410 Sundancer/Express Cruiser and 400 Sundancer/Express Cruiser **Official Thread**

JVM, by removing the support and reinstalling, do you get incredible vibration? Do you reinstall the screws? maintenance on the Gennie was a big PITA this year with that there and now that I see someone has removed it was just curious for future purposes.

Thx - Erik

No vibration problems because of the support.
Mine is secured with four Phillips head screws (2 on each end) secured in place with Nylock nuts and flat washers from the bottom.
That thing is held in there pretty tight and the Nylocks don’t loosen up.
Could your vibration be coming from one, or both, of the latches that hold the removeable deck panel over the generator in place?
If so, maybe you can tighten them up a bit.
 
JVM, by removing the support and reinstalling, do you get incredible vibration? Do you reinstall the screws? maintenance on the Gennie was a big PITA this year with that there and now that I see someone has removed it was just curious for future purposes.

Thx - Erik
Erik,

When I owned my 410, I found if I left the main hatch closed and laid on it, I could reach down and change oil filter/fuel filter/impeller pretty easily through the genny hatch. I still had to make a pretzel out of myself and climb behind the stbd engine to change the genny's zinc though!
 
No vibration problems because of the support.
Mine is secured with four Phillips head screws (2 on each end) secured in place with Nylock nuts and flat washers from the bottom.
That thing is held in there pretty tight and the Nylocks don’t loosen up.
Could your vibration be coming from one, or both, of the latches that hold the removeable deck panel over the generator in place?
If so, maybe you can tighten them up a bit.

Sorry, my question was pertaining to after you removed it? It looks like you reinstall the bolts so was curious. Mine is screwed as well as looks like silicone sealant was also included. I do not have any vibration currently, was just curious if once you removed, had you experienced any? It appears you haven't though.
 
Erik,

When I owned my 410, I found if I left the main hatch closed and laid on it, I could reach down and change oil filter/fuel filter/impeller pretty easily through the genny hatch. I still had to make a pretzel out of myself and climb behind the stbd engine to change the genny's zinc though!
Thanks Carter, I may try this the next time I have to change things out. My Silverton had a support bar similar to the 410 but was removable to allow full access to the engine room, and don't understand why SR didn't do the same with this bar.
 
Sorry, my question was pertaining to after you removed it? It looks like you reinstall the bolts so was curious. Mine is screwed as well as looks like silicone sealant was also included. I do not have any vibration currently, was just curious if once you removed, had you experienced any? It appears you haven't though.

Yes, I remove it when I’m going to work in that area, and replace it once the work is done. Mine had silicone too, but I removed it all the first time I took the brace out, never replaced the silicone, and haven’t noticed any real need for it.
The four screws and Nylocks keep the support tight, and I don’t see any rush or water getting in the bilge because of the missing silicone.
 
Erik,

When I owned my 410, I found if I left the main hatch closed and laid on it, I could reach down and change oil filter/fuel filter/impeller pretty easily through the genny hatch. I still had to make a pretzel out of myself and climb behind the stbd engine to change the genny's zinc though!

Yeah, that zinc is a tough one to get to.
 
I can reach it, but I have pretty long arms and as I recall I was standing on my head the whole time.
 
If any of us had a sense of humor we would have been collecting photos and videos of our maintenance escapades since our very first DIY repair.

We probably all chuckle on the inside when we read comments like "standing on my head the whole time" because we've done it...and it hurt....for a few days after....
 
A lot of us have had to deal with this. Sea Ray tachs are made by Teleflex and they have proven to be far from reliable. Most everyone ends up with Aetna digital tachs, but the Sea Ray tachs are inexpensive and easy to get from a Sea Ray dealer . Both are plug and play and connect to existing wiring.

One other point, if your engines are set to idle at 620 rpm, they are idling too slow. They should idle at 750 rpm.

Just searched archives for pictures of the Aetna’s mounted in the dash. They look fantastic.
 
Just searched archives for pictures of the Aetna’s mounted in the dash. They look fantastic.
This was one of my favorite upgrades to our 410DA, and they stayed within 1-2 RPM of each other at cruise.

-Tom
 
A lot of us have had to deal with this. Sea Ray tachs are made by Teleflex and they have proven to be far from reliable. Most everyone ends up with Aetna digital tachs, but the Sea Ray tachs are inexpensive and easy to get from a Sea Ray dealer . Both are plug and play and connect to existing wiring.

One other point, if your engines are set to idle at 620 rpm, they are idling too slow. They should idle at 750 rpm.
Frank, is this something you can adjust on your own, or would you require CAT to come out and make the adjustment. I will have to wait until spring, but think my starboard is set to low.
 
The idea is to remove water from anywhere it may be and replace it with pink antifreeze.
Sounds like you have the heads covered.
I bypass and drain the hot water heater, blow out the system through the dockside water inlet with my portable compressor, then for good measure I pour two gallons of pink in the fresh water tank and turn on each faucet/outlet until some pink comes out. It isn’t necessary to do both, you can do one or the other and will be fine, but pink is cheap and we don’t drink from the fresh water tank so I do both.
Empty and clean the shower sumps and AC drip pans. Pour a little pink down each shower drain so it goes through to the sump.
Pump some pink stuff in to the AC lines. You can do it the same way you do the motors if you have the room. Another way to do it is to wait until you are blocked up. Use a hand pump and and container then rig up a hose to it that you can shove (and hold) briefly in to the discharges. Hand pump some pink in the dishcahrges until you see it come out of the intake on the bottom of the boat. I like to flush the AC lines with fresh water before I winterize them. If you’re doing it through the discharges you can just hold a garden hose tight against them. If you’re doing it through the strainer then you need to rig up a cap with a hose. Groce sells one for their strainers. You can also make one up for the Groco strainers with some PVC parts, hose nipple, and a suitable O ring from Home Depot.
I like to run a cup or so of pink through each bilge pump too.
Don’t know about your Koehler, but my Westerbeke takes about a gallon of pink antifreeze.
You need to use the right kind of antifreeze for your motors and generator. The kind that is polypropylene glycol for winterizing motors. Don’t cut corners and use the cheaper glycol alcohol that is made for water systems in your engines. For anything other than your motors and generator, use the cheapest stuff you can find,. I usually get it from Walmart.

Do the cat 3126’s have a thermostat on raw water side?

I used a 14 gallon tub and dumped 7 gallons of antifreeze in it and started the cold engine until it sucked it all in. Will this be sufficient? Or is there a y in the system that doesn’t allow all areas to get the antifreeze in and the water out?
 
Frank, is this something you can adjust on your own, or would you require CAT to come out and make the adjustment. I will have to wait until spring, but think my starboard is set to low.

You can, if you have an accurate tach to use. You can either install Aetna tachs which will solve your squirrely tach problem forever or you can buy a digital laser photo tach to set the idle speed.


Do the cat 3126’s have a thermostat on raw water side?

I used a 14 gallon tub and dumped 7 gallons of antifreeze in it and started the cold engine until it sucked it all in. Will this be sufficient? Or is there a y in the system that doesn’t allow all areas to get the antifreeze in and the water out?

No. The seawater side is wide open all the time.
 
Anyone have part #'s? I would be interested in doing this upgrade.

This is what I purchased: 8905R-P-H-DS Tachometer with Polished Bezel, however due to my final installation if I were to do it over again I would have gone with the black bezel.

-Tom
 
Do the cat 3126’s have a thermostat on raw water side?

I used a 14 gallon tub and dumped 7 gallons of antifreeze in it and started the cold engine until it sucked it all in. Will this be sufficient? Or is there a y in the system that doesn’t allow all areas to get the antifreeze in and the water out?

No thermostat on raw water side.
If you have a tub that can hold 7 gallons and fit between the engines:
Take the hose off of the through hull.
Hold it in the tub full of 7 gallons of antifreeze.
Have an assistant start the motor and stand by ignition switch.
You hold hose in bucket while antifreeze gets sucked up.
When you get close to empty, yell to assistant to shut down motor.
Time it so all the antifreeze gets in there, but pump doesn’t run dry. This is easier to do than it sounds once you see how the antifreeze gets sucked up.
Reattach hose and tighten clamps.
Repeat on other motor.
 
This is what I purchased: 8905R-P-H-DS Tachometer with Polished Bezel, however due to my final installation if I were to do it over again I would have gone with the black bezel.

-Tom
I’m going to do this upgrade as well, but just for the record, I like the look of yours with the the polished bezel. The black blends in but to me it emphasizes the smallness of the new gauge. You end up with too much black. I’ll be doing my install just like yours.
 

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