The official “Szalty Air” '07 Sea Ray 260DA Sundancer thread

[AttilaS]

Hi everyone, After about 8 years being around boats in SoCal and going to/from Catalina island many times either on a friends boat or on the express, a couple months ago we bought a 2007 260 Sundancer. I guess we just decided we were being too financially responsible and a great way to solve that problem would be to buy a boat.

I spent roughly the last 6 months looking at every possible brand/size/shape boat that would fit our current needs. They were: ability to take a family of 4 (+ occasionally a few friends) to/from Catalina island, had to be under 30' to fit the moorings we like to use close to the beach at Catalina, comfortable seating layout to hang out on at mooring and also have enough cabin space to store all the stuff we truck over to Catalina, majority of depreciation already gone, but also nothing very old. We have a separate place to sleep while at the island, so cooking/sleeping on the boat wasn't an issue.

Anyway the 260 is what we liked best from what we found. Not too many available near by recently and those that were, were priced quite high and in rough shape. We weren't really in any rush, so kept looking and got pretty lucky to find a private seller that was a bit more reasonable on price. Have a friend who is a boat broker and he pulled sales history for me going back 3 years, so I could see what these boats were selling for before covid. That helped reassure me I wasn't paying the current premiums. The boat is in great shape with less than 100 hours on engine (was installed new 2 years ago), had fresh bottom paint last year as well, new Raymarine plotter with radar, generator, and just overall very clean. Was in fresh water most of it's life, so minimal corrosion. Had survey done, which also was very clean and just brought up some very minor issues.

After purchase I took it on a few short trips up / down the coast (roughly 15 miles each) just to get comfortable with the boat and make sure things were generally running ok. Then headed out for our first trip to Catalina. That trip went less well.

A few minutes before getting out of the harbor, had an alarm come on all of sudden for 0 water pressure. Stopped, put it in reverse briefly a few times to see if possibly just had something get caught on the water intake. Made no difference, so headed back to the slip. Oil temps were unchanged at and could feel water still pulsing through the hoses, so figured may just be sensor. Found one available near by, swapped it out and got water pressure again when I started it back up.

At this point it was getting close to mid day, but we decided to head over anyway since we had other friends planning to come over later in the day on the express. Water pressure and other temps seemed fine as we got up on plane and started heading out. Winds had started to pick up though and although the swell small it had a very short period which made for not the most pleasant conditions. In addition to that a few miles out I got another alarm from guardian. This time it flashed "overspeed" and said reduce throttle. I put it down close to idle and alarm went off right away. Said hmm, that was odd. Got it back up to speed and then again a mile or so later, same alarm. Ended up going the rest of the way over to Catalina like that. Was not very fun.

Once at the island no one there had a scanner to see if there were any specific faults that could help indicate what was wrong. Had a nice couple days there and then headed back home in the morning hoping it would be a smoother crossing. Weather was much better, but again started to get overspeed warnings and each time had to drop down close to idle before resuming. Eventually found that if I kept the RPMs below about ~3600 RPMs it would run fine without alarm, so was able to make it most of the way back without it happening too many times. Main issue was that RPM level kept it on plane, but just a bit too slow to get over larger swells, so it would slow quite a bit and take time to get over the swell. Once over the swell then I'd have to slightly back off the throttle as it went down the other side or the RPMs would get too high and alarm would go off again.

Some fun there that I'll need to look into. Definitely won't be doing another crossing until I figure out what is wrong and resolve it. I also noticed the zincs are ready to be replaced on the outdrive and it is due for service, so I'll be pulling it out in a week or so and will start to dig into it a bit. Although the motor is new and things look to be in great shape overall, I still want to go through a few things to get a good baseline for their current state. Things like the sea pump impeller, internal condition of the manifolds/risers, ... There are a few other misc items as well I'll take care of while it is out and get it all setup for next spring when we head back to Catalina.

I've found some great information on this forum as well as other sites, but at the same time there isn't near as much info out there as there is for automotive topics. No surprise since there just aren't as many boats out there. Anyway that's why I figured I'd start this thread and document the work I am doing with the boat and our experiences with it. Hopefully it will help others. I haven't done a lot of work on boats in the past, but have done extensive work in just about all areas on cars and home. I've got copies of the service manuals and will just get into it and start learning.

Certainly appreciate any feedback from the community as well. I've researched a bunch and learn pretty quick, but still am new to a lot of this.

 

[AttilaS]

Here are a few pictures of the boat.

 

[AttilaS]

Forgot to mention, I also picked up a trailer at the time as well since I may end up keeping it out of the water at least during the winter. It's also in pretty good shape, just the carpet on the bunks are a bit warn, so I'll be replacing the carpet this weekend before I pull the boat out the following weekend.

 

[Espos4]

Forgot to mention, I also picked up a trailer at the time as well since I may end up keeping it out of the water at least during the winter. It's also in pretty good shape, just the carpet on the bunks are a bit warn, so I'll be replacing the carpet this weekend before I pull the boat out the following weekend.

The pictures show a very clean motor. When you say “new engine” was this a complete new motor or a top end rebuild?
I’d assume it’s complete which would include new manifolds and risers too.

What is you water pressure at 3500rpm? 10-12 psi is a good number.

Low water pressure at the higher rpm can trigger the over speed alarm. Doesn’t sound logical but it’s possible.

When you remove the outdrive, get it on a stand and then remove the upper half. That will allow you to clean out the water passage. Barnacles growing in there can restrict your supply of cooling water.

Also check the hose at the transom assembly. You’ll need to remove the hose from the transom inside the boat. Google “Bravoitis”
That can restrict water supply too.

 

[AttilaS]

@Espos4, it was a completely new motor. At least that is what previous owner told me and the surveyor agreed based on what he saw. It was replaced some time prior to the previous owner though, so not sure on the exact time. Previous owner bought it 1 1/2 years ago just to use during covid shutdowns and it only had 4 hours on it when he bought it. He put about 75 hours on it during his ownership. That is the last time it was out of the water and had bottom paint and outdrive service.

I agree with your recommendation though to check the outdrive and I'll be doing that once I get it out. Unfortunately I really don't recall what kind of water pressure I was getting at higher RPMs prior to the warning with no pressure. It ran fine at much higher RPMs though before without issues, so a bit odd for something to cause it suddenly. I wouldn't think it was a impeller issue since it isn't very old. That is why I suspected something getting sucked in and caught. Now it is at 2-3 psi at or near idle. At 3500 it only goes up a few more psi, which like you say is lower than it should be.

Anyway I'll take it apart and report back with what I find. Thanks a lot of the recommendations.

 

[Christo]

That is a very clean engine compartment, very nice boat, congrats.

 

[Stray Current]

Did I start a trend?

I see you have a Northstar or Navman gps. Is it integrated into your smartcraft? Mine is and it can display engine fault information

 

[AttilaS]

Did I start a trend?

I see you have a Northstar or Navman gps. Is it integrated into your smartcraft? Mine is and it can display engine fault information

The gps is from Raymarine. It is not integrated with smartcraft yet. That's on my list to do though. I briefly looked into the best way to connect it, but haven't settled on the specifics. Seems to be a few different options depending on the gps.

 

[Stray Current]

The gps is from Raymarine. It is not integrated with smartcraft yet. That's on my list to do though. I briefly looked into the best way to connect it, but haven't settled on the specifics. Seems to be a few different options depending on the gps.

the little screen under the white cover to the lower left of your wheel may well be connected already, it was an option. It actually reads the smartcraft fault codes if it is. I use mine to read and clear them. Don’t have any pics of that screen though

 

[AttilaS]

Oh, I see what you mean. They disconnected that screen when the raymarine gps was added. I haven't looked behind yet to see exactly how it was disconnected, but no power to it. I'll look into that as well. Thanks for pointing it out.

View attachment 112942 View attachment 112943 View attachment 112944

the little screen under the white cover to the lower left of your wheel may well be connected already, it was an option. It actually reads the smartcraft fault codes if it is. I use mine to read and clear them. Don’t have any pics of that screen though

 

[AttilaS]

I had to run the boat over to a near by Marina yesterday and sure enough water pressure peeked at about 4psi regardless of how high the RPMs went. Most of the time it was about 3.5psi and ~2psi at idle. It is odd to me what would have caused this change suddenly. I didn't think to look when I was on the boat yesterday, but is there some kind of strainer or filter before the sea pump on the motor that I could check?

Either way it is coming out Sunday and I'll pull the drive. I confirmed with previous owner that last service he had done on the outdrive was just oil change, paint and prop shaft lubed. Who knows when is the last time it had a proper internal cleaning.

 

[AttilaS]

Got the boat out of the water last weekend. Was the first time putting it on the trailer I got. Overall it was pretty easy. Pulled it out once to check positioning of the bunks and check tongue weight. Made some measurements of where we wanted to move bunks to and approximate positioning to get the tongue weight we were looking for, put it back in the water, adjusted, put it back on and then we were in good shape.

Only obvious issue is the bow roller/witch are way too low and have no adjustment to correct. We only had to take it a few miles and stayed on surface streets at no more than 30mph. I ordered a new adjustable mount so that that can be corrected before I move it again.

 

[AttilaS]

When I got it home, I started by just cleaning off what I could with a pressure washer. It wasn't in terrible shape, but certainly some growth. It had been just over a month since last bottom/outdrive cleaning and bottom paint was done 1 1/2 years ago.

This is before I started cleaning.

This is after I had sprayed down with the pressure washer.

Probably most concerning so far is how in lots of places bottom paint is coming off in large chunks or just generally seems to be half gone and it is noticeably thinner after washing. It is all green underneath, which I assume was a primer? Doesn't appear it was a very high quality job when last done, but I don't have much to compare it to. I don't see any spots all the way down to gel coat. Trim tabs need a serious cleaning. Looks like someone tried to paint them, but doesn't seem like that went very well.

Outdrive was in ok shape. Not much paint left on it and zincs are definitely due, but otherwise doesn't look too bad I think. Bellows look to be in very good shape, so perhaps they were changed during it's last service. I pulled the props off and they came off easily and still had some grease on the splines. I can see all kinds of junk in the water intake holes, so I'm curious what I will find when I pull it apart. I'm still waiting for a stand to arrive before I can take it off and start on that.

I'll probably start by cleaning up the props next since they look quite ugly, but likely shouldn't be too hard to get looking much better. I'll also pull off the sea pump soon and start looking at the water intake lines. Not exactly easy to get at where the lines go into the transom, so that should be fun.

 

[AttilaS]

Cleaning up the props was easier then I expected. Used a plastic scrapper to knock off the mini barnacles, a little barkeepers friend and plastic brush got most of it off in a few minutes and then I used my makita with a nylon sanding disc to get ride of the haze. All in it was less than an hour to do both props. The insides are pretty ugly still. I sprayed on a little muriatic acid and letting that soak for a bit to see how it helps.

 

[AttilaS]

Got a few little things done this weekend.

Muriatic acid cleaned up the insides of the props really well and got everything off. Took a while, but was mostly just time waiting. Every so often I just loosely scrapped a bit sprayed on some more and let it sit and just repeated that several times.

I also cleaned all the corrosion off the 2 prop nuts and they look like new now as well. Only took a few minutes, but it is very satisfying to take something that looks pretty rough to something that looks so nice.

I was going the change oil in the engine. I got an extractor from west marine. Didn't look at it too closely, but capacity seemed ok and it was on sale. Went to insert the pipe in the dip stick tube and realized the pipe is barely as long the dip stick. That certainly wasn't going to work. I found one that is a bit longer online and will try with it when it arrives.

While I had the engine hatch up I decided to pull the sea pump just to inspect it with my own eyes. Seems to be in good shape. At this point since it is apart anyway perhaps I should just replace the impeller, wear plate and gasket?

I also pulled off the hose at the transom for the water inlet to inspect the hose that goes through the transom. It looked to be in good shape, which I guess makes sense since the engine was replaced not that long ago. I'd guess once the engine is out cleaning up the transom hose would be a pretty common thing to do.

Was hard to get a great picture since there isn't much space, but overall it looks pretty good I think. My water pressure issue must be related to the condition of the outdrive. I'm still waiting for a stand for the outdrive, but once I get it I'll pull it off and start cleaning it up.

Last thing was I got a new bow roller and winch mount on the trailer that fits my boat. Will be much safer towing it now.

 

[AttilaS]

Stand for the drive arrived last week, so I pulled it off Friday. Pretty happy with the stand (found it on ebay). Was very easy to get the drive off and it holds it well while I'm working on it.

Aside from paint on the drive looking awful, It otherwise doesn't seem bad. Bellows look pretty new. Gimbal bearing looks decent as well and turns smoothly by hand. I did notice one of the seal o-rings on the drive shaft had broken and was sitting in the bellow.

I originally planned to just split the top/bottom halves so I could clean out the water passage and get a fresh coat of paint on it, but when I looked at the current paint more closely it is quite a mess. It did a decent job protecting the drive while it lasted, but at this point only about half the anti-foul paint was left on it. It was put on very think with a brush and doesn't look like the surface was prepped that well before hand because in many areas large chunks flake right off with just gentle scraping. I started taking off what was left of the think top coat with a scraper and then used a sander for the remaining 4 layers. It comes off fairly easy, so I just decided to take it all the way down to the metal and properly prep it before repainting it. I'll use Alumiprep and Alodine to get it ready for primer/paint. I'm a bit undecided on the actual paint I will use. I've read through various threads and see lots of options.

Anyway, this is where I left it today. Most of the top half is stripped.

 

[AttilaS]

Only had a little time last week to work on things, but did make some progress. The drive is about 75% stripped now with just one side of the lower half left. I also split the top and bottom halves once I finished most of the work on the top half, so I could finally see what the internal water passage looked like. There were a few pretty large pieces in there that were loose and could easily have acted like a flapper valve that would get sucked up and block off most of the flow into the upper half of the drive. Kind of scary that there isn't any other filter before getting to the pump and rest of engine. Smaller pieces could easily get sucked right up and potentially get trapped in other water passages.

Below picture shows what the lower passage looked like when I split the drive.

This was the largest loose piece that I pulled out.

This is what the drive looks like at the moment.

I should be able to finish stripping the drive this week and then start paint and reassembly. I need to order new seals/gaskets to put everything back together. I found most of the parts, but still looking for the right set of seals to reconnect to top/bottom halves. If anyone knows the right kit, please let me know.

 

[HawkX66]

Wow. Severely restricted water flow for sure. Congrats on having the guts to dig in yourself. I find it much more rewarding than cutting a check.

 

[Espos4]

Only had a little time last week to work on things, but did make some progress. The drive is about 75% stripped now with just one side of the lower half left. I also split the top and bottom halves once I finished most of the work on the top half, so I could finally see what the internal water passage looked like. There were a few pretty large pieces in there that were loose and could easily have acted like a flapper valve that would get sucked up and block off most of the flow into the upper half of the drive. Kind of scary that there isn't any other filter before getting to the pump and rest of engine. Smaller pieces could easily get sucked right up and potentially get trapped in other water passages.

Below picture shows what the lower passage looked like when I split the drive.

This was the largest loose piece that I pulled out.

This is what the drive looks like at the moment.

I should be able to finish stripping the drive this week and then start paint and reassembly. I need to order new seals/gaskets to put everything back together. I found most of the parts, but still looking for the right set of seals to reconnect to top/bottom halves. If anyone knows the right kit, please let me know.

There is no kit for the seals used to reassemble the upper and lower units. You’ll have to order the O-rings individually. You can find the part numbers in the mercury parts catalog online. They are listed in the gear housing section of the bravo 3 drop down.

Looks like item numbers 3,4,5 and 23

The part numbers should be:
33465
805334
45571
20826

 

[techmitch]

Only had a little time last week to work on things, but did make some progress. The drive is about 75% stripped now with just one side of the lower half left. I also split the top and bottom halves once I finished most of the work on the top half, so I could finally see what the internal water passage looked like. There were a few pretty large pieces in there that were loose and could easily have acted like a flapper valve that would get sucked up and block off most of the flow into the upper half of the drive. Kind of scary that there isn't any other filter before getting to the pump and rest of engine. Smaller pieces could easily get sucked right up and potentially get trapped in other water passages.

Below picture shows what the lower passage looked like when I split the drive.

This was the largest loose piece that I pulled out.

This is what the drive looks like at the moment.

I should be able to finish stripping the drive this week and then start paint and reassembly. I need to order new seals/gaskets to put everything back together. I found most of the parts, but still looking for the right set of seals to reconnect to top/bottom halves. If anyone knows the right kit, please let me know.

Since you've taken it down to bare aluminum, be sure to use zinc chromate primer. hopefully you didn't use sand paper with any kind of metal in it, (be sure to check) and don't use any type of steel wire brush either.