Out Cruising-What works

[jpendoley]

After a longish refit painting in the rain, the admiral and I finally launched last week and sailed north from massachusetts to Maine. Currently, we are sitting out a windy, rainy day on a mooring in the lovely little town of Rockland. Formerly a fish processing center, Rockland has had a rebirth as a boating destination, yet somehow has managed to retain its working waterfront flavor complete with tallships and several topnotch boat yards.  Tomorrow we will set off further north to visit remoter areas of Penobscot Bay.

I thought a little update on what works while cruising on a 365 might be interesting to the group.  First of all, the rebuilt perkins diesel is wonderful. I rebuilt it last year and can report that the notorious oil leaks have been all but eliminated. We have loads of oomph, 45 psi oil pressure, no smoke and a cool running engine that starts effortlessly. One curious issue though is oil consumption. While we do still have a minor rear seal leak, the engine does not leak anywhere else-not from the pan or the water pump/timing gear cover or the valve cover. But it does consunme a lot of oil-I estimate 3 cups to eight hours of running time at 2000 RPM. Is this normal???  I've never owned a diesel before and this was my first rebuild so I am curious to hear others opinions.
Our Atlantic Towers Arch in a Box is phenomenal. Sturdy, light and a great platform for additional solar, radar, GPS antennae etc, It has a hoist for onboarding heavy gear. Not used yet, but I can see offloading the 9.9 from the davits and fastening it to the rail on longer passages. Speaking of davits, we love the Kato davits for lifting the RIB abovre the stern on passages. Properly tied, its rock solid with no sway. I do think we are pushing its capabilities by leaving the outboard on the RIB though-I would not do it in rough weather.
The davits make a great platform for two tiltable 120 Watt panels. 240kWatts sounds like a lot, but we use all they produce (17 amps at full sun) and still want more.  I think we have another panel in our future on top of the arch.  Today, its raining and blowing hard-the panels are dormant and we are hunkered down watch a movie and reading and running off the inverter. This crushes the house bank, but with all the wind we are able to get by until the sun returns tomorrow.

If you've wondered about getting a forced hot air heater, I can report that our Planar is a godsend-quiet, clean, sips diesel and produces abundant dry heat. Much less expensive than an Eber or Wabasto. I don't trust the Chinese knockoffs. Ours is Russian made-they seem to have produced a very reliable and safe heater. The Russians know cold really well.We came back from a shoreside excursion and the soaking foulies were hung in the head to dry. We ran a duct there-its a little thing, but the presence of heat in the head is really a luxury and dry, heated foul weather gear is heaven.

Lastly, a hot shower is indispensable aboard. We installed a Precision Temp on demand propane hot water heater and it has produced endless hot water in the galley and the head. I understand peoples concerns about propane water heaters, I have done my research and it looks like this one is ABYC compliant or at least close enough for my comfort level.  The only downside is it encourages water consumption-even with 150 gallons capacity we have to limit the use of hot water or we will be caught short. Last night I used the teapot and a bowl of hotwater in the sink to do dishes-hoping to save more hot water for showers.

Thats the gear report so far-would love to hear how others are using their boats this season-what works and what doesn't.
Jim

[Alan E Skeldon]

Thank you for that post. I would be curious to hear how the 365 handles on the open ocean. Just so happens that my wife and I will be in Maine (from Buffalo area) in early September to vacation and there's a 365 for sale in Rockland, about an hour from where we are staying. If it's still available we plan on looking at it.

-Alan

[Dale Tanski]

Alan,
There is a 365 in Sawmill Bay Boatyard in Chaumont, NY listed on Craigslist for $28,500.  Also look at Snowgoose on Marketplace in Fairhaven, MA  for $23,000, very clean.

Dale

Obersheimers

[Alan E Skeldon]

Hi Dale.

I think 28k is high. The Rockford Maine at 22k with a rebuilt engine is in my range. I did not see the Fairhaven listing so I'll check that one out. Thank you for the heads up.

-Alan