Dknebes
New Member
So purchased a 2005 340 Sundancer 500hrs on engines 4 months ago. I had a survey so I was aware of most of the issues, and made an offer based on the issues. I had a local mechanic (half price) go through and replace or fix all hoses in engines and alternator, belts, heat exchangers, one alternator, impellers, duckbill seals toilet, new water heater, bilge pump, 4 batteries, spark plugs, Change oil and fluids Engines, v-drives, generator, phew that's a lot. I also pulled had bottom sanded painted, removed stripes, buffed and waxed hull and topsides, removed props balance and repitched to 23 (another member did this with great results). Alright I would have done a lot of this myself but it was cold here. I also would have done much of this with any used boat that I bought. One thing that didn't show up a on the survey was the actuators. I had one start popping the circuit breaker (great place Sea Ray in the bilge under the engine hatch) luckily the hatch was open enough to hit the breaker with a wood pole. I was able to get it up before totally failing. If you start to have a problem replace the actuators before the hatch is stuck closed. With a ton of online research I found a place called Zorro.com I checked them out and they had a lot of complaints BBB but answered all the complaints. Zorro sells over a million items and some are drop shipped from the mfg. I called and talked to a customer service person and told him of the complaints and concerns and he said the had 18 actuators K2G20-12V-BR-18 Linear Actuator,12VDC,1200 lb. in stock, it was late Thursday and I received the actuator Tuesday. If you replace these do both I bought one first from eBay and it was a little faster than the original ones so it will start to bind when raising or lowering. Ok so I installed both actuators, pretty straight forward however when I lowered the hatch it stopped about an inch before closing. I stuck my phone in the access hole and took a picture showing the bracket bottomed out on the top of the actuator. The lower bracket has two holes and the new actuator will only go in the top hole. So here is the fix, remove the lower bracket and cut off the top of the bracket so you can use the lower hole dropping the actuator approximately 1" I was able to cut the starboard side off in place (not fun but possible), used my hand belt sander to round the top. I used a 6 in. 7 Teeth per Inch TORCH Carbide Teeth Thick Metal Cutting SAWZALL Reciprocating Saw Blade frome Home Depot and it cut it no problem just wants to jump around and as you know there is no room to work. You also need to buy 4 bushing to convert 1/2" holes in the actuators to 3/8 top and bottom. Cost of one actuator was $554 with including tax and free freight. The hatch now opens and closes effortlessly. Sorry for the long post.
