New trojan 400 owner. Lots of questions

[Trojan400TX]

I have looked over the various posts and figured with the wealth of questions that I have, it'd make sense to make a new thread since I'm not finding answers specific to my model in other threads.
I just bought a 1981 trojan 400. I know very little about the boat but I know she floats and has potential. Over the next month or so I will be going over each of the boats systems to find out what I'm working with.
I figured a good place to start is shore power. My first question is "I have one of the 2 shore power hook ups stuck in the socket and someone just cut the cable. I assume it welded itself in place. Where do I start? My intuition says to turn off all of the breakers and hook up the second shore power line then one by one turn on breakers and see if there are any shorts? Is this the correct way to do things? I know that I can pay someone to do all this but I want to do it myself so that I can learn each system and have a good knowledge of my boat. Am I correct in thinking shore power is the first step to assessing this boat and if so what should I do to start going over it? Please forgive my ignorance and be patient with me as I learn but I know this vessel has the potential for a second life with me and want to make it happen".
I'm hoping I can find someone familiar with my boat who can help me through this process of getting her back up and running

[Flyboy]

Well first off, I would remove the shore power and get the stuck cord out of the socket. You should be able to remove the shore power socket and then try to remove the cord or purchase a new shore power socket. Once this is completed you can check for shorts in the system and if not shorts present themselves hook up the shore power and start figuring out what goes where.

[prowlersfish]

I would fix the cord & socket first . Most the time when a cord and socket do this its due to a bad connection . A bad connection causes a lot heat and will melt /weld the connector .


Are you sure its a 1981 Trojan 400 not a 12 meter or F40 ? I don't believe they called any Trojan 400 back in 81 . Edit The F40 is a model# 400 so I assume its a F40 ? Nice boats BTW


Congrats on the New Boat and good luck . OH and welcome to the site

[rickalan35]

Welcome aboard 400TX

Congrats on the new buy.

Rick

[sluggo]

well I see you already found this!! FWIW I had a Trojan and use to post here a lot, these guys are great , and their knowledge helped me a bunch!! FWIW there's no way I'd plug it in until both sides are fixed!!

[Trojan400TX]

I would fix the cord & socket first . Most the time when a cord and socket do this its due to a bad connection . A bad connection causes a lot heat and will melt /weld the connector .


Are you sure its a 1981 Trojan 400 not a 12 meter or F40 ? I don't believe they called any Trojan 400 back in 81 . Edit The F40 is a model# 400 so I assume its a F40 ? Nice boats BTW


Congrats on the New Boat and good luck . OH and welcome to the site

It says 400 on the side of the boat. It may be an f40 but it says 400 so I'm assuming

[Trojan400TX]

What is the stock battery size for this vessel? It has 2 different batteries in it.

What is the max capacity for this vessel? There isn't a coast Guard capacity placard.

Is it unusual for this boat to have dual mercruiser 330s? Since they normally had crusaders does this mean there was an engine swap at one time?

More questions to come as I get further into this project

Thank yall so much for your help

[Trojan400TX]

Also, is there a way to have this forum email me when I get a reply? I had no clue that I had replies until someone in another forum told me

[Trojan400TX]

Also, is there a way to have this forum email me when I get a reply? I had no clue that I had replies until someone in another forum told me

Nevermind. I think I changed the settings. We will see if it worked next reply I get

[jhalb]

Welcome, this is your email test.

[Trojan400TX]

Welcome, this is your email test.

It worked. Thank you very much.

[Flyboy]

Do not know about the batteries or engines, but as to capacity, larger boats do not list capacity, it is up to you to decide what is safe. There have been discussions about this before and the number of passengers that others think is safe varies widly. I have a 10 meter international and have had 14 people on by boat with no ill effects. Boats with fly bridges seem to have stability problems when the fly bridge gets loaded up. I'm sure others on the forum have boats similar to yours that can give you their experience.

[Flyboy]

Federal law requires boats less that 20 feet to have capacity tags. The NMMA requires manufacturers to have capacity tags on boats less than 26 feet.
There is a formula to calculate capcity and is as follows, it assumes a passenger weight of 150 lbs. Boat Length x Boat Beam at the transom divided by 15 = # of passengers. IMHO the number derived seems high.

[Trojan400TX]

Got a LOT done today.
Got the 50 amp shore power receptacle on the boat side replaced with a 30 amp socket. Connected the 30 amp cable to shore power and proceded to test all my circuits. Just about everything works including these AC units from 1981. There were a few problems I came across though.

First on electrical. The air conditioners blow cold but the seawater pump for the AC coolant isn't pumping water. It seems like the pump is running but no water is coming out of the sides of the boat.

Secondly my bilge pump switches don't work but in a bilge that has literally less than a 1/2 inch of water in it, I'd say that it's not doing too bad. The bilge pumps do work manually.

And the fresh water pump looks fairly new but it is not pumping. Plan on testing it further tomorrow.

Now on the motors. No water and very little residue in the water seperators. I got both of them to crank when I poured gas into the carbs but wouldn't stay running. The fuel pumps look fairly new so I checked the fuel filters. They're full of some kind of sand sediment. Left a filter out and put the bowl back on to see if it would fill up with fuel and it didnt. So either my gas tanks are empty and the gauges are wrong, the ball valves are somehow closed when they say empty, or there is a blockage in my fuel lines. This is the main issue that perplexed me.

The last issue I came across today is the steering. It appears to be a hydraulic system and it steers from the salon helm. BUT no steering from the flybridge wheel? There is a canister up there with 4 sight glasses and only 2 show red fluid. So I'm wondering if she just doesn't need more fluid. Now there's also a valve on top where you can hook up a bicycle pump. Does this system need to be pressurized with air above the fluid or what could be the culprit?

I appreciate yall joining me in this journey of getting her back up and running.

[prowlersfish]

You replaced a 50 amp with a 30 amp ? Be carful of the load you put on it as your breakers are for 50 amp . Also most 50 amps are set up for 250 volt . So if you have anything using 250 volt it will not work and could be damaged . This needs to be done right .

On your AC if its not pumping water it wont cool more then a few seconds and may (should) kick the breaker . Recheck this

On the fuel issue you could have stuck anti syphon valve at the fuel tank . I am assuming you have gas engines not diesels

On the steering you should have a gague on it I it calls for 40 psi But on mine I normally run 15-20 psi . A bike pump works well min fluid level is at the 2nd sight glass full is at the top of the 3rd .