Problems with new boat

[danward12]

We bought our 275 searay (260) back in 2007 it has been abit of a lemon since we bought it starting with loosing oil from the trim reservoir to just last week the Air Idle valve coming up as faulty on the smart craft. The week before the smart craft instruments stopped working but that seems to be working again now. The problems started on the Searay convoy from Fremantle WA to Mandurah where the boat shut down in the open ocean. The mechanic thought the gear box had a problem. The gimble ring was replaced and all was ok for a while. We had a trip to Rottnest when the same problem happened, checked down into the bilge area to find the bilge was full of water up to the first pulley of the engine.
We found the float switch on the bilge pump was not working but no one had any idea where the water had come in from.
The mechanic took the boat out a few times and the problem would not happen again.
Well it did, on the way down to Mandurah the bilge filled up aggain.
We had to have the boat Anti-fouled as we changed our mooring from dry dock to being moored. While the boat was on hard stand water leaked from the depth sensor underneath for 4 days. The water was leaking in through the sensor and sitting between the bottom and inner skin. The mechanic said the sensor had never been sealed in the hull. Also the rear bung was the same.
Now these are sealed the boat wants to list to the Port side which it had never done before. Can anyone tell me is this because the hull had water in before and was acting as ballast which was stopping it listting and now the problem has been sorted the boat wants to list?
Also due to the excess water (SALT) in the bilge is now causing problems with the electrics on board.

Sorry if I have bored everyone but I need to get this off my chest. Any feedback would be great.

 

[skibum]

It sounds like you have it fixed. Listing to port is normal for a 260. I think you are correct, the water was acting as ballast.

Michael

 

[Lazy Daze]

A good engine bay cleaning is probably needed. Get it back on the hard - with the bow nice and high. Get some "Salt Away", or similar, and clean everything. Real well. Get the Salt Away that attaches to a hose. Use some plastic wrap (the kind for wrapping sandwiches) or plastic bags with tape or rubber bands to cover sensitive stuff and the air intake.

 

[danward12]

Thanks for getting back, I did wash the bilge area down with fresh water as soon as I got back to port but due to the issues now with the Air Idle valve and the smart craft stop working I think the salt may have got further then I thought. I have a mechanic coming on Thursday to fit a new Air Idle valve we see if that sorts this problem. I will let you know.

 

[mawyatt]

We use CRC 656 and spay the engine and other items every few months to help keep the salt from causing rust and corrosion. Also use CRC corrosion guard on the electrcial connections.

 

[Dave S]

Let me try an answer some of your questions by telling you a few things I am aware of with the 260DA and the 350 mag (you didn't state what engine you have).

If you have problems with your trim reservoir, and you have Bennett Trim tabs, I would contact the manufacturer directly http://www.bennetttrimtabs.com/ These guys are the best in the business and will bend over backwards to get your problem solved for you.

If you are experincing water in your bilge, it could be due to it getting into the bilge where the upper and lower hull are joined together at the rear of the boat. Several of us experience the same problem for seemingly no reason at at all just like you do. In my case it's when I have a lot of people on board otherwise my bilge stays dry and I think it's because the sheer line on our 260DAs is pretty low in the back. I recommend you read this thread to get some more background on the problem. http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20234&highlight=sheer

You mentioned that your idle air controller failed. That is a common problem on EFI engines and failure can occur without any warning. I have experienced it twice on two different engines so now I carry a spare IAC and Gasket on the boat in case I need to change it out in the water.

I am not sure I know what you mean when you say your engine stopped on you but that could be a problem with your main wiring harness. At the back of the engine there is a connection for the main wiring harness that sometimes can become a bit corroded or the pins can losen up. This can also cause a no start condition as well. There is a screw clamp on a rubber boot (if I recall this correctly) that needs to be undone to pull the harness apart. You will also notice that the male pins are of the split-pin variety. Gently open the pins up just a bit with a knife and then plug everything back together.

As far as your Smartcraft quitting intermittently, I would also re-seat the smart craft cable at the ECM on the engine and at the instrument panel. You have to undo the screws holding the panel on to get to the cable connection where the harness is plugged into the instruments.(Pull the cable off at the connector and put it back in.)

The other things you mentioned that were not sealed properly hopefully have now been fixed. It also makes me wonder if they sealed the seacocks for the AC and the Macerator (if you have one). I had a problem with my AC seacock wherby it was not sealed properly as well. With the pan liner water can get trapped in between the liner and the hull but I doubt there would be that much water in there to cause the boat to list. The main reason the 260DA's list (while sitting in the water) is the amount of water and waste you have in your tanks. Mine will list to port pretty severly if my waste tank is empty and my water tank is full. Try balancing out those two tanks and see if the list goes away. If you are talking about listing while underway you need to read a few of the recent threads on the Board as well because you may not be doing something correctly when operating the boat. Here is one of those threads http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21656

I hope some of this helps out.

Dave

 

[Morpheus]

I'll just pick out a couple of things. the IAC is a normal fail item specially the one from the factory. How many hours does your boat have. I had less then 100 hrs when mine started to fail.

The float switch in my bildge has failed 2 times so I would get use to that and you should always be checking your bilge for water.

 

[danward12]

Thanks everyone for your input the engine is a 350 mag Horizon bravo 3 leg and I have a couple of times sprayed the engine with WD40, I will try the plugs you mention that could be a the problem with the smart craft.
You say the Smart craft wiring goes to the back of the engine can you tell me where the loom runs along when it leaves the front console?
The bilge float switch has played up a couple of times but always been able to get it working again. Is it a good idea to replace this with a different make?
The couple of times the bilge has filled with water has been while in the open sea and the sea has been abit choppie.
Dave when you say your bilge stays dry do you mean dry dry no water there at all? Because I have never had a completely dry bilge there is always a small amount of water in the bottom. The boat used to be in the racks at Fremantle and the boat would be lifted out and drained by a fork truck so when the boat got put in the water the bilge would be dry but as soon as we would get back from the trip the bilge always has water in it, is this normal?
Now the boat is moored in the water I don't now if the water is still creeping in and the bilge is keeping the level down. The bilge only gets rid of the water to about 1/2" from the bottom.
I have been looking into the engine manual and the book mentions about the removal of the water in the heat exchanger is it possible the water could be coming from the coloured valves they mention to drain it. They talk about using the Air pump to pressurize the exchanger and the water will drain from the the valves into the bilge. Has this ever happened can anyone tell me?

 

[danward12]

Hi everyone had the mechanic on my boat this morning replacing the Air Idle Valve he pointed out the trim oil was low I explained this has been a problem since new having to top up the reservoir on a regular basis. Small drops of oil are coming up to the surface of the water from the drive leg. So the boat is comming out on hard stand again to have this sorted plus a 100hr service. The drive belt needs replacing because there is no more adjustment on the tensioner even though no one has tightened it since new. Surely they last longer then 100hrs. And are they self tightening?

 

[skibum]

Sounds like you put a metric size belt on a standard size pulley. Those metric parts never fit properly. :smt043:smt043:smt043

Sorry... I realize that this was no help at all. I just couldn't resist...

 

[danward12]

The belt is still the original belt from manufacturer.

 

[Uggboat]

Hey Danward....are Challenge doing the service or do you use someone else?