Opinions on '89-'90 300 Sundancers

The broker just called and said that the yard looked at the head (manual) and there is a bad seal allowing it to suck air. they are puting a kit in it as we speak. They are also going to check the freon level in the AC and make sure the valve that allows it to switch between heat and AC is fucntioning. It was so cold yesterday that we couldn't get much cold air out of the AC, but it did make heat.
Take a look at my post in the ATC forum about the riser/manifold temps and let me know what you think.
Thanks
 
How often do you guys change your outdrive water pumps? How dificult is this on an Alpha 1 gen 1?
 
I go 3 years but boat in fresh, relatively clean water in Lake Michigan and store heated in the winter. After 3 years of use, the impellers display some wear but nowhere near failure. This is about 300 hours of engine time. My marina is deep water so I get very little sand and silt through the drive which would wear more on the impellers. I have the impellers changed when the drives are serviced for me. It's not particularly difficult but I choose to have it done by my mechanic.
 
OK, just catching up. Yes, our toilet is plumbed from the aft cabin seacock and it has a bleed screw. So they are still using the strainer but pulling the water for the head from the freshwater tank? If they've changed that on your boat make SURE there is a vacuum break in the line somewhere or the critters from your toilet will end up in your drinking water! Frankly, I'd plumb it back the other way or use a separate tank for the head. That's just not a good combination.

As far as impellars, I usually do it every two years. I have gone 3, but start to noticed some issues at idle and have to rev the motors a little bit to keep them cool. We trailer it though, so when I see that start to happen, it's easy to get it fixed. I'd just wait until you notice issues at idle and then you'll know it's time. I think the manual says every 100 hours.

As far as the trim gauge goes, are you talking about the Bennett Trim Indicator or trim gauge for the Alphas? The Alpha is a little black round cover piece on the right side of the Alpha that controls the trim gauge. They go out periodically. Usually there is a wire that get frayed or something. You can remove the cover and adjust them, if they aren't reading right.

When we take off, we have the drives tucked all the way in and the trim tabs all the way down. After we're on plane, we adjust to maximize the speed based on the GPS setting.
 
I noticed the same thing. The 110V lights in Saint Max are florescent and not bright. The 12V are in fixtures. The lenses on the 110V have yellowed and are considerably duller than the 12V. If that is the same situation the bulb is using a lot of energy to get through the lens. While you are up there, you may want to look at LED's as well. More light, less draw.
 
Jim, I'm referring to the Alpha trim gages. The seller is going to adress that issue for me. The broker called yesterday and said that they had the head rebuilt and it now sucks water. I want to check on the plumbing as I don't like the idea of backwash either. I think the broker ran the boat with the drives all the way in since the port trim gage wasn't working and he was probably afraid of getting them uneven. I also noticed that he planed the boat THEN used tabs. I always go full tab drive all the way in then trim out and tab up after on plane. Boat planed well even at that. He was slow advancing the throttles and we had quite a bit of bow rise and it lasted longer than it should have, but thats a matter of operator technique not the boat.

This boat has Teleflex gages and a sync gage that reads full to port. What does this thing attach to? Is there a black box somewhere? If so, where? I'd like to get this fixed, it bothers me to see a gage fully deflected for no reason.

Sounds like we are going to settle on the boat next week sometime. I can't wait!
 
Chris:

You're going down the RIGHT path!! Follow the Force!!

Sounds like the Broker is a step ahead and wants to make this deal work. They are busting their hiney's to get stuff up to snuff. I'm not even sure my trim gauges work? I'll have to go look and it's an excuse to go mess around on the boat. I've been doing it all day anyway! Got her tuned up and had the starboard shift cable replaced today in my driveway. That was fun! I should have done the tune up part myself. There is nothing to do! We pulled the ORIGINAL plugs out from 1989! They were pretty hammered, but still working. I'm sure a new set will make a huge difference! Did the cap and rotor and wires too. Topped everything off and she fired right up. I love the sound of a 454 running in the driveway, but the 350's are pretty cool sounding too!

The Sync gauge hooks to a tach wire from each engine. It sounds like one has come off somewhere. I'd switch the wires and see if the sync gauge moves the needle to the opposite side. If that's the case, then it's probably just a dead wire. I think they are purple, but I'd have to crawl up under the dash and find out. There should be one for each side, obviously and another wire for power, I think. I'm sure you are familiar with them, it just leans to the engine that has fewer rpm's. The best way to describe what it does is the sound that is made when they are out of sync. It's kind of a wow, wow, wow, wow, noise. As you adjust the rpm's it become a longer slower wooooooooooooow, woooooooooow, wooooooooooooooooooooooooow, noise. Eventually, it kind of goes away. I don't know how else to describe it with words!!

A lot of people connect their toilet to the freshwater system. Then they get sick and figure it's because of bad water. Yes, it's bad water because stuff is moving from the toilet upstream! UGH!!

I was in NYC last week and I'm flying in again tomorrow! I wish I could bring my boat with me so we could compare notes and go for a ride! Ours planes very fast compared to our 250 DA with the 454 in it. It's so much smoother and only has the bow up if you don't give her enough juice with the tabs retracted, just the way your described the broker driving it. Tabs down and she stays pretty flat.
 
OK, I just went out and looked at the back of the synchronizer gauge. It's got two gray wires, one from each engine and a purple wire that is probably a power wire. I think you can pull the black plug that has all three wires in it and turn it over and plug one of of the wires into the opposite side to check to see if it's a wiring issue or if it's just not connected somewhere upstream. I didn't pull mine off, but it sticks out a bit so it should be easy to pull off and push back on. Maybe that will fix it? I'll bet the dealer will fix it if you mention it. It would certainly bug me and I'd want it done! :-)
 
Thanks Jim! I'll take a look when we settle later this week (I hope).
 
My sync module is to the right of the helm, in behind a tabbed panel, round black. I believe it picks up from the coil same way the tachs do and then runs up to the sync gauge in the dash.

Replaced mine with one from Go2marine for a little over 100 bucks.

Go to Searay website and download your parts manual, it should still be there back to 1989 under archives.
 
Scorpio, I have Alpha gen 1 drives and have them serviced every 2 years. That includes water pump, vacuum test and drive lube (I change the drive lube myslef on the off years) I'm in salt ware with 50-100 hours a year use.

I figure it's insurance, if you have a trailer, you coudl go a little longer, for me the haulout is not worth risking a third year on the impellers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top