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

[peakay]

Hi there, went to look at an older 260DA yesterday (1999) for somethign to do not expecting to like it, but found it had a nice layout and liked it more than expected. My questions:

- How many hours would the small block mercruiser get in saltwater? Engine has just over 1000 hours

- does anyone have a brochure or list of features? if i go see it again, would want to give it a full once over to see what all might be broken or missing. For example I did not see a windlass and the engine cover was maually lifted, but I don't know if that's normal or if things are missing/broken.

Thanks!

 

[Lazy Daze]

Hi there, went to look at an older 260DA yesterday (1999) for somethign to do not expecting to like it, but found it had a nice layout and liked it more than expected. My questions:

- How many hours would the small block mercruiser get in saltwater? Engine has just over 1000 hours

- does anyone have a brochure or list of features? if i go see it again, would want to give it a full once over to see what all might be broken or missing. For example I did not see a windlass and the engine cover was maually lifted, but I don't know if that's normal or if things are missing/broken.

Thanks!

Hi. FYI, you're in a thread for '05-'09 260DA's - which is actually an entirely different model. This is the correct thread for what you are looking at: http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/the-official-99-04-260da-sundancer-thread.23453/

That said, the questions you're asking here are pretty basic so it doesn't really matter. But look through that thread - there's lot's of good/specific info there.

-- You can download the spec sheet (standard/option lists) for that model (I had a '99 myself) from SR's website.
-- A windlass was an option
-- The engine hatch was only ever a manual hatch which, in some ways, is better... much cheaper to repair and leaves more space in the engine bay.
-- Hours... there's no real way to give a specific answer. It all comes down to how it was taken care of. But, certainly, 1,000 hours would not be considered too many for the engine - not even close, actually - if it's been well taken care of.
-- It would, however, be a real good idea to get the recent history of the manifolds/risers and have those checked. DEFINITELY do that. They're actually considered a maintenance item.
-- It would also be a really good idea to hire a qualified surveyor before fully committing. Basically a "I'll buy it at "X" price pending the survey results".

 

[peakay]

Thanks @Lazy Daze for your nice post and apologies for posting the wrong area. Appreciate the info and will head over to the other thread.

 

[Heracles]

im looking at quite a few 2006 260 sundancers, they can be had for $37K-$45K with 200-300 hours, some have generators too, and 5.7 or 496.

Thoughts? although old in year being a 2006, if its 300 hours or less, is its a low risk from a maintenance side?

As far as the cabin- its hard to tell the depth from the pics, with the added birth pillow, is thatlong enough for 2-3 3 people to sleep in that cabin? Or is it two? Its hard to tell as the oven/ stove is encroaching on the left side of the cabin making it look like someone doesnt have the legnth to lay there.

 

[Lazy Daze]

im looking at quite a few 2006 260 sundancers, they can be had for $37K-$45K with 200-300 hours, some have generators too, and 5.7 or 496.

Thoughts? although old in year being a 2006, if its 300 hours or less, is its a low risk from a maintenance side?

As far as the cabin- its hard to tell the depth from the pics, with the added birth pillow, is thatlong enough for 2-3 3 people to sleep in that cabin? Or is it two? Its hard to tell as the oven/ stove is encroaching on the left side of the cabin making it look like someone doesnt have the legnth to lay there.

Hours are virtually useless. Care and maintenance history is much more important.

For the v-berth sleeping, 2 adults is the norm. The shorter person sleeps on the port side. You can sleep more there... but ya'll better be quite friendly!

 

[Stray Current]

*a post I can’t seem to locate*

I think I read a post by you stating there’s no wood in the 05-08 260DA hull. I know there’s wood in the transom, but are the decks wood cored or composite?

 

[b_arrington]

im looking at quite a few 2006 260 sundancers, they can be had for $37K-$45K with 200-300 hours, some have generators too, and 5.7 or 496.

Thoughts? although old in year being a 2006, if its 300 hours or less, is its a low risk from a maintenance side?

As far as the cabin- its hard to tell the depth from the pics, with the added birth pillow, is thatlong enough for 2-3 3 people to sleep in that cabin? Or is it two? Its hard to tell as the oven/ stove is encroaching on the left side of the cabin making it look like someone doesnt have the legnth to lay there.

The cabin layout from my 06 270 AJ was virtually identical to the 06 260 DA. My wife and I could sleep fine in the v-berth. Yes, the galley encroaches into the space, but I kinda hugged the starboard side and her legs went in the middle. The bigger issue was the firmness of the cushions. Since they double as a dining area the cushions are very firm and hard to sleep on. Adding a 4" egg crate foam mattress topper improved the sleep experience immensely (I cut it to shape).

On the other hand, my kids move around a lot when they sleep and would annoy each other. But they annoy each other by breathing, so....

I didn't have the aft berth configuration but have been on it. The aft berth is pretty big - definitely enough for 2 and long enough for adults. It actually is longer than the 290 AJ aft berth, which is truncated due to the fuel tank configuration.

 

[Lazy Daze]

I think I read a post by you stating there’s no wood in the 05-08 260DA hull. I know there’s wood in the transom, but are the decks wood cored or composite?

There is some plywood used in the cockpit deck in key areas (larger areas). There's also wood in the foredeck (bow) area like all Sundancers. The cockpit area is of little to no concern as the wood is completely sealed/glassed at the factory. If you get into the bilge and look at the underside of the cockpit floor, you'll see where the wood is. Just like in certain places of the hull sides where wood is glassed in to be able to screw things to the hull sides in the bilge. In the case of the hull sides, it's not "structural" to the integrity of the boat, though.

The foredeck area, as you probably already know... it's main fallback is the deck hatch. If water works it's way past a failing deck hatch seal, it can wick into the deck core. If you haven't had the deck hatch out in a while, that would be a good PM thing to do (and it's pretty easy, too). In fact, I would recommend to go as far as removing a half inch or so of the core and then brushing a few coats of epoxy onto the core, then filling it with thickened epoxy. In the future, should get past the hatch seal, the core is completely protected.

 

[radscoot]

I’m doing research on installing a thru hull for Bravo 3 water pickup.

I don’t have any cooling issues now but I’m being proactive.

From what I have read so far on the internet there are a couple of ways of doing it.

1. Add thru hull and tee into existing hose and maintain water inlet from drive.
2. Cut off drive inlet hose and plug inside of transom then utilizing thru hull only.

Question:

Can I use the existing thru hull and strainer for the Cruisair feed by teeing into that system? I expect I would have to add a shutoff to isolate them. If possible it would save me the hassle of drilling another hole in bottom and the expense of Thru hull fittings and Strainer etc.

We do not have a Generator so the only time we run the Cruisair is at Marina.


I’m open to thoughts and ideas


Thanks
Randy

 

[Stray Current]

I’m doing research on installing a thru hull for Bravo 3 water pickup.

I don’t have any cooling issues now but I’m being proactive.

From what I have read so far on the internet there are a couple of ways of doing it.

1. Add thru hull and tee into existing hose and maintain water inlet from drive.
2. Cut off drive inlet hose and plug inside of transom then utilizing thru hull only.

Question:

Can I use the existing thru hull and strainer for the Cruisair feed by teeing into that system? I expect I would have to add a shutoff to isolate them. If possible it would save me the hassle of drilling another hole in bottom and the expense of Thru hull fittings and Strainer etc.

We do not have a Generator so the only time we run the Cruisair is at Marina.


I’m open to thoughts and ideas


Thanks
Randy

If you pop into my thread in my signature, I have pics of my bilge.

my 260 has ac, genset, and thru hull pickup.

the engine is fed off of a 11/4” seacock. The ac is 3/4”. I would not piggyback anything for the engine.

I am considering piggybacking a feed for a raw water wash at the anchor off the cruisair though

 

[radscoot]

Stray Current
Thanks for the reply. Yes I have been following your thread. Your pics are what got me thinking about putting in the thru hull for the water intake. Your engine thru hull hose routing goes almost all the way around the engine bay. Any idea why it was done that way?
Thanks
Randy

 

[Stray Current]

I’m honestly not sure why it’s routed as it is. From what I understand the Horizon freshwater cooled engines require additional water volume through the exchanger as the manifold are freshwater cooled as well. I believe it is factory sea ray as the horizon calls for it. The thru hull for the waste discharge would go there if it was not a pickup.

I can only assume it takes that route to keep it out of the way and account for required bend radius

 

[Pilot Traveler]

I am looking at several 260 Sundancers and have found a couple of very nice 2004s and 2007s. The newer boats weigh about 1,300 more pounds and the boats I am looking at have the 350 mag so I am concerned about performance with the increased weight. Trailering for the newer boats every now and again might be a bit much for a half ton truck with the 3.08 axle. Perhaps the newer hull design though helps mitigate this extra weight. Would really appreciate this group’s thoughts on which is the best to buy in this year grouping. Thanks very much!

 

[Lazy Daze]

I am looking at several 260 Sundancers and have found a couple of very nice 2004s and 2007s. The newer boats weigh about 1,300 more pounds and the boats I am looking at have the 350 mag so I am concerned about performance with the increased weight. Trailering for the newer boats every now and again might be a bit much for a half ton truck with the 3.08 axle. Perhaps the newer hull design though helps mitigate this extra weight. Would really appreciate this group’s thoughts on which is the best to buy in this year grouping. Thanks very much!

Trailering... Even the older, '99-'04 version is going to come in around 10K pounds. That still sounds like too much for something with a 3.08. What's your truck's capacity? Generally speaking, it's recommended to have a trailer no more than 80% of your rated capacity.

Depending on what your rating is, this might be a no-go for either model.

But, the newer 260DA does just fine with the 350MAG.

 

[bbwhitejr]

Our ‘06 with the 350 mag performed very well. Never touched the tabs unless we had 5-6 people on board and then used them to get on plane.

When we bought the boat, I pulled it home with a 1/2 ton Z71. Never again...bought a Duramax diesel the next day. Too much for a 1/2 ton....

Bennett

 

[menningd]

Hello,

Long time lurker-first post. I decided to post this here instead of the modifications section because many details will be highly specific to this model and year.


I've owned a 2006 260DA for about 4 years now. I tackled a big project as soon as i bought it and wanted to share (3 years later-better late than never?). We planned on trailering for the first few seasons (ended up being 3) and I store it in my home garage which has a 12' garage door. Because the boat sits around 13'4" on the trailer i needed to lower the arch to get it in and out. I found a few pictures online of boats with hinged radar arches. The arch for the 260DA's are bolted (with sealant) onto the gunwales in a way that lends itself to this quite well. I did some careful measurements and modeled it up in 3d and found that i could hinge it forward to the top of the windshield and get under the 12' garage door. I made up templates of the arch footprint and scanned them into a CAD program. I sent the 2D .dxf file to a fab shop and had them water jet 4 pieces out and put a mirror finish on the visible sides of each (i say visible even though nobody ever sees it... completely unnecessary but makes it look more professional). I made a homemade hinge from a stack of round spacers and a hinge pin I bought from McMaster. I assembled all the spacers on the pin, sandwiched the plates together, and had a coworker weld each spacer onto alternating plates. I did this on both ends-one end is the permanent hinge and the other end I insert a quick release detent pin when the arch is in the up position (this was meant to be a fail safe if the actuators ever developed any excess play but it still shuts very tight without the pins).


For attaching the plates to the radar arch I used a combination of thru bolting (in the center where there’s access for a washer and nut through the arch’s access cover) and then epoxied-in SST threaded inserts into the fiberglass towards the outer edges. I then used flat head machine screws to attach the SST panel to the arch. On the hull side of things i just tapped directly into the fiberglass (or thru bolted with a nut on the other side if there was access). I believe I might of put a light coat of sealant before finally bolting everything together (hard to remember 4 years later…).


I took a piece of SST tubing and had it bent into an arc using a conduit bender and had this welded to the arch plate on the starboard side. A corresponding slot in the gunwale-mounted plate safely directs the cabling from the arch down into the boat during open/close.


I mounted a screw type actuator on each side to raise and lower the whole thing. This was the hardest part. They mount to the “deck” of the boat but I had to build up a mounting base to a precise height so that the actuator would shut the arch tightly at the end of it’s travel. This, in areas that are VERY hard to access. The port side actuator base mounts behind the battery isolator (all that has to come out to access….) These are controlled by a toggle switch i mounted (hidden) beside the under-dash fuse panel. They receive power simultaneously. I do worry that if one ever quit that the other would twist the arch and potentially cause damage but I just listen and watch carefully when I’m moving it up or down….no problems so far. The actuator mounts to the arch with a clevis bracket and hinge pin. So, theoretically if one actuator quit you could remove the actuator without tools and close the arch by hand. The arch takes about 30sec to move the full travel. If I don’t stop it halfway through and reverse direction or anything they usually finish their stroke within a half second of each other.


It does work very well. It’s not something I would want to do in choppy seas (why would you?!) and the arch is only extremely rigid in the up (normal) position. You wouldn’t want to leave it in the forward/down position if you were trailering or under way (unless to go under a bridge in calm water) – the weight is just cantilevered forward too far without any secondary support. It’s perfectly fine for storage purposes. Unfortunately, as I write this I realize I don’t have many pictures of it on my computer. If there’s any specific questions you have I can get more pictures or details. These are screenshots from a video I have of the actuation.

 

[radscoot]

Hello,

Long time lurker-first post. I decided to post this here instead of the modifications section because many details will be highly specific to this model and year.


I've owned a 2006 260DA for about 4 years now. I tackled a big project as soon as i bought it and wanted to share (3 years later-better late than never?). We planned on trailering for the first few seasons (ended up being 3) and I store it in my home garage which has a 12' garage door. Because the boat sits around 13'4" on the trailer i needed to lower the arch to get it in and out. I found a few pictures online of boats with hinged radar arches. The arch for the 260DA's are bolted (with sealant) onto the gunwales in a way that lends itself to this quite well. I did some careful measurements and modeled it up in 3d and found that i could hinge it forward to the top of the windshield and get under the 12' garage door. I made up templates of the arch footprint and scanned them into a CAD program. I sent the 2D .dxf file to a fab shop and had them water jet 4 pieces out and put a mirror finish on the visible sides of each (i say visible even though nobody ever sees it... completely unnecessary but makes it look more professional). I made a homemade hinge from a stack of round spacers and a hinge pin I bought from McMaster. I assembled all the spacers on the pin, sandwiched the plates together, and had a coworker weld each spacer onto alternating plates. I did this on both ends-one end is the permanent hinge and the other end I insert a quick release detent pin when the arch is in the up position (this was meant to be a fail safe if the actuators ever developed any excess play but it still shuts very tight without the pins).


For attaching the plates to the radar arch I used a combination of thru bolting (in the center where there’s access for a washer and nut through the arch’s access cover) and then epoxied-in SST threaded inserts into the fiberglass towards the outer edges. I then used flat head machine screws to attach the SST panel to the arch. On the hull side of things i just tapped directly into the fiberglass (or thru bolted with a nut on the other side if there was access). I believe I might of put a light coat of sealant before finally bolting everything together (hard to remember 4 years later…).


I took a piece of SST tubing and had it bent into an arc using a conduit bender and had this welded to the arch plate on the starboard side. A corresponding slot in the gunwale-mounted plate safely directs the cabling from the arch down into the boat during open/close.


I mounted a screw type actuator on each side to raise and lower the whole thing. This was the hardest part. They mount to the “deck” of the boat but I had to build up a mounting base to a precise height so that the actuator would shut the arch tightly at the end of it’s travel. This, in areas that are VERY hard to access. The port side actuator base mounts behind the battery isolator (all that has to come out to access….) These are controlled by a toggle switch i mounted (hidden) beside the under-dash fuse panel. They receive power simultaneously. I do worry that if one ever quit that the other would twist the arch and potentially cause damage but I just listen and watch carefully when I’m moving it up or down….no problems so far. The actuator mounts to the arch with a clevis bracket and hinge pin. So, theoretically if one actuator quit you could remove the actuator without tools and close the arch by hand. The arch takes about 30sec to move the full travel. If I don’t stop it halfway through and reverse direction or anything they usually finish their stroke within a half second of each other.


It does work very well. It’s not something I would want to do in choppy seas (why would you?!) and the arch is only extremely rigid in the up (normal) position. You wouldn’t want to leave it in the forward/down position if you were trailering or under way (unless to go under a bridge in calm water) – the weight is just cantilevered forward too far without any secondary support. It’s perfectly fine for storage purposes. Unfortunately, as I write this I realize I don’t have many pictures of it on my computer. If there’s any specific questions you have I can get more pictures or details. These are screenshots from a video I have of the actuation.
View attachment 86042 View attachment 86043 View attachment 86044

Wow that’s impressive. Thank you for sharing.

 

[carlos aravena]

Vapor lock?
Hello, i have a 2006 with a newer 383 stroker, i have been taken the boat out every single weekend and it runs flawless, about 5 weeks ago during our normal trip after an hour so so we docked the boat and we out to eat and comeback then turn ac on for a couple hours and engine woulnt start, it turns over but cant get it to start, had to go back on uber to where my trailer was and bring it back to get boat, next day i figured to start with the fuel filters and we changed them and started right up, so i thought it was just dirty. Yesterday i went out to the same run and it happened exactly the same way, so the past 4 weeks no issues , the only similarity is that the weathere was extremely rough and too many boats, so i was moving in all directions, today i tried again and the fuel filter was super tight, but finally got it loose and put it back and engine started, any ideas what is causing this?

 

[BellevueDA]

Hi everyone,

Question on AC unit.

With the boat sitting in the slip, can the AC be turned on with the seacock open for water intake?

Wondering if the water gets pumped in to cool the unit or whether the boat needs to be in moving
so that the water gets in through the seacock.

Thanks

 

[Chip S]

You can use the AC when you are in the slip (with the seacock open). Most people I know don't use the AC when underway, only at the dock, but I believe you can use the AC underway as well. At the dock you can use shore power but underway you will need to have a generator that is running.