New Boat

Well, new to us. We just purchased a 1989 Sea Ray 380 Aft Cabin. A far different vessel than the 36' Marine Trader that we had before. This has twin 454 gas engines, good thing our travels are pretty much just going to be the Keys for the foreseeable future. 1 mpg at 7 knots, .5 mpg at 12 knots. It's a good thing I am used to going slow.

One thing I will enjoy though is the 2' 7" draft. For the Keys that is a biggie. It has prop pockets. I don't know what that does for efficiency but I love what it does for the draft.

It is still in Fort Myers area, hope to bring her down in about a week.

Greetings,
Mr. R2G. Congrat's. I hear ya on the 2'7"...

READY2GO said:

Well, new to us. We just purchased a 1989 Sea Ray 380 Aft Cabin. A far different vessel than the 36' Marine Trader that we had before. This has twin 454 gas engines, good thing our travels are pretty much just going to be the Keys for the foreseeable future. 1 mpg at 7 knots, .5 mpg at 12 knots. It's a good thing I am used to going slow.



One thing I will enjoy though is the 2' 7" draft. For the Keys that is a biggie. It has prop pockets. I don't know what that does for efficiency but I love what it does for the draft.



It is still in Fort Myers area, hope to bring her down in about a week.



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Congrats on your purchase.

I recently finished a resto on a 1987 410AC. Bow to stern, top to bottom, I've been over every inch and from what I've seen, other than the fuel situation, you should have many happy days aboard her.

In my own case, If it were diesel I'd have an awesome boat. Instead, with gasoline, it's just great. [emoji6]

I am envious; I am having to boat on inland waters. Although enjoyable, I still prefer saltwater boating. Best of luck to you sir.

Nice well balanced looking boat. What`s the advantage of props and rudders being in tunnels, apart from gaining a degree of protection?

BruceK said:

Nice well balanced looking boat. What`s the advantage of props and rudders being in tunnels, apart from gaining a degree of protection?

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It is claimed by some boat builders the tunnels increase the prop efficiency to an extent, so not only for draft and protection reasons, I gather. Maritimo do this with most of their big boats. Riviera also I think.

Greetings,
Our 23' Penn Yan is a tunnel drive...

Peter B said:

It is claimed by some boat builders the tunnels increase the prop efficiency to an extent, so not only for draft and protection reasons, I gather. Maritimo do this with most of their big boats. Riviera also I think.

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Thanks Peter.Some later Maritimo and Rivs(? only the Volvo powered ones) have IPS, they would benefit from protection. Anyone know how a tunnel improves prop efficiency?

Congratulations on the new boat!

Ted

Man, that shallow draft is sweet for the keys! Congrats on your new boat!

It is supposed to focus prop wash aft for an efficiency of some percentage and reduce draft. Nothings free, you pay the price on reverse thrust (sternway). When I was a kid, (3 years ago..) Penn yans were abundant. That roostertale that they all leave is a clue to their demise , I would think.

Thanks everyone.

The big thing to me with the prop pockets is the minimal draft. The Keys are very shallow. Going from a 4' draft to 2' 7" will be very nice. Now if I can figure out how to get from the helm to the bow to pick up a mooring solo I will have it made. Wish I could afford remote controls.

I drove dozens of those Sea Rays when I worked for a Marine Max.

The tunnels didn't seem to affect efficiency all that much .....but I never thought the 454s were geared or propped right....no calculations, just a captains feel.

The one thing the tunnels did with the gas boats, is made them darn near uncontrollable single engine in tight quarters. The props and rudders were just too small and the pockets took some effectiveness away from the rudders. Mostly on the express models but the bridge models suffered a bit too.

If you haven't practiced any single engine work...I highly recommend it and I used to really push it when training new owners.

READY2GO said:

Now if I can figure out how to get from the helm to the bow to pick up a mooring solo I will have it made.

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Try pick-up from your aft deck where it meets the side-decks?

FWIW, we usually pick up from the cockpit and walk the pennant forward...

-Chris

At least part off the efficiency claims are due to the shaft angle of a pocket shaft being lower. There was a builder/naval architecture firm in Solomon's, MD called Oceantech that used pocket shafts in conjunction with air injection to produce a surface piercing prop effect without the typical installation (for a surface piercing drive) of a drive hanging off the back of the boat. I believe it was supposed to make the performance less dependent on the boats trim and sea state. I can't remember all of the details but believe the boats were more of a test bed of their technology to sell to the industry rather than profiting from the boat's themselves.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Our 23' Penn Yan is a tunnel drive...

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Few years ago I almost purchased similar year/model Penn Yan. In 60's Penn Yan was a respected boat selling in New England. At Madison Square Garden annual NY boat shows Penn Yan boats were well represented. I boarded plenty of them at the shows.

Mike are saying remote control for your windlass???

Pump will be shipped in AM

kartracer said:

Mike are saying remote control for your windlass???

Pump will be shipped in AM

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Thanks kartracer.

No I was talking about the remotes that control transmissions so I could walk forward to pick up the mooring and still have control of the boat. But that is way out of my price range right now.

Current problem of the day is I had a good look at the Quicksilver generator today and it is not a pretty picture. At survey it ran great and powered the entire boat, all 4 ACs but started to get hot so we shut it down. It was obvious that the heat exchanger ends were rusted and the exhaust elbow would need to be changed. But after doing some research today I found out the exhaust elbow is $450 and the two end caps when one can find them are $1200. It seems Generac bought Quicksilver and is not too interested in supporting them. So with no real support I don't want to put that much money into it. Trying to figure out what to do now.

I have used a Honda portable for years so I may go that route again. The cheapest marine gas generator I can find starts at about $8,500. Can't do that right now.

ranger42c said:

Try pick-up from your aft deck where it meets the side-decks?

FWIW, we usually pick up from the cockpit and walk the pennant forward...

-Chris

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That is what I will have to try. We have a Wellcraft 2900 Express Cruiser and I do that with it but it is difficult as the side decks are narrow. It may be easier with this one.