Official 280 Sundancer Thread

Bucit said:
My friend owns a carpet cleaning company and he used the steam cleaner type set up on mine. Turned out nice. The aft cabin cushions are zippered and removeable.
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Sounds good. I'll remove the mid-berth cushions to clean, and have the v-berth cushions steam cleaned. I actually have a small steam cleaner, and may give that a try. I used it on the carpeting in the 220 and it came out pretty good.
 
JimFromMD said:
I was just looking into this yesterday. Dont have access to the boat until the weekend, but according to my owners/parts manual, it says the threaded connectors on the HWH are 1/2". Hope to get my ducks in a row on saturday and order a kit, or go buy the pieces.
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The PEX tubing is 15mm. I made the mistake of purchasing a bypass "kit" not knowing any better. It was 1/2" connections. I wondered why the heck it was so loose...leaked like crazy! Then found out there were two sizes... Made my own bypass kit and also made a way for the freshwater pump to suck antifreeze direct from the bottle, bypassing the freshwater tank.

Tom
 
Two weeks ago at the Tampa Marriott. My 280DA is to the left, a 1996 40EC in the middle and a 2001 340DA to the right. The 40EC has been totally redone and is a nice boat. Boy does my 280 look small compared to that pig.

Tampa Marriott Our Boat Only small.jpg


Tampa Marriott with our 3 boats small.jpg
 
OK, I close on the 280 purchase this Sunday, and am having it delivered to my marina on Tuesday. I plan on meeting the hauler at my marina and will take the helm as he backs the boat down the ramp. I'm a bit concerned, as I'm not at all familiar with the boats operation. Basically, can I just turn the batteries on, run the blower, start the engine, and go on my way? Of course, I'll remember to put the drain plug in....I hope! I plan on taking it for a short "shakedown cruise" and drop anchor to go over some on the onboard systems, before attempting a docking. Anything important I should know about?
 
Danny Troy said:
Basically, can I just turn the batteries on, run the blower, start the engine, and go on my way? Of course, I'll remember to put the drain plug in....I hope!
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That's about it for getting on your way....don't forget to lower the drive from the trailering position. Get familiar with the breakers in the cabin too. For example, the radio is not obvious...the breaker needs to be on as well as the helm switch.
 
Danny, while it is out, it may be a good time to change the anodes and drive fluids and check all the bellows. Depending on the trailer setup, you may have to let some anchor line out and lay the anchor up on the bow. At least i have to or it hangs up on the winch post. Enjoy it!
 
Dan go on the SR site and download the owners manual and parts book for your boat. You might as well be ready for the future stuff that might pop up and the manual might be useful to read prior to delivery.
 
Now that you have a BIII, they need to be treated differently than alphas. DO NOT start the engine with the drive in the trailer position. The clutch mechanism is buried in the middle of the drive, so even in neutral the drive shaft and upper gear case assembly is spinning. The angle puts stress on the gimbal joint and the upper gear cluster. The PO of our boat apparently did not follow this practice and I have the canceled checks that prove its a bad idea.

Put the trim tabs up, you may never need to use them again. The 280 is pretty well balanced hull and unless you have waves, or wind or a lot of guests, it will ride true.

Weather looks rainy here in Boston for early next week, hope you get better conditions.

Henry
 
Thanks for all the good advice. It will be going from saltwater to fresh, and only for about a month before it gets hauled for the winter. The anodes look good enough to last for that period, and I'll put new magnesium anodes next year.

I'm pretty much familiar with the operation of the trim tabs, since I had them on the 220. I really enjoyed having the Bennett auto tab system, and if I see I need to use the tabs often, I'll add that system next year.

The anchor fits well, without hitting the trailer.

I was there when it was hauled for the bottom inspection. Funny, although the trailer was bought with the boat, the engine has a hull mounted raw water pickup/strainer that didn't line up on the trailer. We were not able to pull the boat onto the trailer bunks without damaging the water intake. It was exactly where the bunk rested. We had to notch out a good 18" - 24" of bunk on that side, as to not damage the strainer. I guess the hull intake was added years after the last time the trailer was used. The marina used slings, and probably stored the boat on blocks prior.

The 280 is a completely different animal, as compared to an '89 220. There will be much more to learn (and play with!).... and yes, I already downloaded and printed a copy of the manual. Of course, I'll wait till the last minute to peruse it!
 
Well, the launch went well this morning, or at least after I jumped the dead batteries with a booster pack. Does anyone know why the batteries would go dead after sitting on land for a week, with the battery switch off? The fridge was left on, but I thought it cuts off with the battery switch. I didn't check that today, but I will tomorrow. Either that, or I should invest in two new batteries. I need to see just how old the batteries are, and if more that 4 years old, I'll get a pair from my local Costco.

I was very satisfied with the performance from the 496. After trimming, I was able to get 41mph, verified on GPS. I will probably coax out another mph or two, with some fine tuning the trim. Sea Ray was right on the money when they advised me the boat would do 41mph to 45mph.

It took me a while to figure out what switch does what. The water pump switch really threw me, since it has a symbol, instead of a word description. The manual didn't help much, since they said the switch was on the main power panel in the cabin. On my boat it's on the helm instrument panel.

I put up the full camper canvas, and found that the front glass, over the windshield, was leaking at the bottom of the "U' zippers. Is there any fix for this, short of permanently closing off the zippers with some sort of silicone?

I didn't mess with the generator. That's on the agenda for tomorrow. I know it can be started from the ER. There is also a switch on the main power panel. What is the recommend way to start it?

I hope you guys don't mind these questions, and as you can tell, I haven't thoroughly gone through the user's manual. There's a heck of a lot of reading there!
 
I start my genny from the main power panel down below. Turn on the bilge blower from the helm or the main power panel and clear out the bilge. Turn the middle rocker switch to On. Press and hold the far left rocker switch to Preheat for 3-4 seconds then switch up to Start and hold until the genny starts. Let the genny warm up before you put in under load.
 
I always started my gen from inside the cabin too. I'm not sure if the panel changed from '03 to '08 but the '08 had a blower switch next to the generator control. I'm 99% certain that the refrigerator runs on battery power so that is probably the reason for the drained batteries. You will likely want to start with a fresh set anyway....they are cheap enough unless you go with AGM's. I added the Optima Blue Tops to mine and I was able to go from dawn to dusk and beyond on battery power....spendy but worth it in my opinion.
 
Thanks for that info, I'd much prefer to start it from the cabin. That engine hatch weighs a ton, which brings me to the next question. If it appears too heavy, does that mean the struts need replacement? Should it be all that heavy if the struts are working correctly?
 
Any tips on how to go about greasing the coupler? As we all know, access to the rear of the engines is difficult. I have always had it done before but figured I wuld give it a shot. Thanks
 
Long, skinny arms and a battery powered grease gun. All of which I don't have. That being said, how much damage can occur putting on 100 hours with no greasing? I guess I will find out next month when I pull the drives off.
 
OK, next question on my new to me 280..... I thought my AC was working, but turns out the weather is cool enough that it fooled me. I went and checked the hull, and sure enough, no water is flowing through the system. I supposed it lost it's prime while stored for the two weeks it was out of water. How do you prime the Cruisair AC unit? I checked the ER and didn't see a seacock for the AC. I don't know exactly where the hull pickup is, but it should be clear, considering the bottom was just pressure washed.
 
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