New to SeaRay and sport cruisers (Sundancer 360)

Cam.H

Cam.H

Member
Jan 5, 2022
31
Bridgeview Marina, Sarnia, ON
Boat Info
2002 Sea Ray Sundancer 360
Engines
Horizon 8.1 V Drives
Bow and Stern Thrusters
Freedom Lift
Solar
Hello everyone,

My wife and I are new to this club and we are currently in the process of purchasing a new-to-us, 2002 SeaRay Sundancer, 360. The boat has 8.1 Horizons, V-Drives, 725hrs, Gennie with 265 hours, bow and stern thrusters with new canvas and a hydraulic lift on the stern. We have a survey scheduled for this coming Monday and a water test when the boat is put in the water in May. Currently, the boat is in heated storage and looks simply immaculate. We are new to a boat of this size (previously owned an 18FT bow rider) so definitely a big step up for us. I simply wanted to post a quick intro as I have already benefited from discussions here.
We just secured a slip (pending survey/water test conditions of sale) in Sarnia and will keep the boat on Lake Huron but travel on the rivers to Lake Erie. Thank you!
 
Check insurance. Several tales of people making that big of jump having trouble finding insurance.
 
Whilst you're waiting, you would benefit from a boating safety course, which the Insurance company would acknowledge. And youtube videos were helpful to me as I too had not owned a twin engine vessel.
Congratulations!
 
Bill Watson said:
Whilst you're waiting, you would benefit from a boating safety course, which the Insurance company would acknowledge. And youtube videos were helpful to me as I too had not owned a twin engine vessel.
Congratulations!
Click to expand...

Hello Bill and thank you for your suggestions; I agree completely.

I have just completed a 5 hour on line safety course and I am looking at more! Very helpful to get me back into the swing of things with boating. YOU TUBE has definitely been my friend and continues to be.

We have been looking for a boat for well over a year now as we were fairly picky about having a bow thruster. To grab one with a stern thruster was a bonus which I acknowledge may be a bit over kill, but nice to have for windy days and confidence.

I am already pleased to have joined this group
 
Congrats on the purchase, was this boat in Port Elgin i believe i saw it on FB forsale. Looks like a great boat with lots of upgrades.

Will you be staying in Bridgeview or Sarnia Bay.

I have a few names for local (some what local) surveyors we have used in the past years.
 
I would have the surveyor take a good look at the instal of the lift….did they remove the swim platform or put the lift on the platform?? Not sure if the platform could take all the weight.
 
Thanks for the offer for a surveyor. We have one who I spoke with at length to ensure items that I am interested in are properly assessed. It surprised me to find several articles regarding surveyors who do not take photos or conduct moisture meter tests. The lift was not installed/attached/anchored to the swim platform and appears very sound. I am very impressed with the owners who appear meticulous about their boat and his upgrades are spot on. JZ Anthony, it was the boat on Facebook. They were inundated with people asking to see it.

We will be parked at Bridgeview Marina. Just secured a slip there
 
Cam.H said:
Hello Bill and thank you for your suggestions; I agree completely.

I have just completed a 5 hour on line safety course and I am looking at more! Very helpful to get me back into the swing of things with boating. YOU TUBE has definitely been my friend and continues to be.

We have been looking for a boat for well over a year now as we were fairly picky about having a bow thruster. To grab one with a stern thruster was a bonus which I acknowledge may be a bit over kill, but nice to have for windy days and confidence.

I am already pleased to have joined this group
Click to expand...
Get thick skin and never take it personal; these guys can be brutal. Lots of joking on here.
Rule #1- it’s not real without pictures.
 
Timeflys said:
I would have the surveyor take a good look at the instal of the lift….did they remove the swim platform or put the lift on the platform?? Not sure if the platform could take all the weight.
Click to expand...

So a quick update that is all very positive. The boat was seen by the surveyor on Monday, January 24, 2022. I was pleased with his thoroughness and how he explained things to me, the number of locations he took moisture readings at and the time he took examining the boat. I asked him to really pay attention to the stern/transom and the engine area. He was very impressed with the hydraulic lift that was put on the boat, how it was mounted and reinforced inside the engine area, and the dry readings he received on the bow and hull. He spoke favorably of the boat, gave high praise to the current owners and now my wife and I are one step closer to securing the boat. Just waiting on the water test. Things seem to be moving in the right direction..... except gas prices are not! Let us all hope for price relief when the summer comes. I know..... unlikely.
 
I just hope you can fill up on the US side…but if not, pushing up the throttles puts a smile on my face…worth every penny!! (Screw Trudeau and his carbon tax … the 8.1s are the sound of freedom!)
 
Congratulations!
Consider joining C-Tow for cheap towing insurance if you end up in trouble. Its cheap and saves you many hundreds if you ever need assistance.
https://c-tow.ca/
 
Creekwood said:
Congratulations!
Consider joining C-Tow for cheap towing insurance if you end up in trouble. Its cheap and saves you many hundreds if you ever need assistance.
https://c-tow.ca/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion Creekwood. I just took a look at the C Tow website and was very surprised with the rather low cost for the peace of mind. Will be considering for sure. One issue and you are by far ahead of the game when considering the cost.
 
Cam.H said:
Thanks for the suggestion Creekwood. I just took a look at the C Tow website and was very surprised with the rather low cost for the peace of mind. Will be considering for sure. One issue and you are by far ahead of the game when considering the cost.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure where their tow boats are located so you may want to find out how close they are to your boating area. Their web site says that they cover a wide area down in SW Ontario. Up where we are, their boat is on the water right in our boating area in Georgian Bay.

FYI, with my last boat, back in about 2006, we had the engine hydrolock about 18 miles from our marina, at the end of the day Sunday. We did not have tow insurance. The only private tow guy we could get a hold of took about 2hrs to get to us (he told me he had been drinking too much and needed his wife to come down to go with him). Then there was about a 3 hour tow back for an hourly fee (dock to dock), plus his fuel charge. It was about $800 total for the tow.
 
Creekwood said:
I'm not sure where their tow boats are located so you may want to find out how close they are to your boating area. Their web site says that they cover a wide area down in SW Ontario. Up where we are, their boat is on the water right in our boating area in Georgian Bay.

FYI, with my last boat, back in about 2006, we had the engine hydrolock about 18 miles from our marina, at the end of the day Sunday. We did not have tow insurance. The only private tow guy we could get a hold of took about 2hrs to get to us (he told me he had been drinking too much and needed his wife to come down to go with him). Then there was about a 3 hour tow back for an hourly fee (dock to dock), plus his fuel charge. It was about $800 total for the tow.
Click to expand...
I bet you are glad you have 2 engines now :) I have limped back on one of two engines more times than I care to remember.
 
Hmmm, mrsrobinson, can you describe what that one-engine limp back was like? How did you compensate for the off center propulsion, and maneuvering into your slip for example. RPM?
Thanks!
 
Bill Watson said:
Hmmm, mrsrobinson, can you describe what that one-engine limp back was like? How did you compensate for the off center propulsion, and maneuvering into your slip for example. RPM?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Very carefully...

It happened a couple of times with the 330DA, twin 7.4 V-Drives. Just went slow and had extra hands at the dock to tie her up. Happened 2 times with my last boat that had twin 5.7 with Bravo IIIs. Same thing, go slow, call ahead to get extra hands at the dock. In both cases for the most part it was a non event. The challenge is which engine has the power steering pump. In all cases I got lucky, that was the engine that continued to run. In another case I could run both engines so I had power steering (or whatever it's called, hydraulic steering). Picked up a crab pot in the prop so I could not run the drive though.

For one of those trips a 90 minute ride home turned into 8 hours, running in the dark with no radar, crab pots everywhere, got back to the home slip at 2AM. Oh, we had a thunderstorm too :) I followed my GPS track and did ok. I think we were dreary eyed at one point, we thought we saw Nessy :)

For the V-Drives I am told I should have clamped down the shaft on the engine not running. Never did, no known damage to the shaft/drive.
 
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