40 sedan bridge forum

Fernando, I have the 290 (9.5') Highfield Classic with a 9.9 Yamaha 4 stroke. It serves us well. It will run right along with both of us in it and loaded down with provisions. You have lots of choices, but I have 2 must haves.
It is important to me that I have one that will plane with your intended load. When you go out in the keys (you're in Marco, right?) with other folks from the marina or anchorage, you don't want to be the one saying "save us a spot at the bar, we'll be there when we get there". In places like that, your dinghy is your car.
And for the type of boating I do, I can't live with a dinghy on our low platforms, too many waves coming a foot over the platform when out in the rough water.
BUT, I don't pull my dinghy up on the davits (homemade similar to the Hurley) I have a block and tackle to do the work, so weight is also a consideration if you want too pull it up by hand.
FWIW, If I had to buy another one right now for this boat, I would go with the 310 Highfield (10'+). It's a boat, bigger is always better.Not sure how that would be length wise if you carried it low on the platform having to tilt the motor up when underway. I want to make sure my dinghy isn't too close to the beam of the boat in case I get a little squirrely pulling into a slip or lock.

I like the dinghy high off the water.
IMG_4057.JPG


I want to be able to run with the others
IMG_4468.JPG


Have fun shopping.
 
Cwiert
Nice picture, looks like you are at full speed, good to know that you can plane with 9.8 HP

Nice to know that you can fit a 10-2” in the platform
Did you reinforce it (platform) with extra brackets?

Last weekend I took my two daughters kneeboarding with the dinghy. I had no idea if it would work or not, but it pulled them around with ease. I was pleasantly surprised.

I did not have to reinforce the platform.

Also, I agree with what Mark said, it would be nice if the dinghy was a little bit higher up. Whenever I come off plane, the wake coming back towards the stern knocks the dinghy around a little. Our platforms are too low.
 
Has anyone had any issues with their swim ladder on the swim platform?
Mine has two broken screws allowing the ladder to swing under platform when trying to climb out of water. I’ve only had the boat two months and just noticed this issue.
Thanks
 
Fernando, I have the 290 (9.5') Highfield Classic with a 9.9 Yamaha 4 stroke. It serves us well. It will run right along with both of us in it and loaded down with provisions. You have lots of choices, but I have 2 must haves.
It is important to me that I have one that will plane with your intended load. When you go out in the keys (you're in Marco, right?) with other folks from the marina or anchorage, you don't want to be the one saying "save us a spot at the bar, we'll be there when we get there". In places like that, your dinghy is your car.
And for the type of boating I do, I can't live with a dinghy on our low platforms, too many waves coming a foot over the platform when out in the rough water.
BUT, I don't pull my dinghy up on the davits (homemade similar to the Hurley) I have a block and tackle to do the work, so weight is also a consideration if you want too pull it up by hand.
FWIW, If I had to buy another one right now for this boat, I would go with the 310 Highfield (10'+). It's a boat, bigger is always better.Not sure how that would be length wise if you carried it low on the platform having to tilt the motor up when underway. I want to make sure my dinghy isn't too close to the beam of the boat in case I get a little squirrely pulling into a slip or lock.

I like the dinghy high off the water.
View attachment 58914

I want to be able to run with the others
View attachment 58915

Have fun shopping.
Hi Mark
Thank you for your comments
your boat looks great,
Yes I am in marco island marina yacht club, i live in fort Lauderdale, but i travel by car every weekend to Marco, a lot of nice restaurants, and a lot of places to go. That Marina is super nice, clean, very safe, floating docks, nice neighbor's
and close to the keys, and 10,000 thousand islands



I have two questions if you don't mind
1) How can you put the dinghy yourself into that high davit? i think you will need at least 2 people right?

2) how you build that, I saw your picture but it is far away, do you have a close up picture of your dinghy setup, it really looks nice and high, i never thought of that, is that a permanent installation or it is something that you can remove when you are at the beach or when the dinghy is in use?
 
I have two questions if you don't mind
1) How can you put the dinghy yourself into that high davit? i think you will need at least 2 people right?

2) how you build that, I saw your picture but it is far away, do you have a close up picture of your dinghy setup, it really looks nice and high, i never thought of that, is that a permanent installation or it is something that you can remove when you are at the beach or when the dinghy is in use?

1) I use a block and tackle (6 part) attached to the back of the bridge to haul it up. I can do it alone but it's nice to have her there to steady it as the davit arms fall over center.
2) First I installed two weaver plates for each side.
IMG_2503.JPG


IMG_2516.JPG


IMG_2525.JPG

Then built an elevated bracket for each side to mount the davit arms on. They store in the transom locker when I'm not carrying the dinghy. I built them so they hang out away from the transom enough that I can walk between the dinghy and the transom or open the transom locker with the dinghy up there.
IMG_2527.JPG

I cut the davit arms out of King Starboard to match up to the shape of the bottom of my dinghy, made the mounting points from 1/8" s.s. plate. It carries the dinghy so that the keel is 15" above the platform.
DSC_0348.JPG

I have had them on the boat since '13, it works for us. A past member here posted a tutorial on the arms he built and I used some of his ideas and adapted them to my needs and added what I needed to make it work.
St Croix davits will carry the dinghy up off the platform and I have seen a few 400DB's with them. The dinghy basically hangs from stanchions using that system.
 
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Wow, Mark you did an amazing job
Great detailed explanation, thank you for sharing.

Very interesting solution
Fernando DaCosta
 
That picture is in Baie Fine (pronounced bay fin) It is in the North Channel of Lake Huron in Southern Ontario, Canada. Spectacular cruising grounds.
 
After cruising around for a couple of hours on Saturday, we were headed in and decided to stop by the fuel dock. On approaching the dock, I pulled the engines into neutral, only to find that the starboard engine continued to stay in drive. Given the number of boats at the fuel dock, this was a very unwelcome surprise! I shifted the levers to reverse to stop my forward momentum, but the shift into reverse immediately stalled-out the starboard engine. The forward momentum of the boat stopped stopped, but my angle of approach to the fuel dock was far less than optimal. After a few quick reactions, some key nautical terms and a lot of luck, I managed to make the fuel dock without harming any boats.

I waited until the dock immediately in front of me was clear after fueling. Sure enough, after restarting the engines, the starboard engine was in gear as soon as the engine started (in neutral). Once in open water, I tried again to place the engines in reverse and the starboard engine immediately stalled. I never had a more difficult time backing a boat into the slip.

I can only assume this is a transmission issue. Anyone have other ideas or similar experiences?


As ZZ13 suspected in a previous reply, the cause of this starboard transmission issue was determined to be an oil cooler leak that suctioned out the transmission oil. Transmission repairs are slow and very expensive!!

What are other members thoughts on replacing the port side transmission oil cooler: Would replacing the port transmission oil cooler be a worthwhile investment (~$700) in hopes of avoiding a repeat failure on the port transmission?

Unless a leaking oil cooler is a common Sea Ray/Cummins failure, I'm tempted to just keep a close eye on the transmission oil levels and hope that the starboard failure was an unusual occurrence.

Any experience and/or opinions from your dock-talk is welcome! Thank you!
 
As ZZ13 suspected in a previous reply, the cause of this starboard transmission issue was determined to be an oil cooler leak that suctioned out the transmission oil. Transmission repairs are slow and very expensive!!

What are other members thoughts on replacing the port side transmission oil cooler: Would replacing the port transmission oil cooler be a worthwhile investment (~$700) in hopes of avoiding a repeat failure on the port transmission?

Unless a leaking oil cooler is a common Sea Ray/Cummins failure, I'm tempted to just keep a close eye on the transmission oil levels and hope that the starboard failure was an unusual occurrence.

Any experience and/or opinions from your dock-talk is welcome! Thank you!
Replace it. They have about a ten year life according to a transmission expert I consulted with. After that they can fail at any moment. They can test fine one day, fail the next. Once I found this out, I replaced both of mine with SeaKamp versions for $335 each.
 
Little maintenance today. Installed a Lowrance HDS Carbon 12 over the weekend, and hauled out this morning to drop in its new thru hull transducer. New navy blue boot stripe is going on, which will be the last remnant of the original sage green anything, and a touch up of the bottom paint in a few spots. Personally, I didn't think my Grand Cherokee had it in her.....:)
 

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Does anyone know where I can gt the glass platten for the microwave? Mine is missing. I have the plastic ring with wheels just no glass to put stuff on.
What microwave do you have?... I just removed my old Carousel and have the plate if you want it?... but you may have already sourced it?
 
Does anyone know where I can get a replacement brass reading lamp for the forward stateroom? See attached picture.

Thanks,
Simon
 

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My Fresh Water Pump No 1 "hunts" when I switch on the breaker, then it trips after about 30 seconds... I wondered if it was an air lock (as I'd drained the fresh water tank to clean it out), but it runs fine with the faucets open, with no spluttering, it just trips when they are all off... any thoughts/suggestions/ideas?

I took a video to show the Amps hunting and the breaker tripping, but the file size is to big to upload... nice idea, bad execution...

Thanks for any thoughts/advice,
Simon
 
What microwave do you have?... I just removed my old Carousel and have the plate if you want it?... but you may have already sourced it?
Thanks Simon. I found one on Amazon.
 

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