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Looking for a okay condition small headsail, 100% or so.  Our primary sail is a 150% and I would like to keep it that way, but I am hoping to make those really windy days much more enjoyable.  I hate furling, it ruins the shape completely.

We have an 88 tall rig, and we are in San diego.  

I considered that, but the belt looks good.  I have owned the boat for 1year or so (50hrs tops), and I have not changed the belt.  It still looks good.  So this may be the culprit, but it seems like the belt should be wearing more for this amount of soot.  But that is my purely qualitative analysis.  How much soot can a belt produce? a lot?

The M25XP on my 88 has a lot of black (although that is probably given) soot on and near the alternator, and I am not sure why.  Is soot always from an exhaust leak?  There does not seem to be soot by the exhaust manifold gasket, with no soot on the wrap but hard to tell.  In addition, there is no noticeable/unusual odor.  It seems to be originating inside the alternator windings, but it still provides 13.5 volts or so.  This would indicate the the alternator insulation is not burning up.  I would guess my first diagnostic step would be to clean the area thoroughly and find out where the soot is originating...assuming it deposits first at the sight of the cause.  Has anyone had this issue, my 10 minute search did not find any close matches. I am hoping for a smoking gun, before I spend time diagnosing.  Diagnosing is the most time consuming part usually. 

Any thoughts?
Jake

on my 1988 Catalina I have a navico wp4000 autopilot.  The drive unit works well, but the controller is fried.  From my understanding navico is out of business or at least discontinued.  I was hoping to replace just the controller with something cheap and easy.  I have no problem rewiring into a different manufacturer's controller, but I was wondering if this will work at all.  It seems to me the controller is the brains and should be able to run any motor, but that is just a guess.  Has anyone done this sort of thing?  Any suggestions on the type/manufacturer of controller?

Wow, you guys are awesome...one day and 9 posts.

I fear the mounts, but I was hoping you all would tell me it is completely normal and drink a beer. 

I think I will check the alignment/coupling first, because that is at least free.  Then I may get ambitious with the injectors or mounts.  Is the injector problem likely, or off chance? 

I have owned my C34 for 8 months, and I live aboard it.  I absolutely love the boat, especially as it is my first keel boat.  I know that this is a bit rediculous for some, but I am a fairly adventurous person and adept with mechanical systems. 

I have been able to remedy many of the small problems with my particular vessel, but then next one is slightly more complicated. 

I have decent engine vibration oscillations which changes in frequency with rpm.  The engine/hull shaking oscillates with rpm.  There is no obvious loss of power or rpm with the oscillations of vibration, but it is somewhat annoying. 

The engine mounts on my diesel do not look very pliable, and clearly are original to my 1988 hull.  They have some corrosion, but do not look structurally compromised.  So my first suspicion is with the engine mounts.

My second suspicion is with the shaft alignment.  I have no idea if it is properly aligned.

My third suspicion is with the stuffing box.  It is a traditional stuffing box with flax packing, I think.  It does not drip or at least no much at all.  Although enviable by some, this does not seem typical, or acceptable considering the design. 

My forth suspicion is with the 25xp diesel.  I wonder if all 3 cylinder engines have this imbalance, and I am annoyed with something unavoidable for a 20 year old diesel.  I must state that the engine seems to run very well, starting up with no trouble what so ever. 

Any help would be appreciated...hopefully this problem has not already been addressed, and I will not receive the all to common pointing to the search engine.  I do not want to change my mounts, but that seems to be the most likely culprit. A step by step check list would get me motivated to solve this problem.

I wanted to replace the underdeck slider incandescent fixture.  Some of them are burned up and the ones that still work are woefully underpowered.  what have some of you done?  I would like it brighter and I do not like florescent very much.

Thanks