Crusader 350 XL Alarm Beep Interpretation

[Thekaj]

Coming home from the Memorial Day weekend trip, an alarm started going off in the dash of our 1995 325 Aft Cabin with 3550 XL Crusaders. It was always 8 short beeps, and it tended to come in clusters. First set of 8 beeps would sound off. About a minute or two would go by and the next set of 8 beeps would happen. Then after a few minutes, there would be 2-3 sets of 8 beeps in a row, before it would go a good 20-30 minutes before it would start again.

All the gauges, oil pressure, water temp, voltage, were showing just fine on both engines, and the boat wasn't acting any differently. This was over a 2.5 hour trip, where I kept the throttle at around 2,600 RPMs. So definitely not pushing it. It even happened again when I was running at near idle speeds in a no wake zone.

I'm hoping that the 8 beeps means that's a specific code, just like different beeps on a PC will point to a specific error, but am I just dreaming that up? I've been trying to Google an answer myself, but have come up empty. These are carbureted engines with no way to plug in and get the error code.

Anyone have any thoughts on what my boat was trying to tell me?

[Viper]

To eliminate other possibilities first, are you sure it's an engine alarm and not something else like a fume detector, fire suppression system, navigation display alarm, etc?

[Cooler]

Yea, I was thinking it may have been a GPS alarm. My Garmin beeps like that as I am approaching a waypoint. I have never heard anything on my 350XL's that are intermittent besides oil alarm when starting. But that is loud. Check your oil fill levels. Otherwise, check your settings on GPS for warning sounds. Good luck. Let us know if you find it. er

[bud37]

Just to add to the list from above......some CO monitors have an end of life alarm that would have 4 beeps then 4 beeps as an alarm..... check them out as well, you may have the remote alarm on the bridge.

But I would expect to hear that any time, not just when the boat is running unless you had CO in the cabin which is possible.

[Thekaj]

Thanks for the suggestions. The sound was definitely coming from the console on the flybridge. I even ran down into the salon to make sure. I can rule out the CO2 alarm, as we know exactly what that sounds like from experience. I think I can rule out the fuel vapor alarm, as that gauge also has a set of lights that will change if it's going off, which we also know from a recent experience when gassing up. I don't think it was a GPS alarm, as the chartplotter is a couple feet over from where the sound was coming from (although that can be deceptive), but also because the display wasn't throwing up any alerts, nor were we anywhere near any obstruction or shallow water, and I wasn't on a specific route plot.

I am starting to lean towards the fire suppression system though. That gauge is in the same area as where the alarm was coming from, and a low pressure alert was one suggested cause that I came across in my Google search. There is a light on that gauge, which wasn't going off when the alarm was, but at 26 years old, who knows if that would even work. That should be an easy enough think to poke my head in the bilge and look at the gauge on the tank.

Still on my to-do list this season is an oil and transmission fluid change. So those things are already on the list of things to deal with anyway. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Thekaj]

Son of a…. So resurrecting this thread, in case someone has the same issue someday. Mysterious alarm was called by Viper and Cooler. It was the dangerous vessel alarm on my Simrad chart plotter.

It didn’t go off at all the last time we were out. The coolant had been low, so I had filled that, and assumed it was a temperature related issue, despite the gauges reading fine. But today it started going off like crazy as we departed the busy waterway, then went silent as we got out to open water. Suddenly went off again when a sailboat started to cross in front of me, and lightbulb went off in my head. Confirmed it when it happened again when a ferry crossed in front of me.

The weird thing is this just started this year. I must have reset a setting in the off season. One I am definitely going to reset again now!

Oye, there’s really nothing like an unidentified alarm to make you dread taking your boat out. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Viper]

Glad you finally found the problem, and thanks for let the rest of us know the cause.