320 Sundancer Review

[skolbe]

Okay. Has my first season with the 320. We put 120 hours on the boat. Which is a record for us. We took delivery of our 320 on 3/31 and winterized on 11/20.

After having the boat for the season.

Here is what I like:

Love docking this boat. It is simple with V Drives. The boat drives great. Get's up on plane well. The boat likes to run at 3600 to 3800 Rpm's which seems to be a nice speed average around 24 to 25 Mph. The boat runs real smooth. Overall I like the lines of the boat. The cabin is comfortable. In the evenings, we sit down below and love the spaciousness of the cabin. Seems roomier to me than the new 330. The cockpit is nice. I wish the port side lounge was a little longer. But it is nice. At the dock we have a flat panel we place on the countertop in the cockpit. This is a nice feature at the dock we added. We also added carpet that matched the cockpit on the cabin steps. We love this. The plastic disks were okay. The carpet looks nicer.

Some dislikes. I wish the cabin had a few more lights. It is a bit dark. Also the bilge is tight. Seems like you spend too much time laying across the engines to access the generator.

Overall the performance on the boat is good. The boat is on plane in the 3600 RPM plus range burns around 24 GPH. So overall the boat gets just under 1 mpg.

Fit and finish of the boat is good. There were some cosmetic things over looked at delivery. But I have all of that taken care of now. Marine Max could do a better job servicing boats. My dealer has a new manager that is trying a lot harder. So, I am optimistic.

I added a Northstar Chartplotter with Smartcraft integration. That has been a nice setup. It computes efficiency - not the way I would but overall. It gives you the numbers.

This boat is fun to idle around with and just catch the scenery. We have been real happy with the 320. Not sure what I would need to upgrade to seem worth it.

We are very happy with the 320. I drove recently a used 320 with 6.2 v's and it seemed very similiar getting the boat on plane. But had a little more umph accelerating when on plane. But nothing super noticable.

I hope this helps some folks. We spent almost every weekend this season on the boat.

 

[barryg]

I agree with your assesment..I bought my 320 (2005) in May and have used it tooling around Fort Lauderdale and South to Miami as well as up to Palm Beach, and looking forward to a few trips to the Bahamas and also the Keys. I have about 190 hours on the V Drive 350 Mags, and it handles well at most speeds and is very smooth and easy to manuver. I put a 26" HDTV in the bulkhead in the cabin; connected an Apple TV to it as well as to the speakers, and put the Garmin 5208 touch screen along with the Digital Sonar, 4KW Garmin Dome Radar, and XM weather in the cockpit.

The cabin feels roomy and comfortable even for my son & I (we are both over 6'2").

The only negative for me with the 320 vs a new 330 would be the larger 8.1 engines vs the 350's as I understand they get on plane faster and you can maintain at slower speeds. Seems on mine it cruises best at around 3800rpm and when I slow down to around 3400 it starts to come off plane.

What is your top RPMs? I'm getting up to about 4200, but I've read that it should go up to around 4500rpm so not sure if the props are resurfaced correctly (there was a ding in one and had them both refinished when I bought it).

Barry

 

[skolbe]

My boat hit 5160 RPM's I dinged a prop at the end of the season. I had the prop redone. But have always hit over 5000 Rpm's. My friends 340 with 8.1's will run a little slower and stay on plane. I will be at Lauderdale by the Sea after the Christmas Holiday. Sounds like you should be getting more RPM's. After I got my props redone. I opened it up and both tachs hit 5160. I am 6'-2" and sleep in the front. My wife is quite a bit shorter.

 

[barryg]

I'm going to have the 100 hr (I'll be at 200 hrs next time out) service done soon and will see if that boosts the rpm or if my mechanic can find a reason for the slower rpms; as the prop shop I brought the props to are well known and usually do a great job..

I should be around after the holidays, so let me know when you are down.

Barry

 

[Alex F]

Skolbe,

Nice review. We just got our 2004 320 and didn't have a chance to enjoy it since the season is over in our area. Can't wait fot the spring.

Your RPMs are at the very high end, this is pretty good. During test run mine hit about 4400-4500rpm. According to the mercury site it should be between 4600-5000rpm.
http://www.mercurymarine.com/engines/inboards/inboards/350mag_specs.php

What's your top speed with rpms over 5000? What kind of props do you have?

Thanks,
Alex.

 

[skolbe]

I need to look at my manuals again which are on the boat. But I thought my manuals said 4800 to 5200 RPM's. But, looking at the site I could be wrong. The props are the standard 3 blade props. I never realized I might not be propped correctly. My boat has hit 37 mph on the GPS. I assumed I had the correct props.

 

[barryg]

OK, there must be something wrong with either my props or engines as I don't think I've come close to 5000; I don't think I've been up past 4300. Any ideas?

 

[skolbe]

Well, I need to go back to my manuals and look. But, it sounds like you may be a bit underpropped or maybe your bottom is fouled a bit and creating extra drag. I may be a bit overpropped. Marc with an 07 I believe redlines at 4560.

 

[Alex F]

OK, there must be something wrong with either my props or engines as I don't think I've come close to 5000; I don't think I've been up past 4300. Any ideas?

Barry,
To bagin diagnostics I would be checking the basic items any mechanic will tell you, which is :
1. make sure the bottom is clean of any growth. This includes trim tabs.
2. make sure all underwater running gear is clean.
3. make sure the props/shafts are not bent.
4. Most tests are performed with 1/3 or 1/2 of fuel, about 1/4-1/3 of water and no more than 2-3 people on board. Is your boat overloaded when you test?

When items above are checked off the next thing is to give it another try in a calm conditions. If the seas are flat you'll have nothing else to pin point but the mechanical components in case if you didn't get anywhere around 4400-4600RPMs. If this would be the case, I would now move to mecanical items but still go over the tune-up related basics like:
1. Plugs (check the gaps according to manual).
2. Wires
3. Fuel filters

If these items are new or in pretty good condition, only then I would start thinking on spending $$$ on professional help.

Hope it helps.

Alex.

 

[Dave S]

Also check the pitch of your props against the Sea Ray prop chart available on line at Sea Ray's web site.

 

[marqbloq]

I was able to hit almost 4600 on one engine after break in but since then, the very best I can do is ~4200 starboard and ~4080 port. I too will write a review of mine but I must admit that though I like the boat, I don't love it. If I were to rate the Sea Ray boats 1 out of 10 which I have owned they go like this: 220 Sundeck (9), 280 Sundancer (10+), 320 Sundancer (5 or 6). New boat season is coming around soon and I find myself back at the Formula dealer talking about a trade. Had two dealers price a 38, 40 and 44 for me, and just seems like a lot of money for the boat. I was surprised how inflexible on price they were.

 

[beachcombersc]

OK, there must be something wrong with either my props or engines as I don't think I've come close to 5000; I don't think I've been up past 4300. Any ideas?

After reading what speeds your falling off at, I would also check the settings on the Tach. On the back is a switch for adjusting the size/style of engine you have. If its on the wrong setting, you will see crazy low numbers... I would also check your hours against the hours hidden in the ECMS on each engine if this settings is off... It can be a sign of engine hour tampering!!!!

 

[Carpe Mundun]

marqbloq:
We just upgraded to a 280. I wanted the 320 with v-drives, the admiral wanted the 280. She won. We traded our 240. I am interested to learn more about your rating of the 2 boats - please explain, I am very interested!

 

[barryg]

Thanks Alex & Dave,

I had the boat pressure washed and new bottom paint put on when I bought her in May, and since then it has been kept in my "BOAT BUNKER", which I had used before on my Doral. It keeps growth from attaching itself to the bottom. (My doral wasn't even bottom painted and after one year there was nothing on it)....so I don't think that's the issue..

I also had the shafts checked and the props resurfaced as well...

I bought pretty much everything to do a 100hr service including new plugs and I think the plug wires are ok, but will double check those as well. I've got about 190 hours on the engines so I will probably do the service when I'm on my vacation time, which will be from X-mas till just after new year and see if that helps.

If there is anything else you can think of, or anything else with the service besides engine oil, oil filters, fuel filters, spark plugs, tranny filters, transmission fluid, genny oil, genny impeller (do V Drive engines have impellers?) sacrificial anode for genny , filter for genny Please let me know...It's such a pain literally and figuratively getting to everything in the bilge that I don't want to miss something while I'm stuffed and stretched in that area.

Thanks again for all your help,
Barry

 

[Alex F]

I need to look at my manuals again which are on the boat. But I thought my manuals said 4800 to 5200 RPM's. But, looking at the site I could be wrong. The props are the standard 3 blade props. I never realized I might not be propped correctly. My boat has hit 37 mph on the GPS. I assumed I had the correct props.

Skolbe,
I think I would be happy with this performance. You're at the top end of RPMs and speed. I hope to hit the same number next season.

Alex.

 

[Alex F]

Barry,

Looks like you're on top of things, but there's something not right with engines hitting 4200 tops. What's your top speed while hitting 4200RPMs?
I'm pretty sure you would feel if there was something wrong, but I thought it wouldn't hert to ask about your trim tabs. Do they fully function, do you feel that they're up all the way (in bow-up position)? When I was testing my boat I felt like one side was dragging more and could be contributing to a slightly lower than I would like to see RPMs.

I'm new to 350MAGs v-drives, so I can't say 100% if they have impellers. Try the manual or other experts may bring some light to the picture.

Alex.

 

[barryg]

Alex,
I think the tabs work ok though sometimes when I lower them to get the bow down quicker it doesn't seem like they do much of anything..Guess I will have to get a friend to look at them while I lower and raise them. I was out yesterday , total of 4 of us, about 3/4 full on fuel, and hit around 29 to 31 mph I think..the area I was in doesn't allow more than 25 and only in a small area on the intracoastal..it was too windy and seas about 4-6 to go out in the ocean.

Barry

 

[Alex F]

Barry,
I'm new to 320 and the ride is very different than 240. However, I do feel the difference while working the trim tabs. It could be difficult in rough seas and you should give it a little time to take effect. But, if you really don't feel that they do anything, I'd say this is the first thing you should check. Even though they're undersized for such large boat I do think that if they're in bow-down position it can take away 200-300RPMs. On my 240 I get 4 MPH difference between having stern drive down and tabs down compare to when they're properly adjusted. On 320 the effect could be less but it's still there.

Try to do the test in a clam day it'll be easier to noticed how boat response to what you do, especially tabs.

Good luck with your findings,
Alex.

 

[barryg]

Thanks Alex..

Even though the weather is nice and warm the winds have been strong the past few days. Hopefully it will calm down over the holidays when I have the time to check everything out.

Thanks again for your help, and I'll let you know what I figure out.

Barry

 

[CJ Martin]

Early this past season, with a clean bottom and freshly-scanned props, I managed 33 knots (GPS) at right around 5000rpm. I don't like running that hard as a rule and I wasn't there for long, but I don't think that's bad for an '02 320DA.

I highly recommend getting your props scanned if you aren't turning up to full rpms. Our props "looked" ok, but after they were scanned even my wife could feel the difference.

Spend some time learning how to best use the tabs, as the boat will run faster for a given throttle setting when properly trimmed out. Below 3800rpm (where I spend 95% of our running time), I always have a bit of tab out. Adjust in short bursts, wait for the boat to settle a bit, and watch your rpms and GPS speed. You will find a point where more tab starts slowing you down, so back off a bit and enjoy. Once you get a better "feel" for the boat you will be able to make these adjustments much faster and almost without thinking. Before coming on plane, I'll give both tabs a "six count" bow down, that's usually a good ballpark for us. It helps control the bow rise and from there my adjustments tend to be very minor. I also like to go full down tab when coming off plane...it seems to prevent some of the excess "Sundancer squat (tm)" .

-CJ