Messages

there is a small screen in the electric fuel pump that may be plugged, please keep us informed

I made a smaller table, and bungeed the stock table in the back berth against the engine side wall so I have it on board but out of the way until I need it, I also installed a shelf in the back berth towards the fuel tank up tight against the ceiling to store the cushion, works for me

Changed racor fuel filter today, I've changed it several time over the last 15 years, the tank was full of fuel, I have a valve installed just before the racor filter, with the filter off, I opened the valve just to run a little fuel out, (rinse) but no fuel came out, I thought that was odd because of siphoning, I put the filter on and bled and ran the engine, in the past I would leave the knurled knob open a 1/4 turn or so to self bleed the system, engine started right up, ran it for half hour or so, however, when I shut the engine off, it wouldn't start again unless I shut the knurled bleed screw knob tight,

had to leave the boat until friday, in the meantime, thought I would ask you guys for advice before I get back and trouble shoot,why wouldn't the tank siphon, and why can't I leave the bleed screw partially open like before, the pick up tube has the screen removed, .  I can rev the engine to 3200 rpm no problem. I have spent the last hour reading the archives.
It's got me confused, almost like the fuel line has a airleak, or something breaking the siphon. but why  the bleeder screw can't be cracked open  a little like it used to be, like Ron says, (self bleeding) I did notice Stu's report on the racor check valve I could look at when I get back, I did notice a little trouble starting the engine, hence the filter change, now it fires up instantly, as long as the knurled knob is tight??

I did the same thing with sos pads, never again,  or if you leave a wrench or any metal on the deck for any length of time and get that rust spot, get "wink" comes in a brown bottle , walmart or wherever, amazing stuff, rust disappears before your eyes

Thank you Mainsail, I just ordered the sterling ultra 40 amp charger, learned a lot from your site, will reroute the charging wire to the battery bank and fuse it, and will run the case green wire to the neg bus bar, which is connected to the bell housing,  is it necessary to fuse the negative wire, the pro mariner, had me put in a included negative fuse, just off the charger, I guess it was for reverse polarity, or something, thank you, I will look on he chart for correct wire size when I measure the run to the battery and back, appreciate your help, Bob

I had a promarine 30 amp for 13 years, and it died,  am in the market for a new charger, have looked at mainsails sterling charger, this gets a little confusing to me, on my old promarine 30 I had two  10 gauge wires fused with 30 amp in line fuses, to the  1/2/ALL  perko selector switch.  I have 4 trojan 105 batteries and a dedicated start battery with a on off switch and a combiner.  A friend gave me a brand new DSL 75 amp charger he bought years ago and never used it, I installed it with trepidation, it immediately heated the charging wire and literally melted the fuse right out of there.  so I took it out, I was thinking it would charge "up to" 75 amps, but it looks like it nailed my charging wires with 75 amps immediately, and of course  heated the wire, blew the fuse . I am very nervous about all those charging amps on my boat, even if I correctly sized the wire to the perko switch. What would happen downstream so to speak, The sterling charger from Mainsail certainly looks appealing, not a bad price either.  what size charger would you recommend for my batteries, do 4 six volt batteries wired in series then parallel so I have 2 12 volt banks give over 400 amp hours, or is it 200 amp hours,  do most of you wire the charging wire to the 1 and 2 or All on the perko switch? or do you run the charging wires directly to the batterys, and the ground to the ground bus bar? which connects to the engine block., do I run a seperate green wire bonding the case, sized the same as the dc ground wire to the engine block as well? or to the negative bus bar?, if thats the case, why can't I combine the ground and case wire at the charger, I did read Mainsails instructions, but, so much info, thought I would ask you other members how you do it too. and what you recommend, the charger was installed in the hanging locker. Any advice on a charger? Thank you for reading my ramblings,

very nice job, not sure what MarcZ meant by Piano Hinges, and it certainly looks like a C34 MK1, Someday I'm gonna take time and hopefully make doors, awesome job

for 15 years wintering in 30 below weather, all I do is remove the hot and cold connections from the hotwater heater,  connect them together (bypass) with a double ended barb, and open the petcock on the heater, yes may be a little left in there but plenty of room for ice expansion, sometimes, after bypass, I install a hose from the pump to a gallon of pink stuff and run pump till the faucets show pink,
sometimes I get lazy and open the front water tank, vacuum whatever water is left in the tank, put a couple gallons of pink stuff in the forward tank, pump it till pink stuff comes out all the faucets, then vacuum out residual pink stuff from the tank, done,,
aft tank I simply remove  the hose from the valve under the counter and let it drain, no pink stuff needed for the aft tank, one year I pumped vodka through the lines, one year I used compressed air, very simple system to winterize,
I toyed with the idea of installing bypass valves but removing and connecting the hoses is so fast and easy i talk myself out of it.  I have never pumped pink stuff into the hot water heater, soooo easy to bypass, I have stubborn friends who still fill the entire hot water tank with the pink stuff, I just think, what a waste.

I had a year that after pump out, I left the holding tank through hull open while in the water, as they were going to pull boat that afternoon and i had to leave , in the spring I noticed the holding tank was completely full of water, must have filled up from the lake before they pulled the boat, froze during the winter and it didn't hurt a thing,  lucky im thinking, I know all the thru hulls should be open during winter storage, wasn't thinking the holding tank would fill while in the water.  I know now

thank you all, will investigate further, Stu says in 20 years he has never heard of this, that's good news to me Stu as I value your opinion and expertise, I will do what you say Fred, was leaning towards that anyway, I suppose it could be still my re bedded stanchions, let you know in the spring, boat is on hard and covered for the winter and marina water drained

I have water on the shelf (after a hard rain) in the head, the upper shelf behind and to the left of the toilet, I re bedded the stanchions with buytl tape last year so I am confident the water isn't coming from there, that leaves the rail where the jib sliding block is on as a suspect, my question is, to remove that sliding track do all those screws/bolts need to be removed? that would be a nightmare, or is there a few key bolts to remove, appreciate any ideas, thanks

my 88 25xp gets 4.6 to 5 knots in calm water, empty boat no dinghy, at 2500 rpm, with a 15/10 3 blade prop.   used to get 6 knots can't figure out why I'm slower now but summer is so short here I quit looking for reasons why, seems like there is a huge disparity from one boat to the next even though the boats are the same,  Stu the thought of going close to 7 knots would make me a real happy sailor, a real wheee factor, grin

I too am looking for a chart plotter, Garmin or equivalent, I don't need a depth sounder, just something to look at while sailing around familiar waters, would like to take it with me to use on other boats as well, keeping the costs under 500 dollars, any ideas", I have a small old Magellan with a very little screen so would like at least a 5 inch screen and easy to read in sunlight, I guess the internet is so full of chart plotters I get confused, need my fellow C34 member input, thanks

yes Ken, there is no metal thimble, but it certainly looks like something should be there, I can't blow your picture up to see that, I will look next time at boat, had company leaving and couldn't really look under engine to see if a "thimble" is laying under before we had to go, and Ron I'll have to see where cable is secured to see if its loose, thanks guys

thanks Ken, when I pull up on the handle there is a catch halfway up, with a little effort I can pull it all the way up and the engine will stop, I was wondering if something was missing where the cable contacts the bracket  before the spring loaded lever, because at the end of the sheath, about a 1/4", the paint is worn off, could be the cable is getting worn somewhere else.  Diagnosing boat problems a 160 miles away is tough thank you for the picture

went to shut my engine off by pulling up on the fuel shut off handle, it went halfway and with a little more effort was able to pull it up all the way and shut the engine down, upon investigation I noticed the end of the cable sheething was pulled out of the bracket adjacent to the shutoff lever, does anyone know how this is supposed to be attached? or do I need a new cable? I thought I had pictures of my engine but can't find any to see what it used to look like attached.  Thanks