The official "Stray Current II" thread. '07 260DA

[Stray Current]

View attachment 81776

Out of the shrink wrap!
The power steering lines had been weeping all winter ever since the transom assembly was replaced. Mercruiser wants $300 for the 2 steering lines and female quick connector on the actuator. Screw that! It's just dry o-rings!

Through lots of trial and error I found the dorman kit pictured contains 1 appropriate yet slightly fatter oring. It was pretty simple to swap the o rings and they didn't leak after an hour's run. I also replaced the return line from the cooler to the reservoir and flushed the power steering system with new fluid.

I also had a miss, so I replaced the cap, rotor and plugs again. Running like a dream now.

I picked up my new group 31 deep cycle batteries, they're going in after the bilge gets a good hot water scrub with dawn.

Bootstripe tape and Sundancer graphics are gone. I have a new set of stripes from hullstripes.com ready to go and I have the repop Sundancer graphics coming.

Detailing is scheduled for next week, weather permitting. Hoping to button up the underwater lights, antenna, transducer, and finish my cable management by then.

Popped into the dealer I use to grab some parts. It was strange and a little sad seeing my old rig sitting there getting ready for someone else.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Lookin' good!

FYI... what are those o-rings made out of? If regular rubber (I think even nitrile isn't so good here), they will be trash in short time. Viton is preferred. Measure the ID/OD/Thickness and you can search online.

 

[Stray Current]

Lookin' good!

FYI... what are those o-rings made out of? If regular rubber (I think even nitrile isn't so good here), they will be trash in short time. Viton is preferred. Measure the ID/OD/Thickness and you can search online.

They are rubber. I couldn't find viton as most places are closed. I guess a call to McMaster Carr is in order


Edit 4/8

I have 100 BUNA-N oil and hydraulic fluid resistant o-rings on order. If anyone reading this has the same leak, I'd be happy to send you some o-rings. No way I'm going to ever need 100. No other way to purchase from McMaster Carr though

 

[Stray Current]

A little more progress in spite of the last few days of spotty rain. Got my new 8' vhf antenna installed, wired up and soldered. I was able to seal up the wire chases in the arch and close the access panels. Arch wiring done!

I installed SeaBlaze X-2 bi-color underwater lights. So far they're only laid out and dry fitted. I still need to bed them and do the final shrink tube wiring. Good Lord they're bright!

Hoping to finish them tomorrow evening and install the totalscan transducer. Still having trouble trying to find a mounting location. Too many thru hulls!


I noticed very small amount of oil on my rear prop shaft seal. Not happy about that! Not a drop all winter but I guess when I shifted and ran it in gear it started leaking

 

[Stray Current]

Got my bilge and engine scrubbed clean with hot water and dawn. New group 31 deep cycle batteries installed and cable ends cleaned up. Got my totalscan transducer installed and buttoned up the electronics.

Apparently my prop shaft seal stopped leaking as I idled it another hour and ran it in gear 5 minutes with no sign of weepage.

Looks like I need a new prop nut!

underwater lights are also bedded in 4200 and final wired

 

[Heracles]

hey guys what you think of the 2006/2007 260 DA, if less than 300 hours, how concerned would you be of the older year? I mean looks thats the most boat you can buy wiht $35-$45K?

 

[Stray Current]

hey guys what you think of the 2006/2007 260 DA, if less than 300 hours, how concerned would you be of the older year? I mean looks thats the most boat you can buy wiht $35-$45K?

The toic of this thread is an 07. I bought it for right around the 35 mark.

GET A SURVEY!

A lot of the things I'm tending to were found in the survey. As with any used boat 6+ years old, expect to spend a bit of money up front addressing things.

Hours mean almost nothing, use conditions and maintenance tell the real story

 

[Lazy Daze]

hey guys what you think of the 2006/2007 260 DA, if less than 300 hours, how concerned would you be of the older year? I mean looks thats the most boat you can buy wiht $35-$45K?

Heracles, just a heads up... this thread is specific to Stray Current. He made this thread to document and share his trials and tribulations with his boat... with lot's of pics, I must add! Which are always nice! Take a look through the whole thread and you'll see what I mean. I answered you in the other place where you asked that question to avoid hi-jacking this one.

 

[Stray Current]

Heracles, just a heads up... this thread is specific to Stray Current. He made this thread to document and share his trials and tribulations with his boat... with lot's of pics, I must add! Which are always nice! Take a look through the whole thread and you'll see what I mean. I answered you in the other place where you asked that question to avoid hi-jacking this one.

And on that note, more trials and more pictures!

I have the drive sanded down pretty much as far as I'm willing to go with it. I have the paint on the transom sanded back away from the assembly and the tabs. I ran the sander over the whole boat to remove the loose paint and level it off. Unfortunately in the process I found someone scraped the keel pretty good at one point.

I sanded that smoothe. I'm going to barrier coat that spot and the transom before painting the whole bottom in black CPP ablative. I have freshly reconditioned props to paint with pettit propcoat barnacle barrier. I'm going to paint the drive and underwater lights with primocon and trilux 33.

The bottom is in worse shape than I thought. I think a soda blast, barrier coat and new paint is in the cards in 2-3 years. I'm a bit over 30k in at this point and don't want to open that can of worms right now. Unfortunately I'm the guy that "if I'm this far in I might as well..." Gotta stop for now, it needs to go in before I lose myself stuck on land.


Next season I'm hoping to tend to some chips and gouges in the gel, a windlass, and new cockpit upholstery. I also have a custom trailer on order, more on that later.

This is my office. I'm an electrician and generator tech. This is what pays the bills and why it's "Stray Current"

This is Bourbon. I've earned it after a few hours with the dust collection sander.

 

[Stray Current]

My helper wants his boat, and he misses his center console

 

[aerobat77]

i like your "idiot alert" button . i guess the hailer speaker serves for similar reasons

 

[Stray Current]

i like your "idiot alert" button . i guess the hailer speaker serves for similar reasons

The idiot alert "duck horn" is going to be replaced by a nice Ongaro stainless dual trumpet horn. They're loud enough to make even the most inattentive idiot aimlessly criss-crossing a channel jump.

I like the hailer for the automated fog signal function. I suspect that like my last boat, feedback will make the actual PA function totally useless

 

[Stray Current]

primocon!

more primocon!

Somehow I got 1 whole coat of grey trilux 33 out of 1 can, but the can of black only made it this far.

I found some antique technology on eBay

Now I have 2 smartcraft enabled screens. A bonus is the smartcraft transducer now supplies depth to the Northstar, and the Simrad has its own transducer.

Why? Why not!?


I also have a spare Northstar 567 so I should be able to keep this setup working for awhile.

The Northstar seems like it was well ahead of it's time for 2003ish when that model was introduced. I really like it as a second system

 

[GCHOG]

Hey George, Garry here. The boat looks great ! nice work ! I finally got my parts Friday, starting work tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well. Your outdrive looks good,,,when you thinking of splashing the boat ?

 

[Stray Current]

Thanks Garry! Glad to hear your ready to go. Did you opt for the seacore assembly?

I was hoping to be splashed next weekend, but between the weather, work and new things popping up (barrier coating keel) it's looking like a minimum of two more weeks.

I still have no idea when my detailer is going to show. I'm hoping to finish the drive and at least get a few coats of barrier coat on the keel later this week in the evenings. Seems like every time I have a chance to do anything during the week it rains.

Next year I'm splashing mid-march. This is just a special year with all the work.

 

[Stray Current]

finished up the drive paint.

Pettit prop coat barnacle barrier on the wheels and the shower

Trilux on the underwater lights.

I really like this little Northstar unit. I realize it's basically stone age technology but it's simple to use and does a lot of cool stuff

 

[radscoot]

View attachment 83374 View attachment 83380 View attachment 83381 View attachment 83382 finished up the drive paint.

Pettit prop coat barnacle barrier on the wheels and the shower

Trilux on the underwater lights.

View attachment 83384 View attachment 83385 View attachment 83386
I really like this little Northstar unit. I realize it's basically stone age technology but it's simple to use and does a lot of cool stuff

Nice job refinishing the drive. First time I’ve heard about Primocon primer. You say one can did the entire job so it must not go on very heavy?

 

[Stray Current]

Nice job refinishing the drive. First time I’ve heard about Primocon primer. You say one can did the entire job so it must not go on very heavy?

I used two cans of primocon. 2 coats, it’s fairly thin.

I got a whole coat of grey trilux out of 1 can. I assume since it was gray over gray I didn’t go so heavy. It took 2 cans of black trilux over the gray but it’s very heavy on there

 

[GCHOG]

Hi George, I did not go with the Seacore. After talking to 2 different Mercruiser Tech's they both advised against getting the Seacore due to dissimiliar metal contact. As you know, I also reached out to members here and got a lot of input. I was on the fence for well over a week trying to decide. Anyway, I have all the parts, starting the teardown today,(weather has sucked as you know).
BTW, the underwater lights look great. Good luck with the rest of your project !

 

[Stray Current]

Hi George, I did not go with the Seacore. After talking to 2 different Mercruiser Tech's they both advised against getting the Seacore due to dissimiliar metal contact. As you know, I also reached out to members here and got a lot of input. I was on the fence for well over a week trying to decide. Anyway, I have all the parts, starting the teardown today,(weather has sucked as you know).
BTW, the underwater lights look great. Good luck with the rest of your project !

Please share some pictures as you go, I wish I got to get a few pictures of the process with mine.

well, she's been fully detailed from the radar dome down to the bottom paint line. The pictures just don't do it justice

Some water got in the cabin while they washed the anchor locker. Not sealed at the top of the bulkhead. What would remove these watermarks?

I may have made the same mistake in the fall...