40 sedan bridge forum

[The crime scene]

I finally got around to installing an ice maker on the back of my boat. My 97 originally came with a freezer under the steps to the helm, which finally gave it up this Spring. I ordered a Vitrfrigo Low Profile unit from Defender, which was almost the same size as the old freezer, and installed it into the factory hole (with a little nudging and grunting). I had to trim the interior synthetic/wood trim piece a little to make the new ice maker fit since it was about an inch larger than the old fridge, but that was it. The unit came with a short water line that had a garden hose style fitting on the end. How I hooked it up was to put a splitter on the water hose in the engine room and run a drinking water hose to the new ice maker through the access hole under the steps and connect it to the short hose on the ice maker. Boom, it worked like a champ. I now have an ice maker on the back of the boat that is supposed to make 26 pounds of ice a day. This thing looks great and of course....I could not get the pics to upload. The Vitrifrigo unit appears to be a quality built unit, but time will tell.

Keith

 

[cwiert]

Has anyone here had to tighten their rudder seal? I have 1 leaky rudder on the port side, and access to it is terrible. Looks like I'd have to remove all the batteries and then MAYBE I'd be able to wiggle myself in there and reach it. If anyone here has figured out a way to tighten that seal, please let me know how you did it.

Thanks.

 

[ZZ13]

Has anyone here had to tighten their rudder seal? I have 1 leaky rudder on the port side, and access to it is terrible. Looks like I'd have to remove all the batteries and then MAYBE I'd be able to wiggle myself in there and reach it. If anyone here has figured out a way to tighten that seal, please let me know how you did it.

Thanks.

I repacked both mine with the boat in the water. Somewhere back in this thread I summarized it with a couple of pics. Anyway, call me John and I will walk you through it. It ended up being much easier than I feared.

 

[cwiert]

I repacked both mine with the boat in the water. Somewhere back in this thread I summarized it with a couple of pics. Anyway, call me John and I will walk you through it. It ended up being much easier than I feared.

Thanks. I found it on post 1161. I'll still give you a call later as I have never done this before and have some questions.

 

[FeLizDream]

I repacked both mine with the boat in the water. Somewhere back in this thread I summarized it with a couple of pics. Anyway, call me John and I will walk you through it. It ended up being much easier than I feared.

Dear Bill
i have to do exactly the same job, mine is leaking also, on the port side, i am going to take it out in a couple of months to the hard, i don't know, should i wait until the boat is in the hard or is possible to do the job in the water, access is very difficult i tried to tight the port side and my mechanic wasn't able to reach it

if you post it here how you did it will be great. Thank you.

 

[ZZ13]

Dear Bill
i have to do exactly the same job, mine is leaking also, on the port side, i am going to take it out in a couple of months to the hard, i don't know, should i wait until the boat is in the hard or is possible to do the job in the water, access is very difficult i tried to tight the port side and my mechanic wasn't able to reach it

if you post it here how you did it will be great. Thank you.

Here it is. Post 1161: http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/53961-40-sedan-bridge-forum?p=855995#post855995

I did it with the boat in the water. Only a trickle of water came through. The shaft to sleeve gap is very small and also there was old broken down packing trapped in the gap as well.

 

[mjmason1]

My dripless shaft seal has a steady drip. What am I looking at, putting a new one in? How hard is it to move the shaft? I assume it has to be done out of the water.

 

[ZZ13]

My dripless shaft seal has a steady drip. What am I looking at, putting a new one in? How hard is it to move the shaft? I assume it has to be done out of the water.

It has to be done out of the water. Disconnecting the coupler from the transmission and sliding the shaft back for clearance is easy. The hard part is removing the coupler at the end of the shaft so that the seal/tube system can be slid over the shaft to the shaft log. John (CWIERT) just had one done this week so hopefully he will post his experience.

 

[cwiert]

My dripless shaft seal has a steady drip. What am I looking at, putting a new one in? How hard is it to move the shaft? I assume it has to be done out of the water.

Yup. I just had this done this week. Here's what I learned:

Between your shaft seal and the coupler, there may still be a black case on the shaft that is held together with 2 phillips screws. If you open this, there may be a spare seal in there. There was in mine. However, my shaft seal was leaking because it burned up due to lack of water to the seal housing. Apparently there was a clog in the line and water stopped flowing to the housing and my seal burned up. But I also did damage to the housing itself, so I had to replace the whole assembly. What's the lesson here folks? ALWAYS CHECK THAT YOU"RE GETTING GOOD FLOW TO THE HOUSING FROM THE ENGINE!

My marina pulled the boat on Tuesday. It was a b*tch to get the shaft out of the coupler. I had soaked the shaft/coupler in PB Blaster for a few days prior, and that was fruitless. At the marina, the mechanics worked with a slide hammer tying to bang the shaft off the coupler, and that didn't work. They ended up getting a blow torch and heating it and finally she gave up the fight and let go. But it was a 4 hour process. (Can't wait to get that bill). And the mechanic was a sweaty mess and a little ticked off at how hard it was. Once it's out, the rest of the job is 20 minutes.

The mechanic told me that sometimes they get lucky and the shaft will slide right out, but that was not the case for me.

Mike, in your case, see if you have a spare seal in that plastic case. If so, you may be able to swap out the old seal and use that spare without having to pull the shaft out of the coupler and replacing the entire assembly. (I think you'd still have to pull the boat, though.).

That's my story. Any questions, please ask.

 

[Keith the Cop]

Keith can send this Keith a pic or two?

 

[mjmason1]

Yup. I just had this done this week. Here's what I learned:

Between your shaft seal and the coupler, there may still be a black case on the shaft that is held together with 2 phillips screws. If you open this, there may be a spare seal in there. There was in mine. However, my shaft seal was leaking because it burned up due to lack of water to the seal housing. Apparently there was a clog in the line and water stopped flowing to the housing and my seal burned up. But I also did damage to the housing itself, so I had to replace the whole assembly. What's the lesson here folks? ALWAYS CHECK THAT YOU"RE GETTING GOOD FLOW TO THE HOUSING FROM THE ENGINE!

My marina pulled the boat on Tuesday. It was a b*tch to get the shaft out of the coupler. I had soaked the shaft/coupler in PB Blaster for a few days prior, and that was fruitless. At the marina, the mechanics worked with a slide hammer tying to bang the shaft off the coupler, and that didn't work. They ended up getting a blow torch and heating it and finally she gave up the fight and let go. But it was a 4 hour process. (Can't wait to get that bill). And the mechanic was a sweaty mess and a little ticked off at how hard it was. Once it's out, the rest of the job is 20 minutes.

The mechanic told me that sometimes they get lucky and the shaft will slide right out, but that was not the case for me.

Mike, in your case, see if you have a spare seal in that plastic case. If so, you may be able to swap out the old seal and use that spare without having to pull the shaft out of the coupler and replacing the entire assembly. (I think you'd still have to pull the boat, though.).

That's my story. Any questions, please ask.

Thanks

 

[Juergen]

I would like to replace the neutral switches in the gear shifter housing, they seem to act up. Sometimes I have to fiddle around with the shifter until the starboard engine finally starts. Did anybody else have the same issue?
Sea ray doesn't sell the switches anymore, does anybody know where to get them?

 

[Juergen]

A while ago somebody posted a thread to get the electrical salon sofa out and I can't find it anymore..... any hints?

 

[FeLizDream]

A while ago somebody posted a thread to get the electrical salon sofa out and I can't find it anymore..... any hints?

here it is
Feliz Dream

I remember Fernando did. I looked back and it's post 1072: http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/53961-40-sedan-bridge-forum?p=849745#post849745​

click the post

hope it helps

 

[FeLizDream]

removing the electrical Sofa in the Saloon , Photos

Here are some pictures.





removing the electrical Sofa in the Saloon , Photos

 

[knegangard]

truk911-

This is the flag pole that was factory mounted on our 2003 400db, not sure if this is your current set up or not. After trying to use one of the Magma grill mounts, I found out that the flag pole mount isn't the same size as a rod holder - it's approximately 1/2" or 3/4" smaller than a standard rod holder. The teak flag pole that I have (also believed to be from the factory) has a tapered end that fits very snug. I've ran in very rough conditions with the flag installed and have not had an issue. Let me know if any additional info is helpful. Also, we are in Dusable Harbor so feel free to come take a look anytime if it helps.

 

[knegangard]

I believe this topic has been discussed previously but I wanted to circle back to see if anyone has come up with a solution by chance. We are plagued with rain water leaks from the rear trunk, even when using the cockpit cover. Not only does the hatch stay wet with approximately 1" of water at all times, but the water also runs down to the bilge area. I can live with the trunk staying wet and periodically using a shop vac to dry it, but I'd like to see if anyone has successfully sealed the compartment or developed another solution. It's strange to me that all other compartments in the cockpit are sealed using a gasket but the rear is not. Much appreciated.

 

[ZZ13]

knegangard, the trunk is a completely contained compartment of its own. The two panels on each side are just false panels to hold the electrical connectors and dock water connections respectively. That said, on the electrical side there is a hole drilled into the floor of the trunk leading to the engine room. This is the where all the electrical cords are routed to the breaker panel and such. There is a rubber raised flange all around that hole about an inch high so that the opening is higher than the metal framed hole in the rear center of the trunk (the one in the last picture). If that flange is sealed properly, water should flow out of the rear hole before it gets higher than the top of that flange. I had to go in and re-seal the base of that flange. It had developed leaks. On the fresh water connection side all of the holes for the water lines are drilled through the sidewall of the trunk, much higher than the cable cord opening. So water would always run out that opening to the swim platform before it would ever leak through one of those holes. The electrical false panel can easily be removed to access the floor hole and its flange. The water connection false panel is not so easy to deal with. I drilled a 4" hole in mine to be able to reach my hand in there to get at all the plumbing behind it.

Somewhere back in this thread I put up pictures of some of my trunk work I just described.

Now, on my boat there are four rod holders. The two on each side have drain lines on them that are connected to little drain holes just below the cockpit floor lights. But the two aft rod holders had their drain lines just run into the bilge. So when it rained, water would run into the bilge through those rod holders. I moved those drain lines to run into the trunk instead. Not sure how many rod holders you have, but if you have four check the aft two.

I also got significant rainwater leaks from where the rubrail ends and butts into the side of the trunk area, on both sides. Sea Ray simply left some big holes behind the end of the rubrail from trial and error screw holes and from the top of the seam of the hull. I plugged all those holes. Water was getting behind the rubrail the entire length of the boat and was channeled into those holes. Again, there are pictures of what I found somewhere back in this thread as well.

 

[Juergen]

Thanks a lot for the pictures! did you remove the screws from the sofa to the metal frame first?

 

[knegangard]

This is excellent info ZZ13! Your description of the trunk compartment makes total sense, and I will pull off the port side panel to investigate the flange that you mention. I've also studied your previous post related to the rubrail ends, it's on the project list for sure. Your description and detail made the process seem much less daunting. Thanks again for all of the great info, it's much appreciated.