260 Sundancer Thread.........Comments questions and answers

[Lazy Daze]

Went out for a sunset cruise this weekend and about an hour in I had a beeping alarm start sounding and I'm not sure what it is for. I've had a low gear lube alarm sound before and it was super loud and constant - this weekends alarm was very faint and was a beeping alarm that was coming from inside the dash/helm. I shut the engine down, ran a visual check, waited 5 minutes and when I started it back up the alarm was gone and never came back. Anyone have this happen or know what it could have been an alarm for? Thanks

With that info, it doesn't sound like the engine alarm (which only sounds for a few things, anyways), I'd agree with Skibum that it may be the CO monitor. The only other (standard) thing it could be is the built-in depthfinder alarm. If you were running with the camper canvas up, sans the back piece, that can cause CO to be sucked into the cockpit and eventually the cabin.

 

[Hotel Guy]

With that info, it doesn't sound like the engine alarm (which only sounds for a few things, anyways), I'd agree with Skibum that it may be the CO monitor. The only other (standard) thing it could be is the built-in depthfinder alarm. If you were running with the camper canvas up, sans the back piece, that can cause CO to be sucked into the cockpit and eventually the cabin.

Ok, thank you!

 

[msw1382]

Has anyone removed their stock transducer? I've gone aftermarket and the stock one is leaking pretty regularly. I'd say bilge pump runs once every 1-2 hours. I'd like to rip it out and seal it but not sure the best path to take.

Thanks

 

[Little Ducky]

Has anyone removed their stock transducer? I've gone aftermarket and the stock one is leaking pretty regularly. I'd say bilge pump runs once every 1-2 hours. I'd like to rip it out and seal it but not sure the best path to take.

Thanks

I'd just take it out and cut the wires off..... then use some sealant and put it back in.

You might be able to find a blank to put in it's place.

 

[msw1382]

I'd just take it out and cut the wires off..... then use some sealant and put it back in.

You might be able to find a blank to put in it's place.

Yeah, may be the best bet. My goal for next year is a dry bilge. River water in pgh stinks

 

[Little Ducky]

Yeah, may be the best bet. My goal for next year is a dry bilge. River water in pgh stinks

I grew up in Freeport right on the Allegheny...... had a bunch of fun on the water all summer long.

 

[skibum]

Yeah, may be the best bet. My goal for next year is a dry bilge. River water in pgh stinks

I always have 1/4" or so of water in my bilge. I'm 99% sure that it is rainwater overflowing the channel around the engine hatch since it also happens when my boat is sitting on land. That being said, I put a couple of drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid in the bottom every time I open the hatch. It does a fantastic job keeping bilge floor clean as well as keeping the smell down.

 

[msw1382]

I always have 1/4" or so of water in my bilge. I'm 99% sure that it is rainwater overflowing the channel around the engine hatch since it also happens when my boat is sitting on land. That being said, I put a couple of drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid in the bottom every time I open the hatch. It does a fantastic job keeping bilge floor clean as well as keeping the smell down.

Great idea! I always wondered where the water was coming in from. This year, just before putting it in the water, My wife filled the bilge to make sure the pump worked. Happened to be on the ground and saw water dripping out of the transducer. Mystery solved.

 

[Natebawl]

Hello,

Long time lurker-first post. I decided to post this here instead of the modifications section because many details will be highly specific to this model and year.


I've owned a 2006 260DA for about 4 years now. I tackled a big project as soon as i bought it and wanted to share (3 years later-better late than never?). We planned on trailering for the first few seasons (ended up being 3) and I store it in my home garage which has a 12' garage door. Because the boat sits around 13'4" on the trailer i needed to lower the arch to get it in and out. I found a few pictures online of boats with hinged radar arches. The arch for the 260DA's are bolted (with sealant) onto the gunwales in a way that lends itself to this quite well. I did some careful measurements and modeled it up in 3d and found that i could hinge it forward to the top of the windshield and get under the 12' garage door. I made up templates of the arch footprint and scanned them into a CAD program. I sent the 2D .dxf file to a fab shop and had them water jet 4 pieces out and put a mirror finish on the visible sides of each (i say visible even though nobody ever sees it... completely unnecessary but makes it look more professional). I made a homemade hinge from a stack of round spacers and a hinge pin I bought from McMaster. I assembled all the spacers on the pin, sandwiched the plates together, and had a coworker weld each spacer onto alternating plates. I did this on both ends-one end is the permanent hinge and the other end I insert a quick release detent pin when the arch is in the up position (this was meant to be a fail safe if the actuators ever developed any excess play but it still shuts very tight without the pins).


For attaching the plates to the radar arch I used a combination of thru bolting (in the center where there’s access for a washer and nut through the arch’s access cover) and then epoxied-in SST threaded inserts into the fiberglass towards the outer edges. I then used flat head machine screws to attach the SST panel to the arch. On the hull side of things i just tapped directly into the fiberglass (or thru bolted with a nut on the other side if there was access). I believe I might of put a light coat of sealant before finally bolting everything together (hard to remember 4 years later…).


I took a piece of SST tubing and had it bent into an arc using a conduit bender and had this welded to the arch plate on the starboard side. A corresponding slot in the gunwale-mounted plate safely directs the cabling from the arch down into the boat during open/close.


I mounted a screw type actuator on each side to raise and lower the whole thing. This was the hardest part. They mount to the “deck” of the boat but I had to build up a mounting base to a precise height so that the actuator would shut the arch tightly at the end of it’s travel. This, in areas that are VERY hard to access. The port side actuator base mounts behind the battery isolator (all that has to come out to access….) These are controlled by a toggle switch i mounted (hidden) beside the under-dash fuse panel. They receive power simultaneously. I do worry that if one ever quit that the other would twist the arch and potentially cause damage but I just listen and watch carefully when I’m moving it up or down….no problems so far. The actuator mounts to the arch with a clevis bracket and hinge pin. So, theoretically if one actuator quit you could remove the actuator without tools and close the arch by hand. The arch takes about 30sec to move the full travel. If I don’t stop it halfway through and reverse direction or anything they usually finish their stroke within a half second of each other.


It does work very well. It’s not something I would want to do in choppy seas (why would you?!) and the arch is only extremely rigid in the up (normal) position. You wouldn’t want to leave it in the forward/down position if you were trailering or under way (unless to go under a bridge in calm water) – the weight is just cantilevered forward too far without any secondary support. It’s perfectly fine for storage purposes. Unfortunately, as I write this I realize I don’t have many pictures of it on my computer. If there’s any specific questions you have I can get more pictures or details. These are screenshots from a video I have of the actuation.
View attachment 86042 View attachment 86043 View attachment 86044

Fantastic job, I was looking to drop the arch on mine, I only need a few more inches to clear some lighting however. Either way great design and fab work!!

 

[Happy Angel II]

In looking at the parts manual for my 260DA, I noticed there is a combination sunpad and teak table that you can buy for the rear cockpit. It was never shown as an option anywhere on the Sea Ray web site but it is a real option. I had my dealer call Sea Ray on it and they verified this and I got the prices on all the components. Altogether it would be about $1000 which is a lot of money. Does anyone who owns a 2005 or 2006 have this option? If so I was wondering if you could post some pictures of it and let me know if you like it.

 

[Happy Angel II]

I have a 2015 tht has that option. No pucture available.

 

[Artemus6]

I have changed my water intake to a thru hull. My question is my concern while flushing engine and hooking a water hose to a flush cap on top of strainer. Is the sealed water pressure when engine not running bad for impeller or engine? Will

 

[Shaps]

Don't close the seacock.

 

[skibum]

You dredged up an old post from Dave S.. I sure miss seeing him around here. He was a wealth of knowledge for the '05 260s. I hope he is doing well.

I agree with Shaps. If the engine is not running and the water is turned on, you are better off leaving the seacock open to relieve the water pressure (particularly if you have high water pressure in your area). I'm not a fan of using the exhaust system to hold back the water pressure from the hose with the engine not running. If there is a problem that you don't know about like a pin hole in one of the elbows or manifolds, you have no idea where that water might go.

Are you flushing with the boat in or out of the water? In the water you would need the seacock closed as you might end up drawing water from the strainer and the sea at the same time. It would be flushing with diluted seawater. I'd always have an assistant at the spigot when flushing. Close the seacock and have them turn on the water as soon as you start the engine. Immediately check the H20 pressure on the Smartcraft gauge after you start. If you are not seeing at least 2-3 lbs at idle, shutdown and find out why the water is not flowing sufficiently. When done, have your assistant turn off the water a second before you turn off the engine.

 

[Artemus6]

The boat is on trailer while flushing. I figured the impeller would stop any water from going past it when the engine is not running. But yes I have pretty strong pressure from the garden hose, so I didnt want to put that pressure in a sealed strainer. I ordered the strainer cap with garden hose flush attachment. I could open seacock but dont want engine to maybe suck air. I have another idea in mind with PVC pipe attached to strainer cap with overflow, so engine will draw water naturally with no forced pressure. I will put up pic when I make it. Here is a pic of my thru hull install using existing 1.5 inch seacock head tank discharge.

 

[skibum]

I figured the impeller would stop any water from going past it when the engine is not running.

You are correct. One in good shape will. BUT if it has been used for a while, it may not be in perfect shape. If a couple of adjacent blades with small pieces missing end up between the inlet and the outlet of the pump, there could be a path for the water to get through. I was thinking more along the lines of better safe than sorry. I should have mentioned that.

 

[Lazy Daze]

The boat is on trailer while flushing. I figured the impeller would stop any water from going past it when the engine is not running. But yes I have pretty strong pressure from the garden hose, so I didnt want to put that pressure in a sealed strainer. I ordered the strainer cap with garden hose flush attachment. I could open seacock but dont want engine to maybe suck air. I have another idea in mind with PVC pipe attached to strainer cap with overflow, so engine will draw water naturally with no forced pressure. I will put up pic when I make it. Here is a pic of my thru hull install using existing 1.5 inch seacock head tank discharge. View attachment 92329

Probably over thinking this one The impeller, even a good one, won't completely stop the flow of water. More or less, depending on where the vanes stop inside the cup. But some water can always sneak by. However, it doesn't really matter. No problems will arise with what you're doing. You won't over pressurize anything and the water that goes past the impeller will go right out the exhaust, just as if the impeller were pushing the water.

 

[sje5791]

Hello everyone! New member here, although I have read every post in this thread over the last couple months. I bought my 2005 Sundancer 260 back in May and put about 40 hours (just over 300 on it now) on it this summer in the Thousand Islands. We love it!!

Only issue is, this is the first boat I have ever owned. In fact, it is the first boat anyone in my family has ever owned so outside of driving them occasionally growing up, I am a complete beginner. This is only an issue because I feel incredibly unprepared for maintaining it. I had to google about a million different things just reading through this thread because I didn't know what half of it meant.

All summer, this wasn't an issue as we didn't have any major issues, aside from a battery boiling over (now I know that water goes in batteries, who knew!), and I caught on really quickly to driving it and docking it. Now this brings me to last weekend, we had trailered the boat home on Labor Day and decided to put it in one last time at a different lake (also first time ever launching a boat but it went smoothly). Once we launched her we drove the boat about 20 minutes to the marina we were spending the night at, woke up in the morning, put 20 gallons of gas in, and headed out. Made it about a half mile from the marina and it started beeping loudly and saying Check Engine on the gauge and the RPM's dropped (we were only doing 5mph at the time). I shut it down, we dropped the anchor, and then tried firing it up a few minutes later. It wanted to start, but wouldn't stay running. As soon as I let go of the key it would putter out. After talking with a friend and his boat mechanic, he thinks I got bad gas from the marina. I find that hard to believe since this is the nicest marina around and the only one that caters to the big boats (60+ footers).

Anyway, we got towed back to a ramp and took the boat out of the water. I towed it to that same mechanic who is going to take a look at it, but is pretty backed up right now. Anyone have any idea what this might have been caused by?

This is also when I realized how much of a beginner I am. I didn't have any tools onboard, no oil or spare parts or anything. So my other question for all of you is where can I go to learn? Everyone here is a wealth of information and I assume that comes over time, but I'd like to kickstart the process if I can. I was thinking about taking some kind of mechanic course this winter or something because I was completely useless and I did not enjoy that feeling one bit (let alone listening to my girlfriend tell me she can't believe I didn't bring any tools as if I would have known what to do anyways).

Sorry for the incredibly long post and thank you in advance for any help or advice you can offer! I have wanted a boat my entire life and couldn't be happier with my 260 and a big part of that is because of this thread so thank you!

 

[Chip S]

Did you add fuel treatment (Startron, Stabil, etc.) when you added the gas? Gas with ethanol will absorb water over time and marina gas at the end of the season has probably been sitting in the tank for a while. Most marinas want empty tanks for the Winter so they don't take on fresh gas late in the season.

My first attempt would be to add Startron fuel additive at twice the recommended dose and change the fuel filter. This approach will most likely work if you got bad gas.

 

[sje5791]

Did you add fuel treatment (Startron, Stabil, etc.) when you added the gas? Gas with ethanol will absorb water over time and marina gas at the end of the season has probably been sitting in the tank for a while. Most marinas want empty tanks for the Winter so they don't take on fresh gas late in the season.

My first attempt would be to add Startron fuel additive at twice the recommended dose and change the fuel filter. This approach will most likely work if you got bad gas.

Thank you for the advice! We did put some fuel additive in as an extra step to be safe but it turned out to be the idle control valve. It was all burned up the mechanic said. No idea what that is, but it was running great again after he replaced that!