Rinkler Newbie Questions for a 2007 280 Express Cruiser
djstewy
Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
Hi All,
First time poster here as I'm just starting to go through the process with a local dealer to upgrade to a 2007 28' Express Cruiser. I wanted to touch base with everyone here to get your thoughts on the 2007' 280 and any advice you could provide to a potential new owner. Below are some of the details on my boat and a few of the things I was curious on. I'm purchasing the boat from a Sea Ray dealer who got it on trade in, so they're not really experts on the Rinker side of things. I'm upgrading from a Sea Ray 1994 250 Express Cruiser, so this is a big step up for me. I plan on spending a lot of time out on Puget Sound in Washington with my new boat this summer.
My (potential) new boat:
Rinker 2007 280 Express Cruiser
Engine: Volvo 8.1L GXI - 250 hours.
Brand new Bravo II Outdrive (gearing was messed up on old unit)
TV/DVD
Lowrance Chart Plotter
Windlass
Vacu Flush System
Gas Generator
GPS/VHF
Several other items I think are standard
My Questions:
Is anyone mooring their 280 in a 32' slip? I haven't had a chance to measure mine yet, but my marina is very stringent on not having a your boat go an inch over 32' anchor to outdrive. Currently I'm in a 32, and would love to keep using the same slip.
Any thoughts on the dealer swapping out the outdrive for a new Bravo II unit? They told me the composite gears on the Volvo unit had issues with wear and tear and needed to be fully replaced.
What speed do you normally cruise your 280 at and what could I expect for fuel consumption?
How the heck do you access the engine compartment? The salesman couldn't figure it out for the life of him, there was a switch on the helm that wasn't labeled and it might of been that, but I'm not sure if he had power getting to it.
Any quirks or unique things I should keep an eye out for on the 280? It has so many more/different features than my old 25' I'm pretty clueless on a lot of the new systems (e.g. generator, windlass, vacuflush, Vovlo engine).
I appreciate any info anyone can provide. I'm looking forward to being a happy new owner of a Rinkler cruiser!
Thanks,
Derek
Comments
solid boat and you'll love it!
Gig Harbor
LG
The length of the boat is 31'6", so you shouldn't have a problem in a 32' slip. The drive is tucked way under the swim platform. I just got a 2008 280 3 months ago and I love it. Very nice boat, with a nice layout.
I have never heard of pairing a Merc drive with a volvo engine. I am sure that someone else can chime in on that...
Good luck with your purchase!
Go Steelers!!!
The engine hatch switch is located between the panel lights dimmer switch and the wiper switch.
Go Steelers!!!
I thought that was a little strange also. Never heard of a Volvo with a Bravo....
djstewy – We purchased a 2007 280 4 months ago and have her in a 32’ slip in Anacortes Marina. Feel free to give me a call as we have had quite a lot of work done, (salt water problems) Solid, well built boat but I can give you some advice on outdrive and engine as we have a failed 8.1 in ours currently. Outdrive replaced last year with an OceanX etc… Feel free to give me a call anytime – 360-982-8810
Rich
2007 300 EC, 350 Mags, B3's, Table Rock Lake, MO
I have never heard of a Bravo paired to a Volvo. Are you sure the saleguy didn't misspeak here? IF they had issues with the XDP composite Volvo drive they usually replace with the Ocean X or Duoprop drive. Ocean X being the higher end option. I had a 270 with a Volvo GXI (320hp) and a duoprop drive. I never had problems, but then again only had it a couple seasons before I upgraded.
Below is a link to the Bravo 2 drive and a good quick review by boattest. Sounds like a nice boat but I would be suspect of the mixing of engine and drives. Make sure your marina knows how to work on both. Many of the Merc marinas up here won't touch Volvos, which is also conversely true.
http://www.boattest.com/Partners/Partner-Main.aspx?lp_id=3211169&t=ENGINE-TEST&Videoid=290&p=0
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm sure it's a Bravo II outdrive since I stuck my head underneath and had a look at her. There is a little talk on the internet about adapting Volvo's to work with them, the nice thing is I know the shop that did the work on it, so I'm going to stop by today and chat with them about the pairing.
Great to hear it'll fit in my 32' slip at Swantown in Olympia. It's definitely going to be a more snug fit than my 25' boat, but that's a good problem to have.
Greg - That was the switch we were trying, but for some reason the sales guy couldn't get power to it, I'm thinking he didn't have the batteries switched over or something.
Rich - If the deal looks like it's going to happen I'll take you up on that phone call.
I'm still planning on having a surveyor come down and have a look at it and run me through some of the hardware I'm not familiar with like the gen set and the volvo engine.
For those of you running a 280 right now, what RPM/speed do you normally cruise her at?
To add to the Bravo drive on a Volvo engine, think about resale. I know I would be very leery of a mismatched setup, kind of like buying a Ford with a GM transmission.....
Derek, I would recommend changing, if original and if not done already, the exhaust manifolds as ours had a hole in it at 280 hours. Check genset, ours had a plugged exhaust due to salt water. As others have stated make sure it has a Volvo outdrive not a Mercury as the pairing could be a problem. Ours was changed to OceanX last March due to XDP failure. Apart from that really pleased with the build quality. We cruise around 3200 rpm at approx. 28-30 mph fuel consumption not too bad approx. 12 gallons per hour. We top out at 45 mph. I used to work for Mercury Marine in Wisconsin and had access to most Brunswick products and the Rinker in my opinion is equal if not better then Searay.
Good luck!!
2007 300 EC, 350 Mags, B3's, Table Rock Lake, MO
Well, I chatted with the mechanic who did the work and has the rep as the best guy to work on boats down here. He told me that it is easy to throw a bravo II on a Volvo engine and he's done at least a dozen of them due to the failed gearing in the Volvo outdrives and he hasn't had a single issue with them since. I asked him why he went with the Bravo II instead and he said cost of the outdrive is why, but I'll still get just the same performance out of it compared to a OceanX.
I chuckled when I asked him about concerns of mixing Volvo with a Bravo and he just told me "who the *F@#%*" cares what engine it is, all the outdrive cares is that it gets power to get your **** boat up on a plane". Did I mention he's your prototypical old gruff boat mechanic as well?
I'm still going to call around to a couple other shops in the area to get their thoughts, but it was nice to chat with the guy that did the work.
Derek, Correct me if I am wrong but the Bravo 2 has one prop and the XDP had 2 and OceanX 2. I would think that would be a concern and if you have an issue will the Mercruiser outdrive warranty be valid being powered by a Volvo??
2007 300 EC, 350 Mags, B3's, Table Rock Lake, MO
Yes, I asked the rep at Sea Ray about that as well with the difference of one prop compared to two. They said the single prop which was larger would get me up on a plane faster, but the handling wouldn't be as good as a dual prop setup and that seems to be what I've found researching as well. Good question on the warranty side, I'll see what I can find out.
Assuming you have your drive issues in hand, back to the engine compartment. Is the boat energized with shore power, or are you running off the batteries? The engine hatch should be powered via a rocker switch at the helm. Up opens it, and down closes it. Make sure you have the walkway gate open and canvas unattached at the back when you do open it.
If you are running off batteries, it could be the batteries are dead. If this is the case, then you will have to open the compartment using the emergency poles which should be in a panel located next to the walkway gate at the back of the boat. There should be a positive and negative that you can connect a working battery to, to open the compartment. If it doesn't work, try reversing the polarity (depends on how it was wired). If that doesn't work you will have to manually open, by removing table pedestal seat on floor at back of boat. Reach in a pull pin on hydraulic drive, then you should be able to open it (heavy).
Boat Name: King Kong
"Boat + Water = Fun"
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Hi all, thanks for all the feedback. It's super nice having people who know what the heck they're talking about to assist with the decision making process. We took her out for a sea trail today and it went really well. She got up on a plane real fast and at speed the handling was great. She topped off at 5,000 RPM going a little over 40 MPH. It was super choppy (white caps and all) around Tacoma today, so I'd expect her to go faster in calm conditions, not that I'd plan on it running her flat out. I was able to get her on a stable plane around 3,500 RPM at 28 MPH. With the choppiness and wind, I'd expect to be able to do it at lower RPM in better conditions.
I definitely noticed the prop walk at lower speeds when docking though, but I was able to compensate, it'll definitely take some getting used to. As far as the engine compartment goes, the batteries were dead, so they just had to charge them to get the hatch open.
So after having her out for an hour and a full survey which found a few issues (generator impeller was shot and chip in the clear coat), the fiancee and I decided to pull the trigger after the dealer agreed to repair everything. We'll be taking delivery on Tuesday hopefully after the work is done. We're planning on keeping this boat for a good long time and they threw in a 3 year warranty for me on the engine and out drive due to my concerns about the mixing of hardware.
It'll be nice to get back out on the water soon, its been a bummer having an empty slip in all this nice weather!
Derek
Good luck with your new boat!
Glad it all worked out and you have a warranty too! Enjoy your new boat and post pics please!
2000 180 Bowrider, 135hp 3.0L Merc, 2.00 Alpha One Gen 2 OD, 14.5 x 19P prop
Regular weekender, trailer stored indoors, Southern Ohio
DJ,
5000 rpm, 40 mph sounds about right. 3500 rpm, 28 mph - that speed sounds a little fast for that rpm, did you have a tail wind? You should be able to plane out at around 22 or 23 mph, and that should be around 3300 rpm. To get to 28 to 30 mph range on my boat, I'm going around 4000 to 4200 rpm, weather dependant.
I'm not sure how much boating experience you have, but try and avoid going more than 80% of WOT, will help your engine in the long run, as well as oil burn.
Boat Name: King Kong
"Boat + Water = Fun"
Hi Mark, I could have had a head wind when I was cruising with how windy it was out. That and I was absorbing a bunch of other stuff about the boat at the same time, so my remembering of RPM's could be a little off. My hope is to find that sweet spot at around 3,300 RPM to cruise at after I get familiar with the boats outdrive and trim tabs.
That sweet spot (fuel burn wise) on Rinker cruisers tend to be ~3600-4000rpms, which is typically around 30mph.
Congrats on the new boat!
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Thanks Dream, I went from a 5.7l Mercruiser on my 25' Sea Ray to a 8.1l Volvo on this boat and man I can tell the difference in power. It'll take some getting used to when cruising.
Sounds great good luck with your new ride.....
Enjoy the new ride,