The Official 450 Express Bridge Owners Club

Thanks for remarks! Thruster is great, mostly used when there's a wind, and not routinely otherwise. I'm a slow docker, easy does it! Low profile of our model doesn't have as much windage that lots of other yachts have.
Yes, I forgot the thruster batteries are sort of off to the side, so could crouch in there to service the sump....but rather not. Maybe a ramp to lay on stomach or side to reach with both arms. Course might get dizzy doing that! Year ago, pump quit, had my yacht manager replace it and he put in a much higher gph model. He said, "not too bad" getting it done. Said to myself, "I like this guy!" While broke, grey water overflowed to the hold beneath the aft SR steps like it's supposed to. Bilge pump there is called "Fwd Emergency" on the Sea Ray alarm panel on bridge.
Central vac I happen to like. Great suction. Also easy to use on that large flat area inside the front windows for any dead bugs and dust. I don't have to climb up there. I can also vacuum any dog hair might be on top of SR beds as our dog beds down all over the place! And, don't need to store an upright portable.
Relative to A/C condensate sump, it's missing a cover. Not very purposeful if allows overflow on bilge pump fail but was flagged on survey and I haven't put any time into finding one. Gosh, cellophane could work, lol.
 
I'd like to see a picture of your storage area w/o the legendary "Splendee 2000".

My slip neighbor about 20 boats away from me, owns Midnight Bliss, a 450EB that I posted some exterior pictures of earlier in the thread. I met him the other day and he converted his third stateroom into a full pantry. I didn't get to see it, but he invited me to take a look in the future. It is interesting to see how everyone customizes their boats.

I'd like to see pictures of that! We are summer living with 6 on board. The admiral and I + 4 deck hands! Deck hand #1 leaves for college mid August.
 
Family of 5 (3 grandboys, 8,11,13), wife's daughter fam, joining us tomorrow for a week aboard. Organized chaos coming!
 
Thinking cap time on a problem bugging me since acquisition. Aft cockpit door latches, both, are misaligned to the plunger hole. Cannot figure how in the world they became this way unless original f-up. Latch screws aren't adjustable, holes not slotted. Hinge is fixed in place too. Baffled.
IMG_20220715_081602~2.jpg
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Only solution I see is drill out the hole properly and figure out how to fit some sort of hole plug to receive plunger. Small Velcro at the top works fine, door doesn't ever seem to blow open.
 
Thinking cap time on a problem bugging me since acquisition. Aft cockpit door latches, both, are misaligned to the plunger hole. Cannot figure how in the world they became this way unless original f-up. Latch screws aren't adjustable, holes not slotted. Hinge is fixed in place too. Baffled. View attachment 130515 View attachment 130516 Only solution I see is drill out the hole properly and figure out how to fit some sort of hole plug to receive plunger. Small Velcro at the top works fine, door doesn't ever seem to blow open.
The prior owner of our boat had an interesting solution to this problem. He decided to reorient the latch on the port side, leaving a crooked latch and he used steel screws that rusted. It also resulted in the plastic female sleeve failing so all I had was a gaping hole. :mad:
I was walking in the plumbing aisle of West Marine and saw a solution. First I reset latch and gelcoated the door. The gaping hole was filed with this tapered plumbing part. It’s a little tight, but it works without being an eyesore. :)
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And here is my starboard side in stock trim. No problems with it. Sorry I don’t recall the name of the plumbing part. o_O
DEF83610-11BA-483F-A193-0F22AE979336.jpeg
 
Very cool, a plumbing part! So, I'm not the only boat, sounds like. I just can't figure out how in the world it's off center. Both door latch holes are off center exactly the same amount! So weird. Is it possible that the stern cabinet structure sank, sagged, or warped down, ever so slightly, but just enough for the latches and holes to not line up? Well, I just snapped this pic looking aft at the bottom of the door. Indeed, the door bottom is not even with the floor. The latch hole side (left) is a larger gap than the hinge side (right). Suggests sag of the aft cabinet structure relative to the deck. Suggests a structural issue. ‍ Image looks bad but not noticeable otherwise...besides the off center latch hole!
Well, hate like hell to move the latch & gelcoat but if I deal with the plunger hole, could make a big mess
IMG_20220715_192731.jpg
.
 
One more below cabin deck image, 2 pics, both below aft SR #3 steps. Seen is "Fwd Emergency Bilge Pump" in the grey water tank overflow hold. Also the potable water tank. 2nd image is A/C condensate collection header with one outgoing line to condensate sump located below salon aft floor hatch. Plumbing header located underneath and left side of the first image of the steps opening. On acquisition, had to descale the A/C cooling water system and technician noticed the condensate collection header was quite a mess and leaking. He rebuilt it with sched 40 pvc in his shop and installed the replacement. I don't have a prior image.
IMG_20220715_195744~2.jpg
IMG_20220715_195851_2.jpg
 
Very cool, a plumbing part! So, I'm not the only boat, sounds like. I just can't figure out how in the world it's off center. Both door latch holes are off center exactly the same amount! So weird. Is it possible that the stern cabinet structure sank, sagged, or warped down, ever so slightly, but just enough for the latches and holes to not line up? Well, I just snapped this pic looking aft at the bottom of the door. Indeed, the door bottom is not even with the floor. The latch hole side (left) is a larger gap than the hinge side (right). Suggests sag of the aft cabinet structure relative to the deck. Suggests a structural issue. ‍ Image looks bad but not noticeable otherwise...besides the off center latch hole!
Well, hate like hell to move the latch & gelcoat but if I deal with the plunger hole, could make a big messView attachment 130549 .
It sure looks like the deck has sagged doesn't it.. What does it look like if you put a straight edge across the deck? There should be an ever-so-slight crown across it.
Does your boat have the stainless posts that support the deck underneath? If so, those posts are adjustable. You would have to slowly get the deck jacked back up and reset the posts. Here is a pic of the posts on a 52; there is a height adjusting nut on top of it.
IMG_6145.jpg
 
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Thanks! I do believe so. Will look for those SS posts next ER entry. No long straight edge handy. Project for a later date with fam arriving in a few hours. Sag isn't noticeable until I viewed it that way at the bottom of the doors.
 
Thanks! I do believe so. Will look for those SS posts next ER entry. No long straight edge handy. Project for a later date with fam arriving in a few hours. Sag isn't noticeable until I viewed it that way at the bottom of the doors.
TTMOTT to the rescue! I went down in the ER and looked at the four adjustable posts. The two aft posts are on either side of the generator and fairly close to transom doors. Maybe with some adjustments we can remedy what appears to be a common issue.
Port:
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Starboard:
67064F0B-E36C-450E-A213-F1E4E7F11587.jpeg
 
Awesome. Pretty sure I have these posts! Makes sense. 1/4", maybe less, is about what I need I think.
 
Awesome. Pretty sure I have these posts! Makes sense. 1/4", maybe less, is about what I need I think.
I believe you can loosen the jam nut and turn the rod clockwise to extend the height. Have a tape measure handy in the ER to gauge your progress by the exposed threads. I'm going to try it this coming weekend.
 
I believe you can loosen the jam nut and turn the rod clockwise to extend the height. Have a tape measure handy in the ER to gauge your progress by the exposed threads. I'm going to try it this coming weekend.
To do this right a hydraulic bottle jack and post atop the jack to raise the deck. Ever so slightly jack up the floor then adjust the strut. Go to the other side and do the same. Back and forth, bit by bit. Check everything going on around the floor area. The last thing you'd want to happen is to crack the gelcoat on the floor or around the engine hatch; it's taken years for it to settle where it is now....

When I moved my deck support to get room for the dinghy lift hydraulic pump I found the floor was sagging primarily due to the degradation of the rubber cushions under the strut. I did the hydraulic jack and then set the strut to the correct height with replacement rubber cushions.
 
Liking the notion of a hydraulic jack to ease the pressure on the support post nut and threads.
 
I had another discovery I thought I should share from this past weekend. I noticed some salt in my forward master stateroom hull compartment. Crawling down for a closer look I noticed it was coming from a containment “pocket” under the drain for the midship head/shower. There is one shallow pocket on the starboard side under this forward drain that can only be accessed from the master stateroom hull.
583347DC-8983-4B44-9DD5-63801878B931.jpeg

The forward pocket was dry, but again I found some evidence of moisture.
34AC0A23-580B-4FD0-B0E8-5FB742479142.jpeg

I found there is second much deeper pocket that is under the aft drain in the midship head.
1267584C-B2C6-4BA4-B804-5B027B186C7D.jpeg

I had a very difficult time reaching in to this pocket with drain hoses and pex lines in the way. To access it you have to go in my favorite compartment of the boat:
86CCB07B-F193-4E44-9E1A-609F51FAD771.jpeg

Here is the small opening with the drain line and pex lines:
8B8A362E-C77E-490B-8A45-800485365DDE.jpeg

This is difficult to see, but here is the deep pocket:
8F9E35D3-CB31-46AD-A8D1-9CB58D26AFE2.jpeg

I had about a gallon of water that was trapped in it. I don’t know how or when the water got in the space. If it is a drain leak, we only have used the shower once, close to two years ago. o_O
My suggestion is the next time you are cleaning that dreaded gray water sump, take your wet vacuum nozzle and run it down into this deep pocket. It might be hiding something for you. :eek:
 
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As a post script to my story, I’m back at the boat and everything seems to be dry three days later. No new water in the pocket. I cleaned everything well on the weekend and picked up a tub of DampRid and put it next to the gray sump.
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"my favorite compartment", lol. So here we are on Captiva Island, wife's daughter fam, 3 grandboys, 8,11,13. Day 5 aboard. Fantastic.
IMG_20220720_192557~2.jpg
 
I had another discovery I thought I should share from this past weekend. I noticed some salt in my forward master stateroom hull compartment. Crawling down for a closer look I noticed it was coming from a containment “pocket” under the drain for the midship head/shower. There is one shallow pocket on the starboard side under this forward drain that can only be accessed from the master stateroom hull.
View attachment 130832
The forward pocket was dry, but again I found some evidence of moisture.
View attachment 130838
I found there is second much deeper pocket that is under the aft drain in the midship head.
View attachment 130830
I had a very difficult time reaching in to this pocket with drain hoses and pex lines in the way. To access it you have to go in my favorite compartment of the boat:
View attachment 130833
Here is the small opening with the drain line and pex lines:
View attachment 130834
This is difficult to see, but here is the deep pocket:
View attachment 130835
I had about a gallon of water that was trapped in it. I don’t know how or when the water got in the space. If it is a drain leak, we only have used the shower once, close to two years ago. o_O
My suggestion is the next time you are cleaning that dreaded gray water sump, take your wet vacuum nozzle and run it down into this deep pocket. It might be hiding something for you. :eek:
Looked for the "pocket". It must be pretty far outboard of the mid-head floor drain. What I could see with good light was dry but maybe need a mirror deeper beyond the floor drain hose.
 
Pee
I had another discovery I thought I should share from this past weekend. I noticed some salt in my forward master stateroom hull compartment. Crawling down for a closer look I noticed it was coming from a containment “pocket” under the drain for the midship head/shower. There is one shallow pocket on the starboard side under this forward drain that can only be accessed from the master stateroom hull.
View attachment 130832
The forward pocket was dry, but again I found some evidence of moisture.
View attachment 130838
I found there is second much deeper pocket that is under the aft drain in the midship head.
View attachment 130830
I had a very difficult time reaching in to this pocket with drain hoses and pex lines in the way. To access it you have to go in my favorite compartment of the boat:
View attachment 130833
Here is the small opening with the drain line and pex lines:
View attachment 130834
This is difficult to see, but here is the deep pocket:
View attachment 130835
I had about a gallon of water that was trapped in it. I don’t know how or when the water got in the space. If it is a drain leak, we only have used the shower once, close to two years ago. o_O
My suggestion is the next time you are cleaning that dreaded gray water sump, take your wet vacuum nozzle and run it down into this deep pocket. It might be hiding something for you. :eek:
Peering in again, seems to me a leak from the mid-head sink drain could be source while the floor drain, if leaked, would have water cascade into the gray water sump compartment. At least that's what I see beneath the floor drain area, a fairly flat surface. Can't really see a pocket beyond that but I do have that cutout hole on the left, not being used for anything, as if a hole for a hose to pass thru.
 
Pee
I had another discovery I thought I should share from this past weekend. I noticed some salt in my forward master stateroom hull compartment. Crawling down for a closer look I noticed it was coming from a containment “pocket” under the drain for the midship head/shower. There is one shallow pocket on the starboard side under this forward drain that can only be accessed from the master stateroom hull.
View attachment 130832
The forward pocket was dry, but again I found some evidence of moisture.
View attachment 130838
I found there is second much deeper pocket that is under the aft drain in the midship head.
View attachment 130830
I had a very difficult time reaching in to this pocket with drain hoses and pex lines in the way. To access it you have to go in my favorite compartment of the boat:
View attachment 130833
Here is the small opening with the drain line and pex lines:
View attachment 130834
This is difficult to see, but here is the deep pocket:
View attachment 130835
I had about a gallon of water that was trapped in it. I don’t know how or when the water got in the space. If it is a drain leak, we only have used the shower once, close to two years ago. o_O
My suggestion is the next time you are cleaning that dreaded gray water sump, take your wet vacuum nozzle and run it down into this deep pocket. It might be hiding something for you. :eek:
Peering in again, seems to me a leak from the mid-head sink drain could be source while the floor drain, if leaked, would have water cascade into the gray water sump compartment. At least that's what I see beneath the floor drain area, a fairly flat surface. Can't really see a pocket beyond that but I do have that cutout hole on the left, not being used for anything, as if a hole for a hose to pass thru.
 

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