260 Sundancer Thread.........Comments questions and answers

I keep looking at this picture

104290x1_111.jpg


OK, this is a LOT of work but man-oh-man would it be nice.

Get all three wood panels new. Take off all three that you have now. Keep them incase you sell the boat and want your C80 unit back.

Mount the C80 front and center, flush in the middle area. This area is now full.

Mount one of the larger and two smaller round gauges in each of the two smaller wood areas on each side.

Re-locate the trim tap switches and radio control switches to an area below and to the left of the steering wheel, around the area where the hand held VHF microphone is hanging now.

Again, lots of work but man, would that look nice.
 
I guess you can get the 2007 model 260DA with a colored hull and no bottom paint even though Sea Ray's configurator says you can't order them like that. I saw a new one sitting at my dealer today with a blue hull and it had white gelcoat below the tape stripe. I am pretty sure my blue gelcoat covers the whole hull on my 2006 model. The boat actually looks real nice with the white bottom. It would be ideal for a trailered boat. I'll try and get some pictures and post them.
 
I guess they have been doing this for awhile. Here is a 2006 that was listed on Boat Trader and it has no bottom paint too.

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One downside to this is if you decide to add bottom paint you will still have some white showing up near the bow. Here is what mine looks like and the bottom paint follows the water line when it gets toward the bow. the colored gel coat on mine extends well below the tape stripe in that area. Like I said previously the whole hull on mine is blue.....even under the bottom paint.

searay260da.jpg
 
Wow that boat looks even better on land with the colored hull and NO bottom paint. Real world though it will look the same in the water.
 
I have often wondered about boat heaters and wondered if I could use this for my 260 DA instead of winterizing. Does anyone have this installed? I have inquired at my local SR dealer and they can install this for a cost of $1000 including the heater.
 
Yes, I installed an Xtreme bilge heater a few months ago. We use the heater, however, to supplement our winterizing efforts, not as a replacement to winterizing. The problem with relying entirely on a bilge heater is that should you experience a power failure, the risk of something freezing and breaking becomes very high.
 
Here are some pics of how my GPS is mounted... sorry so late
 

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'06 with Genset

After a prolonged search, one negotiated deal that fell through because the seller's wife burst into tears and decided not to sell, I believe I have found my 260DA. She's an '06. While I was holding out for a bigger engine, they're hard to come by, so I'm going with the 350B3. My only concern - leading to my question - is that she has a generator, which I wasn't looking for, but happy it has. While I know the boat's not a rocket ship, I'm afraid the added weight will make it that much more sluggish. Can anybody with an '05+ with the 350 and generator speak to this? My expectations are reasonable and I realize this is subjective, but does it plane quickly and have decent enough thrust that I'm not bound to be disappointed? Thanks!
 
Re: '06 with Genset

Red Stripe said:
After a prolonged search, one negotiated deal that fell through because the seller's wife burst into tears and decided not to sell, I believe I have found my 260DA. She's an '06. While I was holding out for a bigger engine, they're hard to come by, so I'm going with the 350B3. My only concern - leading to my question - is that she has a generator, which I wasn't looking for, but happy it has. While I know the boat's not a rocket ship, I'm afraid the added weight will make it that much more sluggish. Can anybody with an '05+ with the 350 and generator speak to this? My expectations are reasonable and I realize this is subjective, but does it plane quickly and have decent enough thrust that I'm not bound to be disappointed? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Congratulations on the new Boat and welcome to the ranks of the 260DA owners. :thumbsup:

I don't think the weight of a Genny will noticably slow you down. A few weeks ago we had nine people on board our 260 and it got up on plane just fine with the use of the trim tabs and top speed was just a few MPH shy of what I can attain with only two of us on board. To be quite honest I was actually amazed at how the boat performed with this many people on it.
:smt038 :smt038
 
I have a question for the 260 owners. I don't have a transom shower and I think I would really really like one. I've seen that most have a factory one but I was wondering what alternatives there are. Could I just add a hose and sprayer on the fill input in the trunk? I know it won't have hot water there but is pressure applied to this point? or do I need to tap into the plumbing like I saw on another thread? i ask because I can't get to the boat for another month and would like to get what I need now so when the time comes I can jump on it. thanks in advance
 
TurtleTone said:
I know it won't have hot water there but is pressure applied to this point? or do I need to tap into the plumbing like I saw on another thread? i ask because I can't get to the boat for another month and would like to get what I need now so when the time comes I can jump on it. thanks in advance
Click to expand...

TT, you don't mention the year of your boat, but on our 2000 the hose bib in the trunk is pressurized. We have a hose on it and have used it as you suggest. But let me tell you, that's *cold* water when you're using it as a shower/washoff! We use it mostly to rinse our spare anchor and other washdown duties rather than showering.

I'd like to add a true transom shower with hot/cold water. I saw one in last year's West Marine catalog but haven't looked any further into installation.
Jeff
 
hmmm that's odd. I had my stats in my signature before. I'll check into that.

it's a 2005 260DA 350 BRIII.

I can see that it could be a little cold for a shower, but it's good to know that it's pressurized so that hosing can be done with little money. I've checked out a few hot/cold shower thingy's and it looks like I can expect to pay about $150 or so if I go this route + installation time and headaches. do many of you find the hot/cold shower useful? or do you think cold only for hosing off is good enough. Also, how difficult do you think it would be for me to put the shower in? I can't remember seeing a place for it already there, but then again i really didn't look all that hard either, being a new (used) boat, I was a little overwhelmed.
 
We used it all the time and for the most part (rinsing off salt/dirty water) it's just fine. To get hot water you will need a generator running your hot water heater. Also in the summer the water that comes out is pretty warm already from sitting in your water tank.
 
Dave, that was the thread I was thinking about. thanks.
 
Finally! Active observer becomes participating owner...

The funds have transferred. The insurance is in place. Before too long the tiny picture (because I couldn't figure out how to post the proper size) of my (beloved) 2002 210 Sundeck will be replaced with a nice shot of my brand new, 2006 260DA. Many thanks to everyone who participates in this thread - all the info has been extremely helpful. Particular thanks to Dave S. who I have singled out privately a few times. Enough of the acceptance speech. It got down to 2 degrees today in my part of Upstate New York and on Saturday, for the first time, I'll be on board my new 260 inside the dealer's storage facility. With the hundreds of pictures I've looked at in the course of my search I'm sure it will be a surreal experience to actually sit at the helm. The particulars ('cause I know there are people who care): 350 B3 (the dealer orders all of their new boats from SR with cupped props), A/C, windlass, spotlight, transom shower, TV, camper canvas & cockpit cover, Pewter hull (which I am loving despite originally looking for Blue) with the light interior and Grand Isle Maple wood. With the $$ I saved as it's a leftover + there was a $5K SR incentive I'm going a little overboard on the electronics with a Northstar 6100i, which interfaces beautifully with Smartcraft (inspired by Dave's Navman interface) and because I'm a weather nut I'll be including the Sirius WX interface which is out at the end of the month. Adding extended warranty too unless someone talks me out of it. Hoping for a mid-April delivery. So standby - lots of questions on the way.

It came down to this boat and a leftover '05 with the 6.2 (white hull and an interior I didn't love). It almost went the other way but I'm thrilled with my choice. So thanks again for advice you may not have known you were giving! :grin:
 
Nice Boat. We had our old style 260 for 4-1/2 years and loved. Enjoy the boat. Nice that you bought the Northstar unit. That is slick. Which size screen?
 
I'm getting the 6.4" Northstar. The size was a big part of my decision. I wanted the features of the Navionic Platinum chart at a minimum and this is the smallest size unit that work with those cards and has or will expand to the features I want. The M84 looks great and the Raymarine E series was my other choice, but my feeling is (and my dealer agrees) that anything larger than this unit would overwhelm the helm. The dealership does excellent electronic work and we'll be going over the custom install this weekend. The spot where the Navman goes is nice for a flush mount but from my experience with a similarly placed Garmin on my Sundeck, I really want the unit closer to my eye-line when standing. He's talking about using a retractable arm that he has had great success with on similar installs. I'm eager to see what he has in mind. I don't want to block my field of vision or any gauges.
 
Water Temp?

And here's question #1... Is the "water temperature" reading on the Smartcraft the sea temp or engine temp?
 
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