Sea Monsters Attack BlackDragon and Attempt to Sink Her!

[Ted Pounds]

Rick,

I would urge you to reconsider your membership.  I don't even own a C34 anymore (I have three kids in college and am looking at annual college expenses equal to twice what I got for "Molly Rose"  (The good news is I have three, very bright kids in great schools, Purdue and MIT  )) but I still have my membership.  I keep it for a variety of reasons:
- I want to continue to support this message board and the great community of folks on it (that includes you and EVERYONE else) who have helped with my ownership of "Molly Rose" and will help with whatever boat I end up with down the line.
- Mainsheet is a great mag.
- I too read this board most days.  And thus I feel I should help to keep it on-line.
- The website, in general, is a valuable tool also and I want to support it too.  Just the other day I used the on-line manual to help answer a question from the guy who bought my boat.  (if he bought it why do I still call it 'my' boat?  )
- Bottom line is I think it's a small price to pay.

On another note - I think we tend to write brief, even curt, messages online, especially us hunt-and-peckers.  My wife (I guess without a navy she can't be the admiral anymore...) who is a very successful sales rep, gave me a little email training the other day.  She showed me how my emails can seem rude when viewed from the other end of the internet, even though no rudeness was intended.  Her advice was to try to be overly pleasant on even neutral messages.   Food for thought. 

Anyway, at the rate this message going I'll have to skip dinner and go right to breakfast.

Ted

[foursailing]

In the short period of time I've owned my C34 (about a year and a half), I've done a bunch of work including completely replacing the sanitation system and head, installed a new shaft, cutlass and shaft seal, removed and cleaned heat exchanger, installed a lectra san and new through hull, replaced impeller and thermostat, fixed propane leak, cleaned fuel tank, installed davits, upgraded batteries, installed GPS, replaced hoses, filters, belts and about a hundred other little odds and ends.

I've always counted on the expert advice and ideas from the board.  I'm always amazed how quickly everyone is to help out – not to mention the amount of their time taken to answer my questions.  So maybe once or twice it was pointed that my question was a repeat – that pales in comparison to the time, money and aggravation I've been spared. I do appreciate all the help.

Here's a couple of examples – when replacing my shaft I was convinced I'd have to drop the rudder – until Stu provided instructions (and encouragement) to do it with the rudder in place.   Or when I was searching for a broken impeller blade and was about give up and put everything back together (HX, hoses, etc) when Ron told me to double check the Sherwood water pump elbow – and to my amazement, there it was.  Just a matter of time before the blade repositioned itself and caused an engine overheat.

Thanks guys – really appreciate all your help – you've made my C34 ownership a lot more enjoyable.

[Wayne]

I really appreciate the time and advice given on this board.  I follow many of the threads--even those which aren't pertinent to my needs of the moment.  I look at it as part of the learning curve, and while I may not be thinking of repairing hoses yet on my relatively new boat, someday I will need to do that, along with the many other maintenance chores that go along with ownership.  A big 'Thank You' from me to those who put in lots of time here sharing their expertise and experience!  And I am training myself to search before asking . . .

[Jon Schneider]

Although I still come here everyday, I dropped my membership and rarely post anymore. 

Rick, first of all, thank you for being so honest.  We really need that kind of feedback.  The other officers of the C34IA and I often struggle to understand why not every single owner of a C34 is not a member and why so many members or otherwise aren't signed in when they're looking at this message board (if you check the stats, you'll see that "guests" usually outweigh signed-in members by 4:1).  Frankly, we're struggling as a volunteer organization to make the overall organization better and to make this site better.  And we struggle with, despite the dues, virtually no money.  85% (or something like that) of your membership goes to Mainsheet, not to mention a fair amount of Jim Moe's life (our editor), for which he gets nothing.  So what's left over has to cover the internet service provider fees and administrative costs.  Years ago, we ran positive for a while, so we've been living off of that for a while now, but it's dwindling.  I can't say it better than Ted, but if you get utility out of this site, even if you don't love the community interaction (good and bad) on this board, I would ask you to consider contributing for what you do get out of the assets of this community.  More importantly, if you can find it in your heart to try again, I for one have noticed your dwindling participation - and miss it- so I'd love to hear from you more... and I am sure I speak for many others as well.

Fair winds.

[waterdog]

Whoa.   I think I should have three Mojito's and two glasses of sparkling shiraz and post what's on my mind more often.   This is a great discussion.   And Steve S. - I should have checked the archives - I didn't realize you had posted something similar 5 years ago

But Jon.   You don't want to get me started on whimisical posts here.   I just lost my license to post in another forum where I left a body of whimsical material that is about to become a thick book.  We would lose focus if I do that here.

I think this can be a difficult environment for a new owner to post in.   There is a formidable body of knowledge of which we are proud of and quick to reference.   So you can feel like an idiot when you ask about reattaching your dingleberry to the samson post when you know that 47 owners have done the same thing before.   You really wish they would say, "Wow, what a fabulous question!   Welcome.   We've never had a dingleberry question before.   Let's work together solve it."   But the truth is it isn't a new question and somebody has dealt with it before and you're told how to find it some great information on it.   It's actually the most helpful information you can get if you really want to fix your dingleberry.  But if you wanted to feel welcomed to a community of sailors, it doesn't warm your heart.

So anyway, I picked on Ron and Stu.  I know they are robust and can take it and care very deeply.   I'm sorry if I've ruffled any feathers.  I just wanted to put the issue on the table.   And it's really not a Ron and Stu thing at all.   It's a question for the whole forum.  The one thing we must be very careful about is when we discuss how the posting environment might be perceived by the newcomer, if the tone seems less than ideal, I am absolutely certain that there is no intent behind that and the only motivation is to be helpful.     

It's an interesting dynamic.   You'd never find it in an owners group where there are 50 examples of a boat that's been in production for 4 years.

[Jon Schneider]

Steve, if you wanted to discuss dingleberries, you probably should have started a new topic, especially since it would've been a first for that subject ;)

[Ken Juul]

All questions are good questions.  All will be answered.  In many instances there is so much information it would be impossible to give it all.  A couple threads ago I mentioned to do a search about air conditioners, I think there are about 6 articles in the knowledge base and I don't know how many threads discuss it.  It is impossible to condense all this info into a concise post on such a broad subject as airconditioning.  The same issue on the Shelf post.  Sometimes a picture shows it all, much easier to post a link to an existing picture than repost the picture itself which is buried somewhere on a back up CD.   

I hope everyone realizes the message board is just the communication means for the much larger C34IA website.  Projects and Technotes (C34IA members only) and the old message board hold a tremendous amount of information.  As Jon mentioned a couple posts ago the officers are trying to make finding the information easier, currently it takes a few tries to figure it out.  Use the google search from the home page, Stu provided the link or simply go to www.c34.org "Search" is in the upper menu bar.  Absorb the info and then ask for clarification on those big projects.  On the smaller projects, using the shelf example, a great post would be; "I wanted a self in the galley, I found the info in Capt' Al's project but modified it....."

We do this because we love it.  We want all to get the most enjoyment they can out of their C34 ownership.  But there is only so much time in the day to respond to the stream of threads.  So, in many instances, "do a search" is used because we know the answer is all ready written, that give us time to address the really new issues. 

[Michael]

Just as "47" [modification: the ayes have "42"] was the answer to the universe on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (that was the answer, wasn't it; that was the name of the show, wasn't it?) so digital calipers are the answer for newcomers with misgivings about their place on this board.  The calipers let you measure the growth in thickness of your hide: about .0001" usually per event, and almost always within 12-24 hours after reading that Waterdog and four others answered your dingleberry question -- see most recently in the year 1492 at c:/kslg=gddakekejkstg.  After .0005" of increase in thickness of your skin, around post #50, confidence rises.  But you notice that you must have been washing behind your ears recently, because there is something wet back there.

The cognitive dissonance leads to great threads, great posts.  We dig deeper. We have to: the skin we are going through is thicker.  Surely we can't be as stupid as we fear.  We try harder.  Sometimes now only one or two posts have gone before...and the wiser heads nod and are kind enough to refer only obliquely to that history.  And then there is the new, virgin, untouched topic, fresher than a spring flower, more important than a raw water strainer at freeze-up on Lake Michigan.  You have arrived.  After 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70+ years of life, you have become useful.  Welcome to the c34 Message Board.  You belong.  And you belonged from the minute you first signed on.

     

[Tom Soko]

Michael,
If you have written other pieces, I would like to read them. Your style is most interesting and entertaining.

[Craig Illman]

I don't know, I have doubts about Michael's veracity, because the answer to the question of the Universe is actually 42, not 47.

Craig

[tonywright]

Actually it is important to get the question right, so that you can understand the answer. 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. And remember, don't panic, and thanks for all the fish...

Tony

[Jon Schneider]

Actually it is important to get the question right, so that you can understand the answer. 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

Actually, it is the answer to what do you get if you multiply six by nine.  Thus proving that there is something seriously flawed about the universe. 

[Bill Asbury]

Nothing flawed about the universe, Jon.  It is totally and perfectly synchronized.  It is the free will of humankind that is mucking it up.  :-)

[sselinger]

Another means to clear the problem with the clogged strainer intake. If you have a compressed air horn, the bell shaped horn does a good job sealing almost any diameter fitting. Hold it on and activate the horn. Used this once on the way to a race start and it was the fastest recoverary I made all day.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Hate to sound like a broken record but -- I wrote in the Mainsheet Tech Notes over 15 years ago; use the foot pump to the dink and it will blow out any clog in a thru hull !!  A thought - again.