Looks great. The platform was the best upgrade to my boat yet.

 

looks awesome!

 

Looks great Ken! Size does matter. I'm glad I could help. Enjoy it.

Well it's all done, after seeing Dave's (88dancer300) extended swim platform I decided last year that I would be doing the same. Here is the before and after pictures. I have taken a lot of pictures and I will post them once I have a chance to put every thing all together.

Thanks for the help and encouragement Dave, you sure saved me a lot of time.

Ken

 

Nice addition. Love ours. MM

 

Looks great!

 

That is awesome! Where can I get one for my 270?

 

Dave, Ken: I've always admired that mod, and would love that on my Weekender. Can I inquire about the process and level of difficulty? Does one need to be a "glass expert" to tackle this?

 

Thank you every one for the complements

Dave, Ken: I've always admired that mod, and would love that on my Weekender. Can I inquire about the process and level of difficulty? Does one need to be a "glass expert" to tackle this?

The degree of difficulty is not that high, I would put it at about a 7.5 out of 10. One thing that is nice with fiberglass if you make a mistake you grind it off and start over. You don't need to be an expert on fiberglass at all.

Love it. I'm doing it next fall. Waiting for your pictures.

I would like to work with Dave to do a write up with pictures and instructions on doing this project. I have a lot of pictures and made notes as I went, I know there are things that I could have done in a different order and it would have made things faster and a little easier.

Ken

 

Love it. I'm doing it next fall. Waiting for your pictures.

 

That's a great addition to your boat. I've often wondered why boat makers don't just add something like that when the boats are built. Makes them so much more "user friendly".

Nice job and thanks for the pics.

GFC

 

I would love to do that to my boat. It would be nice to find an extra swim platform to practice on.

 

I agree the swim platforms are made too small, my fiend has a 32 Maxum and the original platform was just like mine to small to do any thing, a platform from swimplatform dot com was added and the extra room is great.

If you could find a swim platform off a 80's 300 grab it, I have not totaled my costs on this project but I think it will be under $500.00 maybe just over but I will post that this week.

Well there was one other thing that I added to the platform and tonight I got pictures. Now I know people either hate them or love them but I did add 5 blue LED's to the underside of the swim platform. I will connect them into the power for the cockpit lights, I pulled the bulbs in the Radar Arch have the top up and turn them on and they burn a hole through the tops plastic window. I did pick up 2- LED for the arch last summer but I'm not sure about installing them. These lights are not the $14,000 ones posted in another thread, they are not not even the $56.00 ones that some one else posted. These cost me $18.00 for 6 and that included $6.00 for shipping, stop laughing. I figured for the $18.00 investment what the heck, they are water proof and I got them from a motor cycle shop in BC Canada. The same lights can be bought on e-bay with shipping for around $12.00, some one posted a link and they are the same light.

These two pictures were taken about 30 minutes apart, it was still not totally dark out. In the first picture you can see the location of the lights and a reflection on the trim tab but the second picture really shows the effect a lot better.

Ken

 

I agree the swim platforms are made too small, my fiend has a 32 Maxum and the original platform was just like mine to small to do any thing, a platform from swimplatform dot com was added and the extra room is great.

If you could find a swim platform off a 80's 300 grab it, I have not totaled my costs on this project but I think it will be under $500.00 maybe just over but I will post that this week.

Well there was one other thing that I added to the platform and tonight I got pictures. Now I know people either hate them or love them but I did add 5 blue LED's to the underside of the swim platform. I will connect them into the power for the cockpit lights, I pulled the bulbs in the Radar Arch have the top up and turn them on and they burn a hole through the tops plastic window. I did pick up 2- LED for the arch last summer but I'm not sure about installing them. These lights are not the $14,000 ones posted in another thread, they are not not even the $56.00 ones that some one else posted. These cost me $18.00 for 6 and that included $6.00 for shipping, stop laughing. I figured for the $18.00 investment what the heck, they are water proof and I got them from a motor cycle shop in BC Canada. The same lights can be bought on e-bay with shipping for around $12.00, some one posted a link and they are the same light.

These two pictures were taken about 30 minutes apart, it was still not totally dark out. In the first picture you can see the location of the lights and a reflection on the trim tab but the second picture really shows the effect a lot better.

Ken

Ken, Looks nice - do you happen to have a link for the lights?

LK

 

Very nice mod.

Looks great.

I'd love mine a lil longer as well.
I cant even sit on my platform without haveing to lean forward due to the way the back of the boat angles out.

 

Ken, looks nice all done with the lights on. I have red ones under mine. I would like to work with you to present a complete how to on this mod. Between the two of us, we have plenty of photos and lots of hours of know how to share. I'm guessing I have about $800.00 ito mine, including the 6 new 1" stainless support tubes and new ladder. To anyone wanting to do this mod.... Pull the platform in the fall, then you have the whole winter to complete it. It is not rocket science at all, just basic carpenrty skills and a little learning curve on fiberglass and gelcoat. You can do this !

 

Dave I started writing it up with pictures, I will send you a file in Word 93-2003 format by Wednesday or Thursday. I have just under 100 pictures from start to finish, I believe the Sundancer/Weekender from 1984 or 1985 to 1990 used the same swim platform, that's a lot of boats. I wrote 4 pages last night with pictures on just taking it apart.

Ken

 

Very nice!

 

Ken, Very nice !!. :thumbsup: . :thumbsup:

 

Hey Wayne, if you rub hard enough on it it will get bigger.:lol:

 

Looks like a much more usable swimstep. Looks good.

 

They are not mounted underwater, they are mounted on the underside of the swimplatform 6" above the water. Fresh water and the lakes I boat in range from 45 to 80 degrees through my boating season.

Ken

 

I own an 88 270 Dancer and just got a quote from swimplatforms.com for $1795 + $275 for shipping. Where did you get yours done for $800??

 

In my garage but it was Dave that figured $800.00 mine was around $500.00 maybe a touch over. I did get a quote from them but I didn't like how it looked in their pictures, my quote on my 300 was a lot more than that, my shipping to Barrie Canada was $795.00 plus I would have to pay 13 percent tax and maybe duty to get it here and it is white, I matched the color of my boat. Bay Port Marine in Midland installed one last summer on a 40 foot boat, the total cost was $4,000.00 to the owner and he hates it, when the color is not close it really does look terrible. A few shades off would be OK but when you have a cream hull and the one going on is white it does not look nice.

Ken

 

My $800.00 estimate was including a new ss ladder and six new 1" ss support tubes.

 

Did you order yours, or did you build it yourself?

 

I built mine.

 

I thought I would give this thread a friendly bump. The boating season is coming to an end and people are thinking about projects. I went away twice in the boat this summer :smt089 with our daughters wedding and my health issues that's all we could muster. We did go down to the marina and spent a few nights on the boat and we did spend some days sitting on lawn chairs on the swim platform. I had started to write up the procedure in a word file and I got 6 pages in and the file became corrupt:smt089 could not add to it edit or copy. I had to sit down and write out the six pages again that's just over 1/2 way. I will finish the file before the end of October and then send it to Dave for his input then post it on Club Sea Ray. The LED lights have worked great they cast just the right amount of light to swim by (not that I went swimming) and to sit out at night. There are 4 other people in our marina that want to add them.
I hope this gives some of you some inspiration and I'm sure with the input from Dave and myself others will find this project easy and fun to do.

Ken

 

How is your write up coming along for the extended swim platform? I would like to do this on my 268 as a winter project.

 

You might check out www.swimplatforms.com, I love mine. Here is a shot of a 268: http://swimplatforms.contentpros.ne...ion/BoatMakeandModel/SeaRay/SeaRay268SundancerWeekender/tabid/2708/Default.aspx

MM

 

Those platfoms do look nice, and I have considered those as an option. I was looking to see how difficult it would be to create my own and then decide which directions to go.

 

I had less options as mine is custom molded for my boat in such a way I need no support legs. Very strong and an updated look. MM

 

I got mine from swimplatforms.com and LOVE it. Look at my albums for pics. I had it shipped to my dealer to install since the boat is still under warranty. Their prices are competitive and they are very customer-oriented. You should be able to do it with 2 people in 4-6 hours if you are handy -- but measure twice and cut once!

 

Ken- That swim platform looks great! I couldn't help noticing this thread since I have an '87 300 DB and our swim platforms are almost identical. I do have one question, did you move the swim platform up a couple of inches when you re-installed it? I have looked at the before and after pictures and the swim platform looks higher on the after photo. I'm not sure because the angle is slightly different in the pictures.

Please let me know as raising my swim platform is a project I am considering for next fall when I haul it out for new bottom paint. As nice as that extended swim platform looks I may have to consider doing that as well.

Thanks in advance.