bad luck charm

Pachanga Boy

Pachanga Boy

Member
Aug 25, 2011
359
Cincinnati
Boat Info
270 Sundancer 1988
Engines
twin 4.3L
It's official I hate my boat. :smt021Since I've taken ownership of this 270 I have yet to enjoy a weekend on the water. after an extended weekend of nothing but more problems, more mishaps, more things breaking and digging deeper into my wallet I dont' know how much more I can take before the For Sale sign comes out. seemed anything I touched either sank, broke, or cost me money. if you'd like to have a nice laugh and wallow in misery with me you can read my timeline of follies below. but basically at this point after 6 months of ownership I've never felt so upsidedown about a bout in my life. sure we all have some bad weekends, but honestly I can't remember ever having a good one! I honestly am beginning to think this thing is cursed. I mean is it the age of the boat? Did I just buy that big of a turd? Did the man upstairs figure I was living it up to well?

Thursday night:
tried to prime the raw water pump for the A/C tried every method nothing. disconnect the pump put it on the dock box to bench test or at least take with me to the store so I have an idea what I'm looking for. go down in the cabin to grab some tools and chat with the admiral about my plan. down in the cabin 10 minutes and all of a sudden "kasploosh" magically it fell off the dock box and into the drink...no wind, no wakes, not a soul around. it's hot, I have no A/C and all I have is a bleak memory of what he pump looked like...only comfort is I'm fairly certain it was toast anyways. drive to west marine. missed closing time by 3 minutes.
Friday:
after no sleep thanks to the muggy cabin condtions. 3 trips to the hardware store, west marine, a nice bill and 3.5 hours of my time late and finally get A/C up and running. time to sit back and relax the weekend has begun...put up canvas and another end piece cracks and breaks off...nevermind I didn't want to really relax hey honey for fun lets go visit west marine and blow another hour of my time!
Saturday:
start troubleshooting the fresh water system pump. got power, pump is toast. screw it I'm not repeating friday. decide I need on the water and need away from the boat for a little bit. inflate dinghy, start up outboard, decided to putt around the area. 20 minutes later engine dies, fuel pouring out of carb, funny how it ran fan in the driveway perfectly 3 days prior. nothing like a nice 30 minute row back to shore to cap off your afternoon. screw it all, where'ss the alcohol
Sunday:
wake up, sit down in the cockpit with a cup of coffee figuring nothing else could possibly go wrong because I have no plans of going anywhere or doing anything. Everything is either brand new, fixed or already broken. I think it's going to be an alright day....bilge pump kicks on pours an oil slick and about 5 gallons of water. Time for a long walk and some deep breathes. I figure I'll take the dog and wife with me I need a little distraction and someone to listen to me.....dog decided he hates neighbors dog, neighbor doesn't have dog on a leash dog, fight ensues complete with teeth. at which point now my dog has decided that he hates all dogs at the marina...wife offically crying, dog is now growling or barking every 5 minutes...this weekend just keeps finding new ways to get better.
Monday:
wake up, grab my coffee, honestly nervous to even sit down. no lie as I'm thinking, "huh well now that I think about it the bilge pump hasn't clicked on except for that one time maybe it was just a........"brrrrrr" like clock work bilge pump kicks on. first time in 24 hours...how magical of a moment.
hey surprise coast guard inspection!...hey I failed!
that's it, lets go for broke, I don't care if we sink. I honstly may celbrate if we do. I need a reminder of why we boat...the water! start engines, leave the dock, nervous wreck, expecting catastrophic failure. to my amazement it all goes well. Alas I'm finally enjoying myself, light spray, the wind, the sun maybe it's going to be okay, I know how much this boat means to the wife and I'll find a way to make it right for her its worth it. admiral looks at me and says....this boat sucks. I miss the Pachanga, I miss relaxing, life was so much easier, you were a happier man and I'm worried this boat may have been a mistake. If you want to suck up our losses and sell that's fine....afternoon officially ruined.
monday night:
drive home wondering why I own the 270 since no one seems to enjoy it. weekend over, what a mess, time to unpack, unwind put all the troubles behind us. I'm exhausted. just want a shower and go to bed. unload the car and find a coolant dripping under the car. R U Fing kidding me! open hood hoping for something simple....nope it's the water pump. time for a stiff drink. come inside to find the wife crying again, turns out the fridge door wasnt' fully closed from packing the cooler on Thursday and it's reading a balmy 75 degrees. I've never been hit on so many fronts of bad luck in my life!!!
 
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I'm really sorry, Greg. Just remember...once you hit bottom, you got no where to go but up!! I believe you have come close to bottom. Hope things turn around for you soon!!!!!!
 
Shoot,
Hang in there! All boats will have a punch list of jobs pending to be repaired.....all boats!
Even a brand new one will have problems, once you get a handle on this boat you'll be fine..
Sorry, for your troubles but, thanks for the laugh :)
 
Heres hoping mr. Murphy and his gremlins have done enough to you.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
AKBASSKING said:
Hang in there buddy! Things do get better! I have had a few weekends like that. Just chalk it up to a great adventure you can tell the grand kids....
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Well said.

Been there too. You just gotta laugh and figure on the good side - your getting it all out of the way at once.
The rest of the year should be perfect now. :thumbsup:
 
This won't make it any better but, my wife goes down to see the boat for the first time.... She gets on the boat and loves the way it looks, I go to start the monsters, starboard starts without even thinking about it, port, well let's just say it didn't even wanna get out of bed. She gets off the boat and walks up to the truck, port fired right up, she gets back on with the wine, you guessed it, shuts back down..... It did this three times! She swears it's her!
 
Hang in there brother... It will get better. Resolve one issue at a time, nice and easy. I was in the same boat last year (pun intended!) when I dropped a piston in my engine. It was in late August, and there was 2 good months of boating left. My friends and dockmates, however, would not allow such silliness of a blown motor put a dent in our season. I towed that damned scow a few times to various rondezvous, and had a blast. Sounds kinda dumb, yes, but my point is don't let this get you down. I still have few things to work through with my new engine, but I'll get there...
 
Do you know why you spilled an oil slick? Why was the bilge going off? I feel your pain on having all the issues, but it seems like a case of not having the boat ready before it hit the water.

I certainly don't want to come across like I'm heaping on to your issues. Cleaning the bilge and testing the systems as part of a "spring shakedown" I feel is a major issue for boaters. The environment and your Admiral's sanity are very important.

All the best of luck getting back in action.
 
Just go back and read your OP again, much of what went wrong with your weekend had nothing to do with the 270.

Having said that, I know how you feel. I sold a 1990 SR 220 cuddy several years ago to buy a "deal" on a Wellcraft 3100 Express Cruiser. The admiral hated it from day one...apparently I had misunderstood how much she loved the Sea Ray we had. That Wellcraft was one nightmare after another.

Best of luck to you!
 
Priming the AC pump is easy....go for a boat ride with the water/ball valve turned on. Water/oil in the bildge means you have a leak....5 gallons is a big leak! Hang in there....I'm sure the Pachanga has had an issue before, Mike.
 
Greg, sounds like you need a cold beer and a boat ride to get your mind back in the game. There was a reason you bought the 270. Make the best of it because if it all worked smoothly all the time we wouldn't appreciate it as mush as we do... good luck buddy & best wishes.
 
Yep, hang in there. You've discovered all the problems, fixing them one at a time will make you feel better. Hell, my first day out this past weekend and I limped home on one engine and the windlass wouldn't work in either direction...even though I had tested all of it in the driveway just days before!! Hey, if there wasn't anything to work on, we'd be bored, right?!!
 
CV-23 said:
Priming the AC pump is easy....go for a boat ride with the water/ball valve turned on. Water/oil in the bildge means you have a leak....5 gallons is a big leak! Hang in there....I'm sure the Pachanga has had an issue before, Mike.
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wasn't that the pump wasn't primed it's that it was burned out. I think the oil slick was just from some spilled oil during the oil change because after my run Monday I didn't see any more oil. the bilge kicking on every 24hrs now is definately a huge problem. I'm praying it's coming in around some hardware not a transom plate. yes I should have checked this weekend where the water was coming from but to be honest with the way my luck was all weekend I really don't think my sanity could handle yet even more bad news. I'm just praying that there isn't any rot involved. There is no way I'm rebuilding a transom, regardless I get the joy of pulling the boat and trying to coordinate a repair while losing even more time on the water. being 4 hours away I just can't do much myself on this thing it's like having my hands tied behind my back. I think that's honestly what frustrates me the most.

anyways thanks for the encouraging words and trying to pick my spirits up everybody, I really do appreciate the listening/reading, it's oddly theraputic to whine about my misfortunes and actually have people read about them....wierd huh. lol.
 
Pachanga Boy said:
anyways thanks for the encouraging words and trying to pick my spirits up everybody, I really do appreciate the listening/reading, it's oddly theraputic to whine about my misfortunes and actually have people read about them....wierd huh. lol.
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That's why we're here brother... To help each other out, swap stories and lies, gripe about our admirals, and listen when one of our bretheren is down on their luck. Of course if it was my boat, I would have beaten its helm senselss with something, taking out my frustrations, and thereby causing more financial heartache!

I'm having my share of issues too, even with a brand new engine, and I KNOW that most of the guys in here can give me solutions in a heartbeat. But, I gotta learn this stuff on my own, and deal with it. Usually, when I do something that is stupid, I post it up here, and hope everybody gets a good laugh. It's all in fun (most of the time)... The best thing to do right now, is to sit on your boat where ever it is, and down 5-6 shots of Jager Meister and verbally abuse that damned thing.
 
Hey, I can understand all your frustration. But, let me give you hope. I have basically the same boat except it's an 1984. Bought it last September and have been fixing everything all winter. I am now getting down to small items then I suppose others will start to go wrong. However, this a great model boat with a much wider beam than they produce in this size currently and is therefore roomier. Stick with it I think you will be happy you did we love ours!

Mike


270win said:
Just go back and read your OP again, much of what went wrong with your weekend had nothing to do with the 270.

Having said that, I know how you feel. I sold a 1990 SR 220 cuddy several years ago to buy a "deal" on a Wellcraft 3100 Express Cruiser. The admiral hated it from day one...apparently I had misunderstood how much she loved the Sea Ray we had. That Wellcraft was one nightmare after another.

Best of luck to you!
Click to expand...
 
Good luck my friend!, I am on my fist 270da and first Sea Ray for that matter. It wouldn't boating without a some issues. I can't remember having a "clean" weekend. But that is what makes it fun to be a boater. If it was easy everyone would do it!. We are special people in a special place and we relish it! keep up the faith. I am sure you will be hearing stories from me also. By the way, that is how I met most of my boating friends. They had to tow me in because of "mishaps"!!!!
 
Well my luck seems to finally have turned around. Got the new fridge in, new water pump in and working great and the best news is I found my leak not intrusion thru he transom at all just a leak on my dockside water hook up. Huge weight off my shoulders.
 
Greg... Hurray for you man... now enjoy it!

Pachanga Boy said:
Well my luck seems to finally have turned around. Got the new fridge in, new water pump in and working great and the best news is I found my leak not intrusion thru he transom at all just a leak on my dockside water hook up. Huge weight off my shoulders.
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