Official 280 Sundancer Thread

JimT said:
I bought my 280 SA a few weeks ago and have spent a lot of time getting to know the systems, quirks, etc. I noticed today that the bottom edge of my swim platform has only about two inches of clearance above the water at the end and where it attaches to the transom its below the waterline is about an inch above the bottom the platform. The boat passed a survey before inspection. There is no obviuos evidence that the platform was ever hit. I have a full tank of fuel and the fresh water tank w is topped off. The bilge is dry. Is it normal for the platform to sit so low to the water? Thanks in advance for the help.
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yes, with 2 engines and full tanks that is normal.
 
Not necessarily. Mine was doing the same thing and we forwarded pictures to Sea Ray and they agreed that it was not sitting right. They arrived today and after an hour of visual inspection in the water and a little running time they pulled the boat out and began removing equipment from the the transom, thinking that water was getting in somehow. I'll let you know what they find.
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ClayCEC said:
Not necessarily. Mine was doing the same thing and we forwarded pictures to Sea Ray and they agreed that it was not sitting right. They arrived today and after an hour of visual inspection in the water and a little running time they pulled the boat out and began removing equipment from the the transom, thinking that water was getting in somehow. I'll let you know what they find.
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Thats very troubling.
Did you have water in the bilge?
I have two photos that I took today and will try to upload. Can you post yours?
Thanks.
 
View attachment 6565

In this photo you can almost see that the end of the swim platform is about two inches out of the water. You can also see the waterline is about an inch above the bottom of the platform where it attaches to the transom. Does this look normal for two engines, genset and full tanks? Thanks again.
 
JimT said:
View attachment 6565

In this photo you can almost see that the end of the swim platform is about two inches out of the water. You can also see the waterline is about an inch above the bottom of the platform where it attaches to the transom. Does this look normal for two engines, genset and full tanks? Thanks again.
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no!!!
 
Yes, something is off. I estimate you are carrying around one thousand pounds of additional weight to get the boat that low in the water. I've seen probably 50 280's over the last 5 years and not one was sitting that low. Empty the water, holding and hot water tanks and take another picture. Any other very heavy items on the boat? Additional water or fuel tanks added? Bilge pumps working? Was there any fiberglass work done below the waterline? Also, be sure that the step is sitting directly under the rubrail with no gap between.
 
JimT said:
View attachment 6565

In this photo you can almost see that the end of the swim platform is about two inches out of the water. You can also see the waterline is about an inch above the bottom of the platform where it attaches to the transom. Does this look normal for two engines, genset and full tanks? Thanks again.
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It is probably about an inch lower than my 03 when fully loaded.
 
JimT said:
View attachment 6565

In this photo you can almost see that the end of the swim platform is about two inches out of the water. You can also see the waterline is about an inch above the bottom of the platform where it attaches to the transom. Does this look normal for two engines, genset and full tanks? Thanks again.
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That does not look normal. Here's a picture of mine for reference. Granted, I have a single 496 but the twins shouldn't be significantly different. A guy on the dock behind me has twins and we sit about the same.

img_5729.jpg


.
 
As far as I know there were no additional tanks added. There is very little equipment on the boat that was not original. Nothing heavy.
The bilge pump works and the bilge has only about a inch of water in it.
The surveyor inspected the hull visually and sounded with a hammer and found no problems. No obvious repairs below the waterline but it has bottom paint.
I will empty the tanks tomorrow and see if that makes a difference.
Thanks again.
 
Maybe it is a case of something missing up front, or something heavy in your trunk? In preperation for some "larger" guests I had re-distributed a tool kit that has become packed stuff and some other misc "junk" to the storage area under the v-berth, and it seems to have made a difference. Maybe just mental, but it makes me feel better. It really is an example in weight to the old saying...a penny saved is a penny earned...one pound up front is on less out back.
 
I have an 05 with twin 4.3s and it sits that low with 1/2 tank of water, and about the same with fuel. My bilge is BONE dry and the boat was surveyed not to find any moisture or visible repairs.

I do have lots of gear on the boat, but it is evenly distributed all throughout - actually mostly in the cabin area.


You have me thinking about the mounting of the platform. I'll run down to the boat this evening to see how close it is to the rubrail.
 
I've attached a couple of photos of our boat for comparison. The fuel and water tanks are about 3/4 full and the holding tank is 1/4 full. Normal "stuff" is scattered about the boat, but nothing major is on board. I also included a photo of the gen exhaust port. As low as it looks like you are setting, it might be getting close to the water line which could lead to other problems.

I also agree with PMC's previous post. The bilge should be bone dry. If it's not, there is a leak somewhere.
 

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Jim -
Yours is sitting as low as mine was before we pulled it out yesterday. The Sea Rays boys are back at it this morning so I hope to have some answers later. We had a pretty consistent drip coming from the port stern eye after we pulled it out which tells me there is water somehere in there. My bilge was taking on about 2-3 gallons of water after every use. We removed the rub rail above the swim platform yesterday and found no sealant, so we are thinking that when I slow down and the following wake catches up to the boat some water in getting in there, but the boat was sitting with teh stern low even with the bilge dry.

I will post what they find out.
http://clubsearay.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6571&stc=1&d=1249482024
 

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I located a photo of the boat taken when we did the sea trial four weeks ago. It was riding much higher then. The bottom of the platform was out of the water where it attaches to the platform. The boat had been in dry storage for several months and splashed that morning. Since then I have added 65 gallons of fuel and 30 gallons of water.
Sea Ray has some techs at the local dealer this week. They are going to come out either this afternoon or tomorrow. I agree with the Clay that it seems there must be water in the boat somewhere even if not in the bilge. However, it would need to be a lot of water though to have this effect. There are two other 280s in my marina and both sitting higher than mine. Thanks again.
 
I blew the fuse on the TV/DVD today while wiring an Artec digital converter. Its not the in line fuse behind the TV. Those are ok. Where is the fuse panel located that would have hold this fuse? Thanks.
 
JimT said:
I blew the fuse on the TV/DVD today while wiring an Artec digital converter. Its not the in line fuse behind the TV. Those are ok. Where is the fuse panel located that would have hold this fuse? Thanks.
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The TV can run from 12V DC or 120V AC. Do either work?

The 120V outlet is fed from the 120 V GFCI outlet over the cabin sink. The GFCI may need to be reset.
 
I'm not sure whether it will run off the 120v. I thought it was wired for 12v only. I had my laptop plugged into that outlet all day so I know it was working. I will double check tomorrow.
 
We have a 12V breaker panel on the starboard side of the boat just below the helm station. I managed to trip the breaker when doing the same install you are doing.
 
After taking every through hull fitting off looking for leaks they couldn't find anything. They weighed the boat and it is about 800 lbs heavier than Sea Ray says the "perfect" boat should weigh. However they say they allow a + or - of 400 lbs on that number so I still have 400 lbs above their maximum of unaccounted for weight, which appears to be in the stern. We'll see where we go from here.:smt017
 
Clay,
I have a feeling that we share the same problem. I am waiting for the dealer to call me today to set up an inspection. Thanks for the follow up.
 
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