Just buying an '86 268 'Dancer...

Randy
Somehow I just caught this thread. Nice boat and looks like you worked through some major kinks which could have been spendy. You're lucky to have the dealer step up and fix them.

What charger did you replace the old beast with?

Congrats!
 
Hey, I have an old charger just like that I just pulled out of my boat! It still works, but I got tired of adding water every three weeks or so. I missed this thread as well, so it must have cropped up while we were in the San Juans for two weeks? Anyway, nice looking boat and hopefully all of your problems are behind you now!
 
Thanks for the kind words.

Replaced the charger with a Guest 20A for 2 banks. Works well on the 2 batteries I have in her at them moment. Both of those are new too, thanks to the dealer.

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In total, he replaced:

  • Bellows (all of them)
  • 2 Batteries with new deep cycle marine
  • charger with new Guest charger
  • upper gear case
Since I am VERY quick to point out when a dealer or vendor does me wrong, I should point out that Needham's Marine in Sarnia, Ontario did a very good job of making a bad situation as good as possible. Bill Douglas there came to the table on every problem I had, despite some angry messages on his voicemail. (One of the breakdowns was after hours...I had several hours to leave him messages while waiting for the CG to tow me in...)

Next modifications will be:

  • Drive Shower
  • Some kind of removable downrigger platform on the back
  • Planer board reels mounted on the radar arch
  • Moving the GPS antenna and Sirius antenna to the top of the radar arch. (Why mount them on the dash when you have an arch???)
  • Possibly a wider swim platform ($2k though so it may have to wait a bit)
  • replacing the 3" speakers with high-end 6x9's
These will get done over the winter though. I have 3 weekends left before it comes out of the water, and want to spend them relaxing, not sweating.

Cheers,

Randy..
 
On the battery charger issue. I called Pro Mariner (603 433 4430)with the model number that my 1989 268 had and they recommended a replacement. They sold me the model 61230, 3 bank, 30 amp, 3 stage charger at less than the retail price. That was 3 years ago and I have been very happy with the new one. I don't know if they are still doing this deal but it saved me a bunch of money. I did have to change the circuit breaker from 5 amps to 10 amps. A little late for Randy but someone else might use the information
 
flyer said:
Water heater, check the hoses, they are getting way too old.
Rick
Click to expand...

Someday I need to plumb in my heater. It's only 120V right now. In the photo it shows a valve with a wire at the block by the thermo. Is that wired so it doesn't open until the motor is warmed up?

WTP07 - any more pictures of the boat yet?

Hope all is still well,
 
burtsi said:
Hello and greetings from Finland! I have just recently found this great forum but already found lots of interesting information. :smt038

I will now move on to my questions:

I recently traded my '89 Sea Ray 220 DA on a 268 Sundancer '87. (My boats just keep getting older and older...) The boat is in decent condition, considering her age. She is re-powered by a 5.7 V8 a couple of years ago. The outdrive however looks "used" and needs to be replaced in the near future. Regarding this project I have a question to ask you, since I need to know the gear ratio of my current outdrive. I have a 14½ x 15 SS prop installed which gives the boat a top speed of 31 knots at 4600 WOT. Based on this knowledge, is it possible to tell what the ratio is? 1,50 maybe?

I have considered ordering a SE106 outdrive directly from Sterndrive Engineering. My goal here is to save money (SEI for about 2000 $ delivered versus 4000 $ for an original Alpha drive). Any comments on the quality of these drives? Is it worth the money? Will it work ok in my boat?
Click to expand...

i think your looking at closer to 1300 for a se106. thats for us delivey
yes it will work on your boat.
it will come with a 3 year no fault warranty. if you forget to put oil in run over something or some how destroy it your covered, and they stand behind them. the only thing it costs you is freight back to the factory. they pay fraight back to you. not sure about over seas
yes they are good quality. the only flaw i have seen is the paint isnt as good as factory. thats something that you can take care of pretty easily.
 
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Hi I just bought a 87 268 W/454 only had it out for sea trial then put it to bed when I got it home. I am noticing a lot of 268's on this site so I started a Thread for 268 DA & WE's in Classic Sea Rays to discuss the in's and outs of these boats. Yours looks really nice I will have to buff and Polish mine in the Spring.
 
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