Theresamarie11
New Member
Re: 260 Sundancer Thread... 260 overnigher and long wringout
Well, we took our first overnighter and first long cruise (long for us) this past weekend.
First - I just love this boat... everything is solid and it takes 1-2 foot chop on Champlain with nary a mention.
Some things to mention/we figured out/or in process of figuring out.
1) Using the front berth for sleeping - the cushions you put on the table do not stay in place for us.. We're thinking of rigging some kind of velcro strap that wraps around the table and connects to the velcro on the back of the cushions. We are both 6' tall and it fits two of us there...it's very roomy compared to our last boat.
I am thinking of putting a little sound deading in the front of the hull as it's like a big echo chamber below the front cushion and any wave slapping is loud (we stayed in the middle of a bay and not in a slip).
The dining accomodations are just so far ahead of our last boat it's hard to say anything but positive things. Fridge gets very cold even on '3', the stove works well for brewing coffee (my camping perk pot).
2) On our long cruise this weekend... we achieved 2.5 mpg against the wind and 2.8mpg with the wind at 3200 RPM (~30mph at ~10.9GPH). It was a very comfortable speed with good trim and handled the 1'-2' chop easily (although down south it was <1'). To us, this is incredible economy for this size boat and weight.
3) We achieved 45.x MPH (GPS) in Mallett's bay (another thing we wanted to see) after scrubbing the bottom. It still wasn't a perfect day for it and suspect we could eek out a bit more on a windless day. Not sure where the tach was at this speed... had to be up around 4600 though.
4) We are seeing the infamous wet spot on the carpet in front of step. Very slight around snaps for carpet runner. Looked under trash can (didn't even know trash can was there until I found mention on this forum) and there was a puddle of water around the sump box. But could not see or feel any leaks. Dried it up and it stayed dry for rest of time we were out.
5) Storage - so far, we've been finding nooks and crannies to store everything. One thing we changed, was taking the cooler out from under the wet bar. It's just too inconvenient for us. We are storing our magma grill there, along with extinguisher, and a few other things. We have a nice stainless steel coleman that we're putting in the back of the boat. It'll keep ice for days in the hottest weather.
The area under the stbd vberth cushion is cavernous... we can fit ALL of our fishing tackle boxes and cases in there. And we have a huge tackle box. Much more space than I thought there was in there.
We found one problem we didn't know we had. The knob that holds/releases the port side seat to make a sunbed is broken off. The knob was in the cabin cabinet and we had no idea what it was for until this past weekend. The end of the bolt is broken off in the seat adjuster. Since it's brass, it should be easy to remove and I'll see if Sea Ray can send us a replacement knob or maybe we can cut more threads in the current one.
6) Lastly, underway, that big 7.4 is economical and great performance...but it does make some noise. Wondering if anyone has done any kind of engine soundproofing and was it effective at all? To me, it seems like most noise is coming from behind the boat (not the engine compartment). but I could be wrong. The bravo III engine exhaust comes out pretty high and doesn't get the benefit of the prop level exhaust of the alphas. That's my simple reasoning anyways. I am all for quiet.. if the engine made zero noise, it would be perfect (smile). So I am not a fan of the go-fast boats with their unmuffled exhausts. If it's a price to pay for the performance, I am still happy, but could be happier if it could be quieter.
That's it for now...
One very happy Sea Ray owner.
Well, we took our first overnighter and first long cruise (long for us) this past weekend.
First - I just love this boat... everything is solid and it takes 1-2 foot chop on Champlain with nary a mention.
Some things to mention/we figured out/or in process of figuring out.
1) Using the front berth for sleeping - the cushions you put on the table do not stay in place for us.. We're thinking of rigging some kind of velcro strap that wraps around the table and connects to the velcro on the back of the cushions. We are both 6' tall and it fits two of us there...it's very roomy compared to our last boat.
I am thinking of putting a little sound deading in the front of the hull as it's like a big echo chamber below the front cushion and any wave slapping is loud (we stayed in the middle of a bay and not in a slip).
The dining accomodations are just so far ahead of our last boat it's hard to say anything but positive things. Fridge gets very cold even on '3', the stove works well for brewing coffee (my camping perk pot).
2) On our long cruise this weekend... we achieved 2.5 mpg against the wind and 2.8mpg with the wind at 3200 RPM (~30mph at ~10.9GPH). It was a very comfortable speed with good trim and handled the 1'-2' chop easily (although down south it was <1'). To us, this is incredible economy for this size boat and weight.
3) We achieved 45.x MPH (GPS) in Mallett's bay (another thing we wanted to see) after scrubbing the bottom. It still wasn't a perfect day for it and suspect we could eek out a bit more on a windless day. Not sure where the tach was at this speed... had to be up around 4600 though.
4) We are seeing the infamous wet spot on the carpet in front of step. Very slight around snaps for carpet runner. Looked under trash can (didn't even know trash can was there until I found mention on this forum) and there was a puddle of water around the sump box. But could not see or feel any leaks. Dried it up and it stayed dry for rest of time we were out.
5) Storage - so far, we've been finding nooks and crannies to store everything. One thing we changed, was taking the cooler out from under the wet bar. It's just too inconvenient for us. We are storing our magma grill there, along with extinguisher, and a few other things. We have a nice stainless steel coleman that we're putting in the back of the boat. It'll keep ice for days in the hottest weather.
The area under the stbd vberth cushion is cavernous... we can fit ALL of our fishing tackle boxes and cases in there. And we have a huge tackle box. Much more space than I thought there was in there.
We found one problem we didn't know we had. The knob that holds/releases the port side seat to make a sunbed is broken off. The knob was in the cabin cabinet and we had no idea what it was for until this past weekend. The end of the bolt is broken off in the seat adjuster. Since it's brass, it should be easy to remove and I'll see if Sea Ray can send us a replacement knob or maybe we can cut more threads in the current one.
6) Lastly, underway, that big 7.4 is economical and great performance...but it does make some noise. Wondering if anyone has done any kind of engine soundproofing and was it effective at all? To me, it seems like most noise is coming from behind the boat (not the engine compartment). but I could be wrong. The bravo III engine exhaust comes out pretty high and doesn't get the benefit of the prop level exhaust of the alphas. That's my simple reasoning anyways. I am all for quiet.. if the engine made zero noise, it would be perfect (smile). So I am not a fan of the go-fast boats with their unmuffled exhausts. If it's a price to pay for the performance, I am still happy, but could be happier if it could be quieter.
That's it for now...
One very happy Sea Ray owner.
