Official 1980's Weekender/Sundancer 300 thread

Looking for some help with the water system on my 1988 Sundancer 300. The cold water flows nicely at the galley sink but not the hot water. Neither cold nor hot flows more than a trickle in the head. Any thoughts?
 
milledon said:
Looking for some help with the water system on my 1988 Sundancer 300. The cold water flows nicely at the galley sink but not the hot water. Neither cold nor hot flows more than a trickle in the head. Any thoughts?
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Do your water lines serve both head and galley, or are they separate?

In my setup, there's a single line serving both. They come into the cabinet under the head sink to a T fitting--the straight line for each continues through the wall to the galley sink, while the perpendicular line goes to the head sink. There were no valves on the short runs to the head faucet, but it would be possible to add some, so do you see anything of the sort? If there are valves on the short lines to the head sink, they might be closed/close to it; if there aren't valves at all/aren't problems with valves, it sounds to me like you have some sort of constriction or blockage in them, especially since you get appropriate cold flow in the galley sink.

As for no hot water in either location....have you confirmed the valve(s) from the hot water tank are open and there are no constrictions anywhere in that line?
 
Mine also comes in under the sink in the head, and then tee's to the galley sink.
Is this a problem with the dockside water hooked up (getting pressure from the dockside water), or when drawing from the tank with the freshwater pump, or both?
It's actually a pretty simple system, and shouldn't be too hard to troubleshoot.
 
trflgrl said:
Thanks for the detail, JVM225! I do have the owner's manual and I think I just wasn't registering some of what I'd been reading....maybe information overload with simultaneous boat/auto/home appliance issues, not to mention WaveRunner despair this weekend. When it rains, it pours!

BUT....breathing deeply and taking a step back after posting here paid off. Told First Mate the plan to reset our battery logic while replacing the bad one--likely migrating to a starting battery/dual purpose or starting battery/deep cycle combo--and went to the boat Thu night to map it out and decide which to buy first and how to switch them around Fri morning before the long weekend. To our surprise, the starboard engine started with no hesitation, when it had given us trouble on last launch as well as a follow-up visit from each of us independently. Found loose lead and we were back in business. We still plan to change our overall setup, but at least now I can focus on getting the generator issues resolved so we can have AC while on the hook!
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Glad it worked out.
Genny is the one thing that I wish my boat had. I like to spend time on the hook, and it would really come in handy. Good luck with it.
 
dwna1a said:
trflgrl, what's giving you fits with the Genset?
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Short answer: age?

Long answer: not really sure--we've been correcting problems one by one for several months now. Purchased in May '13, changed impeller and oil and it ran like a top that first season. Winter '13 we found a small coolant leak and mechanic replaced a gasket; it hadn't seemed to be causing any problems. Mid-summer '14 it started putting out excessive exhaust and soot to the point neighbors were very cranky and we worried about CO output. Fall and winter '14 we:

Replaced plugs
Replaced condenser
Rebuilt carb
Replaced/adjusted ignition tips
Adjusted valve timing and dwell angle
Replaced radiator cap (ok, probably not really called a radiator cap, but I'll bet you all know what I mean!)

It performed much better after this work, running strongly with no more crazy exhaust/soot--but it would shut off at random, sometimes after a short period, sometimes after several hours, but always allowed restart and ran strongly again; we just didn't know how long it would stay on. Mechanic ruled out the auto-kill feature for temp/oil pressure/etc. He had recommended timing belt, drive belt, and tensioner as maintenance not related to the symptoms, so we did those--timing belt was original and drive belt was showing cracks so I'm glad those risks are gone. He replaced a couple of cooling system hoses that were aged/cracking, too, and cleaned up fuel pump wiring--it had multiple splices and would bounce around while we were under way. Changed impeller/oil & oil filter/fuel filter....ultimately replaced fuel pump, too.

Now it's running roughly and sputtering out after about 10 - 15 min. He feels there's something that's iffy that then fails completely once it warms up; he had a spare for one of three control boards and ruled it out as a contributing factor. Quicksilver 810650/Generac 0936420srv is on order for installation this week.

Process of elimination bites, but since nearly every part he's pulled seems to be original, it's a little easier to swallow if I treat it as long-overdue major maintenance!

If you or anyone else has thoughts, I'm happy to pass them along!
 
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Can you post the make and modle but it does sound as if she just plain worn out. Is she shutting down under load or just as she sits and warms up?
 
dwna1a said:
Can you post the make and modle but it does sound as if she just plain worn out. Is she shutting down under load or just as she sits and warms up?
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Quicksilver 4.0. Running rough and sometimes shutting down before applying load; pretty much always shutting down when applying load. :( It's extra annoying because it was running so strongly in the fall/winter after solving the soot/exhaust problem.
 
check oil level in governor,

check electric choke connections and make sure all the choke linkage moves freely. Make sure it comes off when warmed up.
 
Sublimetime said:
check oil level in governor,

check electric choke connections and make sure all the choke linkage moves freely. Make sure it comes off when warmed up.
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Two votes now for something involving governor--will circle back with mechanic, as he had noted ours had been overfilled, which he said he hadn't really come across before. We did have some choke issues a while back and kept a screwdriver handy to give it a little help when needed. After carb rebuild, ignition tips, condenser, etc. the choke had come back to life and was working on its own, but I LOVE easy answers so will put that back in the discussion, too.
 
Just a thought:
Not sure if the electric choke you have(assuming that's what you have) is the same as the mechanical chokes.
But, if it is, there is a fast idle adjustment for the choke. If that fast idle is not set properly, it could exhibit some of the symptoms you mentioned.
 
Had to limp in last weekend on one motor after the temp on the starboard shot up all of a sudden. After a quick investigation could not see anything obvious so restarted the motor and could see water blowing forward from under the starboard motor.
After back home found the hose on the motor side of the water pump had a 3 in. tear (hole). Now to the question (since us from the south like to beat around the bush) . How much pressure does that hose support? I wouldn't think it would have enough to blow a hose. The motors have 280 hrs. (what the gauge reads) They were replaced supposedly in 2012, surely they would have not put 25 year old hoses back on, although since I purchased the boat last year and fixing this and that, I'm not surprised at what people do and say

.
 
Has anyone replaced the strainer (drain) in the galley sink on a '88 DA 300? What size is it? And where would I get one? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Sublimetime said:
check oil level in governor,

check electric choke connections and make sure all the choke linkage moves freely. Make sure it comes off when warmed up.
Click to expand...

JVM225 said:
Just a thought:
Not sure if the electric choke you have(assuming that's what you have) is the same as the mechanical chokes.
But, if it is, there is a fast idle adjustment for the choke. If that fast idle is not set properly, it could exhibit some of the symptoms you mentioned.
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Control board installed, governor and (electric) choke checked and operating properly, and still same behavior. Mechanic eyeing carburetor since he's not the one who did that work and on a prior quick look-see found a spring either missing or broken, and that was right after the rebuild. He's stymied otherwise.

I'm really not wanting to do a process of elimination overhaul if I can help it, but if that's less expensive than what it will take to remove/replace this one....?? As far as I can tell, there's no good way to do so without pulling the engines, which puts me into haul-out fees and the whole nine yards, on top of the purchase/install costs. Had planned haul out this fall for outboard service and possible bottom paint, but truly pulling the engines wasn't in the plan.

I'm a wuss and won't survive the summer without AC while on the hook.
 
All it takes is a small amount of just in the carb. Has anyone run some SeaFoam thru the carb?

id of sworn it was gonna be the gov.

maybe a nice Honda on the swim platform might work ..... :grin:
 
dwna1a said:
All it takes is a small amount of just in the carb. Has anyone run some SeaFoam thru the carb?

id of sworn it was gonna be the gov.

maybe a nice Honda on the swim platform might work ..... :grin:
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Two different friends have pulpit generators and it appears a third is going for the same setup. We opted just to borrow a pigtail and plug into FM's uncle's boat for Memorial Weekend to charge batteries and heat water; didn't need the AC at that point. (Don't flame me--I didn't tell them to do it, and I've been schooled enough on CSR to know better than to admit it if we had done it!)

Mechanic's pretty well slammed right now and quite frustrated he hasn't cracked this nut. Will talk to him again soon about options--I haven't told him not to mess with the carb, I just was hoping not to be facing a second rebuild in less than a year. But if the first was a crap job, I'd rather take care of it and move on. I think in part he's trying to be nice and not totally badmouth the prior mechanic, who didn't rebuild it, anyway; he took it to a guy who's been doing them for a million years and lots of folks job out to him. But he also doesn't seem convinced it's the culprit, so without at least some reasonable suspicion I'm being a bit conservative on spending $$ for more labor time.


As far as SeaFoam goes....we use StarTron so haven't added anything else to the main fuel tank. When you say run it through the carb, do you mean via the fuel, directly, or both? We've pulled the carburetor and cleaned it directly; he hasn't mentioned doing it recently.

What are the chances bad/overwintered gas could be contributing? The engines are running smoothly, but if the generator is more sensitive....?? We've never run the tanks down to fumes to start completely fresh, though I've contemplated it; there seem to be differing opinions on whether it's critical, helpful, or makes no difference.
 
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