420/44 DB Owners Club

I have seen some people use some foam like you would find in a couch cushion or rolled up memory foam mattress pads cut to fit. The nicest looking solution I have seen is a insulated foam backed cover made from a contrasting color Sunbrella Canvas that snapped on to the bilge vent covers and was easily unsnapped to take a boat ride.

I say a contrasting color (Black like your canvas) because white would blend in too easily and it would be something I would forget to do in the excitement of going for a ride.
 
There will always be one side that is a bear to deal with and it's the starboard side on my V-drives. Drop the pump if possible and you will save hours of work. Four bolts on the outlet elbow, then two on the pump body and let the pump swing on the inlet hose. At that point you can get at the last four bolts of the intake elbow. You can leave the pump in place on the "easy" side to change your impeller. Good luck.

Thank you for confirming my intentions.
 
Any suggestions as to good ways to plug up the bilge vents in the sides of the hull? I am trying to make sure my warm air from the bilge heaters stays in the bilge rather than venting out.

Last year I used some masking tape, but there has to be a better way. Preferably something that's easy to remove/reinstall for those nice winter day boat rides...

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a 24-30" roll of protection wrap. It's usually near the flooring isle.
 
I have seen some people use some foam like you would find in a couch cushion or rolled up memory foam mattress pads cut to fit. The nicest looking solution I have seen is a insulated foam backed cover made from a contrasting color Sunbrella Canvas that snapped on to the bilge vent covers and was easily unsnapped to take a boat ride.

I say a contrasting color (Black like your canvas) because white would blend in too easily and it would be something I would forget to do in the excitement of going for a ride.

I agree that this would be the best looking approach and easiest to handle. If I had to do it I would look in to this as one of the preferred options. Padded cover is a great idea.
 
If you plan to plug and unplug those vents, I'd suggest you make a small placard and place it on your dash...or better yet, a small cover over the ignition switches. A reminder that the vents are covered before you start up the motors. I don't care what color you make the vent covers.....you'll forget.
 
If you plan to plug and unplug those vents, I'd suggest you make a small placard and place it on your dash...or better yet, a small cover over the ignition switches. A reminder that the vents are covered before you start up the motors. I don't care what color you make the vent covers.....you'll forget.

I actually put a piece of tape on the steering wheel and another over the engine switches. It is just too easy to forget otherwise...
 
Does anyone know what Sirius marine antenna model we have, is it SRA40?
 
Re: 420 DB Owners Club removing transmission plug

I am in the process of servicing my transmissions. I have the ZF280 1a type transmission in a 2008 44 db. The filter plug is a 38mm and very hard to get to. Before I try, anybody have any ideas on the best way to break the filter plug lose. The plugs look like they are very hard to get to. Oil has been drained and no it is time to pull the filter and clean it.
 
My Cummins tech advised me not to bother, b/c the filter is really a rock catcher. I got all the tools, but decided to skip this last season. But I obviously changed the transmission fluid.
 
Thanks they sure put them in a hard place to get to. What type oil did you use and weight. I am thinking of mobile one 30 weight
 
I had canvass made that matched the boat. They snap on and look great. I place big bottle caps over my start switches to remind me they are on
 
Thanks they sure put them in a hard place to get to. What type oil did you use and weight. I am thinking of mobile one 30 weight

I use heavy duty Shell Rotella T for my applications. 15W40 for mains/genny and straight SEA30 for transmissions.

I see you're in GA where it can get hot in the summer. Do you have bridge A/C?
 
Re: 420/44 DB Owners Club stereo sub inside

some have asked how to add a sub inside a 44. Note behind sofa and sounds great subwofer.jpg
 
Thanks yes I do have ac on the bridge

Can you tell me what model you have and what's your experience with its performance? I was thinking to put 16000BTU turbo unit, but the more I explore the more I think it may not be 100% to my satisfaction.
 
Short reply for now. I posted a full report on this subject. Please check all my post on this. I pointed out water flow is a real issue. I would suggest a 1,800 but you need a pump that max the water flow. This site had a good conversation on water flow and how to get max flow. My 1,600 runs really nice for heat and when cooling and it is hot it cools nice but runs all the time.
 
Re: 420/44 DB Owners Club transmission filter

socket.jpgfilter without socket.jpgI posted a discussion on how to clean out the filter on my zf280 1a 44 db 2008 boat. Thanks for the replies. I did figure out how to do this. First room is a real problem. This was solved by buying a shallow drive 3/8 socket 36mm. Hard to find but NAPA has it is a kit kit 41830 oil filter wrench kit. Perfect deal and is the only 3/8 36mm I could find. It fits perfect and you an use a small long handle ratchet not a breaker bar because ratchet lets you get a better position with handle. Filter oil rings easy to get on line and filters clean out and re-use. View attachment 23917
 

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Short reply for now. I posted a full report on this subject. Please check all my post on this. I pointed out water flow is a real issue. I would suggest a 1,800 but you need a pump that max the water flow. This site had a good conversation on water flow and how to get max flow. My 1,600 runs really nice for heat and when cooling and it is hot it cools nice but runs all the time.

I totally forgot about this thread: http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/47343-44-db-heating-air-question-info

Thanks for reminder.
 
We have good discussion regarding trolling speed on 450DA, so I thought it would be good idea to discuss it here for our models.

I was under the impression that the true sweet spot was the hull speed of a vessel. If I recall correctly, my hull speed is about 7.4kts. So, when I did some preliminary trolling speed testing I found that it is the sweet spot for my boat. Anytime I push throttles up I just burn more fuel with very little speed gain. A good example is from the boattest.com numbers where we can see that in order to pickup somewhere 2.5-3kts from the hull speed we need to add about 500RPMs and the fuel burn jumps X3.

Here are some numbers I have for my CUMMINS 450Cs 6CTA

My actual numbers (boat loaded with full fuel, at least 1/2 water, full gear, 4ppl on board):

KTS RPMS GPH(total)
-----------------------------------
6.4kts @800rpms 2.2gph,
7.4kts - 7.8kts @1000rpms 3.8gph,


Numbers from Boattest.com (this is for 480CE):
KTS RPMS GPH(total)
-----------------------------------
8.1kts @1000rpms 4.2gph
9.4kts @1250rpms 8 gph
10.8kts @1500rpms 12 gph

The boattest numbers look more optimistic b/c their test boat was swinging larger props (26x26 with cup)

What you guys find as a sweet spot at trolling speed for your boat?
 
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