Posted: October 09 2010 at 15:48 | IP Logged

hi all - just found out about the forum!   have a few questions. owned the boat since 1987 and it's been a great ride. it has the king size bed aft and i assume a standard 65 gallon water tank under the bathtub.    1) how do i get to the water tank?  leaking a bit and cant seem to break the code.  want to install a larger size collapsible water tank and get my aft-most bilge pump working again.   2) also anyone know a good source for a heat exchanger (454 chevy) for the starboard side engine.  thaks much and hope to check in frequently.

also posted to the 'cris craft' forum - ouch!!

Posted: October 22 2010 at 10:57 | IP Logged

Hi Onetrack,

Yup, sometimes it seems like a binto box to gain access. In many models at Sea Ray, there was never a consideration given to component access. At Sea Ray, the hull was in two parts: top and bottom. All components were loaded into the bottom part of the hull and the the top was installed without access hatchs and so-forth. This unfortunate method resulted in no access to many components. I am surprised that C.C.  may have resorted to this design shortcoming. The drill maybe to acertain if in fact, access is impossibe short of cutting it out. As in Sea Ray's case, S.O.P. of component repacement was to install a replacment (like a water heater) in a new location-  and just disconnect the defentive unit and leave it there. The decision may be have to made to remove the bathtub to get at the tank and a design necessary during reinstallation making it possible for the tub to be removed in case future access is needed, sometimes a tough call.

On the heatexchangers:

There is a whole industry that does this. Depends on there you are in the country to minimize shipping costs. It may make sense to pull you exchanger and ship/deliver it to either a radiator shop place or exchanger speciaist to size-up its condition. If it needs to be replaced, sometimes it makes sense to ship it to a supplier so they can match it exactly. Identifying your vessel's drive-line may eliminate having to shipping it out, but in any case, research needs to be done to lay out your choices. The whole thing is very doable. Take your time, lay it all out and this can get done with a minimum a fuss. I'm an engineer and handy, so this sort of thing is a straight forward deal. If you're not an engineer, it may take a bit more time to think it through, but is still certainly doable. 

best, Diver

Posted: November 07 2010 at 18:41 | IP Logged

hi Onetrack...if there are no other current 381 owners looking at this forum, maybe there is another forum out there?  Try the Boat US message boards, or even search classified ads to get in contact with other owners, at least they have their contact info, I am sure most would be happy to talk about their/your boats.

Good luck! 

Posted: May 02 2011 at 01:35 | IP Logged

Hello Onetrack

Regarding the fresh water tank, there is another 381 at our marina with a similar problem. It appears that CC put in the tank and then built the rest of the boat around it. Our local advisory board (read Kitbitzers) has concluded that the only way to get to this tank will be to strip out the aft cabin including the head and fwd. closet by the stairs. We are not sure the fuel tanks under the bunk may need to be removed also. It would probably be easier to remove a main engine. If (I ought to say when) this problem arises on my wife's boat, I think I would try to seal off the original fresh water tank and replace it with 2 or more smaller new ones in another location, eg. maybe under the fwd cabin floor or in the engine space fwd of the main engines. Should you decide to go this route, you might want to be sure to vent the new tanks.

A consideration is the type MSD on your boat. Again the wife's boat has 2 freshwater Purasans so our underway consumption of fresh water is probably significantly higher than units using seawater  This is probably late advice as I kind of hibernate from boats during the winter, but hopefully may help. I would sure like to know how this comes out for you as I figure I am looking down the gunbarrel on this problem also.