Topics

Fourth of July fireworks off the stern! 

We are looking to replace our old grungy cushions. Has anyone done that recently? Any recommendations on vendors or cautionary tales?

Wondering if anyone has tried the Rule Lo profile bilge pump, 900S or the whale version in a Pearson.  It looks like it would work well in the deep bilge as a sipper pump to keep it dry.  A little concerned about short cycling and killing the batteries. 

Our old dingy is going out with the trash in the morning for several reasons, and we are looking to get a replacement by spring.  Our old one was a Mercury 270, and had a few issues, floor boards rotted, transom rotted, air leaks, drain plug kept getting clogged, but it worked. 

We are wondering what is out there that will fit on the foredeck, not be too expensive, and still work pretty well in the water.  Is 310 size too big?  We land on barnacle encrusted gravel, so abrasion resistance is important.  I would rather pay a little more for a good quality one, than put up with problems.  Summer is too short to do returns if it doesn't fit, or just has problems. 

I think we are planning on either an inflatable floor, or inflatable floor with  floor boards.  Our Mercury was really hard to get the floor boards in and out for storage, so if we go with one with floor boards, they should be well designed for ease of assembly. The inflatable floor makes me nervous with punctures.  Is that really an issue? We are not in a big hurry, so planing, while nice, isn't a requirement.   

What is everyone using, and how is it working out? 

I was getting tired of gross water and not being able to get to all the inside surfaces of the tank, so I installed two new 6" clean out deck plates with o ring seals in the port water tank.  It made it possible to get to all the inside corners of the tank.  After much cleaning and quality time with my arm inside the tank, the water runs clean now. 

My daughter and I spent the last couple of days working on some jobs getting Polaris ready to sail for the season. When we arrived at the boat We discovered a lot of water collected in the shower, about 20 gallons. It wasn't draining into the shower sump. I have two questions:
1. Where did the water come from.??  We didn't have an obvious leak and the bilge didn't have an unusual amount of water in it.
2. How is the sump plumbed? I thought I read somewhere that the shower sump pumps Out of the drain through hull for the bathroom sink. I did operate the sump pump and could hear that gurgling water noise, but no water came out the thru hull. Does it pump into the holding tank?
3.  If the shower drain is clogged, how do I gain access to clean it out?  This may be a stupid question, but I didn't see an obvious way to do it and I frankly didn't spend a lot of time looking.
Thanks!  Della

Hey Wayne: how did it go?  I saw Dana's post in Galley Wench Tales,  Very sorry to hear about Nirvana Now. 

One of the things we discovered as we started sailing this rear is that the window in our bimany is too small to see around the radar on the mizzen mast to the wind vane on the top of the main mast.  The line of sight is just wrong from the helm.  Over the winter, one of the projects on the list is to make it bigger.  If anyone out there has one that works well, I would love to see pics or measurements........

We have been having a "heck" of a time
Getting the new sanitation hose back
On the siphon break U back behind the shower stall.  This was necessary because I cut off the old hose when we overhauled the through hulls and figured, just put on a new one, no problem.....

Working behind the lav vanity makes it hard to get much heat on the hose without burning it.  I have tried boiling water, but it's hard to pull that off without pouring it all over yourself, and the thing cools quickly.  If it were 100F here, might be a different problem.  Three major attempts and three failures brought me to make this gadget: 

Two pieces of all thread and a coupling from chain link fencing with slots cut.  I haven't tried it yet, hope to over the weekend, but I figured I would throw it out to stir things up.  I plan to stuff it into the end of the hose, expand it and then heat it up carefully with a heat gun and an IR thermometer. Hopefully I can get it back out..... I am open to other brilliant ideas for haw to get the !*%{^<!\+]=!!! Hose onto the barbed fitting.  (Yes they are the right size...).

Thanks for all the help, especially Dale and Pete.  Polaris is now back in the water.  Not to say that there isn't a lot to do still, but she is floating.  It was a perfect weekend, harbor seals in the harbor, bald eagles flying high cover and sunny skies.  

I could use a little advice on how to diagnose a problem.  Our oil pressure gage reads a little over 60 psi with the engine shut down. Running, it reads the same. The alarm that sounds when you start works and shuts off when the engine starts, so I think we are actually getting oil pressure, despite what the gage says.  Is the alarm based on the sensor for the oil pressure, or something else? 

The gage is made by Beede, but I can't find any specs on it online.  If it works like the teleflex gages, or some new Beede gages, at 240 ohms between the sensor wire and ground, it should read zero psi, and with 33 ohms, it should read 80 psi, but that's a big assumption. 

I am thinking I will try three things to figure out if it is a gage problem or a transducer issue.

1: Measure the resistance with the sensor wire off and the engine off, I should get around 240 ohms between the sensor and ground.  If I don't, bad wire, bad ground or bad sensor. 

2: Check for power to the gage. 

3: Fake the gage out by feeding it a 33 ohm resistor and see if I get 80 psi.   If not, bad gage. 

Does this make sense ?   If I do have a bad gage, are the sensors standard enough that it will read right if I replace the gage with a new one from teleflex?  Where is the bloody thing at on the engine anyway? 

Thanks
Dave

One if the things that really bugs us as being an inelegant solution to a problem is the pegboard separating the cockpit lockers from the engine. We've been debating what to do about it and have formed many, progressively more complex and costly methods. These range from saying "what the heck" and just replacing the old pegboard with new, to building some sort of high tech super shiny easily removable liner from titanium or some other space age material Dave thinks is cool (I'm holding out for unobtainium).

So our question is this: what methods have you found that works well for separating the locker contents from all that moving machinery down there? Ideally, we'd like a way to keep the lockers relatively organized and enhance the ability of those of us with short arms to be able to dig stuff out of the bottom without climbing in first. Thanks for the ideas I know are out there!

We changed the oil yesterday, after reading all of the topics related to that in the forum. All I can say is I hope there is a special level of hell for boat designers where they have to do things like change the oil the way they designed it for all eternity. It took both of us, many bad words, contortions we thought we were too old to manage, and we only managed to get 4 pints or so out. I think we need a way to better seal the pump tube interface with the dipstick tube.  And may I say, putting the dipstick where it is was an act of pure evil genius.

But my real question is this: how the heck do we remove the nasty black carbonaceous stains that are now freaking everywhere on the boat? We tried degreaser, and it removed the oily residue, but the nasty black (now dark grey) stains seem impervious to removal. Any advice will be appreciated.

Della

We are thinking of replacing the spreader lights on Polaris with LED lights. The two we are looking at are the Dr LED Kevin Jr or the Lunasea. Does anyone have any experience with either of these or another recommendation? I'm leaning towards the Kevin mainly because Dr LED actually talks about the testing they've done for electromagnetic interference and seem to be aware of issues like power surges, which Lunasea doesn't really address. But it also sounds like a lot of people have interference issues when they install LED lights.

We are also thinking of replacing the anchor light in our Aquasignal series 40 with a DR LED bulb. Some debate about replacing the tricolor light with an LED tricolor, but we don't think well be using the tricolor a lot in Alaska in the summer.

Della

We are planning to replace the deck scupper through hulls on Polaris. I remember reading a thread a while back about this, but can't find it now. Does anyone have any advice on replacements? We are thinking of going with marelon rather than brass. We don't want to replace them with cheap plastic.

Also, does anyone know if the ones that exit the hull just above the waterline are 90 degree or straight? They look like they are 1 1/2" hose. Is this correct?

Thanks,

Della

Does anyone know the diameter of the forestay? I can't figure out how to measure it without disassembling the furler. Thanks!

Well, I finally got the diesel heater running, and there was much rejoicing, (5 degrees F this morning) but I may have created another problem in the process.

I didn't realize there was an electric shut off valve on the main fuel tank, so didn't turn on the key.  This meant that the fuel pump for the heater was sucking on a closed valve.  During the process at one point, I decided to check the sump on the fuel filter, figuring, maybe it was plugged with guck and that was why I wasn't getting fuel to the heater. 

When I opened it, it sucked air into the bowl instead of draining the sediment bowl.  I am now afraid I introduced air into the fuel system.  (The bubbles coming up the bowl was a strong hint) I still haven't started the engine, and probably won't until April 15th.  Hopefully I will have pulled my head out by then.  On the plus side, the bubbles told me what the problem with the heater was. 

Any advice on if there is an option to get the air out of there before sucking it into the main engine driven fuel pump?  I have never bled a diesel, but have read about how to do it in the Westerbeke book and here. 

So on Friday 2/7, we will be pulling the masts on Polaris, assuming the forecasted 20mph winds and snow don't materialize.  In any case, I am planning on gaining access to the chainplates to make removal quicker once the masts are out.  Anyone have any sage advice or words of wisdom to impart?  I doubt the chainplates have been removed since they were installed.  I'm expecting a lot of bad words to be said, some of them directed at Dave through text messaging. 

Also, any cautions on removing the masts, other than the obvious protect the bulkhead and don't rip the heater off?

Thanks!

Della
"Polaris"

So, we're getting familiar with Polars, and found this in the galley cabinet.  The hose comming out of it leads over the edge and into the engine compartment.  If you pull the ring, it pulls out showing a red shaft.  Is it like pulling the pin on a grenade?  It is no longer your friend? 

We just had our offer accepted on Polaris, a 1979 Pearson 365 ketch. We are planning to do the survey next weekend, and could use a little advice on what to look for. The previous survey I. 2010 noted some widespread osmotic blistering that wasn't repaired according to the current owner. Also, the surveyor said if the standing rigging is original, it should be replaced soon. Is there any way to tell how old the rigging is other than condition? We also found a lot if oil in the bilge, which was likely spilled from a knocked over oil can. Just in case, are there any common areas that leak oil tat we should e sure to check?

Love the forum; it helped us decide to take the plunge on Polaris.  Since our last boat was a Thistle, we are definitely going to be picking your brains as we get used to this new level of boat ownership!

Della & Dave