Here from Arizona

I

ick5521

New Member
May 9, 2008
11
Mesa Arizona
Boat Info
240 Sundancer 2000
Engines
5.7 EFI w/ Bravo II
Hi everyone! I'm Rick from Arizona. I purchased my first boat August 2007 ~ It took me for ever to talk the wife into it but it was worth the wait. I ended up purchasing a used 2000 240DA and here in AZ A/C is a must; since the previous owner had air installed I thought it was a good choice. Just after buying it I had to rebuild the trailer (still ticked @ MarineMax for that) and the raw water pump went out after the first 30 seconds on the water. I'm glad they at least replaced that. Lesson learned - Never ever trust a boat dealer.
I've got a million other lessons I've learned in the past 8 1/2 months of ownership - I just added a large battery bank and inverter to power the a/c while I'm out - I rarely dock the boat as I keep it on the trailer most of the time. Well, I just wanted to say 'Hi' I am going to try to add an anchor windlass some day and came across this site while researching that. Have a good day.
 
Thanks Shining; That was just what I was looking for! I found the 270 thread but haven't spent much time on the site yet
 
DCarl320 said:
Welcome aboard Rick, what lake do you usually go to?
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Thank you DCarl - I go to the lakes on the east side of town usually.
So far I've been to Bartlett a few times, Saguaro several times, canyon once and Roosevelt once. Roosevelt has been my latest trip and my favorite. I am going to Apache in July for the aquapalooza thing.
 
Welcome Rick,

What does your battery bank consist of?

Looks like a nice looking boat.
 
Nehalennia said:
Welcome Rick,

What does your battery bank consist of?

Looks like a nice looking boat.
Click to expand...

I did a lot of research on batteries and decided to go with golf cart batteries for the house bank. I ended up with 4 of them that I purchased at Sam's Club for a total of 450 AH capacity (they are 225 AH each at 6 volts). The original batteries were on the port side but at anchor my boat used to lean to port because that's where all the seating is. When I installed the golf cart batteries I moved them to starboard and just left the starting battery in it's original location. Now the boat has a slight lean to starboard when empty; but when the boat is full of people it seems weight is more evenly distributed. Trimming w/ a boat full of people is easier too. I can run the A/C for about 4 hours on the bank before needing to recharge, my trouble is the stock alternator takes a long time (6 or more hours) to replenish the bank. I am pretty happy with the setup and recommend it as cost effective over a genset.
icon14.gif
 
Wow, is that my boat? haha, yes that's the one. The A/C works well. I haven't tried it on a really hot day but my hope is that it cools the cabin enough during the summer to sleep. When I first got the boat I didn't have a generator (portable) big enough, or in good enough condition to run the A/C. I decided to go with an inverter for quiet power and should know more as summer approaches.
 
ick5521 said:
Wow, is that my boat? haha, yes that's the one. The A/C works well. I haven't tried it on a really hot day but my hope is that it cools the cabin enough during the summer to sleep. When I first got the boat I didn't have a generator (portable) big enough, or in good enough condition to run the A/C. I decided to go with an inverter for quiet power and should know more as summer approaches.
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Ironically, I think it is! I took the pictures at MarineMax Tempe last year, apparently just prior to your purchase…….from what I remember of the boat, it seemed to be in great shape; a pity to hear of your trailer and brokerage issues. At any rate, you’re a/c system has been somewhat of an inspiration to me since last year and I literally just placed an order for one. I do have concerns about only having a 5K unit, but the math works out, given the amount of area being cooled, etc. and there simply isn’t room for a larger system. We’re slipped at Pleasant and are hoping to be able to overnight in the dead of summer as well. I haven’t thought about the inverter, but 4 hours of cool-time is pretty impressive. Small world, isn’t it!

Best,
Chris
 
Very small world. The boat is in great shape but hadn't had any maintenance in a long time. I suspect the boat sat for many months or more as the freshwater tank had slime in it and the water in the hot water tank really smelled bad, the raw water pump went out after running for only a few seconds on the lake
and a wheel fell off the trailer because the bearing disintegrated (about 60 miles on the trailer after I bought it). The batteries were bad too but go figure. I think I finally got all the bugs worked out. When I was looking for a generator solution the best marine generator I could find was a 3.5Kw Westerbeke that was about $7k. The inverter option cost me just under $1k. I installed a microwave and coffee maker. The inverter has no problem running the microwave/coffee maker at the same time. The only thing I have trouble with is running the water heater and other electrical loads at the same time - which is really not an issue with the heat exchanger. I can send you more pictures of the A/C unit if you need them for your install, just let me know.
 
Rick,

Glad to hear you are working out the problems. I may see you sometime on Saguaro. If you have any future problems, you may want to try Bergeron Marine on Country Club. They get pretty busy, but show some preference to those referred to them. If you mention the boats in my sig. they will know who you are talking about. I have no affiliation, but have been working with them for about a dozen years.

You have a great boat for Powell. Any plans of going up?
 
ick5521 said:
Thank you DCarl - I go to the lakes on the east side of town usually.
So far I've been to Bartlett a few times, Saguaro several times, canyon once and Roosevelt once. Roosevelt has been my latest trip and my favorite. I am going to Apache in July for the aquapalooza thing.
Click to expand...

I am looking forward to trying Roosevelt myself. Maybe I'll catch you there or at Apache in July :thumbsup:
 
ick5521 said:
Very small world. The boat is in great shape but hadn't had any maintenance in a long time. I suspect the boat sat for many months or more as the freshwater tank had slime in it and the water in the hot water tank really smelled bad, the raw water pump went out after running for only a few seconds on the lake
and a wheel fell off the trailer because the bearing disintegrated (about 60 miles on the trailer after I bought it). The batteries were bad too but go figure. I think I finally got all the bugs worked out. When I was looking for a generator solution the best marine generator I could find was a 3.5Kw Westerbeke that was about $7k. The inverter option cost me just under $1k. I installed a microwave and coffee maker. The inverter has no problem running the microwave/coffee maker at the same time. The only thing I have trouble with is running the water heater and other electrical loads at the same time - which is really not an issue with the heat exchanger. I can send you more pictures of the A/C unit if you need them for your install, just let me know.
Click to expand...

The wheel fell off….no good at all! The generator option becomes cost prohibitive very quickly as I found out as well. I for one would definitely like to see some pics of your inverter setup, as I’m sure others might as well. What type of microwave did you install?

C-
 
Arizona240DA said:
The wheel fell off….no good at all! The generator option becomes cost prohibitive very quickly as I found out as well. I for one would definitely like to see some pics of your inverter setup, as I’m sure others might as well. What type of microwave did you install?

C-
Click to expand...

Here is the link to some pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rick.large/InverterInstallApr_2008

I bought a Xantrex XM1800 because it had all the options I wanted like remote on/off and decent no load current draw. I know they say don't mount the inverter in the engine compartment but I needed to get it as close to the batteries as possible as it pulls upwards of 150-170 amps under full load. I bought a plastic tub for the batteries to sit in and secured it with about 8 screws. I used liquid nails to seal up the screw holes so if any battery acid leads I hope to contain it. I wish I could have purchased AGM batteries but at nearly 300 a piece I thought I should make sure the whole setup works first. I've been really impressed and the inverter has an automatic source transfer so as soon as I disconnect shore power I still have 110, no manual switching needed.
The microwave is the smallest one I could find; I saw it at sam's club and thought it would be perfect, It's almost too big but works well for my needs - I don't technically have it completely installed but I am going to use Styrofoam for a spacer and bolt board on top of the opening just over the stove and let it hang out about two inches (that's about how far the microwave hangs over that shelf). Then I will strap the microwave to the board to prevent it from becoming a missile in heavy seas. I need to try to find some of the off white vinyl or maybe some heavy duty carpet like they use on speaker boxes to cover the install and make it look nice.
I still have some touch up on the whole project; I only regret crimping the cable ends instead of buying a torch and soldering them if you need cables check out a local welding supply shop; the will beat the heck out of price and quality for cables and ends. What about you guys? Any mods that you have done that I may be interested in? I still need to search through this site and find a 240 windlass install
Have a good one.
 
Last edited:
Hi Rick,

Welcome to the board. As a member of the board you can get all kinds of feed back requested or not. Couple of pointers for your battery install. Get some sort of adapter that will support the cable lugs you have so your battery connections are a little better. I see you used the copper lugs. Those are going to be a maintenance nightmare.

You all ready know you should not have put the inverter in the engine compartment. You might want to rethink that decision. :smt001
 
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