new owner 1985 sea ray sundancer 260 question

hamrick

New Member
Jul 25, 2014
23
Northern CA
Boat Info
260 Sundancer 1985
Engines
5L Mercruiser V8 F/I
My husband and I have purchased 1985 SR SD 260. We had the boat surveyed and it was found to have no major issues and has been out of the water for a couple of years. The engine is a repowered Mercruiser 5L 8V F/I. We are looking forward to bringing the boat back to its former. glory and plan to cruise the northern Ca Delta. I prefer to keep the original color scheme and look of the boat. The last owner placed a carpet covering over the "dash (for lack of a better word) of the front of the helm seating across the entire front of the boat up to were the windshield meets the boat. I have a quote of 500 dollars to remove the felt like covering, remove the glue sand and paint the area maroon/burgundy color that matches the boat. Does anyone know why the previous owner my have covered this area with the felt carpet? were The original SR SD 1985 "dashboards" painted? Maybe he used the felt carpet to keep the sun from damaging this area? Any comments/suggestions would be welcome. Thanks
 
Our 1985 270DA is painted.
The $500 for the described work does not sound bad considering the carpet and glue cleanup needed.
The matching color should look really nice and being a darker color will help reduce reflection in the glass.
Share some pictures.
 
Yep... what he said.

Welcome to CSR!
 
Hello: Thank you all for your responses - I love these forums. I have attached a picture of the dash with the lame carpet (see link below). I requested a quote for new console pieces waiting to hear on that. The fish finder on the dash may be a problem b/c the company went out of business, the garmin is fairly old but I did download a manual, not sure if the software can be updated. There is a CB radio and VHF, both of which are operable. The teak parts will all be removed lightly sanded and oiled, I am not so sure about treating it with anything else. You cannot replace this teak except with "reclaimed" stuff so I want to be very careful how I finish it. The helm seat has some sun damage and I am getting it reuplholstered in the same color scheme as the boat . The "jump seats" are in excellent condition, however the marine grade faux teak paneling is peeling and faded, I plan on replacing all the pieces topside with with new, the interior cabin faux teak paneling is fine. The transom seat is in good condition but the legs are broken off-which is no biggie I plan on installing something more durable than those spindly legs that were there. KC Sundancer: read your posts re your restoration project-it was awesome. Obviously you are very skilled and a very good writer, the play by play and photos were well done.






http://clubsearay.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=36744&d=1407961139
 
Thanks for the compliment on my post.

Wow what was he thinking with that carpet? :smt101
Another thing I replaced on ours right away were the fuse holders, they were weathered bad like yours.
Picked them up very inexpensively at Radio Shack. A simple little thing that really makes a big difference on cleaning up the dash.
Keep the pictures coming as you go along. :thumbsup:
 
I will tell you MAYBE what he was thinking. Usually when people cover stuff with monkey fur it is because the surface they are covering is already shot.
(I had black fur all over the boat.) And getting the glue off can be hard. But sometimes you luck out and find they didn't use too much glue. I think I used paint stripper with scrapers and scrubbies to get my monkey fur glue off.
Remember, the faux teak panels that are shot can just be prepped and painted. Leave the real teak trim with just light sanding and teak oil, as you said.
The problem is you have to take the real teak off in order to both do the teak right AND do the faux panels right. (The masking them with tape will be sort of lame, I think.) And sometime that means recaulking. I found boat ownership to be challenging :D

PS- If you do have someone do it, watch how they do it so you can do it yourself. Cheaper.
 
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How do I treat the marine grade faux plywood .
It is peeling should I finely sand it down and varnish paint it? When u say prepped a nd painted what steps do you recommend . I would love to try this out before purchasing new .Iwant to do this project right thanks for the help!











I will tell you MAYBE what he was thinking. Usually when people cover stuff with monkey fur it is because the surface they are covering is already shot.
(I had black fur all over the boat.) And getting the glue off can be hard. But sometimes you luck out and find they didn't use too much glue. I think I used paint stripper with scrapers and scrubbies to get my monkey fur glue off.
Remember, the faux teak panels that are shot can just be prepped and painted. Leave the real teak trim with just light sanding and teak oil, as you said.
The problem is you have to take the real teak off in order to both do the teak right AND do the faux panels right. (The masking them with tape will be sort of lame, I think.) And sometime that means recaulking. I found boat ownership to be challenging :D

PS- If you do have someone do it, watch how they do it so you can do it yourself. Cheaper.
 
Well the faux panels are framed by real teak strips right? You take off the strips. Clean the faux panels with like acetone or something, which WILL remove some of the brown color and the faux grain etc. Maybe it's smooth enough to paint then, after you give the surface a little "tooth" with maybe 400 sandpaper. Clean it off again with acetone or lacquer thinner or whatever solvent you want.
Remember a gloss paint will show the inevitable imperfections better than a semi gloss.
I would also research whether it will take a paint like for painting formica or plastics. Because the faux panels themselves (on my boat anyway) are plywood with a fake coating almost like formica.
I would know if I'd done the job, but I have been content with just using teak oil on the (ugly) brown surfaces, which makes them look , well, "seaworthy" maybe. "Better", maybe. Still mottled, but serviceable. Because my only "bad" panels are outside. But I have seen where folks painted the panels a light color and it looks pretty good when framed by the real teak.
The teak trim itself will look great after light sanding with maybe 320 grit and then teak oil. What they "frame" is made to look better by them being there. :)

I hope we're talking about the same kind of thing here, maybe a picture or two?
 
on my 86 Seville I scotchbrighted the panels and sprayed them with this granite looking stuff with clear coat, looked great with the teak trim and held up really well. I'll see if I can find a pic. My dash was just sanded and sprayed with rattle cans and held up fine.





 
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Both look very good. Exactly the kind of thing I was meaning to the poster. Inside my boat I also sort of have brown-faux-wood-grain-panel overload. But I think I'll live with it. :)
 
I am working on uploading a couple pics but the web sites album feature is pretty labor intensive. I appreciate your advice!
 
Those seat covers my wife made they kind of looked like a fitted sheet before you put them on. Used them for a season then got my seats redone.
 

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