaper). The engine room on both of these boat were good. The engine room on the Maxum was no better than the Sea Ray. Please stop compare engine room on 37 feet boat with engine room on 33 ot 34 feet boats.
 
nice try eclips... :-)

here is a pic i pulled off YW, from a 1995 370... you can't even stand between the engines !!!

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the later models are a little better with more space between, except that the genny is buried outside one of the engine an nearly impossible to reach... and so are the batteries. also, the inside exhaust hose is routed straight aft, blocking access to everything back there..

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on the maxum , the inside exhaust turns 90deg by the heat exchanger and leaves the rear of the ER accessible. doesn't seem like much but when you need to work on the water pump, belt, etc... it makes a big difference

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need to service the genny ? you sit between the engines... plenty of room. need to work on the rear of the mains, you do it from the middle or you can sit right behind the engines... I'm 6'/220lbs and i fit there...

so... my point is that it doesn't take much to do a good job on an ER layout, but some builders just can't do that, even on equally sized 37 footers.
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

nice try eclips... :-)

here is a pic i pulled off YW, from a 1995 370... you can't even stand between the engines !!!

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Well, I Do ! ...each week.... Your picture does'nt really show the space between the engines.

quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

the later models are a little better with more space between, except that the genny is buried outside one of the engine an nearly impossible to reach... and so are the batteries. also, the inside exhaust hose is routed straight aft, blocking access to everything back there..

Click to expand...


Totally wrong here. I changed the set of batteries 1 month ago. I only had to lift the front port side panel and the batteries were right there. Pretty easy job I must say. Same thing for the genny. I put carburator kit on it in July. Just had to remove the back starboard side panel and the genny was right there. Frankly, there is no problem servicing anything in the engine room of the SR 370. PS: It is a quote of my mechanics. And you know what, I still have some free space in there.
 
pictures dont lie... the first pic from a 95 is taken from above, the space between the engines is about as wide as the risers...

the later ones, 2nd pic, are a little better but you still have the exhaust hose in the way... are you saying that the genny and the batteries are not outboard of the engines ?
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

pictures dont lie... the first pic from a 95 is taken from above, the space between the engines is about as wide as the risers...

the later ones, 2nd pic, are a little better but you still have the exhaust hose in the way... are you saying that the genny and the batteries are not outboard of the engines ?

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I am only telling my own experience (and the one of my mechanics) with servicing in the engine room of the SR 370 DA. Whatever the place of the components you always have the possibility to remove a panel(you have 6 of them)to have direct access to ANY components down there. By the way I don't need to get down there often to fix things since up to now this boat has been very reliable( as for the last 2 other Sea Ray's I owned....).

PS: ...and I am not bashing on the Maxum. As mentioned before it made my shortlist of two.
 
I agree with eclips. I had a 98 370DA with 7.4 Horizon engines and ER layout and access was generally good. Of course there are some issues, for example: no access to trim tab reservoir or having to lift risers and elbows to remove flame arrestors for cleaning. But, daily ER checks were pretty easy. Genny is mounted outboard, access is OK from behind the engine (I once had to change genny impeller in the middle of DE Bay - it was a hot but easy job).

I now have an 02 410DA with CATs 3126 and I curse ER access everytime I have to go down there. This ER is motivating me to shed some major pounds or teach my 6-year old to change Racor elements.

With respect to the 08 SRs, I hear that the new 55 Dancer has a nice ER layout with good access.
 
At 55 ft, it should! I always, always have a hard time with accessing batteries on Sea Rays. Aparently, they think they never need to be replaced. 420 Aft Cabin...HORRIBLE access. You have to lay in such a way that you don't have any leverage to lift them up out of their mount location. Yes...a 55 foot boat, regardless of style, should have easy ER access
 
Forget walking around in these large boat engine rooms, what amazes me is what they say about propeller spacing. I look at 30 ft boats and worry about Searay's props being so close together. But why in the world would they do that on a 60 ft boat? With the engines that close the props are as close as they get on a 28 or 30! If you understand why the 30 wont turn, you can guess how much less the 60 will do.

And, as for those who find good room in Searay ERs, I'm sure it helps if you previously owned an even smaller Searay - or maybe a Maxim or some others.
 
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