420 DA Thread

Hi all....just completed a 12 day trip from Long Beach Island, NJ including Port Jefferson, Montauk, Block Island, Menemsha, Cuttyhunk Island, Watch Hill, RI, Stonington, and Old Saybrook, CT. Combinations of anchoring out, mooring balls and marinas. The boat and all it's systems performed beautifully with an average fuel burn of .6 NMG. In fact, coming back across the ocean we were in 4 to 5 foot slop for a while and the 44 chugged through it. This is season 6 on this boat and I am as pleased as ever.
 
brewster I have considered removing the ladder.For the time being I screwed the ladder to the floor in the bilge and replaced the pins at the top with screws and locking nut. This has cut down on the rattle considerably.Not the best design for a ladder.
 
Caseclosed said:
Hi all. Can anyone offer a solution to stop the engine room ladder vibration and rattle at low idle. the rattle is very annoying.Thanks
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Have you confirmed its the ladder? If so how? I have rattles at idle but there are a million things in the cockpit you would probably hear well before you heard a ladder in the engine room.

If your positive its the ladder replace the pins with new ones, yours might be worn and new ones may have a better fit. You could also try taping them with rigging tape - its usually white and available where sailboat rigging is sold - it will not leave a residue when removed.
 
brewster16 said:
Hi all....just completed a 12 day trip from Long Beach Island, NJ including Port Jefferson, Montauk, Block Island, Menemsha, Cuttyhunk Island, Watch Hill, RI, Stonington, and Old Saybrook, CT. Combinations of anchoring out, mooring balls and marinas. The boat and all it's systems performed beautifully with an average fuel burn of .6 NMG. In fact, coming back across the ocean we were in 4 to 5 foot slop for a while and the 44 chugged through it. This is season 6 on this boat and I am as pleased as ever.
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Sounds like a good trip! Were at the end of our 5th season and still love the boat.
 
Swaterhouse Yes I removed the ladder and the noise went away.I now bolted the top half to the brackets and screwed the bottom down.No more noise.Not a great design by Searay
 
I used ball lock pins with cable tethers (seems like I was always dropping one when I removed the ladder) on the top, and rubber feet on the bottom. No nose, and no scratching the diamond plate between the engines.

-Tom
 
Caseclosed said:
Hi all. Can anyone offer a solution to stop the engine room ladder vibration and rattle at low idle. the rattle is very annoying.Thanks
Click to expand...

I mounted a piece of starboard with two bolts pointing up that lock into the bottom of the ladder. Ill send a pic over the weekend. Still transmits alittle but MUCH better.
 
Can anyone advise how to sync the dash fuel gauges to smart craft system.My gauges read full all time.I tried ever which way to set up the tanks on the smart craft to match the dash gauges.Thanks
 
Caseclosed said:
Can anyone advise how to sync the dash fuel gauges to smart craft system.My gauges read full all time.I tried ever which way to set up the tanks on the smart craft to match the dash gauges.Thanks
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I have just a little experience but I know your gauges read what the Smartcraft is telling them. The problem you have is the outbound signal from the Smartcraft so you may have a bad pin in one or both of your plugs. I suggest you pull the Smartcraft, pull the plugs off the rear of the unit, clean the pins with a nylon brush, plug back in and see if that solves it. If not, then the root will be from sending unit to Smartcraft in the bilge.
 
Buyajet Thanks for the advice i will have to check the connections.
 
Caseclosed said:
Can anyone advise how to sync the dash fuel gauges to smart craft system.My gauges read full all time.I tried ever which way to set up the tanks on the smart craft to match the dash gauges.Thanks
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I have my Smartcraft apart now because my gauges are sporadic. Sometimes they work sometimes not. Sometimes I get a message that says I have two Port engines setup. My stbd gauges were usually always working and Port would be temperamental. I have takes ECM off engine and cleaned those connectors along with ones on back of Smartcraft. It’s so frustrating. I need to find a tech that has the diagnostic software.
 
Well - after 10 days of reading about P5 Hi on my forward AC - then only to follow into the salon AC unit... I started to figure it out.

Started at the seacock / strainer - which was totally gummed up. Cleaned it out, took the entire housing apart and cleaned. Then I tried to clear the lines with a hose. It worked enough to get the system cooling again - but if I let it run over the week - by the time I got back to the boat it was shut off again. Same thing. Made a pressurized water snake to send through the 5/8" raw water line. Got a bit more out. Kept working... every time it was a bit better. Finally got the air compressor out there and blew out the lines.

Found more than a dozen muscles inside of the line - all about the size of a fingernail. Added bromide tablets to the strainer. It's probably still not perfect now - but it's working better than it ever has - and I'm getting ahead of it.

Being a 'new to marine air' boater - I learned quite a bit in a very short time...
 

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Blue Chip said:
Found more than a dozen muscles inside of the line - all about the size of a fingernail. .
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Where were the mussels...I assume before the strainer and after the thru hull?....that should have effected both AC units?
 
Blueone said:
Where were the mussels...I assume before the strainer and after the thru hull?....that should have effected both AC units?
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After the strainer. They managed to make it into the line - I blew them out right at the forward AC unit... on the intake side. They hadn't made it into the coil yet. My guess is that after months of not doing anything to maintain the system - they grew in there.... which is crazy.
 
Blue Chip said:
After the strainer. They managed to make it into the line - I blew them out right at the forward AC unit... on the intake side. They hadn't made it into the coil yet. My guess is that after months of not doing anything to maintain the system - they grew in there.... which is crazy.
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I had a problem with my forward AC. Turned out the tiny mussels got caught at the through hull discharge fitting just where the hose goes over the barb.
Just enough to slow the flow.
Had to take the hose off the fitting and clean it out.
I’ve also winterize my AC’s on this boat (once blocked up on the hard) and the one on my previous boat by pumping pink in to the system backwards through the discharge on the side.
First I take a garden hose and back flush. Then I shove one of those clear plastic hoses in and hold it in place with a rag in one hand. That hose is attached to one of those cheap pumps that work with my cordless drill which I run with the other hand. On the other end of the pump is another short hose sitting in a bottle of pink. Pump until I see pink coming out of the intake on the bottom of the boat and that pink is as dark as what is in the bottle.
This method of back-flushing and winterizing pushes any loose crap out of the system.
 
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