Raising drives on 2004 Sundancer 300

[Herbieville]

Greetings,

I own a 2004 Sea Ray Sundancer 300. My manual shows a trailer switch for raising the engines. However, I don't have such a switch that works as described in the manual. When I had the boat hauled out last year, I remember the service technician mentioning he had to do something tricky with the controls to get the engines all of the way up. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks!
-Greg

 

[Bridog]

Greg, Good question. I know on my 300DA there is no "trailer switch" that I know of. Sure would be good to know in case of a soft grounding or real low water.

 

[jg300da]

My 2002 300DA had a separate trailer switch that raised both drives at the same time. However the newer controls use the same "trim" switch to do both tasks now. If you press the switch to raise (trim out) the drive you will feel a detent. Push the trim up harder and the switch will move further to allow the drive to go to the trailer position.

 

[Dave S]

On a single outdrive, the "trailer position" is achieved by pressing the trim button real hard. It has a second detent that allows the drive to raise up fully. I am not sure how the trim works on the throttle and shift controls for dual outdrives but I would think it must work in a similar fashion.:huh:

 

[neyc]

I have seperate switches for "trailer positions".

 

[Stray Cat]

I have individual tilt rocker switches in the center, just forward of the levers. I can tilt both drives from full down all the way until both drives bottom out the cylinders with the tilt switch on the lever. OR I can use the rocker switches to individually operate each drive.

One thing you will come to realize on the 300DA, the drives don't tilt all that much compared to some single drive boats. In fact, it took some getting used to feathering the tilt switch as compared to my single I/O 270.

If you refer to the S/R manual, it is pretty generic. It does a good job covering some things, but it is not as detailed as it could be.

 

[Bridog]

I have individual tilt rocker switches in the center, just forward of the levers. I can tilt both drives from full down all the way until both drives bottom out the cylinders with the tilt switch on the lever. OR I can use the rocker switches to individually operate each drive.

One thing you will come to realize on the 300DA, the drives don't tilt all that much compared to some single drive boats. In fact, it took some getting used to feathering the tilt switch as compared to my single I/O 270.

If you refer to the S/R manual, it is pretty generic. It does a good job covering some things, but it is not as detailed as it could be.

Ok I did some research today on the boat. I have these controls on my boat. When I pushed the trim button up on the throttle it only went up about half way (according to the trim indicators on the helm). Even when I pushed the top buttons it only went up half way. After reading this post I pushed the top half of the 2 buttons located on the top part of the throttle somewhat harder than normal and BAM...the trim went all the way up to the trailer position.:thumbsup:Good to know in real shallow water. Learn something new each day. Thanks Dave and Joe!

 

[Bel_Mar_Pointe]

Ok I did some research today on the boat. I have these controls on my boat. When I pushed the trim button up on the throttle it only went up about half way (according to the trim indicators on the helm). Even when I pushed the top buttons it only went up half way. After reading this post I pushed the top half of the 2 buttons located on the top part of the throttle somewhat harder than normal and BAM...the trim went all the way up to the trailer position.:thumbsup:Good to know in real shallow water. Learn something new each day. Thanks Dave and Joe!

Perfect timing......I was just about to research this topic on the web when I found this post. Never thought about pushing the rockers harder and the owners manual is well.......generic at best. :huh:

Thanks to all! :smt038

 

[Stray Cat]

After reading this post I pushed the top half of the 2 buttons located on the top part of the throttle somewhat harder than normal and BAM...the trim went all the way up to the trailer position.:thumbsup:Good to know in real shallow water. Learn something new each day. Thanks Dave and Joe!

Brian - What are you doing in shallow water! :grin:

I'm not certain how much tilt you can get away with before the U-joint(s) starts to suffer. I've always used my Smartview green to red trim indicator as a guide.

 

[Alex F]

Jeff,
We boat in the "bath tub". On a low tide we get spots on ICW with only 3' of depth. It's very easy to get soft grounding if you go 10' from the channel. The bay is mostly 4-7'.

Alex.