300 Sundancer questions.

[ZZ13]

Question about vents in the hull. The users's manual identifies all the holes in my hull. But there are two vent holes it does not mention. One is directly above the two matching bilge pump outlets starboard aft and there is a matching vent in the same spot in the port aft corner of the hull. What are these for?

[Xplicitlnck]

Fuel tank vents?

[ZZ13]

Fuel tank vents?

Fuel tank and water tank vents are accounted for. But I got the starboard one figured out. Its not a vent, its the discharge for the hot water heater pressure relief line. Still don't know what the port side is for. From inside the bilge there is definitely a hose connected to it, but I can follow it for more than a foot until it disappears up top.

Update: Ah, gotta be the vent from the holding tank filter.

[Her Diamond 2]

My boat didn't come with the battery adapter that plugs into the DC socket at the helm either. Anyone know the gauge of wire SR used so I can make an adapter?
Thanks

[jkim1990]

Guys,

re: water system winterization

Don't want to start thinking about winterization but the time has come... I have read a decent amount about this on the forums but wanted some guidance from 300 owners.

I would rather not run pink through water tank or hot water heater, too much cleaning it out in the Spring (I could be talked into this if it made sense...).

Here are steps as I see them:

1) Drain water system through running all taps, hot and cold.
2) Bypass hot water heater by connecting cold water inlet to hot water outlet
3) Drain hot water tank and maybe blow out hoses that feed heat exchanger from engine???
4) Blow out city water inlet valve in trunk
5) Disconnect main water line from bottom of water pump, blow this out back to tank
6) Connect a line from water pump to bucket full of pink and pump through all nozzles hot and cold

How about using shut offs on water manifold? Any other words of wisdom?

[ZZ13]

Guys,

re: water system winterization

Don't want to start thinking about winterization but the time has come... I have read a decent amount about this on the forums but wanted some guidance from 300 owners.

I would rather not run pink through water tank or hot water heater, too much cleaning it out in the Spring (I could be talked into this if it made sense...).

Here are steps as I see them:

1) Drain water system through running all taps, hot and cold.
2) Bypass hot water heater by connecting cold water inlet to hot water outlet
3) Drain hot water tank and maybe blow out hoses that feed heat exchanger from engine???
4) Blow out city water inlet valve in trunk
5) Disconnect main water line from bottom of water pump, blow this out back to tank
6) Connect a line from water pump to bucket full of pink and pump through all nozzles hot and cold

How about using shut offs on water manifold? Any other words of wisdom?

Last year I did your exact steps, except I didn't bother blowing out the line on #5. I just held it down as far is it would go after I disconnected it and it drained out. And I didn't do #4, I am pretty sure it drains clear naturally. But certainly won't hurt to blow it out. I didn't touch the shut-offs. Also, I left the hw heater drain valve open all winter and then closed it before I used it the first time in the spring.

On #3 part II, disconnect them both at the engine and then its easy to drain or blow out. If you are winterizing your engines via the bucket method then you can skip this as coolant will get pulled through the heater's heat exchanger hoses during that process.

[BrianR]

Hi guys,
hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but I posted this in the newbie section, then thought it might be better answered here.
so...........New to the forum and getting ready to sea trial an '06 300 Sundancer this week.
For those of you who have experience with them, is there anything in particular I should be looking for?
Appreciate any feedback in advance....
Thanks

[Stray Cat]

BrianR - Pay attention to how easy the cabin door slides on its trucks. It should slide smooth and easy. Pull up the inspection cover in the floor (right in front of the door to the head) of the cabin to inspect the area of the shower sump box...make certain it is dry around the sump box. How easy does the throttle/shift move? You shouldn't have to use a lot of force to shift from F-N-R...I had to change both throttle cables after the 3rd season.

What engines and cooling system type does this boat have?

[BrianR]

Thanks Jeff.
engines are 5 liter Mercs with raw water cooling, 240 hours.
manifolds have just been changed with the new and improved manifolds, (time will tell, but they are supposed to be good for 10 years).
PO had flush kits installed.
so, shower sump has potential leaks?
thanks for your response, I'll pay attention to shifters as well.

[ZZ13]

Hi guys,
hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but I posted this in the newbie section, then thought it might be better answered here.
so...........New to the forum and getting ready to sea trial an '06 300 Sundancer this week.
For those of you who have experience with them, is there anything in particular I should be looking for?
Appreciate any feedback in advance....
Thanks

Not much else for you that wasn't covered in your other two threads. Jeff has two great points. I bought my '04 last year with a beat up door track system that I am finally going to replace this winter (still slides, but lots of friction is involved now) and a shorted out pump inside the shower sump that caused it to overflow into the secondary pump area. That was an easy fix with a new pump. So, like Jeff suggested, make sure all that stuff works since you may not have known its there and water is involved. If it doesn't work, might be able to get a few bucks off the purchase or make the repair a condition of purchase. Also, if you do decide to follow the spark plug replacement suggestion in your other thread, since you need 16 of them I recommend buying the AC 41-993 platinum plugs (should come properly gapped at .060 right out of the box) from an auto parts store. They are less than $10 each there and will be around $18-$20 each from a marine supplier.

Oh, and other things with high failure rates to check out:

- Sea Temp Sensor is part of the depth sensor. It can go bad. Its a readout on your Smartcraft speedometer. See if that reads properly (mine is broke).
- Trim limit sensors can break frequently. If so, your drive(s) won't go up with the trim button on the aft shift lever. You would have to use the trailer buttons on top of the shift lever unit. There is an easy wiring workaround for this if you don't want to pay to have the sensors replaced on the outdrive.
- Check the two factory DVD players in the cabin for proper operation.
- Fuel level readings for each tank may be erratic. That's just a characteristic of the factory fuel senders. Some just go ahead and get aftermarket more reliable senders, others just live with it and use fuel used readings from a fuel tank to figure out how much fuel is left in the tank.

That's it. Good luck. I think its a wonderful boat.