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Yes, plenty of pumpouts in SD Bay, even one at the end of my dock at SGYC. I was at anchor at Glorietta Bay. Of course I pumped out when I got back to Shelter Island. Last time this happened was at Isthmus Cove, where the pumpout is located about 3 miles due north.

In both cases being able to isolate the holding tank from the macerator so I could swap in my spare macerator would have been beneficial.

Hi all
I've attached a couple of pix. I measured about 14 inches from the macerator to the tank outlet, realistically only about a foot usable to put a valve in, and that on a pretty severe bend. It *might* be possible, especially using Raritan's SaniFlex which is a lot bendier than the Shields (see last pic). At this point I'll just add "check macerator" to the list of things I need to pay more attention to. When I pulled the macerator out the screws holding the "head" on were quite loose, telling me the thing had been failing for a while.

For the second time in five years I've had the seal on my macerator fail and the most inopportune time - full tank and no pumpout in sight. It's pretty impossible to replace a macerator with a spare without making a huge mess while the tank's full, so I'm looking for a way to secure the line from the holding tank to the macerator. I'm thinking a merelon ball valve, or something equivalent that can resist sea water and other "stuff." I believe this has been discussed on the list before and even talked to Stu about a 2007 reference he'd made, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find the post. Can anyone help?

Thanks

- Mick

Hi Peter
Sorry I should have posted something. The sail has been sold.

My rig's a standard.

- Mick

Hi Whidbey. I'll take this offline and send a PM.

Hi Whidbey
Sorry for the late reply. Yes I still have it.
- Mick

We bought a cruising asym for our 34 back in 2019 and have used it exactly once; when the sailmaker came out with us to make sure everything worked to our spec. It did, it was beautiful, and we never used it again.  I underestimated the amount of time we'd use it for the kind of sailing my wife and I do, as well as the work involved for two people 'of a certain age.' The sail was built by Luis Gianotti (LG Sails) in San Diego, who was a designer for UK Sails before he went out on his own.

Asymmetric spinnaker from LG Sails. Cruising model, step up construction, front and foot sections 1.5 oz, back 0.75 ox. Challenge nylon (40/60% mix). 4-color layout. Spinnaker box bag. ATN Spinnaker sleeve

Rigging for spinnaker:
- 140' 3/8" (10mm) regatta braid for spinnaker sheet
- 1 Ronstan RF6210 snap shackle for spinnaker tack line
- 3 Ronstan RF44100 blocks, swivel head 12mm rope, for spinnaker sheet fairleads (on aft cleats) and tackline (on anchor roller bale).
- 2 Ronstan 6mm soft shackle for turning blocks.

We spent over 3300 USD for the sail and associated rigging. I'd like to get 2K. I've attached some pix from our trial run.

Thanks
- Mick

Hi Robert
You don't actually have to remove the cabinetry to get your 17mm box end on either the top dipstick plug or the bottom drain plug. It's a little more of a reach but not too bad. PG-13 words.

I've always thought the boat's supposed to break the anchor out, not the windlass.

Hi Alex
How old are you and how's your back. :)

Seriously, a big part of the equation is the chain you're going to use. I have 1/4" G43 which strength-wise seems to be a good fit for our 34s. It's also only .75 lbs/foot. I do have a windlass but I've had to pull 80 ft by hand (33# Rocna) from 25 ft depth and it wasn't bad. I just went slow. I'm assuming you have someone else driving up on the anchor while you're pulling.

I'd be curious to hear from anyone with a mast-mounted whisker pole. In theory, a mast-mounted pole is much easier to deploy so you are more likely to use it. True, mast mounting requires additional rigging, a longer track, a moving car, and probably adds 30% to the cost of the system. Not to mention the additional labor to set it up. However, like most of you I've seen whisker poles that never leave their stanchion chocks - even when sea/wind conditions are perfect. They're too much of a PITA to set up, especially short handed. So what's the true cost if you shelled out x bucks for something you never use vs. 1.3x bucks for something you do?

The times I've used whisker poles (other people's boats. I don't have one ... yet) I've really been happy we had the option.

Hi Jeff,
I'm a bit confused. Are you talking about retrieving the anchor? You'll probably just have to do the final pull by yourself, getting the anchor shackle or swivel to the bow roller with the windlass and then pulling the anchor straight up by hand. While the VW500's gypsy will yank the anchor over the bow roller I try to be nice to it and give it some help. It only has a 500# pull.

Mick, I picked up the 35# Mantus M-1. I rigged it up (I'm out of the water right now) up on my bow roller with a shackle and a rode for test purposes. When it is installed firmly into the bow roller, it looks just like yours. But I had trouble getting enough momentum or leverage to get it to roll over the roller, because the shank is so long and straight. When the end of the shank gets right up to the roller, then the business end of the shank is getting a force pulling aft from the shackle/rode ad a force vertically down from the anchor. It is a dilemma. Have you seen this?

BTW: You are lucky with that gypsy!

Hi Jeff
The Mantus is actually my backup to a Rocna 15kg. Both are great anchors, but since the Mantus can be broken down and stowed conveniently it gets "backup" status. The pictures were taken when I was making sure the Mantus would fit properly. Obviously it does. The way it would be secured is identical to the Rocna which is:
- A length of electrical wire loosely wrapped around the anchor swivel at the aft end of the bow roller
- A 1/4" Wichard chain hook attached to the chain. The hook is on 1/4" Sampson which is looped around the cleat in the anchor locker. The loop is tightened with a rolling hitch.
- The hatch on the anchor locker, if latched, should also help to keep the anchor from getting too frisky. You can close the hatch completely with both the Mantus and the Rocna. Not so with some others I looked at.
- The windlass itself. As a last resort the chain is loosely draped over the chain gypsy. And no, we probably both have the Maxwell VW500 but the original buyer ordered the (now unavailable) combination gypsy/windlass head for the VW500. The gypsy accomodates 1/4" short-link chain.

- Mick

Here ya go.

I assume your clock positions are looking forward, in which case mine is at 8 o'clock. I pull the lever up to engage and it's no where near the instrument panel. Or am I not understanding the problem? I can certainly attach a picture.

On another subject, my ST4000+ has been pretty good after adjusting the responsiveness setting. It's not particularly fond of following seas but I doubt many wheel APs are. What do you like better about the EVO100?