Official 320 Dancer Thread

sccchiii said:

We are loving the layout up top, electric sunshade out back is a game changer for us, bow area is well used by family, my boat has outboards so the bilge space is massive and easy to access almost all major items. The performance from triple 250s is much better than any previous cruiser I've owned, hit over 50mph with 5 people on board in mild chop and eco cruise is still in mid 30's. The lows....stupid where they put ice cooler (should be a slide out vs needing to have everyone move to open seat, when table set up its even more awkward to access), and wish they had a single connect freshwater flushing system for engines. Biggest negative is Searay has gone backwards big time on initial quality, in just a couple weeks of use the dealer has needed to re-caulk many areas around hardtop supports, the cabin feels much more cheap especially the sliding storage doors have no locks or fasteners and vibrate open while underway, faux wood floor cover for head sump in cabin flexes so much feels like I'm going to break through the floor, the swim ladder has been replaced once already and is corroding again after 1 week, I have the prestige cherry package and it appears to already be delaminating in a couple areas. For a boat they have been producing for over 2 years I'm astounded at the quality issues but I'm holding out hope all this stuff will get resolved by dealer. I truly hope they build you a better one than they built me because the layout and performance is hard to beat for a 32ft boat with a cabin. I also would have done the snap-in Seadek if I ordered again.

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Brando99 said:

Any chance you could post some pictures of where the hardtop had to be re-caulked and the areas that are
delaminating?

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Brando99 said:

Any chance you could post some pictures of where the hardtop had to be re-caulked and the areas that are
delaminating?

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sccchiii said:

Sorry for delay, here is boat and a few of the issues.

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WV 320 Dancer said:

It had to happen at some point and yesterday was the day. We were cruising up the Elk river to a nice little sand bar so we could clean the bottom of our boats. All of a sudden the master alarm sounds and the port engine shuts down. Sure enough it was the IAC valve. Starting with our 260 the 280 and now the 320 everyone of our Dancers has had the IAC valve go bad at some point. I guess it is just a matter of time before the starboard engine is going to need one.

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Grosen said:

I can’t figure out why the pics are posting sideways but new addition tonight took out the old TV and had a custom alcohol rack made up, slides in and out on factory TV sliders

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adam254 said:

I did have the unfortunate occurrence of hearing my first engine alarm on our boat while returning to dock this past weekend. My marine mechanic is backed up with calls and I’m trying to do some troubleshooting myself. We were leaving our local river side restaurant and while accelerating to get on plane, the alarm went off at around 3,500 RPMs and the System Monitor displayed “port engine diagnostics.” I putted around for a little bit then tried to get back on plane but same alarm triggered again. I noticed I could hear a squealing/squeaking coming from the port engine while in gear but nothing while in neutral. So I limped back to my slip and tried to do some diagnosis. Initially I thought maybe it was a water pump issue as my first mate saw steam coming out the port side engine water outlet, but not sure if that’s normal while underway. At the dock, water was coming out the port side at idle and even when revving to 4,000 RPMs. My second and worse thought is maybe I hit something submerged which is the cause of the squealing now while in gear. Any other troubleshooting tips you could think of while I wait for my MM to free up?

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Kbratko said:

I just took my TV out and was thinking of doing something like that. Love the look. I would pay you to retrofit mine! I'm Serious

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adam254 said:

Hi y’all, I became the owner of a new to me 2003 320 just a year ago and have been lurking these forums ever since and appreciate the knowledge gained from everyone here. Recent upgrades/repairs have included new Axiom 9 and Standard Horizon VHF (pic attached) and replacing the carb on my Kohler generator, which I tell you what got rid of a lot of issues I was having with the genset. Future projects would be to integrate SmartCraft with the Axiom, which I’ll have to read up more on as my Mercs are only SC ready with no SC gauges on the dash.

I did have the unfortunate occurrence of hearing my first engine alarm on our boat while returning to dock this past weekend. My marine mechanic is backed up with calls and I’m trying to do some troubleshooting myself. We were leaving our local river side restaurant and while accelerating to get on plane, the alarm went off at around 3,500 RPMs and the System Monitor displayed “port engine diagnostics.” I putted around for a little bit then tried to get back on plane but same alarm triggered again. I noticed I could hear a squealing/squeaking coming from the port engine while in gear but nothing while in neutral. So I limped back to my slip and tried to do some diagnosis. Initially I thought maybe it was a water pump issue as my first mate saw steam coming out the port side engine water outlet, but not sure if that’s normal while underway. At the dock, water was coming out the port side at idle and even when revving to 4,000 RPMs. My second and worse thought is maybe I hit something submerged which is the cause of the squealing now while in gear. Any other troubleshooting tips you could think of while I wait for my MM to free up?

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adam254 said:

Hi y’all, I became the owner of a new to me 2003 320 just a year ago and have been lurking these forums ever since and appreciate the knowledge gained from everyone here. Recent upgrades/repairs have included new Axiom 9 and Standard Horizon VHF (pic attached) and replacing the carb on my Kohler generator, which I tell you what got rid of a lot of issues I was having with the genset. Future projects would be to integrate SmartCraft with the Axiom, which I’ll have to read up more on as my Mercs are only SC ready with no SC gauges on the dash.

I did have the unfortunate occurrence of hearing my first engine alarm on our boat while returning to dock this past weekend. My marine mechanic is backed up with calls and I’m trying to do some troubleshooting myself. We were leaving our local river side restaurant and while accelerating to get on plane, the alarm went off at around 3,500 RPMs and the System Monitor displayed “port engine diagnostics.” I putted around for a little bit then tried to get back on plane but same alarm triggered again. I noticed I could hear a squealing/squeaking coming from the port engine while in gear but nothing while in neutral. So I limped back to my slip and tried to do some diagnosis. Initially I thought maybe it was a water pump issue as my first mate saw steam coming out the port side engine water outlet, but not sure if that’s normal while underway. At the dock, water was coming out the port side at idle and even when revving to 4,000 RPMs. My second and worse thought is maybe I hit something submerged which is the cause of the squealing now while in gear. Any other troubleshooting tips you could think of while I wait for my MM to free up?

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SeaNile said:

Have any of you 2003+ 320 owners cross shopped a mid 90's 330? I'm seriously considering upgrading and love the layout of the 2003+ 340 but thats way out of my budget. The 320 looks like a barely shrunken down version of the 340 which I really like. For argument sake say a 2003 320 is about 60k (350 MAGs).

A 1995-1999 330 can be had for somewhere around 35-42k with the 7.4l engine. Is the 320 that much better of a boat? Is it worth 20k?

TIA.

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