teamgomez
New Member
- May 18, 2007
- 54
Howdy all-
The deed has been done! I'm finally sleeping at night after the intense hunt for the 'right one'. Drove 8 hours up to Erie, PA a couple weeks ago and picked up the latest addition to the family. A couple lessons learned on the 240 and boats in general- thought I'd pass 'em along now that I finally have some time on my hands!
Was looking for late 90's 240 Sundancer. Drove a few and they all had issues...kept looking at one on the 'net 8 hours away but his price was too high. His 'lowest price' ended up coming down to acceptable range so I had a surveyor take a peek. He came back w/ thumbs up so I went up to get her. Initial peek was that she was well represented but surveyor missed a couple items:
1. ATF welled behind batteries. Port tab leaking from seal btwn actuator and pipe shaft and sending fluid to bilge.
2. Clamp missing from shift cable. Bellows needed replacement.
3. Power indicator lamp on panel inop.
4. Ignition alarm sounded on his sea trial. Turned out to be low outdrive oil but I was a bit stunned to see the surveyor nor former owner knew what it meant :huh:
Couple of other cats/dogs he missed but generally speaking he did OK. My own sea trial on Erie went well and ended with contact by the local Coasties when I pulled into the Marina for an overnight stay aboard. Since I am 'in the club' they didn't get after me with the magnifying glass...off to a great start! The frosted sodas that night never tasted so sweet :smt015
Next morning a little sheen developed on the water...hmmm...note to self. First time getting her on the trailer solo was accompanied by harmonica playing homeless man giving me a big thumbs up for doing it solo...feeling good until I notice she's a bit cock-eyed and not centered right on the rollers. Back into the water with some help by the guys waiting to launch and she gets centered properly for the 8 hour trek home (via DC beltway on a Friday afternoon :smt013 ).
Best advice I got to date: ensure tires are pumped to rated psi!!! They were at 35 psi when I checked 'em- pumped them up to 50 and gave each bearing a shot of grease both cold and after 30 miles. Guy gives me a "check your boat" signal 30 min later. Pull over to find one of the tie down strap hooks came off the trailer and was resting on the swim platform...how lucky can I get? Remainder of trailer home uneventful (but freakin' long!).
First weekend in the water after replacing fuel filter as prev maint and all goes well save for an occasional shift-stall. Boys now certified anglers. "Dad, these fish fart!"..."No, boys, that is why they call them 'Croakers'"
Now for the hard part- she runs well..but do I leave well enuf alone or take her in for a few items to zero time the stuff that can hurt me? I can't stand all that cash burning a hole in my pocket....so in she goes after I pull the manifolds and risers (can you say OUCH?) to have them milled/inspected.
Reliable Marine in Pax turns out to be a bit expensive but worth the trip. Sam told me I'd probably have a hard time doing a transom seal w/o the 'right' tools and boy was he right! I watched as Mark did all the bellows/shift cable/impeller and in the course of this he does both a positive and neg pressure check of the outdrive. Passes vacuum test but fails positive pressure test (air escaping around shift shaft). He finds another bad seal and replaces that as well. In all- very happy I had them do the once over- cost a grand now but potentially saved my outdrive from water intrusion damage. They also hydro-blasted the lower unit to get the paint off for me so I could paint it w/ zinc chromate/trilux primer/trilux outdrive anti-fouling paint. Got some new zincs on as well.
Manifolds cleaned up great and got those back on (DOUBLE OUCH). W/ the 3" risers...had to assemble them prior to installing. What a PITA. Top gasket upon removal was 'old style' ss gasket w/ red line around perimeter. Was told those were 'engine killers' and they had me use the merc gaskets for top and bottom of riser (for 8 bucks a piece, they better be damned good). Was able to fix the leaking trim tab as well. Did an engine oil change (does everybody use the 25-40 Merc oil???) and put new Delco plugs in.
Launched her last weekend for the first true sea trial (30 mile run up the potomac) and the wife preferred to watch from the beach w/ the kids while I did a short run to ensure all the 'stuff' I touched wouldn't do the Luney Tunes all-the-doors-fall-off when I started her up. Thankfully, periscope remained stowed for the entire weekend and she ran like a champ. 3300 rpm/26 mph on the gps with a full bag o' gas and h20. Very happy w/ the 5.7LX.
No sheen on the water- outdrive very happy. Shift stall problem fixed. Now all my buddies at work let me in on the best kept secret, "The one thing better than owning a boat, is having a friend that owns one".
Now the next problem to conquer is shedding my garage of the Tacoma (pulled her OK to the boat yard...but got spoiled by my buddies 350 Diesel to pull her back from Erie). 5.7L Tundra coming soon unless my wife empties the magazine into me when I tell her we 'need a bigger truck'. If you read another post from me, I'll have successfully executed the 'serpentine' down the driveway and lived to tell about it!
Thanks all for the comments to date on all my posts- really helped out on the search. The following photo of my youngest really says it all....
~John
The deed has been done! I'm finally sleeping at night after the intense hunt for the 'right one'. Drove 8 hours up to Erie, PA a couple weeks ago and picked up the latest addition to the family. A couple lessons learned on the 240 and boats in general- thought I'd pass 'em along now that I finally have some time on my hands!
Was looking for late 90's 240 Sundancer. Drove a few and they all had issues...kept looking at one on the 'net 8 hours away but his price was too high. His 'lowest price' ended up coming down to acceptable range so I had a surveyor take a peek. He came back w/ thumbs up so I went up to get her. Initial peek was that she was well represented but surveyor missed a couple items:
1. ATF welled behind batteries. Port tab leaking from seal btwn actuator and pipe shaft and sending fluid to bilge.
2. Clamp missing from shift cable. Bellows needed replacement.
3. Power indicator lamp on panel inop.
4. Ignition alarm sounded on his sea trial. Turned out to be low outdrive oil but I was a bit stunned to see the surveyor nor former owner knew what it meant :huh:
Couple of other cats/dogs he missed but generally speaking he did OK. My own sea trial on Erie went well and ended with contact by the local Coasties when I pulled into the Marina for an overnight stay aboard. Since I am 'in the club' they didn't get after me with the magnifying glass...off to a great start! The frosted sodas that night never tasted so sweet :smt015
Next morning a little sheen developed on the water...hmmm...note to self. First time getting her on the trailer solo was accompanied by harmonica playing homeless man giving me a big thumbs up for doing it solo...feeling good until I notice she's a bit cock-eyed and not centered right on the rollers. Back into the water with some help by the guys waiting to launch and she gets centered properly for the 8 hour trek home (via DC beltway on a Friday afternoon :smt013 ).
Best advice I got to date: ensure tires are pumped to rated psi!!! They were at 35 psi when I checked 'em- pumped them up to 50 and gave each bearing a shot of grease both cold and after 30 miles. Guy gives me a "check your boat" signal 30 min later. Pull over to find one of the tie down strap hooks came off the trailer and was resting on the swim platform...how lucky can I get? Remainder of trailer home uneventful (but freakin' long!).
First weekend in the water after replacing fuel filter as prev maint and all goes well save for an occasional shift-stall. Boys now certified anglers. "Dad, these fish fart!"..."No, boys, that is why they call them 'Croakers'"
Now for the hard part- she runs well..but do I leave well enuf alone or take her in for a few items to zero time the stuff that can hurt me? I can't stand all that cash burning a hole in my pocket....so in she goes after I pull the manifolds and risers (can you say OUCH?) to have them milled/inspected.
Reliable Marine in Pax turns out to be a bit expensive but worth the trip. Sam told me I'd probably have a hard time doing a transom seal w/o the 'right' tools and boy was he right! I watched as Mark did all the bellows/shift cable/impeller and in the course of this he does both a positive and neg pressure check of the outdrive. Passes vacuum test but fails positive pressure test (air escaping around shift shaft). He finds another bad seal and replaces that as well. In all- very happy I had them do the once over- cost a grand now but potentially saved my outdrive from water intrusion damage. They also hydro-blasted the lower unit to get the paint off for me so I could paint it w/ zinc chromate/trilux primer/trilux outdrive anti-fouling paint. Got some new zincs on as well.
Manifolds cleaned up great and got those back on (DOUBLE OUCH). W/ the 3" risers...had to assemble them prior to installing. What a PITA. Top gasket upon removal was 'old style' ss gasket w/ red line around perimeter. Was told those were 'engine killers' and they had me use the merc gaskets for top and bottom of riser (for 8 bucks a piece, they better be damned good). Was able to fix the leaking trim tab as well. Did an engine oil change (does everybody use the 25-40 Merc oil???) and put new Delco plugs in.
Launched her last weekend for the first true sea trial (30 mile run up the potomac) and the wife preferred to watch from the beach w/ the kids while I did a short run to ensure all the 'stuff' I touched wouldn't do the Luney Tunes all-the-doors-fall-off when I started her up. Thankfully, periscope remained stowed for the entire weekend and she ran like a champ. 3300 rpm/26 mph on the gps with a full bag o' gas and h20. Very happy w/ the 5.7LX.
No sheen on the water- outdrive very happy. Shift stall problem fixed. Now all my buddies at work let me in on the best kept secret, "The one thing better than owning a boat, is having a friend that owns one".
Now the next problem to conquer is shedding my garage of the Tacoma (pulled her OK to the boat yard...but got spoiled by my buddies 350 Diesel to pull her back from Erie). 5.7L Tundra coming soon unless my wife empties the magazine into me when I tell her we 'need a bigger truck'. If you read another post from me, I'll have successfully executed the 'serpentine' down the driveway and lived to tell about it!
Thanks all for the comments to date on all my posts- really helped out on the search. The following photo of my youngest really says it all....
~John
