2008 280EC

Cableguy Greg

I have an offer in on a 2008 280EC. I am going to do the sea trial and survey tomorrow. I know this is a little late, but are there any quirky things that I need to look for while looking at this boat? I know that the surveyor will go over the boat with a fine tooth comb, but I am going to be looking at it myself as well and I don't want to be looking at it with rose colored glasses.

Dream_Inn

That's a great move up Greg!  I think you've been around here enough to know the typical things to look for.  Good luck!

Michael T

Greg, Does it have a generator? If it does i'd want it to have a merc 8.1 (496) in it. When i was looking at 290s in 2012/2013 all the guys I spoke with who had 280s said to get the 8.1s or in my case the 8.2 as it would be to slow to plane, particularly if it had a gen. The guys I spoke with said even with the 6.2 (377 mag) it was too slow and that you actually got better gas "mileage" at cruise with a 496 than with a 377. Just passin' it along - since you saked :-) MT

MarkB

Make sure you open the engine compartment and take a good look. Clean, organized, dry? Wires all tucked away nicely?

I would focus on the electric, turn everything on and make sure it works.

The surveyor will focus on the mechanicals and structure, but may not have time to test all the electronics.

Cableguy Greg

Thanks for the advice guys!! The boat has the 6.2 and no genset. The boats with the 8.1 that I was looking at were 10k more and still didn't have a genset. Good call on testing the electric stuff. I can play with the switches while the surveyor is looking at other stuff. The admiral and I both have our fingers crossed that everything goes well. I will post some pics once we get back home. Thanks again!!!

Black_Diamond

Good luck with your survey. Spend time with the guy as he noses around to learn what you can.

Michael T

Greg, take the admiral and at least one other adult friend so that there are 4 of you (I assume the surveyor will be on board for the trial). Put the engine revs at "cruising" speed and see if it holds plane ok. As well note how much gas and how much water is on board. When you load-up a 280 - even with only 2 adults on board - that's a lot of weight for a 377 to haul. Please make darn sure that the engine can do the job. Better to wait and spend 5, 8, 10K more and have a boat that works. Make sure before you stroke that cheque! We have a fellow list member who bought a new 260 and found it underpowered. My 2 cents. MT

Cableguy Greg

MT, there were 4 of us on the boat, and 2/3's tank of gas. It was rather windy, and the bay had some chop to it, but we got it on plane in a decent amount of time. Now I am waiting on the survey to come back. The boat was very well maintained. The only thing that he noticed and pointed out to me was that the A/C filter needs cleaned. The engine room was clean as well.

Michael T

Looks very nice Greg! Well, you've done your homework - if the boat passed your load test - then fingers crossed for a favorable survey. Sould you ever want 110 power, Honda makes several very small ultra light, ultra quiet, carry-on generators as does yahama. Yahama even makes one that was specifically designed to handle the start-up loads of some marine A/C units. Several of the very small Hondas can be "daisy-chained" to produce A/C start-up power. There is a rather exhaustive thread on this discussion in the archives.:-) MT

Cableguy Greg

Thanks MT. I have been reading up on Honda generators. Is the Yamaha as quiet as the Honda? I am also looking into inverters. I know they won't run the A/C, but it will run most of the smaller things, including the microwave. The one that I am looking at is a Dimensions 1500W. The good thing is that the current owner of the boat already added a second house battery, so I am not stuck with that added expense. I am looking forward to getting it home and in the water.

Michael T

Greg, Over a year ago I was looking for a generator for marine use, so I listened to the smallest Yahama and the Hondas I could find. The smallest Honda was quieter that the Yahama but you needed to connect two of them (Honda makes an easy cord to do it) so there would obviuosly be twice the noise. The Yahama had a special surge feature (that they deliberately marketed for the model in question) that will handle the initial demand for power of an A/C heating unit. Once the compressor has spooled-up the generator drops its revs and gets pretty quiet. I was told that that both the Honda and Yahama were allowed for night time use in some of our government parks and moorings where there are overnight noise restrictions. MT

MarkB

Just check that an inverter will have the capacity for the microwave. I was told it draws too many amps at the start.

seguir

Mine (2009 280EC) has a 5.7 and it is not nearly powerful enough to keep it on plane with 4 people on it.  As well, the gas tank holds 100gallons.  When they built the 290 EC they must have seen that a full tank of gas is way to much weight, and now I believe they put in a 70 or 80 gal tank (I think).   I recommend you test it again with a full tank and full holding tank with 4 people on board.    I wish I had the 8.1.  Best of luck.   As well check the aft cab for leaks.....I still can't find mine.  There are posts on this site about this.