Official 280 Sundancer Thread

[ChiefScientist]

Does anyone have a lead on a replacement microwave for the baby slyvania? I'm on the second one now and it's acting up now. It never had enough power to pop microwave popcorn well. If anyone replaced theirs with a better unit, I would love the details.

 

[Tonka Boater]

Does anyone have a lead on a replacement microwave for the baby slyvania? I'm on the second one now and it's acting up now. It never had enough power to pop microwave popcorn well. If anyone replaced theirs with a better unit, I would love the details.

Do a Google search for RV appliances and you will get a lot options. I agree, I have never been able to pop popcorn in that worthless microwave.

Here are the dimensions of my Sharp microwave...I'm sure the Sylvania is the same: 18 1/8”(W) x 10 7/8”(H) x 13 7/8”(D)

 

[Burls]

What's better? 4.3's or 5.0's?.... JUST KIDDING
Seriously, I’m in the market for a 280 DA and spent much of the weekend reading this thread form the beginning. There is a tremendous amount of valuable info containing within this lengthy thread and it’s helped me a lot. Just wanted to drop a quick not of thanks to all of you. Stepping up from a 22 ft bow rider, and after months of analysis, I’ve narrowed my search to the 280 DA. Lots of reasons. The 280 is the perfect fit for my slip, and the SR dealer support in my area is outstanding. Other makes and models out there, and I’ve analyzed them all, but I keep coming back to the 280 DA. For what it’s worth, the 2 boats I’ll be pursuing in the coming weeks are an 06 and an 07 both with 5.0 B3’s, and a genny. Wish me luck.

 

[Half Off]

Burls, I have an '04 280 for sale. Twin 4.3's no genny.It is located at Dubuque, Ia. PM me if you would like more info.

 

[Tonka Boater]

What's better? 4.3's or 5.0's?.... JUST KIDDING
Seriously, I’m in the market for a 280 DA and spent much of the weekend reading this thread form the beginning. There is a tremendous amount of valuable info containing within this lengthy thread and it’s helped me a lot. Just wanted to drop a quick not of thanks to all of you. Stepping up from a 22 ft bow rider, and after months of analysis, I’ve narrowed my search to the 280 DA. Lots of reasons. The 280 is the perfect fit for my slip, and the SR dealer support in my area is outstanding. Other makes and models out there, and I’ve analyzed them all, but I keep coming back to the 280 DA. For what it’s worth, the 2 boats I’ll be pursuing in the coming weeks are an 06 and an 07 both with 5.0 B3’s, and a genny. Wish me luck.

Good luck! It's great that you did your homework and read through this whole thread too -- as you said, tons of useful info. I went to the boat show twice last week and looked at everything. I still think the '01 - '09 280 is the best all around boat in it's range even compared to the new ones. I went through a period where I wanted to downsize to a ski boat but I just couldn't do it. I love my 280 and don't see me getting rid of it unless and move to bigger water -- then I'll get a bigger boat.

Post pics if/when you make the purchase.

 

[Burls]

I too attended the Chicago Boat show (twice), and I keep coming back to the 01-09 280 DA. There are other features of other boats I liked better, but overall fit and finish, and dealer support keeps taking the search back to the 280. One thing that really scares me is that I've yet to be on the water aboard a 280. A freiend bought a beautiful brand new boat (diffrent mfr) and within 1 summer he relaized the ride was horrible (rocked back and forth and made everyone on board a little sea sick). I've seen similar ride comments on the 260 DA reviews, but everyone seems pretty happy with their 280's.

 

[floriduramax1]

My v-6's do fine as long as I don't let the Admiral pack for a week trip to Bahamas!! I do like the room in the ER...


I sea trialed a 260 when I was looking and it turned me off quick! The 280 is nice boat that is still very comfortable to trailer. Mine might be getting a new home now that I have a 70 footer to use. But, with as much as I have done to mine, I'm a little "attached" to her. I have the dinette upgrade 60% complete. I might keep her to just make weekend trips to the west coast:huh:

 

[Tonka Boater]

I too attended the Chicago Boat show (twice), and I keep coming back to the 01-09 280 DA. There are other features of other boats I liked better, but overall fit and finish, and dealer support keeps taking the search back to the 280. One thing that really scares me is that I've yet to be on the water aboard a 280. A freiend bought a beautiful brand new boat (diffrent mfr) and within 1 summer he relaized the ride was horrible (rocked back and forth and made everyone on board a little sea sick). I've seen similar ride comments on the 260 DA reviews, but everyone seems pretty happy with their 280's.

The 280 has an excellent ride and stability. It doesn't have any of the reported issues of the 260DA -- even in rough conditions it feels solid and stable.

 

[Burls]

Tonka - thanks for the confirmation. That helps.
Floriduramax - If you saw my wife pack for a day outing, i'll bet you'd feel better about what yours brings for a week.

Truthfully, I think the 4.3's would suite me. Just happens that of the hundreds of hulls i'm kickin, the 2 boats that made the final list happne to have 5.0's. If these don't pan out, I'll keep looking and will not limit my power plant options. Thanks guys!

 

[floriduramax1]

Tonka - thanks for the confirmation. That helps.
Floriduramax - If you saw my wife pack for a day outing, i'll bet you'd feel better about what yours brings for a week.

Truthfully, I think the 4.3's would suite me. Just happens that of the hundreds of hulls i'm kickin, the 2 boats that made the final list happne to have 5.0's. If these don't pan out, I'll keep looking and will not limit my power plant options. Thanks guys!

Ha, that's funny. Boat and trailer were around 14.5k pounds and the trailer weighs 1100! Once on plane she still ran 38mph with ease.

 

[Bucit]

the 4.3's are adaquate but if I found the 5.0 with the B3 set up I would go take it. You will lose space in the ER but getting up on plane with a fully loaded boat is better.

 

[bajturner]

I only have one full season with the 280, but I never had trouble getting on plane with the 4.3s/Alpha-1s, even with a BIG load. My best example would be a boys boating/camping weekend where at one point there were 7 guys on the boat (ranging from 180 to 300lbs!); 4 large, loaded coolers; four 24s of beer; 2 cases of water; kit bags for 8; full water; pretty much full fuel; plus all the regular food, tools, and stuff that is typically on the boat for our family of 4. With this load I got onto plane with not too much drama while pulling an 8th guy on a tube. Oh, we also had a 14' canoe strapped to the swim platform!

Trim full down, tabs full down, eased the speed up then pedal to the metal until up. Once on-plane, tabs up, trim to 2 or 3, throttle-back, and the performance wasn't a lot different than when the boat was empty, although fuel consumption at cruise was a bit worse.

That being said, I do like the way Bravo-IIIs shift and hook-up. The cone clutch is a lot more elegant than the dog-clutch. On the other hand, I would rather pay to repair an Alpha-1 if I hit something!

I also like the boat I tried this past summer with DTS. Very smooth throttle response and some cool digital features.

It would be interesting to me to compare the same 280 with 5.0s and 4.3s, both with BIIIs and DTS.

 

[Bucit]

Wow, if I have a full load, gas, water, coolers and 6+ people on the boat (of which all will sit in the back seating) my 280 has a rough time getting on plane. There have been times that I have to move one or two people up front with me.

 

[Half Off]

I only have one full season with the 280, but I never had trouble getting on plane with the 4.3s/Alpha-1s, even with a BIG load. My best example would be a boys boating/camping weekend where at one point there were 7 guys on the boat (ranging from 180 to 300lbs!); 4 large, loaded coolers; four 24s of beer; 2 cases of water; kit bags for 8; full water; pretty much full fuel; plus all the regular food, tools, and stuff that is typically on the boat for our family of 4. With this load I got onto plane with not too much drama while pulling an 8th guy on a tube. Oh, we also had a 14' canoe strapped to the swim platform!

Trim full down, tabs full down, eased the speed up then pedal to the metal until up. Once on-plane, tabs up, trim to 2 or 3, throttle-back, and the performance wasn't a lot different than when the boat was empty, although fuel consumption at cruise was a bit worse.

That being said, I do like the way Bravo-IIIs shift and hook-up. The cone clutch is a lot more elegant than the dog-clutch. On the other hand, I would rather pay to repair an Alpha-1 if I hit something!

I also like the boat I tried this past summer with DTS. Very smooth throttle response and some cool digital features.

It would be interesting to me to compare the same 280 with 5.0s and 4.3s, both with BIIIs and DTS.

I'm with bajturner on this, after using the tabs to get up on plane I adjust everything up and out.

 

[jason78]

Wow, if I have a full load, gas, water, coolers and 6+ people on the boat (of which all will sit in the back seating) my 280 has a rough time getting on plane. There have been times that I have to move one or two people up front with me.

I can be pretty certain it would take me a bit to plane off with the kind of load he is describing and I have the V8s. I think what it comes down to is a difference in opinion as to what is an acceptable length of time to plane off after the throttle goes down. I too have heard a number of comments about the 4.3s taking longer to plane especially with a load so what you reported seems to be consistient with what others have reported. I am glad I got the V8s for the extra power and faster planing but I think I would have been fine with the V6 engines too.

Edit- To add, I don't think it has ever been suggested by anyone that a T-4.3MPI 280 would not plane in a load, just that it takes more effort than with the V8s, which is a logical conclusion.

 

[Bucit]

Maybe it's a 2005 thing. I know Donnie (floridamax) has the same boat and set up as me along with the same mind set as far as planing goes.

 

[floriduramax1]

Maybe it's a 2005 thing. I know Donnie (floridamax) has the same boat and set up as me along with the same mind set as far as planing goes.

Yup! Full loaded=much longer planing time!! My engines are in tip top shape and she runs perfect, with the exception of the extreme hot start up! Maybe he's propped different. With all things being equal, I would have to see that in person. I have been on several set up like mine and they were all about the same. Now, as Jason points out, maybe the time it takes to plane when full loaded is acceptable to Baja. I am ok with it but I would rather not look at the sky for as long as it takes to get on plane loaded! It's like asking folks about fuel mileage on their Diesel pickups....lol



BTW...my slow planing time was experienced when we were packed for a week long trip to Bimini and was just my wife and I. I couldn't imagine having 6 full size adults:wow:

 

[Bucit]

Even if it's a sunny day it sucks staring up at the sky for what seems like an eternity. I wonder if 4 blade props would help us out of the hole? I'm not concerned about about top speed where we burn 30+ gallons an hour!

 

[Kiwi Graham]

I have a 2002 boat with 2010 4.3 and B 1 legs.

With just myself, wife and children on board I'm out of the hole and planing in a very short time (seconds). Add a few more people and there is a noticable 'delay' (just a few seconds more) in getting on the plane but certainly its no struggle. I have to 'no wake' fo about 500 meters through trots of moorings before I gas the throttles, not full throttle. Set them at 4,000 and up she pops then back off to 3,300 - 500, trim the legs out, balance with the tabs and she sits at 50K no worries.

I too am wondering if the cost of 4 blade props $1800 - $2000 could be worth the slower planing speed (better fuel economy) and better stern lift (easier hole shot). Not interested in top speeds.

 

[bajturner]

I'll try to add some more detail from memory (the lake is frozen solid!) so we can compare notes more accurately...I am not 100% confident about the speeds, times, and rpm since it's been months since we were on the water, and even then it's more by feel and varies with the load on the boat and conditions.
- With a big load, I pick up speed at around 2500-3000 rpm for a bit, until my speed stops noticeably climbing. If I remember well, my speed gets to around 15mph or so after maybe 10 seconds or so.
- The bow rise is not too bad with the tabs fully down. It is substantial and awkward if the tabs are up.
- Once moving with a little momentum, ease the throttle to full and I'm on-plane in somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds, I would guess. Jam it to full and you get nowhere as the props cavitate/ventilate (I don't really know how to tell them apart). My engines top-out at just under 4700rpm port / 4800rpm starboard (have not been able to figure out why the port is lower...everything else within spec). They will redline if trimmed up at all and you apply throttle too quickly.
- I can tell you that after getting tab indicators, what I used to think was full tabs down was not full tabs down; it takes longer than I thought, particularly if lowering them while not at rest. Also, one wasn't going down all the way and would creep up as speed increased because of debris in the valve (you should check this).
- The boat is extremely sensitive to outdrive trim. This is important. If I forget and leave it at even just 1, it can make the difference of getting on plane or plowing indefinitely (even with a light load).
- Kit bags go on the v-berth, cases of drinks under the v-berth. A cooler or two may go under the dinette or on the floor of the cabin. Perhaps this helps with weight distribution.
- The smoothness of building speed when the tabs are down is important to have a nice transition to plane.
- The props are stock.
- New bottom paint and clean bottom, props, and drives.
- Top speed regular load is around 43-44mph GPS. I think I hit 45mph for about 10 seconds in light chop with a tail-wind once!
- Fresh water lake.

I see some comments that suggest doubts of my claims. I'm not trying to deceive anyone, there would be no purpose in that. I may be remembering the time durations a little inaccurately, but not the fact that getting on-plane did not ever create any kind of an unusual challenge or disappointment. I can tell you that with me, my wife, my 5 and 7 year old kids and our crap for the weekend, I don't even think about the process of getting on-plane and rarely use the tabs. I apply throttle at about 80% and go then adjust everything until my display reads 1.6mpg or better (in good conditions), all in what seems like 15-20 seconds.

I was trained on a 39ft Cruisers with V-drives, so maybe my expectations are different in terms of getting up on plane. I know when my buddy who has a bowrider took a turn at the helm, he thought there was something wrong with the boat. Also, from time to time I hear grumbling about getting on plane from people at the marina who have recently upgraded from ski boats and bowriders to their first cruiser. Maybe it is an expectation thing, but if they are trying to operate it like a bowrider, that is the bigger problem. Maybe my boat should be faster at getting on-plane and I don't know it!