410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread**

For anyone keeping score at home I’m still after a freshwater leak that accumulates water in my center cabin bilge. It starts under the aft cabin and fills enough to come into the emergency center bilge area

I am certain it’s a freshwater leak as we didn’t have water for a week and it was bone dry. Once I was on city water i had a couple gallons in that bilge within a few hours

I have literally put eyes on every hose and connection on the boat I can without completely disassembling cabinets.

it accumulates faster on city water than pump, and the pump doesn’t cycle that I’ve heard.

I am to the point of disconnecting one line at a time and seeing what leaks. Of course the first fitting I pulled off the main trunk/manifold cracked so I ordered 20 replacements.

any other words of wisdom? The water is cold, so I think it’s the cold side. I chased the entire anchor locker run and that’s dry, faucet connections are dry, toilets are dry, etc. I’m thinking it’s a kink or crack in a hose maybe somewhere under the cabin steps? The access hatches in the aft cabin are also dry
Hi!

Same issue. It is probably the pressure regulator mounted to the forward bulkhead in the engine room. Had the same issue. It filled up between the stringers in the aft cabin closet then fed into that lower sump. It finally failed and was starting all over the ER. Bypassed it and the problem leak was solved.
 
Moved our 98’ Sundancer 400 to Lake Lanier. I’ve got a pair of Garmin 7212’s. Garmin says Lakevu G3 is not compatible. I’m having a hard time finding a lakevu gps map card that will work. Any help is appreciated.

I use Navionics+. Get down to the +/-1 ft level if you want to se all that detail. It can be customized to your liking, but will help keep you out of the shallow stuff. $149.
 
Hi!

Same issue. It is probably the pressure regulator mounted to the forward bulkhead in the engine room. Had the same issue. It filled up between the stringers in the aft cabin closet then fed into that lower sump. It finally failed and was starting all over the ER. Bypassed it and the problem leak was solved.

ours was an extremely slow pinhole leak in the hot water tank. Outrageous to find but once I busted out the pressure gauge it was obvious. It was leaking on that shelf and then working it’s way forward
 
Hi!

Same issue. It is probably the pressure regulator mounted to the forward bulkhead in the engine room. Had the same issue. It filled up between the stringers in the aft cabin closet then fed into that lower sump. It finally failed and was starting all over the ER. Bypassed it and the problem leak was solved.

What is a “pressure regulator”? Is it the “accumulator tank”?
 
Sometimes I have to throw the drone up to remind me how big of a 40’ boat it really is. That’s a 260DA next to us on the starboard side and a Chaparral 350 on the port.

C61B9719-0E20-4D32-8318-25D443DE325A.jpeg
 
Sometimes I have to throw the drone up to remind me how big of a 40’ boat it really is. That’s a 260DA next to us on the starboard side and a Chaparral 350 on the port.

View attachment 108158

Right they get smaller the more ya look at them, then you see one crushing down the freeway taking up both lanes haha. My buddy has a 340, we raft up and my boat looks twice a wide. Haha.
 
Conditions question for you Great Lakes 400/410 owners, others welcome to answer of course but we think we’re special on these lakes :). I’ve been on this lake a long time but only in smaller boats, my 290 being the largest, and would not run in much over 1-2’.

I have a 80mi run planned for Tuesday to head northeast on Lake Ontario. Forecast is 1-3’, south/southwest 15mph wind, which puts us in a true following sea. Being the GL, these are 2-3 second period waves.

of course it will be ultimately what we’re comfortable in and following sea should help, along with full fuel and water plus gear - but what forecast do you find as the max for you in these boats?

we ran a test yesterday in 1-2’ and hammering into them on the bow sucked, following sea was comfortable.
 
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we ran a test yesterday in 1-2’ and hammering into them on the bow sucked, following sea was comfortable.

This might I’ve the first time I’ve made an accusation like this, but I think you may have UNDER-reported wave height!

:D

I can’t recall ever thinking that running in 1-2’s sucked…

I’ve become less adventurous overall though. While 3-5’s are typically my voluntary maximum, I might even back down on that. I made a 17 mile run taking 3-5’s to port 2 years ago this wkd. They were long intervals (rare) so I didn’t have to slow down, but it shook-up debris in my gas tanks tanks that set off maintenance issues that lingered into last season.

I suppose that served a purpose, but given the chance to wait that out in hindsight, I would!
 
This might I’ve the first time I’ve made an accusation like this, but I think you may have UNDER-reported wave height!

:D

I can’t recall ever thinking that running in 1-2’s sucked…

I’ve become less adventurous overall though. While 3-5’s are typically my voluntary maximum, I might even back down on that. I made a 17 mile run taking 3-5’s to port 2 years ago this wkd. They were long intervals (rare) so I didn’t have to slow down, but it shook-up debris in my gas tanks tanks that set off maintenance issues that lingered into last season.

I suppose that served a purpose, but given the chance to wait that out in hindsight, I would!

you know, you’re probably right about the wave height. The forecast was calling 1 to 2 but we all know how forecasts go. I didn’t check the buoy to see what was being reported but there was a pretty good swell, I’m guilty of under reporting because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people tell me they were out in 6 to 8 footers in their 25 foot boat ;)

we will make the right decision tomorrow, I plan on heading out, get up on plane, and see how my wife and three-year-old react.

here is the video while in a following. Videos of waves never too much justice though

 
We would regularly leave the dock in our 410DA in 1-3' waves, but too many times to count over the 5 years we owned it Lake Michigan would churn up to 3-5'. I could usually make it bearable by searching for the right speed, and attitude. I found the worst ride was when there were quartering seas off the bow.
 
Ill run in 1-3 all day, 3-5 if I need to get somewhere but it’s all about the speed and trim angle.

These boats run really well in a following sea, it’s a lot more bearable running with them.

Judging by the video you posted, I’d probably slow down heading the other direction and stuff the bow down to utilize the V section of the bow.
 
I ran in a nice following 2'-3' into South Haven last week before it got really nasty. I agree with the posts above, I prefer a following sea. Generally anything over 3', regardless of direction, and I'll stay in the slip. It's too much work to make a drink and use the head at that point...
 
Remember, sea size doesn’t mean anything. I have run 18kts into 9 foot seas, due to a hurricane having just past a few hundred miles off shore. I don’t remember what the interval was when I was in these huge swells, but it was probably 18 secs or more. The issue on the Great Lakes is they tend to be tight and steep, making for an uncomfortable ride. You have to look at the interval between waves.
 
So the final report was 3’ following sea at about 3 seconds, and 20kt west wind (we were headed due East)

boat did fine, I thought it was actually really comfortable. We were running 2290rpm and 23 mph.

unfortunately 40 miles into our 80 mile trip my 3 year got bad sea sickness. I couldn’t do it to him for 40 more miles so we ducked into a familiar spot and we’ll spend the week here instead
 
For those with a 400 Express out there, any ideas how to remove/replace the airhorns? The trumpets themselves are my issue. A single screw from the front into the fiberglass - but I’m thinking the air hose has a clamp on it and I cant remove the trumpet. There also does not appear to be any access to that area. Best I found is a panel aft of the stbd salon window - but I cant get that panel out to see.
 

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