1985 Sea Ray Sundancer 250

[Take Five]

Hey, I belong to classic Sea Rays.. I want share some pictures when I bought it and I cleaned it up, scrapped all the barnacles that was all over the hull. (took me 2 weekends to scrapped all the barnacles.) I put new bottom paint and I never had barnacles ever again. It was worth the $$, ain't cheap.. But the outdrive paint sucks!! Always barnacles on it. Anyway, here are the pics.

 

[ghuskin]

Looks good! and Welcome to the Classics!

 

[Take Five]

Thank you. After the hard work I did in 2006, I kept it maintained so well that I never had barnacles on bottom hull except outdrive. The outdrive paint has disappointed me so I powerwashed the outdrive when I pulled it out for the winter.

Right now, I am getting new cavas for the top because the old one has ripped due to age. And I'm considering doing vinyl upholstery myself. Would like to replace seat, side, and console vinyl. I believe it's orginal and look like it time to replace it soon.

 

[berth control]

Take five - I did my own vinyl work last fall, turned out pretty good. Let me know if you wanna know more about it. I did the sides and stuff, bought new seats. I can staple it to wood easy enough, but no sewing!

In that last pic your teak rails look like they could use a little teak oil too. It's really easy to do and makes a big difference. I hit mine with the same acid (toilet bowl cleaner) that I used to wash all the fibergalss and then pressure washed 'em. then just oil them a coulple days later after they dry. Super easy and made a big diff.

Looks like you've got a fun project there though! I love workin on the boat, especially when it's for fun and not necessity!

 

[keokie]

Just a word of caution; pressure washers should not be used on outdrives or anywhere near thru-hull fittings or fasteners on the hull. It will blow water past the seals in the drive and it will also force it into the coring of the hull.

Also, if you strip the paint on the drive then use merc's primer followed by their paint, the finish survive at least reaonable well.

 

[BillyT0020]

Just a word of caution; pressure washers should not be used on outdrives or anywhere near thru-hull fittings or fasteners on the hull. It will blow water past the seals in the drive and it will also force it into the coring of the hull.

Also, if you strip the paint on the drive then use merc's primer followed by their paint, the finish survive at least reaonable well.

Keokie,
You sold your 502 83? Why on earth would you do something like that? That was a gorgeous boat!

Billy

 

[AKBASSKING]

Welcome! Those of us with an 80's hull, I think have the best!

Your hard work paid off, looks good!

 

[berth control]

Keokie,
You sold your 502 83? Why on earth would you do something like that? That was a gorgeous boat!

Billy

Yea - wtf. You mentioned a while ago you had a buyer but were not going to part with it. I guess I would not like to have the mant. on two boats either.

 

[keokie]

Yes, I sold her. I can't believe it either! I really need two boats like a hole in the head. The new owner is a boater and is keeping her in an enclosed building, so hopefully she has a good home. But yes... I definitely have a bit of seller's remorse.

 

[Take Five]

Take five - I did my own vinyl work last fall, turned out pretty good. Let me know if you wanna know more about it. I did the sides and stuff, bought new seats. I can staple it to wood easy enough, but no sewing!

In that last pic your teak rails look like they could use a little teak oil too. It's really easy to do and makes a big difference. I hit mine with the same acid (toilet bowl cleaner) that I used to wash all the fibergalss and then pressure washed 'em. then just oil them a coulple days later after they dry. Super easy and made a big diff.

Looks like you've got a fun project there though! I love workin on the boat, especially when it's for fun and not necessity!

Cool, I like doing myself, I'm a cabinetmaker so I can tackle DIY projects. Where do you order vinyl? Yeah I did applied teak oil later after the picture was taken. Teak Oil dried up pretty fast. So this year, I'm thinking whatever to put teak oil again or varnish.

Just a word of caution; pressure washers should not be used on outdrives or anywhere near thru-hull fittings or fasteners on the hull. It will blow water past the seals in the drive and it will also force it into the coring of the hull.

Also, if you strip the paint on the drive then use merc's primer followed by their paint, the finish survive at least reaonable well.

Oh, okay, I won't do powerwash again, I don't want screwed up those stuff. I also scrape the remaining barnacles.. Okay, I will try putting merc primer and then paint, see how it works with barnacles and seaweeds. Thanks man.

Welcome! Those of us with an 80's hull, I think have the best!

Your hard work paid off, looks good!

Thanks. There much more I want to do like installing light by the anchor for night driving, maybe add cool neon light inside the cabin, and I'm gonna add shelves and magazine holder for the bathroom.

 

[AKBASSKING]

magazine holder for the bathroom.

The MOST important part on the boat!!:lol::smt043

 

[tdappleman]

There much more I want to do like installing light by the anchor for night driving, maybe add cool neon light inside the cabin, and I'm gonna add shelves and magazine holder for the bathroom.

Just a request... don't actually use a searchlight as 'headlights' to drive at night. It's dangerous to your fellow boaters and destroys your (and others) night vision. It's used to spot objects, etc but not for 'constant on' use.

 

[Take Five]

The MOST important part on the boat!!:lol::smt043

:lol: Yup.

Just a request... don't actually use a searchlight as 'headlights' to drive at night. It's dangerous to your fellow boaters and destroys your (and others) night vision. It's used to spot objects, etc but not for 'constant on' use.

Oh, I know. I won't use it to blind other boater. Sometime I'm all alone on the river and My arm are tired of holding spotlight and there is no one on river that late nights. I nearly hit tree stump that were floating. Imagine the damage to my prop if I hit that! :smt101

 

[CaptainH]

View attachment 5258I was down at the boat this weekend finishing up some electrical work and was also going to remove the teak aft railings to replace them. The two side rails are easy enough, a screw with a locknut underneath. But on the rear railing the nuts appear to be behind some carpet that seems to be glued in , this is behind the backrest of the fold down bench seat. And I am not sure what I would run into if I did pull the carpet out. Looks like this is going to a pain to get the rear rail off and back on again. The railings look real bad and I was going to replace them with new. I built a new door from teak and will be adding/replacing several other pieces with new teak. The old stuff sanded and refinished and the new stuff don't match very well if they are side by side. Any advise or should I just expect this to ba a lot of work.

 

[berth control]

Mine should be similar, and it's a bear to get to those nuts. Get someone with long skinny arms to reach up under there if possible.

Different subject though, you should be able to re finish the teak you have to look like new, or almost new. From the picture, yours looks like it could be brought back to like new condition with no trouble. You could get the starbrite products and go through the cleaner/whitener/oil steps or do what I did and just wash the teak with some soap, then acid, then pressure wash, then oil. You need to wait a couple days between pressure washing and oiling though. Shouldn't need to do any sanding. My teak all looked at least as bad as yours and now people comment on how great it looks. No sanding, just cleaning and oil. It goes so easy that once you are in there with a pressure washer you will want to hit those little trim pieces too, they should come back to life pretty good as well.

 

[CaptainH]

Hey Berth,
I do have long skinny arms and can reach the side rail nuts ok with a little effort. The aft nuts that are covered up with the carpet are the killer for me.
I have chosen to finish the teak I am replacing/refinishing with Sikkens natural finish and then with their gloss top coat. Requires either new or sanding to bare wood to get the proper result. The result is a beautiful medium brown high gloss finish that I understand will hold up well for many seasons.
The rails are so far gone I don't think anything short of a complete strip/replace/refinish will help. I don't know what was put on them before but it is an ugly mess. I will give the Starbrite cleaning/finishing you suggested a go on my next project which will be the teak inserts on the swim platform and the teak at the anchor what-cha-call-it.
One problem I have is that I live 150 miles from where my boat is. So multi-day projects require bringing everything back home to work on and than back to the boat to install when it is finished.
Finished my re-wiring project last Sat. and dropped the boat in the water for a spin. We had great weather in Charleston, perfect to go out. Would not start! Seems to be starved for fuel but not sure. I am having the mechanic at marina look at it for me this week.

 

[eddiezuskin]

CaptH,
1) When was carb last rebuilt?
2)Check little mesh filter right at the carb, also fuel seperator?
3)Old mechanic's proverb. When you think its a fuel problem, check the electricals again, when you're sure its electrical check the fuel system again.
4)Hope its something minor
Eddie

 

[eddiezuskin]

Regarding replacement of cockpit upholstery. I redid mine 4 years ago on my 87 250DA as a first time sewing project. Removed the old skins and copied them, with some mods, sewed new skins, replaced the foam and some of the wood and used thousands of stainless staples. If you are not comfortable with sewing there are companies that advertise online that you send them the old "skins" and they copy them. I have no personal experience with that option.

I had gotten a $5000 estimate for canvas and cockpit upholstery for my 87 250DA in 2004. I bought a sailmakers sewing machine and supplies and still was around $1500. Not 100% professional job but very respectable. My advice is to acquire Jim Grants upholstery book and check out www.sailrite.com website as one of a number of good resources. canvasdealer.com , rochfordsupply has good prices for zippers and snaps.
Go for it!
Eddie

 

[Take Five]

Thanks eddie, I'll check it out...


Hey guys, I got questions, where do you find parts for consoles such as switch, nuts, something like that? because some of my switch like nav. light won't stay on, the part fell off and I can't find the nut (plastic). Do you think west marine carries that or other store?

 

[Maritime Matt]

Welcome to the board. Nice 85. Where in Jersey are you? I'm in Little Egg. I have a 86 260 I bought last fall that I'm going to spruce up. Pics are on here somewhere. The boat is still up in Woodbridge at a friends marine repair shop waiting to get the Intake manifold replaced. I'm also looking at a nearly mint 86 268 for sale pretty reasonable. Matt