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

flyfig said:
Hi fellas, I haven't been here in a while, just got back from AFG.
I'm sure I can find it in a threat, but I'm in a rush. Have anyone used a Honda EU2000 generator to power their AC? Is it possible?

Thx
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Welcome back. Bringing up a Honda genny here is like farting in church.

dmorris800 said:
Hi guys,
New 260 boat owner, has anyone used ablative paint on the bottom and their experience with it?

Thanks,
dave
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Welcome aboard. Do you trailer the boat? If so, don't go with ablative.
 
Huh...I run ablative paint, trailer it and get 3 seasons out of it before recoating. Never a problem. Be careful with hard paints as some require they can not be out of the water for extended periods of time.
 
Nehalennia said:
Welcome back. Bringing up a Honda genny here is like farting in church.



Welcome aboard. Do you trailer the boat? If so, don't go with ablative.
Click to expand...
Thanks,we plan on trailering for winter storage at home. For the summer we plan on staying on a dock in CT. Another question if you might have time, the manual rec commends a fresh water flush after each use. I am not sure how practical this might be. Your thoughts?

Dave
 
2005 260 sundancer Does anyone know where I can find my sea water temp on my smart gauges. Also where would the transducer be located. I find the water temp but that is for my 350 bravo engine. I'm new to boating As we lost our 15yr old son due to a car accident and we thought that getting away on lake Michigan would help ease the pain. We bought this boat in August of last year and also we found it really tippy I have read that I should have the trim tabs all the way up and only adjust 1/2 second at a time. Last year I found myself trimming all the time hopefully this year I'll try with the tabs all the way up and adjust only one at a time slowly. Please Help.... Thanks Rich
 
probertrich8 said:
2005 260 sundancer Does anyone know where I can find my sea water temp on my smart gauges. Also where would the transducer be located. I find the water temp but that is for my 350 bravo engine. I'm new to boating As we lost our 15yr old son due to a car accident and we thought that getting away on lake Michigan would help ease the pain. We bought this boat in August of last year and also we found it really tippy I have read that I should have the trim tabs all the way up and only adjust 1/2 second at a time. Last year I found myself trimming all the time hopefully this year I'll try with the tabs all the way up and adjust only one at a time slowly. Please Help.... Thanks Rich
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Again, please give everyone as much information as possible so they know what you have to answer your questions. We're all terrible mindreaders. Best of luck.
 
probertrich8 said:
2005 260 sundancer Does anyone know where I can find my sea water temp on my smart gauges. Also where would the transducer be located. I find the water temp but that is for my 350 bravo engine. I'm new to boating As we lost our 15yr old son due to a car accident and we thought that getting away on lake Michigan would help ease the pain. We bought this boat in August of last year and also we found it really tippy I have read that I should have the trim tabs all the way up and only adjust 1/2 second at a time. Last year I found myself trimming all the time hopefully this year I'll try with the tabs all the way up and adjust only one at a time slowly. Please Help.... Thanks Rich
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You may have the thru-hull dual depth/temp sensor. It would be in the forward center area of you bilge. If you trace its wires you may find the part number 888828A on a label along the wires. If you don't have a Smartcraft manual, you can find them online. You will need it to learn how to calibrate your Smartcraft gauges. CAL2 of the tachometer allows you to indicate you have a seawater sensor. Then CAL1 on the Speedometer is used to enable the display of that temperature. Its actually a three purpose display page that has the clock, air temp and seawater temp.
 
Thanks so much!!! The smartcraft manual is so confusing like I said were new at this and I will give it a try. Thanks again for the posting.. Rich
 
So sorry for your loss, my transducer is located just forward of the engine in the bilge.

Dave
 
I think I can answer the questions you have probertrich8

Water temperature is picked up by the transducer mounted in the flat part of hull right in front of the engine. This transducer also picks up water depth. These transducers seem to fail a lot for some reason. On mine the depth reading is fine but the water temperature is way off. So I have the water temperature turned off so when you toggle thru the displays on Smartcraft you don't see it. This is likely the case with your boat also so let's first get the display to show up on your Smartcraft LED screen. If you look at page 2-15 of the Smartcraft Manual, it tells you how to get into CAL1 Tachometer Calibration . Turn on your ignition key and then follow the instructions. When you toggle thru the various displays using the MODE button you will come to the display shown on page 2-18 which says SPEED/SEA TEMP SCREEN? Yours is probably set to NO so it needs to be set to yes. Once that has been done, turn off the ignition then turn it back on and start going thru the LED displays. Sea temperature will show up right after the depth reading. If the sea temperature looks like it is bad, then unfortunately the transducer will have to be replaced. (I have decided to live with my bad transducer and use one of those point and shoot lasers to pick up water temperature).

With respect to the use of trim tabs and trimming your outdrive, if you follow the guidelines I posted some time ago you will find your 260 will perform just fine out in the open water. Basically, do not use your trim tabs until you are up on plane and only use them to balance the boat side to side. Use only one tab at a time to balance the boat. When you are coming up on plane I also find it is helpful to slowly begin trimming the outdrive up as soon as you feel the boat start to lean to port or starboard. This corrects that situation. On my boat I find that trimming the drive all the way up to the first detent is the way my boat runs best on plane.

Best of luck with your boat and let us know if we can be of more help to you.

Dave
 
Dave S said:
I think I can answer the questions you have probertrich8

Water temperature is picked up by the transducer mounted in the flat part of hull right in front of the engine. This transducer also picks up water depth. These transducers seem to fail a lot for some reason. On mine the depth reading is fine but the water temperature is way off. So I have the water temperature turned off so when you toggle thru the displays on Smartcraft you don't see it. This is likely the case with your boat also so let's first get the display to show up on your Smartcraft LED screen. If you look at page 2-15 of the Smartcraft Manual, it tells you how to get into CAL1 Tachometer Calibration . Turn on your ignition key and then follow the instructions. When you toggle thru the various displays using the MODE button you will come to the display shown on page 2-18 which says SPEED/SEA TEMP SCREEN? Yours is probably set to NO so it needs to be set to yes. Once that has been done, turn off the ignition then turn it back on and start going thru the LED displays. Sea temperature will show up right after the depth reading. If the sea temperature looks like it is bad, then unfortunately the transducer will have to be replaced. (I have decided to live with my bad transducer and use one of those point and shoot lasers to pick up water temperature).

With respect to the use of trim tabs and trimming your outdrive, if you follow the guidelines I posted some time ago you will find your 260 will perform just fine out in the open water. Basically, do not use your trim tabs until you are up on plane and only use them to balance the boat side to side. Use only one tab at a time to balance the boat. When you are coming up on plane I also find it is helpful to slowly begin trimming the outdrive up as soon as you feel the boat start to lean to port or starboard. This corrects that situation. On my boat I find that trimming the drive all the way up to the first detent is the way my boat runs best on plane.

Best of luck with your boat and let us know if we can be of more help to you.

Dave
Click to expand...

Did you try using the water temp offset to make display temp match actual?
 
Dave S said:
Smartcraft only allows a 10 degree offset. That is not enough to correct my readings.

Dave
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Yup. I get 174 degrees displayed from my broken transducer.

Also, between Dave S and I we gave you two different ways to display the sea water temp. That's because there are two different ways. You can display it on the speedo with the clock and air temp, and/or you can display it on the tach with the speed. But you do have to make sure to go through the sensors indicators on CAL2 of the tach and set "sea temp sensor" to "yes". If it is set to "no" then the sea temp will display as "OFF".
 
ZZ13 said:
Yup. I get 174 degrees displayed from my broken transducer.

Also, between Dave S and I we gave you two different ways to display the sea water temp. That's because there are two different ways. You can display it on the speedo with the clock and air temp, and/or you can display it on the tach with the speed. But you do have to make sure to go through the sensors indicators on CAL2 of the tach and set "sea temp sensor" to "yes". If it is set to "no" then the sea temp will display as "OFF".
Click to expand...

There is only one way to display it on a 260DA and that is on the LED on the Tachometer. There is no LED on the Speedometer in a 260DA. (You may have one on your 280DA) . You cannot display air temperature or clock time either because the 260DA doesn't have either of these features.

Dave
 
Thank you.... The loss of our 15yr old son has also killed a part of us. In this accident two of my sons best friends were killed too. They were hit by a kid going 87mph, trying to pass them and a car was coming in this idiots way so he swerved over and clipped the car my son was riding in.... http://www.lifestorynet.com/memories/15389 attached is my son's life story page. Sorry I know this is a boat page but I just miss him so much..

Thanks,
Rich
 
probertrich8 said:
Thank you.... The loss of our 15yr old son has also killed a part of us. In this accident two of my sons best friends were killed too. They were hit by a kid going 87mph, trying to pass them and a car was coming in this idiots way so he swerved over and clipped the car my son was riding in.... http://www.lifestorynet.com/memories/15389 attached is my son's life story page. Sorry I know this is a boat page but I just miss him so much..

Thanks,
Rich
Click to expand...

Rich
I am very sorry. I somehow didn't read through your entire post to pick up on the loss of your Son. I am very, very sorry to hear that. I wish you and your family the best in finding the strength to live on and honor him.
 
I had my boat in the water for a couple of weeks in early April, was great to get an early start. I normally keep my boat on the rack, but was borrowing a friend's slip who's not in the water yet. Anyway, one of my mechanics notice some activity from my sacrificial anodes. When I took a look myself I was surprised to see bubbles slowly coming up from the outdrive! I know the BIII's have issues with all that stainless but I didn't think it could get that active. I disconnected both batteries and even moved the boat out of the marina but it made no difference. I do not have a mercathode system on the boat but I plan on getting one now. Even though the boat spends most of its time out of the water, I figure the time in the water will add up.

Any advice on the installation?
What's the best place to mount the controller? I've read that it's normally mounted on the engine.
How are the leads routed to/though the transom?

I figure or rather hope the answers I seek will come with the kit. But I figure I'd start with the real experts.:smt001

Here's the kit I think I need: http://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/us/index.php?target=products&product_id=2596

I look forward to your replies.
 
Your MerCathode System should look something like this:
http://www.mercstuff.com/bravo3corrosion.htm

Look for a blue controller usually mounted somewhere on the engine.
The anode is mounted at the bottom of the Bravo III gimbal housing.

Also make sure you have the proper zincs on for salt water.

-Kevin
 
All,
Thought you may be interested in something I did to my "water ride" this year. I put synthetic teak down on the swim platform and in the Head. I am also considering the cabin because of carpet "wet issues" that can happen with this model of dancer.

I am having one issue and wondering if you guys have seen this before. When I use my Windless my engine is bogging down and if I forget to switch it off when on the wire the battery(s) will be dead in just over an hour.

Pic of the teak:

2012-03-31_19-46-15_918-IM.jpg
 
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