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

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

Congratulations. We love our 410DA, and have done numerous updates/upgrades since purchasing it 4 years ago. Looking forward to seeing your pics!
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Congrats on joining the 410DA club!
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Thanks HUMPH
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Hey guys, new question! Some of the white "fleck" paint under my swim platform is chipping off, has anyone found an original replacement paint or have they come up with a substitute to try and get it to match? Looking to touch it up this spring.
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Mine is doing the same in small areas. My fiberglass man says it's cosmetic - he jsut doesn't understand how anal we are about things like that! I'll be watching for the answer as well...
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

I haul out every winter to check the bottom, hardware, etc. one of the things I do is to hit any chips under the swimplatform with a sander and then recoat the chipped spots with white gelcoat. The chips I get are only in the areas where one of the kids has let a paddle board or jet ski nose rub the bottom edge of the platform. The spots I fix never seem to chip again, so this is working for me.
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Frank - mine are under the platform and out of sight. Do you just use a brush it on or spray it on? Do you bother with the black flecks that they added at the factory?

The only time I even see mine are when I go under the platform to check my hull and tab anodes. So I guess the answer may be - The chips won't hurt anything, you can't see them, so quit being so anal!!!
 
Last edited:
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

I get the glass guy at the marina to mix me up a little gelcoat/MEK, then I race to the yard before the gelcoat kicks and dab it on with a throw away brush. You can simulate the black/blue specks in the OEM finish by slinging some black paint under the platform, but that takes some practice. The risk of making a mess is high because it is very difficult to remove the paint once you sling it up under the platform. The glass guy at the marina can do it so you can't find his repair.......I'm not that brave and all of my spots are very small up near the top where the swimplatform rub rain was installed and the screws came thru on the inside, so I just leave the gelcoat as it cures.
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Me too! Thanks for the info!
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

The long search and negotiations are over and today I joined the club as the proud owner of a 2002 410 Monaco Edition Sundancer with twin Caterpillar 3126's. Thanks to the folks here who gave me some valuable information during the process, but most of all to Frank Webster who took the time to examine a ton of pictures, go over things he saw in them, spending a lot of time with me on the phone walking me through everything, putting my mind at ease about the move to diesels, and providing me with a list of dozens of great questions to ask during the inspection, survey, and sea trial. Not only did his insight help with the initial inspection, but also with great things to ask during the survey, and lastly to negotiate after the survey. I can't thank him enough.
Here she is:
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Beautiful boat, Congratulations. I think we should all be thankful for having Frank on this awesome site.
 
The long search and negotiations are over and today I joined the club as the proud owner of a 2002 410 Monaco Edition Sundancer with twin Caterpillar 3126's. Thanks to the folks here who gave me some valuable information during the process, but most of all to Frank Webster who took the time to examine a ton of pictures, go over things he saw in them, spending a lot of time with me on the phone walking me through everything, putting my mind at ease about the move to diesels, and providing me with a list of dozens of great questions to ask during the inspection, survey, and sea trial. Not only did his insight help with the initial inspection, but also with great things to ask during the survey, and lastly to negotiate after the survey. I can't thank him enough.
Here she is:

Welcome I have a 2003


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Beautiful Boat!! Congratulations and may you spend many hours enjoying her.
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

The long search and negotiations are over and today I joined the club as the proud owner of a 2002 410 Monaco Edition Sundancer with twin Caterpillar 3126's. Thanks to the folks here who gave me some valuable information during the process, but most of all to Frank Webster who took the time to examine a ton of pictures, go over things he saw in them, spending a lot of time with me on the phone walking me through everything, putting my mind at ease about the move to diesels, and providing me with a list of dozens of great questions to ask during the inspection, survey, and sea trial. Not only did his insight help with the initial inspection, but also with great things to ask during the survey, and lastly to negotiate after the survey. I can't thank him enough.
Here she is:
Well, hells bells! Something looks familiar about your boat, just can't put my finger on it. Congrats on the purchase and welcome to an exclusive club!
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Thanks Ken! You don't see many like this. Wasn't looking for the Monaco edition specifically, but now that I have it I'm really loving the blue stripe. Looked at a lot of 380's over the last year before deciding that the 410 was a better choice for my purposes. A few of the 380's were blue hulls, and I really loved the look. Unfortunately the blue hulls I looked at hadn't aged all that well. Particularly on the lower portions of the hulls.
This one is a great compromise for me. I still get some blue (favorite color) on the hull, and it is in absolutely excellent condition with no fading at all. Probably because it is not exposed to as much direct sunlight because of the angle up under the rub rail.
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

So far I've got a "Parts" manual, and an "Operation and Maintenance" manual for the Caterpillar Marine 3126's. Does anyone have a good resource for a "Service Manual" for these motors that is reasonably priced?
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Caterpillar published a VHF tape of maintenance procedures for the 3100 engine series. They also published a repair manual.

I have found that anything more than typical maintenance routine takes special tooling/knowledge. Cat's Operation and Maintenance manual is pretty thorough, so between the video and the manual, you should be able to get about all you need. Ebay is your best bet for both the VHF tape and the repair manual. The manual can probably be ordered thru your local Caterpillar parts department but the video tape is out of production.



After posting the above, I checked eBay for a repair manual covering marine engines and there was one for sale:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cat-Caterpi...079771?hash=item5691c95adb:g:RDsAAOSwTA9X6onE


Be sure you check your arrangement number against the numbers listed on the photo of the CD to be sure your engines are covered. You have the later 350hp 3126 and it may not be covered since the fuel system is different than the early 3126's.
 
Last edited:
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Thanks Frank. I didn't know there was a VHS tape. That might be kind of cool to have. Thanks for the link to the CD. I also found a place online where I can download it for $200.00. I think I'm going to see if I can get a used copy for a little cheaper from someone who doesn't have use for it anymore. If I can't find one before the Spring, I'll probably suck it up and pay the full price for the download.
 
Re: 410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread

Gents, after a two year hiatus from boating, we took delivery today of an awesome 1998 400 dancer with 3116's. I have a lot of hours in a 300 DA but decided to go larger. We always wanted a 400 and found a freshwater diesel boat out of Chattanooga. Had her moved to Lanier today. Can't wait to dive into her systems and get everything maintained and set up the way we would like. Hope I don't wear anyone out with questions.~Dan
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,946
Messages
1,422,777
Members
60,929
Latest member
Henchman
Back
Top