Official 280 Sundancer Thread

gsmallwood said:
I broke the base on my fold down arch mast light. Can you order just the base part, the part that actually screws to the arch.
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You are better off replacing the entire unit with an LED unit. Just replaced mine with a unit using the same drill holes.
 
searay495 said:
Hi Bucit, it's the single slant back. Practically new!!
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By royal blue do you mean dark navy, or the other blue they came with.. I have the lighter blue.. not sure Id call it royal, but definitely not the Navy blue colour. anyways I may be interested if its the right colour.
 
Question about drainage. What all goes into the septic holding tank? I figured it would be just the toilet/head but it looks like the shower, galley sink, head sink, and up top the two sinks all drain into there.. am I correct or no? Somehow my holding tank has filled up without using the head more then 3 times... hmmmm.
 
breakitout said:
Question about drainage. What all goes into the septic holding tank? I figured it would be just the toilet/head but it looks like the shower, galley sink, head sink, and up top the two sinks all drain into there.. am I correct or no? Somehow my holding tank has filled up without using the head more then 3 times... hmmmm.
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You may have a boat that was ordered to operate on lakes where there is a zero-dumping requirement. Mine was ordered that way to operate on Lake George NY. As you pointed out, EVERYTHING goes into the holding tank, and I learned that the hard way when I picked up the boat and tried to empty the old untreated water out of the fresh water tank. It overstuffed the holding tank and I found blue-water (luckly no solids!) in the shower sump. Took me a bit to figure out that it had backpressured from the holding tank. Also you'll need a new tank vent filter if you overstuff the holding tank.

My solution was to leave the plumbing the way it was, except I had a new through hull added on the port side near the holding tank (not sure where your holding tank is in the 280). Now the grey water all goes to the shower sump like before, and then the shower sump box pumps the grey water overboard. The cost of the new through-hull was less than trying to rework all the sinks to go to their original "standard" drain fittings over the side.

There was another thread on here recently where someone successfully re-routed their drain lines to the original configuration, so it can be done. Based on SR customer service responses / plumbing diagrams, it was over my head at the time being new to the boat, and outside my budget to have it redone by my local mechanic/dealer. Looking back with 3 seasons of experience/familiarity with the boat, it may be something I could have tackled. I don't regret my solution however, as it works just fine.
 
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JimFromMD said:
You may have a boat that was ordered to operate on lakes where there is a zero-dumping requirement. Mine was ordered that way to operate on Lake George NY. As you pointed out, EVERYTHING goes into the holding tank, and I learned that the hard way when I picked up the boat and tried to empty the old untreated water out of the fresh water tank. It overstuffed the holding tank and I found blue-water (luckly no solids!) in the shower sump. Took me a bit to figure out that it had backpressured from the holding tank. Also you'll need a new tank vent filter if you overstuff the holding tank.

My solution was to leave the plumbing the way it was, except I had a new through hull added on the port side near the holding tank (not sure where your holding tank is in the 280). Now the grey water all goes to the shower sump like before, and then the shower sump box pumps the grey water overboard. The cost of the new through-hull was less than trying to rework all the sinks to go to their original "standard" drain fittings over the side.

There was another thread on here recently where someone successfully re-routed their drain lines to the original configuration, so it can be done. Based on SR customer service responses / plumbing diagrams, it was over my head at the time being new to the boat, and outside my budget to have it redone by my local mechanic/dealer. Looking back with 3 seasons of experience/familiarity with the boat, it may be something I could have tackled. I don't regret my solution however, as it works just fine.
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That makes sense thanks for the writeup. I do believe it was ordered as a zero dump boat, came from Lake George or Winni, somewhere up there. Its really frusterating actually.. especially the sinks as even rainwater as gotten in there during a shower now I have to get my tank pumped out all the time? :smt021 And whats this about a new filter? Sounds like a real PITA do I have to change that now or get away with just leaving it? Thanks.
 
The holding tank vent filter will stop working if the tank overflows gets the filter wet. Result will be a bad smell coming out of the vent. The filter is easy to change. There are many threads on this blog about cheaper alternatives to the Dometic OEM filter.
 
breakitout said:
That makes sense thanks for the writeup. I do believe it was ordered as a zero dump boat, came from Lake George or Winni, somewhere up there. Its really frusterating actually.. especially the sinks as even rainwater as gotten in there during a shower now I have to get my tank pumped out all the time? :smt021 And whats this about a new filter? Sounds like a real PITA do I have to change that now or get away with just leaving it? Thanks.
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Jack380ac has come up with a refillable filter on here sells them on here. There's another one called "Big Orange Filter" too. Changing it really isnt that hard at all.

Totally understand the frustration regarding the gray water system. Adding an extra through hull and re-directing the gray water through it instead of into the tank was the quick/less expensive fix. My best recommendation is until then, try to minimize the amount of water you send down the sinks. Shower on your swim platform. Do dishes in a small bucket/bin and dump that water over the side etc. Pumpouts really arent that bad either.
 
JimFromMD said:
Jack380ac has come up with a refillable filter on here sells them on here. There's another one called "Big Orange Filter" too. Changing it really isnt that hard at all.

Totally understand the frustration regarding the gray water system. Adding an extra through hull and re-directing the gray water through it instead of into the tank was the quick/less expensive fix. My best recommendation is until then, try to minimize the amount of water you send down the sinks. Shower on your swim platform. Do dishes in a small bucket/bin and dump that water over the side etc. Pumpouts really arent that bad either.
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Thanks for the help, this forum is awesome. I would have been lost as to why they did this, never knew some lakes had zero dumping laws. (bilge water is worse?) Ill probably be re-routing to a through hull from the shower sump similar to what you did, its the sinks that fill, rainwater and etc.
 
mpmiller said:
Just curious, why not just let them drain to the bilge?
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The main bilge where the engines are? I like my bilge to be D-R-Y. That way if there is a leak or anything it's immediately obvious. Additionally, I wouldn't want "crud" from the head/shower/galley sink getting pumped into the bilge. Just thinking about food/crubs/toothpaste/soapy water foam, etc... that would become a nasty mess pretty quickly.

Maybe I'm missunderstanding what you meant though? If you meant let everything drain into the shower sump bilge, that woudl work eventually once it overflowed the clear plastic shower sump box with the pump in it. It would flow over into the main sump well, but in my boat, that's a fairly large space. It would take quite a while for the backup pump in the larger (non shower box) area to kick on, and even then it would still get pretty gross after a little while I think.
 
Jim, missed your earlier post, so we may have the same recommendation. I haven't seen a lake configured boat, but my assumption was that everything was fed to the shower pump and then the sump had a line to the holding tank. Instead of running a new line, I would just add a thru hole near the holding tank (which is what I believe you did) and then plug the tank. I would also route the cockpit sink to the original thru hole if it is there.
 
Hi all

Owner of a 2005 280DA reporting in.

Just got the boat, pretty happy with everything so far. I'm new to boating so there's a lot to learn - this thread has been a great help in that regard!

I do have a few questions/concerns though.

Smartcraft nags me about "ENGINE DATA BUS" and "FAULT ‑ HORN". Also I can't see the power trim value for the starboard engine. Horn I'll have to replace, but what's with the data bus and the power trim?

How can I know if the trim tabs move at all? There's no indicator for them as far as I can see. If I switch on the power (not motors) and try to adjust the tabs, should I hear them moving? What about power trim, how can I tell for sure they work OK?

Again it's a beautiful boat and given the price I got it for, a few glitches are expected. Hope nothing major comes up...
 
Hello and welcome aboard!
I don't have Smartcraft so I can't be of any help there, but as far as your trim drive and tabs...you should be able to hear them go an and down. Also, gave someone stand on the dock and watch them work.

Have you found the secret compartment yet?! :)


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For trim tabs you can tell if they are working by how the boat responds when underway. When the engines are off you can also hear the motors. And you can also watch them move from the dock while someone presses the buttons.

Sorry Dooley by the time I typed this in one thumb push at a time, I had duplicated your post.
 
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gsmallwood said:
Mind telling me the part number or where you got it?
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Read about it on the forum somewhere. Atwood LED 3NM Anchor and Masthead Light. I purchased it on Amazon for $64.30. Works great. Screw holes align but need to weather proof with marine grade caulk.
 
Hey everyone. Question on the batteries. I have a generator so I have 3 batteries but I can't figure how which battery is number 1 and 2. Or how really the switches work.

So far I can see that just turning the main switch on I can light up the starboard engine but nothing else. If I turn that switch off and just put the selector to 1 or 2 it will only light the port engine. Then of course if I put the single selector on and then to either 1 or 2 or both I can light both engines. Right now when I put just the switch to 1 that battery is having an issue. But which battery in the compartment is battery 1?
 
On mine, the on/off switch is for my starboard engine and generator. The 1/2/both/off switch is for my 12v house and port engine. I have them set to both and on when running. When on the hook I turn the on/off to off (unless I am running my generator) and the house to 1 or 2 to control my usage.

I just disconnected one of the house batteries to identify which battery was 1 and which was two.
 
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