340 SUNDANCER THREAD

I'm 99.9% sure that we use a King fitted sheet for the forward berth and a full for the aft. No issues so far.

Thanks for the input. Agree Football Fan that the fitted are expensive ... we decided to go with the custom and ordered them through Marine Max http://www.boatinggearcenter.com/c-26-boat-bedding.aspx#Filter=[EntityIDs=@(633)@(2137)@*Sort=5*ava=0 if anyone else is interested. Will certainly try the full for the aft.
 
Hello 340 folks. Don't want to step on any current topics but I have a question. Recently took delivery of a 2003 340. One "issue" with the boat is the anchor actually makes contact with the bow of the boat when it is in the fully retracted position! There is small fiberglass damage to prove it. Has anyone else had this problem? I am wracking my brains trying to determine the easiest way to prevent it....without large amounts of time or money.

Love this forum. Incredible amount of information. Thank you.
 
Have not experienced that issue. Not at the boat, but wondering if there is any slack in the pulpit that it could extend a bit further by loosening the fittings.
 
Hello 340 folks. Don't want to step on any current topics but I have a question. Recently took delivery of a 2003 340. One "issue" with the boat is the anchor actually makes contact with the bow of the boat when it is in the fully retracted position! There is small fiberglass damage to prove it. Has anyone else had this problem? I am wracking my brains trying to determine the easiest way to prevent it....without large amounts of time or money.

Love this forum. Incredible amount of information. Thank you.

I've got the "tiniest" nick on mine to show that you are not alone. I have the Admiral tell me when the anchor is a foot or two away from stowing, and I let it "hang" and settle down for a pause. Then I bring it up (it comes up slightly slower from that position initially).
 
I will be at the boat on Friday, now I am curious. I don't think my anchor touches the bow.

Do you have the factory supplied anchor or an after market?
 
I've got nicks from the anchor too. I'm sure it comes from the swinging as the anchor approaches the roller. Gotta go real slow at the end to avoid that.
 
We have a nick on ours too which was on it when we bought her. Trying to take extra care that last couple of feet getting the anchor up now.
 
For those on here who own the 340 with 8.1's, how do you service this thing?? I am not a big guy, about 5'6", but a thick through the chest and arms and I cannot get into this engine compartment to do anything! There is literally no space between the engines or in front of them to access the breaker panel, batteries, or raw water strainers. Is there a trick to getting in and around these things or do you have to be really skinny? Any tips?
Rob
 
At 66 years old, my 340's ER is going to either keep me young....or kill me! I share your pain Rob. As the late Dominic said..."premedicate with Aleve"!
 
At 66 years old, my 340's ER is going to either keep me young....or kill me!"
LOL, my husband says the same darn thing. He's a big guy too and struggles to get over the engines to get down the back but he does it. I have even climbed in to help on the odd occasion instead of holding the fan and passing tools, it certainly is a tight fit down there:)
 
LOL....I am leaning towards "killing me"! I have bruises all over the back of my arm from trying to wedge between the exhaust manifolds! Had to chase down the electrical problem that I outlined in earlier threads and trying to get to the breaker box on the bulkhead was damn near impossible! I wanted to put a charger isolation system on this boat to isolate the batteries, but I really don't think I can get enough access to get it done. Working on my Silverton was a piece of cake with standing room between the engines and in front of them as well and all electrical was mounted to easily access. (The classic 390 does sound better!)
 
Okay everyone...sorry to wear this thread out, but the 340 is new to me! Question on standard charging setup on the 340, since it is such a pain in the butt to access anything in the engine compartment. Is the standard setup simply two batteries in parallel on both port and starboard sides with the house being split between the two sides? Is the generator also fired from these same batteries? Is there any isolation at all or protection from draining all your batteries while on the hook? My last boat, a Silverton Motoryacht, had the same set up I just described originally and I rewired the entire setup to put in charging relays to isolate the house from the starting batteries and upgraded all the batteries to AGM, two 31s for the house, and two 27s for the engines. Never had any problem with dead batteries after that. The problem is it requires running all new battery cables to the switches and changing the switches out to separate the house feeds. Since the 340 has battery solenoids to turn off the batteries, not sure how all this would work. Be interested to know if anyone has upgraded their system and the details.
Thanks
Rob
 
Robf...hurry up and find all the answers to my questions you just asked! Lol I just bought my 340 and do not like that there isn't any battery isolation that I see so far. This also stirs my concern that you have about all of the batteries going dead while on the hook (hey...can I get a hot shot over here!) I don't want that embarrassment! I noticed a guy on here relocated his batteries for better weight distribution and room for water lift mufflers (another project I'm going to do) I wonder if he changed the 12v system like you described? I think his name was Dale...he has an interesting blog on the 340 maybe he will chime in here.
 
Robf...hurry up and find all the answers to my questions you just asked! Lol I just bought my 340 and do not like that there isn't any battery isolation that I see so far. This also stirs my concern that you have about all of the batteries going dead while on the hook (hey...can I get a hot shot over here!) I don't want that embarrassment! I noticed a guy on here relocated his batteries for better weight distribution and room for water lift mufflers (another project I'm going to do) I wonder if he changed the 12v system like you described? I think his name was Dale...he has an interesting blog on the 340 maybe he will chime in here.
Eric
That is one difference on my boat, it has the water lift mufflers which has displaced the normal placement of the batteries. Two sit mid ships between the engines with two behind. Not crazy about this, very hard to access, especially 31s! I guess I will dig into the wiring schematics and figure out where the relays can go in this set up. I nearly had dead batteries several times on my last boat before I changed the setup. If it wasn't for the parallel start, I would have been dead in the water! I do not like that feeling, especially if you boat alone often.
Rob
 
Rob
See what you can engineer and I will try to work this project with you. If you do come up with any wiring schematics let me know and if this mod hasn't been documented maybe it can be used as a model for others to upgrade their boats 12v system....there is much room for improvements that's for sure!
 
I've been away from the site for a while, working in the shop on some new parts for fellow boaters. I guess I have fallen behind a bit! I only have a minute right now, but I'll try to get back on this weekend and answer specific questions. In short, yes, I did re-engineer the battery and wiring layout for the 340, along with the charging system. I converted from a 4 battery system to a 5 battery system, relocated the batteries out of the engine room, and completely re-wired the system. In retrospect, I can see that the details on my blog are a bit lacking, so I can fill in any gaps here - just let me know what specifics you are interested in.

Now that the work is complete, I can stand between my 8.1s (I weigh about 185, 5' 10"), and then if I carefully twist and kneel, I can actually kneel between them, between the transmissions, since there are no batteries there now. I also hinged the electrical panel door, so it just swings open for service. Since there is nothing located between the engines now, I can also lay down between the engines, and service the shaft seals. When I am doing this, my legs extend under the hatch lift actuator. By pulling the two center exhaust hoses, I can stand or sit between the engines at the aft end of the engine compartment. I am also able to stand on either side of the engines, due to the relocation of the hot water heater and waste system vacuum generator, and the subtle changes I made to the generator location and connections.

Now, I will state that it is still no picnic - it's tight down there with the 8.1s. One thing that helps me is that I made a custom stainless steel mounting plate for the hatch lift. Once the hatch is all the way up, I can pull the pin, push the hatch open another 6 inches or so, and reinstall the pin in a secondary hole. If I'm really going to be in there a while (ex. spring and fall maintenance), I remove the rear seat, pull the pin, and open the hatch to a fully vertical position.

Dale
 
Thanks Dale....I would like to know how and where you relocated the batteries. I love your blog and have learned a lot of great info from it.

John...I worked last weekend and looks like I am working again this weekend. I work for BGE and things have been crazy trying to finish projects before the summer storm season. I am pretty sure Nancy and I will be there next week though. Two Seas is the boats name for now until her renaming ceremony.
 
The generator battery is located in a custom milled battery tray, right next to the generator. A heat shield is located on the side of the battery, to protect it from radiant heat (it's probably superfluous, but it also acts as a mounting point for the electrical wiring).

The remaining 4 batteries are now in the mid stateroom, in the storage lockers under the port and starboard seats. I have to provide a strong caution here - these batteries are AGMs, not wet or gel cells. They are mounted on thick fiberglass bases, and are held down with thick, machined aluminum bars mounted on 1" diameter machined aluminum stands. The cables are insulated and booted, and the hold downs are covered with thick plastic on the side adjacent to the battery posts, so even if the batteries were to move (unlikely), and the posts contacted the hold downs, there would be no short circuit. It goes without saying that it is absolutely critical that any batteries in a marine environment are properly mounted and secured against damage, vibration, movement, short circuit, etc. I also have a Pronautic charger, equipped with a temperature sensor, connected to all these batteries. In the event of excessive battery temperature, the charger shuts down, protecting the batteries and vessel from damage.

Dale
 

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