Official 1980's Weekender/Sundancer 300 thread

1956olds said:
there is a 7/16 nut a lockwasher and two stainless flatwashers,and a lot of 4200 i belive.I put stainless rails on mine last spring and the used set were just cut out of the deck with a sawzall and the original pieces were still attached.
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Wait, what was cut from the deck with a saws all?
 
JVM225 said:
I've been to a coupe of plumbing supply places with no luck. Nobody seems to know what the odd sized fine thread is. It seems like it is native to the boat, since all the tee connections and couplings are that size. They used adapters to hook the lines in to standard faucets. I'll give West Marine a try, but truth be told they don't usually have much knowledge beyond the basics. In the past I've found that I usually know a lot more about what I'm looking for than the kids that works there.
If that fails, I might try giving Sea Ray a call. Maybe someone there has a long memory.
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I know what you mean. i just went through this. In the end it was a particularly helpful and knowledgable person at Home Depot who got me going. I ended up using lots of "SHark Bite" fittings. The stuff is not cheap, but man, it was worth it in terms of saving the job as well as vastly reducing the veins popping out of my head and the cursing associated with limited access and impossible to find sizes. If you have the grey colored pipe like I have, the Shark Bite stuff hooks right up to it. Anyone who has used it could testify to how remarkably easy it goes together. I put in a dockside water inlet, a hot/cold transom shower, a water accumulator, a cockpit washdown spigot, and a new faucet in the head this winter. I can tell you about frustration with West Marine and not finding the right parts. The faucet was the toughest part. I attributed it to the fact I bought it at Ikea and I should have learned the last time that their plumbing sizes are *&^%$. I had to go through a few fittings on each line to get it to adapt.
 
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Thanks, Mark. That helps. Can you tell if that section of the deck is cored? I would think it is, but if Sea Ray did the right thing, it would't be cored there.
 
I believe it is. I didn't have anything skinny to poke around with. Good news is that acetone will clean up the ceiling and hull sides of any residue that is left. Hoping to have it ready for new material install by Sunday afternoon. Its so difficult to get anything done when others in the marina know you are there. They come up with a few beers and................ well I'm sure your all familiar with this...........
 
Tritone said:
I know what you mean. i just went through this. In the end it was a particularly helpful and knowledgable person at Home Depot who got me going. I ended up using lots of "SHark Bite" fittings. The stuff is not cheap, but man, it was worth it in terms of saving the job as well as vastly reducing the veins popping out of my head and the cursing associated with limited access and impossible to find sizes. If you have the grey colored pipe like I have, the Shark Bite stuff hooks right up to it. Anyone who has used it could testify to how remarkably easy it goes together. I put in a dockside water inlet, a hot/cold transom shower, a water accumulator, a cockpit washdown spigot, and a new faucet in the head this winter. I can tell you about frustration with West Marine and not finding the right parts. The faucet was the toughest part. I attributed it to the fact I bought it at Ikea and I should have learned the last time that their plumbing sizes are *&^%$. I had to go through a few fittings on each line to get it to adapt.
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That sounds interesting. I was in two different home depots today and couldn't find anything in either.
My pipe is the grey stuff. I now need to replace everything from the Tee under the sink in the head to the galley faucet. Looking for the easiest way to do it. The Shark Bite stuff you mentioned sounds promising. I didn't see anything like that in either Home Depot today.

UPDATE: I just looked around and found their website. Looks like the stuff might work for me if I can't find another solution. If I can re-use the original grey tubing that Sea Ray put in, I'm thinking I might have to replace the Tee under the sink in the head with a Shark Bite Tee, and then get a Shark Bite female connecter to thread on to the bottom of the new galley faucet. Once I have the new Tee and female connector in place I should be able to just snap the original grey tubing in and I should be good to go. I just might do both the hot and cold sides while I'm under there.
Do you remember the sizes you got that worked with the original grey tubing?
 
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Tritone said:
Wait, what was cut from the deck with a saws all?
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The deck from the donor boat was just sawed away from it in 6x6 squares,you dont have to sawzal your boat ok breath,breath again,ok youll be fine.
 
Yes the deck is cored ,I think i explained all i had to do in a thread last spring probably in april or may.
 
I had to get the gray pipe from a mobile home parts supplier,but i think rvs have the same stuff,you may want to look for a different faucet to make it an easier change out.I added a rear shower to my last boat and it had the same stuff on it,yhe mobile home parts supply had everything i needed and were fairly cheap.The other alternative was to change everything to pec 's system whitch would have been a pia to change all the plumbing for fws and about 400.00.Glen
 
Opened the boat up this past weekend was looking around found rotten wood above the transom. The transom itself is fine was just wondering if I am in big trouble. It doesn’t look like anything structural. The only thing attached to it is my fire extinguisher system. The rain water would run along the sides then hit the turn where the blower vents are and work its way down in there. Port looks worse then starboard, had mold on the port side cleaned it up what should I do next. I have pictures how do I load them? Or email me and I can send you pictures. Jculpepper2482@yahoo.com
Thanks Jon
its a 1987 30' Dancer
 
Pepper2482 said:
Opened the boat up this past weekend was looking around found rotten wood above the transom. The transom itself is fine was just wondering if I am in big trouble. It doesn’t look like anything structural. The only thing attached to it is my fire extinguisher system. The rain water would run along the sides then hit the turn where the blower vents are and work its way down in there. Port looks worse then starboard, had mold on the port side cleaned it up what should I do next. I have pictures how do I load them? Or email me and I can send you pictures. Jculpepper2482@yahoo.com
Thanks Jon
its a 1987 30' Dancer
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It's hard to know what you're talking about without pics. What structure above the transom do you mean? Is it in the engine room or above the cockpit deck?
 
JVM225 said:
That sounds interesting. I was in two different home depots today and couldn't find anything in either.
My pipe is the grey stuff. I now need to replace everything from the Tee under the sink in the head to the galley faucet. Looking for the easiest way to do it. The Shark Bite stuff you mentioned sounds promising. I didn't see anything like that in either Home Depot today.

UPDATE: I just looked around and found their website. Looks like the stuff might work for me if I can't find another solution. If I can re-use the original grey tubing that Sea Ray put in, I'm thinking I might have to replace the Tee under the sink in the head with a Shark Bite Tee, and then get a Shark Bite female connecter to thread on to the bottom of the new galley faucet. Once I have the new Tee and female connector in place I should be able to just snap the original grey tubing in and I should be good to go. I just might do both the hot and cold sides while I'm under there.
Do you remember the sizes you got that worked with the original grey tubing?
Click to expand...

It's a good solution, just not particularly cheap since the fittings, especially things like T's will run around 11 bucks or so. It has the added benefit of being able to come apart easily as well. I don't remember the size, maybe 1/2". Anyway it's the same size as the red and blue pipe they sell at Home Depot that is stocked right next to it. I replaced the original T's with the Shark Bite so I know it works. The biggest problem you will have under the sink is getting both hands in there to push it together. When I did my head I had to contort myself in all kinds of ways while lying on my side with my head inside and the door flange bruising my ribs. You have to make sure you get it in all the way or it will leak. When it's in it is solid as a rock. The other tip I would say is to definitely buy the ratcheting pipe cutting shears they sell at Home Depot. It makes a perfect round cut that will keep you from frustration.
 
Thanks for the tips. I'm off now to make a stop at a local marine store and then on to Home Depot to look for the fittings and the ratcheting pipe cutter.
 
Well Home Depot is officially on par with West Marine.

Waited a while for help in the one closest to my house. Finally got a guy and made the mistake of telling him it was a project for my boat. He told me that I would have to go to a Marine store because the Shark Bite wouldn't work on a boat. Not really seeing what relevance the boat had when I was installing a standard bar faucet, I left in disgust.
Stopped at the Home Depot closest to the boat. Waited a while, finally got some help, and the guys fixed me up with what I needed.
Had to go back when I saw that the tubing cutter wasn't a good choice for the grey pipe. Found a cutter for the red and blue stuff that they sell alongside the Shark Bite. Picked up a length of the red stuff because I saw I needed to make a few changes at the Tee in the head. Supply line was too short, and the drop from the head sink was too long. No big deal though.
Back to the boat and get everything installed and realize that the female fittings they sold me to go on to the bottom of the faucet are a coarser thread than what is on the faucet. Looks closer to a hose type thread.
Trip 3 to Home Depot. The guy insisted that they were right. I had the old faucet with me and showed him they weren't. He said that is was from a boat so it must be some weird size. I told him they wouldn't work on the bar faucet I bought from them. Took him over to the display of the faucet I bought, handed him the fitting, and challenged him to thread it on without cross threading.
Now he acknowledges that it doesn't fit. Scratches his head, and back to the Shark Bite section we go. They have nothing that threads on to the bottom of the faucet.
Now I buy two flexible stainless braided faucet connector hoses that I know will thread on to the faucet. Back to the Shark Bite aisle, and buy two fittings that that will connect to the loose end of the flexible braided stuff, and then let the grey pipe snap in to the other side.
Stepping away from it for today, hopefully when I re-attack it this weekend things ill work out.
 
Yup, sounds about right. With whatever method you choose you will have to go through creative means to connect to a faucet. I don't have a pic of my head faucet hook up, but I had to go through a few fittings that were needed to adapt sizes.
 
Thanks for the info Tritone!
Went back today with a fresh attitude and idea. A few minutes later it was all done and I was cleaning up.
I kept the original fitting on the hot water side of the faucet in the head, but ran the grey pipe in to a Shark Bite Tee. The supply line had to be lengthened a bit to reach the new Tee, so I used a Shark Bite slip coupler and a short piece of new plastic pipe.
The new faucet in the galley got standard braided faucet hose that has female on both ends. The loose end got a Shark Bite Male coupler, and the grey hose went in to the other end.
It worked out really well. While I was installing the faucet I also cut the cold water side just under the galley, and used another braided line, and Shark Bite to hook that into the cold water supply coming from the head. Much easier than playing around with the 25 year old nylon fittings that Sea Ray originally installed back between the cabinet and sink.
More connections than I would ordinarily want to have under there, but there really wasn't any other way to do it.
 
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Another ongoing project is the LED conversion.
I got bulbs for all the interior cabin fixtures from Amazon, and found a bulb for the little courtesy light on the step (#53 that comes on with the cockpit lights) just inside the cabin.
I have my eye on a set of LED spreader lights for the cockpitto replace the halogens that are there now, and I ordered the two LED replacement bulbs for my Perko Mast/Anchor light from Marinebulbs. They are backordered, but will be on the way in a week or so.
The last three bulbs I have to change are the port and starboard running lights, and the stern light.
They all take a #90 bulb. I think I can find an LED replacement that I can fit in the housing for the stern light, but getting something to fit inside the port and starboard running lights might be tough. It looks kind of tight in there.
Has anyone found an LED bulb that will fit inside those housings?
 
I have not yet converted my interior lighting to LED so I can't be of much help. Can you provide a link for the little bulb you will use for the courtesy light? I would like to do my anchor light right away since that draws on the battery. The running lights I am fine with because they pull from the alternator. Where did you get those?

Do you have any concerns with replacing your running lights with LEDs? I read somewhere that if you are not careful, you could get lights that carry a much lower projection power. In other words, they sometimes don't match the brightness of the regular lights. I don't know if that's true, but if so it could be dangerous.
 
Tritone said:
I have not yet converted my interior lighting to LED so I can't be of much help. Can you provide a link for the little bulb you will use for the courtesy light? I would like to do my anchor light right away since that draws on the battery. The running lights I am fine with because they pull from the alternator. Where did you get those?

Do you have any concerns with replacing your running lights with LEDs? I read somewhere that if you are not careful, you could get lights that carry a much lower projection power. In other words, they sometimes don't match the brightness of the regular lights. I don't know if that's true, but if so it could be dangerous.
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I got the little bulb from SUPERBRIGHTLEDS. It's a "BA9S-LED-4LED". The shipping was more than the bulb. Here is a link:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/search/led-products/BA9s LED Bulb - 4 LED/

The bulbs for the bell type fixtures and the rectangular fixtures in the cabin I got from Amazon. A retailer by the name of LED Wholesalers sells them on there.
They are "Ledwholesalers Waterproof Ba15s Bayonet Base Single Contact 15 SMD 3528 LED Light Bulb 12 Volt, Warm White, 1429ww". I like the warm white. It is similar in appearance to the bulbs I took out, but maybe just slightly brighter at 8.25 each. Here is that link:

http://www.amazon.com/Ledwholesaler...28+LED+Light+Bulb+12+Volt,+Warm+White,+1429ww

The bulbs for my Perko Mast/Anchor light are 31MM Festoons that I ordered from Marinebeam.com. I haven't gotten them yet so I don't know how good they are. But they are supposed to be made specifically for these lights. They were expensive, so I hope they are worth it. Here is that link:

http://store.marinebeam.com/perko-31mm-anchor-light.html

I was a little concerned about the brightness for the port and starboard running lights, and stern light. But the other LED bulbs I got so far seem to be a little brighter than the bulbs they replaced, and when I went to the NY Boat Show a few months ago it looked like most of the new boats come with LED fixtures all over them. I've also seem LED running light fixtures on the shelf in the local Marine Store, but they are expensive and I'd rather just change out the bulbs if I can.
If not, it is no big deal since when they are on the motors are running anyway. I just figured that as long as I was swapping out lights, I'd do them all.
Marinebeam has a nice set of spreader lights I'm thinking about getting for the cockpit to replace my halogens, but I think I remember seeing a set of lights at the boat show that you can change color from white to blue or red. I can't remember the vendor, and haven't been able to track them down online. But I've been holding off in hopes of finding them before I buy anything.
I think that the red would be nice in the evening out on the hook, and the blue would be nice back at the dock, while the white would serve the originally intended purpose.
 
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