Official 1980's Weekender/Sundancer 300 thread

On your battery set up; get one good starting battery with 800 hundred or above cca (cold cranking amps) and connect the battery to both engines thru a Boston switch one the reads 1,2 and both when starting you start one engine at a time that way while your running one it is dumping charge back into the battery bank. Starting batteries need more pop when you turn that key. The other 2 batteries will be deep cycle group 27 or group 29 of you have the room , the group 29 are a little taller and wider. Hook these 2 batteries with a Boston switch that reads 1,2 and all. These will be used for anchoring out and running house equipment. Now hook your all on the starting Boston switch to the Both on your house battery Boston switch. When running put one switch on all and the other on both, your alternators will charge all batteries while running when you get to destination you can now take your starting battery Boston switch out of the both position and use your house battery Boston switch and use either 1 battery for house or 2 batteries by putting it on all or use # 2 if one goes dead. Understand you have to turn your starting Boston switch out of the both position when you are not running or that power will be going to the house batteries as well. Now should your starting battery be low you can throw your Boston switches to all and both and you will have power from all batteries to get your engines started. I have mine like this as we do a LOT of anchoring out and I have no other emergency connect switch to join all my batteries. Don't worry about the way to connect the wires the most good Boston switches have the diagrams with them good luck and enjoy your new boat
 
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Littlejohn said:
Hey Guy/Gals!
thought I'd introduce myself since I've kinda joined the 300 club. On Monday 3/23 my new project arrives to my local yard. Picked up a 1986 Weekender 300 for very little $$$, but is a complete restoration project. Was winterized and laid up in 1995, and hasn't been touched since. Don't even know if motors are any good after sitting for so long- have to see if they turn or not. Going to go through every system and bring her back to life. Gonna have lots of questions, so thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Pics??? We need pics!!!!!!

Welcome aboard!!


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The Sea Ray 300 was delivered today- a day late. Transport company messed up, on both their dates, and costs. They stood by their cheap quote, so I was alright with them being late. Good news is that it's here (have to figure how to post pics). Motors had been sitting for 20years and last weekend the starboard engine appeared to be locked up. Pulled all the plugs, filled cylinders with MMO, and put plugs back in. Today I pulled the plugs, the motors turned by hand, then by battery. Woot. Expect to add fuel & fire on Sunday and get those puppies running!
 
Good luck with her...I look forward to reading more.
 
Question before startup- want to start engines on Sunday running from auxiliary fuel source- who knows what is in the tanks. It appears that there is a fuel filter right by the fuel tanks. Thenanother by the fuel pump? Is the one by the fuel pump a water separator? Does this need to be changed or emptied? I was planning on disconnecting by tank, adding length of hose to a gas can on deck. Fuel pumps look like a PIA if bad. We'll see if they'll drawl.
 
Change all of them.
You can also pump he tank out into a large 55 gallon drum to inspect. If you decide its no longer desirable, You should be able to take to you local county hazardous chemical depot.
Done it this way for years.
 
Change all the filters! Be sure to check to see if you have a small screen filter at the carbs. It will be inside the carb housing where the fuel line enters the housing.
 
I learned last year about old gas & old filters. Had to clean fuel system and rebuild throttle body with new injectors last year on my stingray (project that got me back into boating). The filter at the tank is obvious. But there's either a filter or water separator at front left corner of both motors? And if my research is correct these have electric fuel pumps? Located behind this additional filter/separator? Hard to see- gonna have to get a mirror out to view what's there.
 
Not all have electric ,my 86 300 we had mechanical,the pump i believe was located on front rt side of engine.A I have heard a lot of people change to electric when the mechanical pump fails.For one they are cheaper and for 2 you can locate them some where more covinent for testing etc.for 3 you can put a hose on one side and drain the tank pretty much with them.I think i had about 7 gallons of unuseable fuel in the tanks when the pickup stops picking up.
 
Thanks for all the battery advice everyone, thought I would do a quick update on what I purchased. (3) Duration AGM Group 31 batteries. These are made by East Penn and also sold as the Deka Intimidator among other ones I'm sure. Seem to be pretty well regarded. 800CCA, 105 A.H. My eyes watered a bit at the checkout, $570 for the three, but I'm hoping I get many years out of them. Keeping all three the same really will help me keep it simple with the installation.





On the fuel pump talk, I ended up having to go electric when I put a 1995 350 in my '86 210. It is wired into an oil pressure switch. This is safety critical! Although I haven't had issues with it, my old engine started quicker (after sitting a few days) with the mechanical since I didn't have to wait for oil pressure for the pump to kick on. I could add a primer button but I wanted to keep everything simple. That's another reason I would stick to mechanical. I got well over 1000 hrs out of my original mech. pump.
 
Very exciting day, cut the wrap off the boat. Another step closer. Next time I visit I will install my refinished drives and hopefully start prepping the bottom for repaint! Until next time...









 
Y'all got room for a 1989 280DA in here? The "official 280" thread looks like pretty much newer boats. Looking forward to launch!
 
You can get about the best old boat info here .they are similar.Dont forget a membership to the official hole in the water club,membership is free ,the expense inumerable.
You could start our own thread in classics also called official pre 1990 280 thread if you want to slim down hits.
 
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1956olds said:
You can get about the best old boat info here .they are similar.Dont forget a membership to the official hole in the water club,membership is free ,the expense inumerable.
You could start our own thread in classics also called official pre 1990 280 thread if you want to slim down hits.
Click to expand...

I'll do a search on the hole in the water club. I've probably put enough in already to gain membership! Reading through this thread, my boat does seem fairly similar. Seems like I saw a "Pre-Clinton 80s" boat thread too, but it looked like it wasn't very active any more.
 
I noticed that my port side nav light has burned out. Is it easy to replace the bulb? And if so, do I go OEM or is there a better LED bulb replacement?

88 300 DA
 
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3 screws and lift the housing off. Chances are that the terminals need to be cleaned. Every year I need to do this. I have LED lights to install but the foot print isn't the same so I've been holding off on that project.


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Does anyone have a source for the plastic clips/fasteners (or even know the proper term so I can google it!) to hang the V-berth and aft cabin curtains into the slide tracks? The curtains themselves are in wonderful shape, as are the tracks, so I'd rather just replace broken/missing fasteners than create a new solution.

The clips I have are T shaped--the stem is open for the tab from the curtain, ad the crossbar pops into the slide track.
 
DWNA1A
Tried to message you, your mail box is over filled! Guess its like a sea box ya got to clean the crap out of it every now and then to get them flowing again! I may be up your way Saturday are you going to be at the marina?
Mike
 
I replaced both of my Nav lights with LED's. A buddy tapped on the hull next to the Nav light so I could figure out where the wires penetrated threw the hull. My case there is a bolster that covered that area. Once I removed the bolster I had access to more wire.
3 screws and the housing came off, only problem was the wires were too short to splice from outside the hull. So when I removed the old lights and replaced them with new ones I pulled the wires inside for the splice. This added addition wire with all that said (looked like past replacement jobs reduced them to impossible). Now I have enough wire to make a splice from ether side if necessary. But I'm told it will never be necessary cause LED's last for ever and don't use any power! The replacement light housings were large enough to cover the thew hull hole but had a different hole pattern. I filled the old holes and drilled new ones. Job done got nice bright LED Lights.
 
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