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Hi all,

I'm doing a cleanout of my house and threw away all my Mainsheet hard copies, knowing I could download them. Now I see that Mainsheet has moved to a new location, and unlike before they only offer the last two issues online. I've been a dues paying member continuously since 2016, so I'd like to get the missing issues. Is there an archive location somewhere that I can access?

JMP markets their impellers as replacements for the Sherwood impellers, so it stands to reason that if JMP were to someday disappear that you could pop in a genuine Sherwood impeller into the JMP pump.

Another option is to send your leaky Sherwood out to be rebuilt. Depco rebuilt mine several years ago for about $100. They only had to rebuild the water-side seal - a full rebuild would be more.

Interesting that you think your Ob pump has too little flow. I've always been concerned about the design being on the edge for warm water locations. Yours is the first time I've heard about a potential flow deficiency in a cold water location. FWIW, Depco and Hansen Marine both advised me not to use the Ob for engines above 30 HP. My M35B is 35 HP, so I won't install the Ob. Others feel differently, but many of them have the smaller engines.

FWIW, my boat's #1535 and still young enough to have the hose on the pressure relief valve. Your #1534 is a 2000 and my #1535 is 2001, so it's a whole year newer! 

Regardless, the temperature-induced pressurization of the hot water tank can cause small leaks through the relief valve when motoring for an extended time, so that's worth checking.

Not all leaks come from fittings, so don't obsess on that alone. My galley sink had a small pinhole in the bottom. The PO had the boat detailed when he put it up for sail, and I think the super-super shiny sink was over-polished by the detailers, causing the pinhole leak.

When leaving the boat I turn off the water pressure, then I also bleed the pressure from hot and cold water sides. That reduces the speed of any slow leak you might have.

If you have a tiny leak in a fitting, the pressure will release slowly through that leak. If you overnight on the boat and hear your water pump come on for a split second every hour or so, you definitely have a tiny leak in your fresh water system.

All the local AutoZones near me have them for free loan. You buy it (used) and upon returning get a full refund. They're pretty generic kits with lots of adaptors for different radiators.

A few years ago I wasted a 3 hour trip to the boat because the AutoZone kit was missing the required adaptor, so I decided to buy my own for a coolant replacement.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0067UE6IY

Since then I've had no need to use it, so it's sat around unused. But it's there for when I need it.

I know this is an old post, but I could not get time to reply sooner:

I do an overnight shock and purge every spring as soon as I launch. If I don't do it soon enough I regret it. This year I was too busy, and two weeks after launch I regretted it. In these cases, the foul odor always starts in the hot water tank. I always assumed it's because the of the heat cycling - every time you run the engine the hot water heats up, and the speeds along the growth of any minute amount of biological challenge. So it's only a matter of time. Whenever we take a trip and need to wash the dishes, we always try to use up the hot water to prevent it from brewing up any bad stuff over time.

Many people add extra chlorine to their tanks. I don't believe in that. If you're filling with municipal water it already has chlorine, so you could over-chlorinate beyond the EPA's 6 ppm limit, which could corrode metal hardware and cause brittleness in you plastic tubes, fittings, and pump impellers. So I give a hefty dose of chlorine for 10-24 hours, which isn't long enough to cause any damage.

I choose to follow Peggie Hall's recipe and instructions, which can be found here: http://www.trudelutt.com/linker/phall_freshwater.pdf

"3/4 dl of bleach per 10 liters of water" = 0.75 l per 100 liters = 0.75% v/v. Presumably, she is referring to standard bleach, which is 5.25% w/w sodium hypochlorite, so the concentration of the active ingredient is about 0.04% or roughly 400 ppm (note that this is sort of a blend of %volume and %weight, so it's very approximate)
In imperial units, this translates to 1 oz. of standard 5.25% bleach per US gallon of tank capacity (easy to remember). Multiply this by 0.88 for 6% bleach, 0.61 for 7.5% bleach, 0.45 for 8.25% bleach (be sure to read the label for concentration)]

28 gallon tank: 17 oz of 7.5% bleach
42 gallon tank: 26 oz of 7.5% bleach

• Be sure to use "plain bleach", no fragrances or anti-splash additives.
• No-name bleach is usually better than Clorox, since they often add stuff you don't want like "Cloromax" polymer additive. You want just plain bleach.
• Limit shock time to no more than 24 hours, otherwise corrosion damage or brittleness/cracking of plastic tubing, seals, and pumps may result.

Here's a Facebook post I made a few days ago. Let me know if you're interested and I can supply more details, however I assume you're too far away to inspect and purchase:

I have a 150 Genoa that came with my 2001 C34MkII tall mast boat when I purchased her in 2016. I wanted a smaller, easier to manage headsail, so I purchased a new 135 right away. The 150 has sat unused in my air conditioned house ever since. It was used for 14 seasons (2001-2014) and is in great shape with a Navy blue UV strip and 4mm foot line for my factory original roller furler. I'll be moving at the end of the year, so I am considering selling it. It's not technically for sale yet (I don't have an asking price yet), but thought I'd put the word out and see if there is interest. My boat is in Rock Hall, MD, and the sail is at my home near Philadelphia. I would prefer not to ship it, and would want to meet up somewhere so you could inspect the sail before purchasing, so I assume this would be for people in the northeast/mid Atlantic region with some willingness to travel to inspect/purchase. Let me know your thoughts.

In case anyone cares, you can turn an ordinary hose into a siphon hose using a rag and a straw. Place the hose and straw into the jerry can, seal it up by holding a rag over the lid, and blow through the straw. Once the diesel fills the hose and the siphon starts (going into the tank, of course), stop blowing.

["STP Automatic Transmission Fluid DEX/MERC"]

I searched STP Dexron 2 transmission fluid and found "STP Automatic Transmission Fluid DEX/MERC" at Auto Zone. It doesn't say 2 or 3 on the bottle, but it doesn't say synthetic either. Take a look, maybe that's what you're looking for.

The Autozone public website is worthless (according to local store employees). Before heading out, I searched and verified that the 3 locations closest to me all had that exact product in stock. I went to all three stores and they all didn't have it and said they don't carry it. They did not even have a place on the shelf where it should be. I showed them the website on my phone and they just said the website is always wrong. I asked "What if I order it online?" and they told me not to bother, it would just get canceled.

At one store the guy was a little more helpful. He searched for the product on his on-store inventory system and it was not even listed there. Apparently the consumer site and the in-store site are not connected to each other. That same guy used his site to find the Castrol Dex/Merc product, but it took a long time to find it because it was tucked away on the bottom level of a closeout shelf.

I'm not saying that DEXRON II/III is impossible to find, but it is getting more difficult each year, and will likely get more expensive, and we may be forced to use different manufacturers each time. As I mentioned, my rebuilt transmission seems to be picky, so changing brands is particularly annoying for me.

I thought I'd mention that it seems to be getting harder to find the DEXRON II/III ATF needed for our Hurth transmissions. The auto stores that I frequent are no longer carrying it, and it seems like some manufacturers are no longer making it. Just as with motor oil, stores are increasingly only carrying synthetic lubricants.

I've become very picky about ATF, and will never put synthetic ATF in my transmission. As described in this prior post, my boat's transmission had been rebuilt a year before I bought it, and based on the way it was slipping and taking several seconds to engage in forward a mechanic suggested that the previous owner may have filled it with synthetic fluid:

https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,11703.msg94682.html#msg94682

I refilled with STP DEXRON II/III oil and it got mostly better, and with a couple subsequent annual changes it got completely better. Based on this experience I have become a little paranoid, wanting to use the exact same ATF forever. I went back last fall to get some more, and STP had changed their product labeling to something else (similar but not identical), and the resulting confusion led me to delay the purchase and use up what I had of my good stuff. This weekend I went looking for the new STP ATF that I saw last fall, and that has now been discontinued with no DEXRON II or III replacement. I found a Castrol DEX/MERC on clearance and bought a couple quart bottles which should last me 5 years. Walmart has Valvoline DEX/MERC, but only in gallons, and I didn't need a 10 year supply.

Do not use DEXRON VI or later, those are significantly different from what Hurth specifies. And don't wait until the day before you need to change your ATF - it might take a little while to find the right DEXRON II/III product.

For me the trick to tacking on genoa alone is to be patient before trying to point too high. In other words, turn about 100 degrees, let the sail cross over as normal, and allow to boat to build speed one a broad reach, then once sufficient speed is acquired work on pointing higher and trimming in the sheet. It's not great racing technique, but it avoids the risk of getting caught in irons if you try to point too high before the boat has sufficient speed.

I also debated a second reef point in my mainsail, but then I realized that I can sail on my 135 Genoa alone and still have perfectly balanced helm on virtually all points of sail. If you think this defies logic, remember that a properly shaped Genoa has lift that may tend to oppose the expected lee helm.

So in a heavy blow I'll sail on partially furled Genoa alone (my luff pad gives nice shape furled down to about 100). Tacking is more difficult when sailing on Genoa alone, but I try to sail in a straight line for as long as possible and minimize tacking.

Believe it or not, I usually reef the main sail at 8-10 knots. Above 8-10, I'm fighting weather helm and the resulting rudder drag negates most of the benefit of the full main. So I reef and get a much more balanced helm with less rudder drag. Sometimes partial Genoa is enough.

Above 15 knots, I start to get weather helm again even with the main reefed, so the main sail goes down completely and I sail on the Genoa.

I suffered the same issues in 2018. I have hull #1535, so we almost certainly have the exact same coolant pump. This post from 2018 gives a comprehensive view of the options and touches on every one of your concerns. Note that Kubota seems to change their part numbers every couple of years, so the the current numbers may have changed by now (at least once):

https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,9461.msg77379.html#msg77379

You need to verify with 100% certainty that the mechanic installed the correct oil pressure sensor. Some models are fail-open, others are fail-close. I can't remember which is which, but this issue came up when I had to replace the oil sensor on my M35BC. Installing the wrong one would behave just like "a short in the wiring harness." For this particular item, I would look up the Westerbeke part number for your M35BC engine and get only a genuine Westerbeke part. That's what I did, although I had a very hard time finding someone who had it in stock.

Also, no offense to our Mk1 friends here, but for this particular topic I would be very careful about following any Tech notes for older boats unless you verify that they used the same type of oil pressure switch. Make sure that everyone understands the specifics of your vintage of engine.

Here's a discussion from my own personal experience, with lots of valuable suggestions from others: https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,9214.0.html

Penetrating oil might help. Be sure to squirt some in/around your Woodruff key, since that's probably the biggest pathway to get penetration through the depth of the hub. Or heat the hub up to expand it slightly (but don't ignite the oil!).

..It should not be a taper...

I pull my wheel off every winter and put it back on in the spring. I don't know for sure, but I vaguely recall the shaft having a very slight taper.

If you try to install the Edson SS shifter directly - the shifter WILL hit the pedestal guard when you shift into FWD (restricting the transmission) unless you get creative and do some Transmission cable adjustments !!!  EDSON screwed up!!!!

Having spent my entire career in product development, I can say that design changes like the bend in the SS shifter do not just happen without a lot of thought and some very good reasons. While I don't know what led them to this change from the shape of the prior plastic one, my guess would be that they were trying to rationalize their product line (a common catch phrase in the manufacturing business) with a single design that would be compatible with the multiple pedestal designs and sizes that they offer. Maybe there is a new "thingie" sticking out of one or both sides of their newer pedestal models that required bending both throttle and shift handles to avoid. (Pure speculation)

But like whack-a-mole, sometimes one fix causes something else to malfunction. So it's entirely possible that they failed to account for the fact that the change would require re-adjustment of the cables if someone was replacing the old plastic part with the new metal one, and/or would require downstream manufacturers like Catalina to adjust their cable mounts to compensate. Maybe they accounted for it internally, but failed to communicate it externally. Or maybe they communicated it, but boat builders and/or parts distributors failed to pass it on. I have no inside knowledge of this, except that I've seen things like this happen DOZENS of times in my job.

However, the fact that this issue was so easily fixed by me and others suggests that the design change was not a terribly serious mistake. I would continue to urge people who experience problems with the bent shift levers to exhaust all possible options to modify the shift cable mount at the transmission before resorting to bending a nicely polished SS shift lever. On my M35B all it took was drilling a new hole in the shift plate, and slightly enlarging another hole (as pictured in my link above).