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

Hey all,

Reading this post convinced me to join club Sea Ray. My wife and I bought our 2006 260 Sundancer back in Aug 2006 and we have already put 160 hours on her.

We have the 6.2L engine which I have no complaints about, and we added a Raymarine C-70 chartplotter and also had the radar arch hinged so we could go under a 9' bridget.

Its getting late, check back in with all you 260 owners next time.

Coral Reefer
 
Would love to get details/pics of the radar arch hinge system. I have a 260 as well and have some low bridges to deal with. Not a problem now, but could open up options.

Thanks, and welcome to CSR.

Esteban
 
Hinged Radar Arch

Some details on the radar arch.

This was customized after I bought the boat, and they are very common in this area as Cape Coral has about 400 miles of canals, and a lot of them have bridges.

Basically it is comprised of hand machined staineless steel plates that have hinges on each end, and a pin at the bottom that is pulled so it can fold forward.

It takes us about only 30-45 seconds to put it down, and we don't even have to slow down or stop as we approach the bridge (we are already going "no wake" of course)

Here are some pictures of the radar arch.
 
Here are some more pictures.

I have actually see some 320 DAs and even 340 DAs with this same arch modification.

That is why I built my dock to hold a 340 DA. You never know after all what that next boat may be.
 
CR,

That is one slick, shipshape mod! My 260 is old enough to not have an arch, but I can appreciate the craftsmanship there.

Welcome to the board. You'll learn a ton of stuff from this community of involved owners who are passionate about their Sea Rays.

Cheers,

Bill
 
Very nice Coral Reefer. :thumbsup:

I just noticed that you seem to have a whole bunch of canvas snaps (that I don't have) below your windshield too and the ones on the inside of the arch are different than mine too. Do you also have a custom cockpit cover?
 
Snaps under windshield...

Dave, my snaps under the windshield are for my cockpit cover. It also uses the few on the inside of the arch.... I love the cockpit cover..
 
Cockpit Cover

Dave S & RjVA,

my boat came with the Camper Cavas, and did not come with the cockpit cover so i had to get that after the fact. So it was a custom job.

Here are some pictures with the cover on.
 
Very nice. I love my camper top. Easy to deploy and take down etc. Coral, I noticed that you completely take off your "mid" bimini, the one that sits behind the arch. I discoved a way of rolling that up as well. First un-hook the rear support pole from its mount, lengthen the forward support pole to its second hole. Then, the whole bimini folds forward and you simply snap it back to the arch. Took me a while to figure it out, but, it keeps it out of the way and neatly folded for moring. I'll try to get a picture.

On another note, I could use some suggestion on where to put things. I've seen the thread floating around regarding the table in the bilge idea. Great idea, that will be one of my winter projects. How bout some others. Where do you sto your camper isenglass. How bout coolers? I am always tripping over that thing on the deck. The smaller cooler under the sink just doesn't cut it. How bout the best place for life preservers. Any ideas would be appreciated. I have a couple joining us in a few weeks and wont be able to use the aft cabin as our junk collector. :huh:
 
RjVA:

These are a few of the things I do for storage on my 2000 260DA. It might not be exactly the same layout as yours, but:

1.) Stuff I may need in a hurry, like the handheld spotlight, binoculars, can-horn, riggers knife and so on I keep in a small canvas tote bag in the space right behind the helm seat. Easy to get to, and easy to put below when buttoning up. These's room in there for my GPS, too.

2.) Insinglass I carefully roll up, put in the long skinny case and put it in the cabin in the "notch" above the port dinette/V-berth backrest. Boathook goes on the starboard side, unless I'm making an approach to the dock, when I move it to a rodholder.

3.) I keep most of my lifejackets in the yellow nylon cases from West Marine, under the stern (folding) seat. The rest are in the lockers under the sides of the V-berth. I find that rear seat is kind of flexible in the middle, so I put my wash bucket upside down under the middle to act as an additional support.

4.) Coolers are indeed a problem. I try to put as much of the food as I can in the galley fridge. I have a taller, rectangular cooler for beverages. We've found the best spot for that is in the cabin, right in front of the opening to the mid-berth. It's out of the sun yet close at hand. At night it moves to the space under the V-berth.

5.) Throwable flotation is in the locker on the starboard side at the stern, opposite from the battery switch panel. My 2000 has the transom door on the starboard side, yours I think is probably to port, in which case these are probably reversed.

6.) Fenders, spare anchors, extra lines and shore power cord are in the transom locker.

I also have a locker under my cockpit sink, (no fridge or cooler) where I stash cleaning supplies, oils and fluids, my grill and spare gas bottles. I'm planning on mounting a milk crate or something similar in the engine comparment for the oils and stuff, but haven't got there yet.

I have a few more ideas, but this was probably WAY more answer than you were looking for.........

Cheers,

Bill
 
Here is where we store our bulky stuff:

Water toys and noodles are stored in the bilge. We don't have a genny so we store on the genny platform using bungee cords to hold everything in place.

Life preservers are kept in the cabinet under the cockpit sink. They are easy to get to and if there is an emergency that is the best place to have them. Throwable cushion is kept under the removable seat in the rear.

Cooler goes in the cabin usually where the table mount is or in the entrance to the midcabin. It is usually a large cooler, not the puny one that came with the boat.

Mooring cover and all our miscellaneous stuff is stored under the rear seats. We don't use the camper canvas during the summer so it is stored at home.

Rear anchor, fenders, water hose, ropes, etc are all stored in the Lazarette.

By storing things in this fashion the midcabin is virtually empty. but then again my wife and I are usually the only ones on board so if you have a family you probably have more "stuff" then we do. :smt043
 
Thank you Gentlemen. Any ideas are welcomed.

Dave, no kids but, from time to time, there is a drunk crew member that needs the aft bunk...Don't want them sleeping on my isenglass.. :smt015

Thats a nice place for those that have over indulged, you can sto them away, out of site out of mind....
 
That is so cool! You should copy this onto a new post as many of our members would love this idea. I want one for my 320.

Brilliant!

M
 
RjVA said:
Coral, I noticed that you completely take off your "mid" bimini, the one that sits behind the arch. I discoved a way of rolling that up as well. First un-hook the rear support pole from its mount, lengthen the forward support pole to its second hole. Then, the whole bimini folds forward and you simply snap it back to the arch. Took me a while to figure it out, but, it keeps it out of the way and neatly folded for moring. I'll try to get a picture.
:huh:
Click to expand...

RjVA,

I do take off the "mid" bimini and stow it below because i don't want it to fade since the other two are wrapped up. it would look funny if they were different colors, and yes that can happen in 1 season here in Florida. Thanks for the tip, please do post a picture if you can, i will definately try that as we have to undo the back posts in order to fold it down for the bridge anyway, i will give it a try.
 
Hello All

Coral Reefer,
That arch set up is awsome, I currently have a 02' 240DA on a trailer. The only thing stopping me from going to a new 260DA is the arch. My buddy has a "Boat Barn" (its a brand new barn just for boat storage about 1/2 from the launch ramp) and
it wont accomodate the heigth over 12 feet. It looks like you solved that issue quite nicly. I allways thought about it but its great to see it done.

I even looked at the Doral's because of there folding arch.

Your setup looks nice and easy to use, is it?
Did you design that your self?
Who did it?
How much?

Please tell me more.
I might go 260 shopping or even 280.
Thanks
John
 
Dave S said:
Thunderbird,

I have the white table as well.............BTW.......have you found Sea Ray's "designated storage area" for that thing? :smt017

As far as answering your question, I can't. Like I said I found all the parts listed in the parts manual (downloaded from Sea Rays web site). There are notches just under the two rear seat cushions on our boats and I believe the pad somehow fits in there. The parts guy at our dealer called Sea Ray and was told the option consists of a Teak Table, a base, two posts, and a Sunpad. It's kind of pricey but if it looks nice and is functional, I think it would be nice to have. Maybe I will call Sea Ray myself to see if they can at least provide a picture of one.
Click to expand...

Dave,

I was just going through some old post and came across this regarding the teak table and sunpad. Did you ever find a picture of this setup?
 
I love my 260. Mine is an 2006. I have made lots of modifications. I installed a better sound system, added a 20 in flat panel TV that mount right in the cockpit sink. I have it wired so that the sound come through the sound system. Next month I am purchasing a KVH tracvision C3 so that I can watch sport events out on the lake.
 
I would love to hear more about the teak cockpit table option...I asked about this in another thread, and nobody knew anything about it.

Additionally, Ray, do you have any pictures of you cockpit flat panel set up...I've been toying with that idea as a project for this year...Also, tell me more about your sound. That's deffinately happening this year, just a matter of who is doing it. Me or paying someone else.
 
Rayray said:
I love my 260. Mine is an 2006. I have made lots of modifications. I installed a better sound system, added a 20 in flat panel TV that mount right in the cockpit sink. I have it wired so that the sound come through the sound system. Next month I am purchasing a KVH tracvision C3 so that I can watch sport events out on the lake.
Click to expand...

Let's See some pictures...sounds pretty nice
 
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