The big old 80's 340 owners thread

I removed mine, filled in the holes and put air horns up on the radar arch. You have to run an air line up through the sides of the arch but it doable. I put the compressor in the cabinet under the helm seat.

There is nothing like the sound....and volume of air horns.
Thank you for the idea! I was kind of thinking about doing that. Seems like the arch is the easiest place to put a new mounting location. Did you have to remove the air line when you wanted to move the bench for access to the engine compartment below? Or Sundancer?
 
I removed mine, filled in the holes and put air horns up on the radar arch. You have to run an air line up through the sides of the arch but it doable. I put the compressor in the cabinet under the helm seat.

There is nothing like the sound....and volume of air horns.

I already think that I'm cooking brain cells every time I turn on the radar so maybe a little hearing loss on top of that would not be much worse! :p
 
Has anyone on here replaced the original horns on the express cruiser? Did some research online and they do not make the model anymore. I am scratching my head because the original horns have two wires coming through the deck and up into the back of the horns so the base seals the wires and holes. All the new replacement ones I’ve found have exposed wires and I can’t get access from below due to the headliner.
Any and all help/ideas greatly appreciated!

On my dancer there's access to the horns if you remove the speaker in the cabin mid stbd side. Not sure if yours is in the same location as it's express but worth a peak.
 
Thank you for the idea! I was kind of thinking about doing that. Seems like the arch is the easiest place to put a new mounting location. Did you have to remove the air line when you wanted to move the bench for access to the engine compartment below? Or Sundancer?
Sundancer
 
Didn’t look like they didn’t take care of the engines
What did the rest of the boat look like? If the rest of the boat was nice maybe the engine room appearance was just neglected. Was it not nice enough to invest in a survey?
 
On my dancer there's access to the horns if you remove the speaker in the cabin mid stbd side. Not sure if yours is in the same location as it's express but worth a peak.
Good call!! That would be perfect I didn’t look there, if I can gain access I can run my wires through no problem. I’m going to look into that. Thanks!
 
No luck with getting access through the speaker. I can feel the wire in the headliner it comes down just between the two lights and then goes back behind the wooden chase. Not sure what I’m going to do. Seems like two options are pull the whole chase down and pull the headliner back a little to gain access or just cut the wires at the deck fill with epoxy and reroute the horn to the arch.
 

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Hi I am in the process of ripping out the rotted floor in my cabin and also replacing my water tank. The tank is actually not leaking but everytime my fresh water runs, it clogs the mesh strainer with gray gritty particles which i think can only be the inside of the tank coming apart. Also the water in the tank stinks like sulfur. Has anyone else had this happen or have any idea what else it could be? I am looking for a poly replacement tank thats the same size or close to the same size so I dont have to modify the hole its in. Does anyone know of a company that makes one that fits or a direct replacement for these year sea rays or does it have to be custom? I checked Great Lakes Skipper and a few other websites for what they have in stock but nothing looks like it's going to fit. Thanks a lot
 
Snapon24, I have a 1988 dancer so it may be a little different. Had the same aluminum tank symptoms you have and mine eventually leaked. Couldn't get it out of the cabin in one piece so went to work with a sawzall. Came out in three pieces. I then went Ronco plastics in Santa Ana, california.
Look on their website and you should be able to find something similar your way. I bought two plastic tanks from their standard size/stock and had them place fittings as I instructed. Amazing to watch, they just hook up a high speed drill to the fitting and rotate it rapidly against the tank. It heats up from the friction and basically heat welds them. I set the tanks end to end with a low coupling and short hose and then a high coupling with hose for the vent. With two tanks I could get them into the cabin and actually ended up with more capacity. that has been 15 years ago with no problems.
 
Snapon24, I have a 1988 dancer so it may be a little different. Had the same aluminum tank symptoms you have and mine eventually leaked. Couldn't get it out of the cabin in one piece so went to work with a sawzall. Came out in three pieces. I then went Ronco plastics in Santa Ana, california.
Look on their website and you should be able to find something similar your way. I bought two plastic tanks from their standard size/stock and had them place fittings as I instructed. Amazing to watch, they just hook up a high speed drill to the fitting and rotate it rapidly against the tank. It heats up from the friction and basically heat welds them. I set the tanks end to end with a low coupling and short hose and then a high coupling with hose for the vent. With two tanks I could get them into the cabin and actually ended up with more capacity. that has been 15 years ago with no problems.
Thanks for the reply. That sounds great. Ill check them out. Mine came out in one piece no problem so maybe theyll have something close to a direct replacement for mine. Actually after inspecting mine, I found that the tank was already replaced in 1998 and its bad again. Hopefully a poly tank will outlast the boat at this point.
 
What size wrench do I need to adjust the prop shaft stuffing boxes? I cant get an adjustable wrench in there. Are they the same size as the rudder shaft? Its on a 86 Sundance 340 with vdrives.
Bigsky
Go to yorkdesignandfab.com (you can also find them on Amazon by searching for “stuffing box wrench” I think)
I got a 3 1/2 wrench for the shaft stuffing boxes on my 83 SVR 310 and love it. Was about $45 but is the perfect tool for the job. The other alternative is to cut the handle off an old pipe wrench (since they are too long to use in the area under your engines if you have V drives like I do) but I highly recommend York. Great people to deal with. If you order a 3 1/2” wrench and it is the wrong size they will swap it out as long as you can figure out the size you need.
 
Family Time is on the market. Look in the classified forum
 
Before I go tracing wires, which I fully expect the final answer to be....thought I would ask. Understand I am a nube to these boats so this will likely be seen as a dumb question...

I have flipped every switch I can find to try and turn on the underwater lights beneath the swim platform with no luck. I suspect they are not factory, but wanting to make sure I am not missing some secret switch to make them come on if there is a common method. Thoughts?
 
Before I go tracing wires, which I fully expect the final answer to be....thought I would ask. Understand I am a nube to these boats so this will likely be seen as a dumb question...

I have flipped every switch I can find to try and turn on the underwater lights beneath the swim platform with no luck. I suspect they are not factory, but wanting to make sure I am not missing some secret switch to make them come on if there is a common method. Thoughts?

Greetings Erik-
Definitely not factory. I would expect them to have been wired in to one of the 'ACC' breakers at the helm. Regretfully, you may be on your your way to wire tracing.
 
Before I go tracing wires, which I fully expect the final answer to be....thought I would ask. Understand I am a nube to these boats so this will likely be seen as a dumb question...

I have flipped every switch I can find to try and turn on the underwater lights beneath the swim platform with no luck. I suspect they are not factory, but wanting to make sure I am not missing some secret switch to make them come on if there is a common method. Thoughts?

Consider the lights may be bad as well. Can you contact the the PO and ask?
 
While I am certainly a newbie to Sea Ray...and have owned all of one for less than a year...

Man do I love this boat. I have actually come to love the older lines of my 80's vintage Sea Ray over the newer curvy style. And yes, things are certainly dated on mine with many upgrades needed...but there is something about an older boat that just makes me love it even more.

No point to this post other than loving boats. :)

Oh...and nothing wrong with hearing those 454 carbureted motors...oh yes.
 
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Consider the lights may be bad as well. Can you contact the the PO and ask?

In a lucky coincidence, while at a fuel dock this past weekend, a lady walked over to the boat and was all smiles and said she was so happy to see her old boat. Previous, previous owner of my boat. Wow, what a wealth of information - including the (hidden) switch for the platform lights! Funny how things turn out
 
While I am certainly a newbie to Sea Ray...and have owned all of one for less than a year...

Man do I love this boat. I have actually come to love the older lines of my 80's vintage Sea Ray over the newer curvy style. And yes, things are certainly dated on mine with many upgrades needed...but there is something about an older boat that just makes me love it even more.

No point to this post other than loving boats. :)

Oh...and nothing wrong with hearing those 454 carbureted motors...oh yes.

I don't mind the smooth flowing lines of the newer boats but tend to like the sharper angles of our vintage of boats a bit more as well.

Had one of these as a kid and to me its in a similar vein....
upload_2021-6-3_7-39-41.png
 

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