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Topics - tonywright

#1
I am replacing the masthead wiring, and have come across a problem of access to the circuit breaker for the steaming light. It is the white wire, 3rd breaker in the photo.  The other circuits on the right hand side of the panel pose no obvious challenges (yet!).

To access the screw connecting the wire to the breaker, I would ideally need to remove the plastic cover protecting the back of the 110 volt breakers.  But there is no obvious way of doing this, given that the nuts holding the cover in place (on the right hand side in the photo) seem pretty inaccessible. One possible approach is removing the bus bar behind all the circuit breakers, then removing the circuit breaker for the steaming light, replace the wire and then put everything back. But this seems a tad ridiculous. Anyone found a better method?  Is there an easy way to remove and reinstall the Plexiglas cover that has just not occurred to me?

Tony

#2
Recently the drains were not working so well, and I was thinking of doing the project to replace the standard draining arrangement. Then I found this $4 gadget in Home Depot. It is just the right size to fit down our drains in the galley. After a couple of passes with this, the drains are back to working 100%. Thought I would share...
#3
Main Message Board / Another use for a cycle lock
November 19, 2015, 03:21:50 PM
I have been using a u-shaped cycle lock to keep my outboard secure on the back rail. I discovered recently that it makes a great gadget to keep the engine compartment open while doing oil changes etc. Means I don't need to get around to putting in a spring-loaded arm. It's very secure, and keeps the cover 100% open.
#4
Has anyone found a better connector in the mast for these lights? The factory splice for the  connector inside the  mast step  failed this year. I found that the factory had spliced in what looks like a square four-pole trailer hitch, with the splice made by twisting the wire strands together for about two inches, soldering, and wrapping with electrical tape. Two of the wires have now broken at the end of the soldered splice.  Since this connection is taken apart every winter, it finally failed.

Looking for opinions/suggestions: should I run entirely new wiring? Should I reuse these connectors with a different kind of splice, or use a different kind of connector entirely?
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Photo is not great: you with see some remnants of silicone from an attempt to stop rainwater from draining into the bilge: this may be partly responsible for the problem above. (BTW yes, I noticed the loss of insulation from the VHF coax. I plan to use heat shrink to replace that insulation.)

Anyone found a better solution for this connector?

Tony
#5
I made a rookie mistake last weekend. Despite all the usual pre-departure precautions (including checking for water being pumped out the stern - oddly it seemed fine when I checked), for some reason I did not open the thru-hull for the raw water cooling. So after motoring out into the main channel, I heard the temp alarm go off. Quickly realized what I must have done, anchored and shut the engine down. Sure enough, thru-hull was firmly.

Assuming the impeller would be shot after the 10 minutes or so of engine running, I got the spare ready, and removed the pump housing (cursing those rear-facing bolts in the process). The good news: the impeller was fine. I could have just opened the thru-hull and continued happily on my way. But no, now the housing was off, and the impeller in my hand, I had to reverse the process. I think it took the better part of two hours to finally get the job done.

So I am thinking that I must have the technique all wrong, so looking for some hints and tips. (I am seriously thinking about an Oberdorfer of course, but apart from that solution).

The main problem: getting the O-ring to stay in the groove while I put the housing back in place. Every time I would try this, the O-ring would pop out and hang loose. In the end, the first mate (who I am now thinking of promoting to chief engineer) suggested each of us using a kebab stick to hold the O-ring in place while we carefully pushed the housing back over the impeller, and then remove them before pushing the housing home the last 1/4 inch. Good job the galley was so equipped!

But is there a better way?

Impeller on the shaft  or in the housing first? I found putting it on the shaft was the only way to keep the key in the slot, especially since the shaft had stopped with the key slot at 5 o'clock.

A couple of things I think I learned:

Put a cloth into the sump under the engine to cover up the drain holes. The shaft key loves to jump out when you are a little careless putting the impeller on, and it would fit easily down a drain hole. Also have some needle nosed pliers on hand to remove said key from the crevice between the belt and pulley just below the pump.

Lining up the brass plate: the shiny surface showed that the impeller compresses at approx. 12 o'clock, so made sure to put it back that way. Have a spare gasket on hand so when you tear it on your 52nd attempt to get the impeller back, all the effort is not in vain.

Push the housing over the impeller starting at 12 o'clock, so that the vanes are compressed there. Angle it in slightly at the top, then press down and slide it into position. (it is at this point that the O-ring pops out of position and taunts you by hanging loosely over the impeller). Pull the housing back, put the O-ring back in place and start over...

Post a large notice on the helm station to double check that the thru-hull is open.

Again, looking for a better way to do all this, at least until I cave and get an Oberdorfer...

#6
Main Message Board / Trucharge 2 AC connections
March 21, 2010, 08:27:39 PM
I am working through the installation of my new Xantrex Trucharge2 charger.

For the AC connections there is a pigtail connection which the manual says to use crimped butt connectors and stuff everything into a compartment that looks half the necessary size (I tried stuufing just the pigtail, together with its ferrite: even that hardly fits).

Has anyone actually done this? Is there a better way?

Tony
#7
Main Message Board / Rigging for an Asymmetric Spinnaker
February 22, 2010, 03:00:34 PM
This year's purchase at the boat show was a cruising spinnaker, with a very good deal offered by North Sails. (I asked three or four different companies for a quote. Only North actually ever gave me one...). So that is now on order, and I have perused the boards archived wisdom on how to rig. But I still need some help.

The options for the sheet blocks seem to be:

1) a stand-up block on the aft end of the outer track
2) an eye bolt thru the base of the pushpit, and a sheet block attached to that
3) blocks with a Dyneema straps attached to the aft cleats
4) a new padeye with stand-up blocks

The easiest of these seems to be option 1, but I would like to know if anyone has strong arguments for or against?  What else would I need - cam cleats to transfer the genoa sheets to?  (I don't want to get into extra winches.)

The options for the tack block seem to be

1) attaching a block to an eye bolt on the anchor roller
2) attaching to the bail on the anchor roller
3) Attaching to a pennant on the tack of the genoa on top of the furler.

I am not sure whether the anchor roller is designed to cope with the upward force of the tack, although generally I don't plan to use the spin in any weather that would likely rip it out of the deck!  Thoughts on this?

On the other hand, I assume that any pennant on top of the furler has to be installed and removed for every use. Can anyone tell me what a boat equipped from the factory with cruising spi has for the tack downhaul?

I can see from the manual that I need the spinnaker crane on top of the furling mast. I will have to go the the yard to inspect mine, but I suspect that this was not standard.

Thanks for any help

Tony


#8
I was at the Toronto boat show this weekend. Spoke to the Rolls/Surrette reps about equalization.

The recommended equalization at the beginning and end of every season.  I mentioned that I was thinking of replacing the standard Charles (3 stage) charger, since it has no equaliztion feature, and dragging the batteries off for equalization is no fun.

They suggested buying a small portable (10A) charger with an equalization function (C$179). Use the Charles to do a regular charge, then hook up the small unit one battery at a time to do equalization. They suggested that because it is small, just leave it hooked up for a week, and the check the battery. This contradicts everything else I have read on this board, so looking for comments and opinions...


(By the way Mason's has a special on the 40A TruCharge 2. $359 CDN. )


Tony
#9
Main Message Board / Gaskets around lid on icebox/fridge
September 08, 2009, 11:32:41 AM
Anyone have a recommendation on how to better secure the gaskets around the icebox lid? Is there a better adhesive, or some other method?

Not quite sure what was originally used to hold them in place, but it looks like some kind of double sided sticky foam tape. The gaskets slowly slide inward over a few lid openings, and need to get pushed back into place to get a proper seal.

Or am I the only one experiencing this problem? A search on the site turned up nothing.

Tony
#10
We recently chartered a boat that had a hand-held power up/down control for the windlass, and this got rave reviews from the Admiral. So of course the question came: can we put this on our boat, since this makes anchoring so much easier?

Sure enough Maxwell provides options to do this. Has anyone implemented such a modification, and if so any pointers?  So far it seems that I need both a control unit, a reversing solenoid, together with associated wiring, and a 3 amp circuit breaker in the power cicuit to the controller.

I made an enquiry with Maxwell Marine, and as a bonus received a comprehensive updated owners manual in PDF format for the VW500 (standard windlass on a MKII), which I will be happy to share/provide for upload to the main site if anyone is interested. 

Tony
#11
I just finished installing the maintenance kit on the WC Headmate. I had to call Thetford to discover one piece of vital information that was not documented:

When you install the flap valve in the pump assembly, there are four possible permutations of assembly. Only one way works properly:  When it is assembled you should look through the lower (intake) port and see a silver rivet with a plastic washer.

I found that I could not install the maintenance kit without removing the head entirely from the boat. One of the screws at the base of the pump is inaccessible unless you dismantle the bowl. To do this, you have to remove the head anyway. Best tool for doing this: a ratcheting wrench.

I first took off all the small hoses, then took out the three lag screws holding the base. You can then pull the unit forward and easily access the three philips (star) screws holding the outlet/joker valve assembly in place. Easier to unscrew this now rather than pull off the waste tubing, which is very stiff. 

Hope this helps someone doing the job for the first time!

Tony
#12
I thought that I would share a couple of ideas that could make using your emergency tiller at lot easier, should the unfortunate situation ever arise.

I had a problem opening the deck plate that provides access the top of the rudder post.

First, the tool supplied for opening the plate is just some bent rod in the shape of a spring, and jumps out of the two key holes whenever it meets resistance.

So step 1 was to find a better tool. See the picture below. This is a Groco Spanner Wrench. Cost under $20. I had originally bought this for another purpose, but realized it would be perfect for this job! I would recommend this as an essential tool for any MKII. I understand that Catalina has since discontinued providing this kind of deck plate on any of their models because so many owners reported problems trying to open the plate with the original tool. It tends to damage the plate rather than open it. The spanner wrench make the job super easy. It is now in the emergency tiller bag.

Second problem is that my rudder post is way off centre under the access. This caused the tabs under the plate (one under each of the keyholes) to strike the rudder post as the plate was rotated. This made it almost impossible to open the deck plate, and was damaging the collar round the top of the rudder post.

My solution was to use a dremel tool to grind off some of each tab. Now I know that I can open the plate easily in an emergency.

#13
I have noticed that the rigid vang doesn't do much to hold up the boom. I have to use the topping lift to get the boom to stay high enough off the dodger. I have the roller furling main, so the boom is equipped with a track for the sliding car. Maybe this makes the boom heavier than the standard?

I am wondering if there is an adjustment, is it undersized, or maybe worn out in some way?

Anyone else notice the same?

Tony
#14
Main Message Board / Toronto Boat Show
February 02, 2009, 04:34:33 PM
I was at the Toronto boat show in January and toured a C375 there (there was no 34, so figured I might as well). There are some things we liked on the 375, and other things not so much. The saloon is clearly designed to serve as a party headquarters, with all the space for roaming around down there. Nice head forward, but the V-berth seems a step back from the C34, which still seems to continue to reign in the under 40 category (and compares well with some over 40's as well). Most seem to be opting to position the V-berth lower down, which makes it narrower, plus they seem to want to make it narrower at the head for easy access from each side. Net result is a rather disconcerting "coffin" shape!?

I still don't like the look of the new anti-skid, but it is probably easier to manufacture without voids, and easier and cheaper to repair.

It is interesting to check out the under sink plumbing on the new models: They have made the plumbing look very modular and run it down the back wall of the cabinet. Thru hulls are hidden under a trap door in a floor to the cabinet, making the space apparently useful for storage. But I am in the habit of shutting off the thru hulls whenever I leave the boat, and when under way. Clearing out the cabinet to lift the hatch, etc would be a pain. So I suppose you would need to specify remote controlled thru' hulls. Anyone priced those out? Speaking with some owners down there, it seems many leave the thru hulls open anyway. (Haven't they heard that this is how most boats sink?)

The Admiral loves those front loading ice boxes. And no, I haven't figured out any way to retrofit the C34 ice box to do that.  But one mod that looks doable in the galley is the nice piece of shaped Plexiglas to shield the seating area from sink splashes. But where to get the stainless (or are they chrome?) brackets to hold it in place?

With all the ups and down of the exchange rates, it seems that Canadian dealers are now quoting in US dollars. Must have got burned. (I remember that Swans was offering a par exchange for boats ordered in Annapolis last October). If anyone took advantage of that, they would have saved 20-25%.

Racor had a display of their spin on filter units, and I could finally figure out what all the little knobs and screw fittings are for. Like how to drain water from the filter, or how to fit a remote water sensor. Most models have a priming pump on the top. But who would know it was a pump just by looking at it? (You have to unscrew it a few turns before it will operate).

Had a discussion with a supplier of custom tanks about enlarging the holding tank, or fitting an extra tank somewhere. Seems like either could be a viable option. I do have a y-valve that could be repurposed to connect to a second tank...I'll do some thinking in the spring.  For making better use of the holding capacity we have, a vacuum flush seems to be the thing, but pricy at $1600 or so.

The design features that most impressed at the show were on an Island Packet 37. For those of you that like changing Racors regularly, how about a small triangular-shaped door on the side of the engine compartment? When you open it up your Racor filter is strapped to the back of the door, with the flexible fuel hoses bending nicely as it opens and closes. The fuel filter is ready to service without having to contort into unnatural shapes to reach it...!
 
Another nice feature on the Packet: a full sized galley garbage can in its own little cabinet, on heavy duty slides for easy access and storage. Now if only I could figure out a way to implement both of those features..

Finally a talk with Raymarine about what could be ailing my wind display, which started acting up last summer, and then quit. A theory offered was that the mast-head transducer could have suffered from a lightning near miss, and then gradually degraded. I will have to retrieve it from the boat and send it in for testing.

Tony
#15
Main Message Board / What happened to the portlight?
November 28, 2008, 11:04:59 AM
This came about when I was looking on Yachtworld to see if any more Catalina 34's were listed as having a Yanmar engine (I could only find the one, from Eastern Yacht Sales). But then something seemed odd about the picture of some of the 2008 and 2009 models being advertised.

Take a look at the two pictures below. One of them shows only one portlight on the starboard side. I found that the official pics on the Catalina website are the source. The implication is that the portlight has been removed from the aft cabin on the latest model. I wonder what the interior looks like with less light coming in?  Maybe some new cabinetry took its place? Anyone have info on this?

Tony

#16
Main Message Board / Holding Tank Capacity
October 14, 2008, 12:51:45 PM
Has anyone else measured the actual capacity of the holding tank of MK II? It is advertised at 18 gallons (see the 2004 manual). I did a test yesterday, and got only 12 gallons (fresh water, nothing else!) into it after pumping it dry. Method: filling a 2 gallon bucket and tipping down the pumpout with aid of a funnel. Overflow as soon as I try to tip bucket number 7 down the pumpout.

Tony




#17
Main Message Board / Holding spreader boots in place
April 01, 2008, 01:56:28 PM
I always thought the best way to hold spreader boots in place was rigging tape. Last year proved me wrong. On a brisk day sail one came off as I tacked. It landed on the deck. Lucky, I thought!  Later the other one came off with a splash overboard when I tacked the other way. Not so lucky, I thought.

So as the ice and several feet of snow slowly melt, and thoughts turn to getting ready for launch and re-stepping the mast, I wonder what method is best to make sure my nice shiny new spreader boots don't come off, but look seamanlike. No info easily available on this, so here's the question: what do you find works best? I have tried rigging tape, but am thinking of white electrical tape (messy, and hard to remove when necessary), or waxed twine, or .... any suggestions?

Tony
#18
This week I lifted the mast off the boat in prep for winter storage. Friends at the club helped: we have a masting crane over a well.  (We don't have a travel-lift, so the mast has to come off).

First challenge was how to easily satisfy the requirement in the manual to "Please use a wooden wedge in the cavity opening at the lifting strap when stepping to avoid damage". I noticed that the professionals have never bothered to do this, with no apparent damage yet, but I don't want to trust that the luck holds up. Others with in mast furling tell me they have never done it either. But if you end up bending something, these masts are expensive to replace. More on that later.

The spreader base is over 20 ft off the deck, so either requires a trip up in the bosun's chair, or...

I measured the slot at just under 1 inch, and determined that a wedge should not intrude more than 1 inch in order to avoid damage to the furling mechanism. I* found a piece of cedar about 1" by 1.5" and about 18" long.

It was easy to shape with a belt sander into a slight v-shape (looking from either end) about 3/4" on the inner edge, and still 1.5" on the outer. I attached a large screw with an eye at each end, and attached it with a thin line to the halyard, and another line at the other end. To keep it in the groove, I fastened a  thin piece of hard plastic about 1" by 1/2" with a small screw on the inner edge. I turned it until it slid nicely in the cavity, as I hoisted it to the correct height. The piece of plastic stopped the wedge sliding out of the cavity and twisting. But it is easy to break off, if anything gets stuck. The halyards attached should make it easy to bring back down the mast next spring after it is stepped back on the boat. I will try and take a photo next weekend.

The second challenge was getting the mast strap up to the spreader. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the radome nicely mounted about 18 inches below the spreader. The usual mast lifting strap can't get past it.  So I purchased an 8ft long 2 inch wide lifting strap from the local tool barn: $20.00. Then we attached two long lines to the strap. As one person raised the strap, and after a bit of trial and error, we were able to pull the long lines out horizontally so that the strap opened wide enough to pass over the radome.  Still no trip up the mast required. Which is good, because the club likes to keep the well time to a half hour per boat.

One final tip: as a safety measure we used a hefty block of wood under the base of the mast while disconnecting the VHF, electrical, radar etc. Radar and wind instrument use mil-spec connectors inside the mast. These work amazingly well, and have weatherproof caps when disconnected. These were time consuming to put on originally, but IMO very well worth it. Ten times better than the little black plastic boxes with screw connectors.

Oh, the expensive mast story: apparently a mast stepping job didn't go so well over at the club next door. It was a double spreader mast on a B351. With in-mast furling. Some inexperienced mast lifters got to work and put the strap under the lower spreader. When they lifted, the mast was top heavy and over she went. Bent beyond redemption now.  :cry4` The new extrusion alone is $19,000.  :shock: Plus the in-mast furling gear, etc. Moral of the story: be very careful who you have step your mast. Make sure they are well insured! If you do it yourself, make sure you are well insured!



#19
We have a narrow part of the river that is currently served by a regular propeller driven car ferry service. (Two boats that leave the opposite shore simultaneously). Navigating past them is always an adventure, but pretty safe if you are careful.

Now there is a proposal to change over to a chain driven ferry, where the chain lies on the bottom of the river and is used by the ferry to pull itself across.

We have been given an opportunity to comment. So I wonder if anyone has had experience or has stories to relate of any problems navigating past such a ferry system? 

Thanks

Tony
#20
Laste weekend we were confronted with the choice: where do we put the BBQ on the stern rail? Discovered there is no obvious answer.

Choices:

(1) beside the GPS receiver and flag mount on the starboard side: pretty sure this would not be good for the Raystar unit, and the flag would definitely have to be stowed.
(2) behind the outboard mount: interesting to see how fireproof the outboard tank is on a Honda 2hp?
(3) on the rail surrounding one of the rail seats: not so comfortable for sitting.

Once installed: the bimini canvas seems pretty close: could this catch fire if there is a flare up?

What I decided: when using the BBQ, remove the OB motor and put it on the dinghy ready for use and fold up the bimini. Use the rail behind the OB mount. This means some work and prep time every time we use the BBQ (which is of the removable kind, just leaves a small bracket on the rail, just big enough to injure a back if installed in the seating area).

Anyone come up with a better idea?

Tony

#21
Main Message Board / Marelon thru-hull lubrication
April 25, 2007, 10:25:29 AM
I am missing the two page manual that is supposed to be part of the documentation with the boat, and want to lube the Marelon thru hulls before launch. Several are inaccesible from below the boat due to position of a pad on the cradle. Has anyone disassembled/reassembled the thru hull from inside in order to lube it? Any hints and tips for a novice at this? Is there a shortcut, ie what is the little white key for? (MK II 2003)

Thanks

Tony
#22
Main Message Board / Removing rudder
April 25, 2007, 06:14:42 AM
I need to eliminate play in the rudder shaft on my 2003 MK II. Reading the older issues, I see someone just shimmed at the bottom of the tube and added epoxy there. I am not comfortable with that approach, since it implies that the load is taken on one point of the shaft rather than evenly dostributed. So I am planning to reove the rudder and have work done to shim the entire shaft.

Here is the question for anyone who may know: what needs to be done to drop the rudder: is it necessary to remove the capstan?

Thanks

Tony
#23
I have searched the board on this topic, but could not find the answer to the following question regarding the VW500 windlass:

How exactly do you replace the oil in the gearbox, or top it up from time to time? The owner's manual seems to leave this as an exercise for the owner to discover. (On my 2003 MKII it is vertically mounted btw.)

Is it as simple as filling it from the top of the unit, after removing the cap and screw, or maybe the drum and shaft as well?  There appears to possible be a drain screw under the unit on the drawings on the manual also, but unclear if this is what it is.

The manual recommends CRC3097 long life to protect the top works of the winch. Googling suggests that this is only available in Australia and NZ. Is there a North American equivalent, other than WD40?

Thanks

Tony

#24
Main Message Board / Radar Splice: where to locate?
January 02, 2007, 05:46:09 PM
Before shipping my recently acquired 2003 MK II from Gloucester up to Canada, the mast had to come down. The yard could not find where the radar was spliced, and so cut the cable at the base of the mast.  After the event, it turned out that the cable was spliced in the port locker, alongside the holding tank, low in the bilge area. I gather that the idea is that you use a signal line to pull the cable down through the compression post to the bilge and along to this locker every time that you step the mast.

Now maybe many of you in southern climes don't have to pull the mast off each winter. But we do in the frozen North, since the boat must be out of the water from November to April, and storing with the mast up is (a) definitely not recommended, and (b) not possible, due to the fact that we use commercial cranes to lift boats in and out of the water, and they cannot cope with a mast being up.  I now have to either order more cable to replicate what was done before, or use a different method.

So my question is: what experience does anyone have using a multi-pin (10, I think) connector for the radar in the mast? This hookup would be the most convenient for stepping and unstepping the mast, but I worry about reliability of the connector/no ability to fix with the mast up.  Is there a recommendation for type/brand of connector? This is the basic Raymarine radome.

Has anyone else gone through the experience of pulling the cable 10 feet through the boat while the mast is dangling 6 inches off the deck each spring and fall? Any other solutions?

(OK I guess at least one person will suggest mounting the radar on a pole, and not on the mast?)

Thanks in advance

Tony



#25
Main Message Board / Non-skid repair
November 28, 2006, 03:48:52 PM
Here goes my first post to this board. I have been reading all the useful posts for a while , thanks to all of you. It helped in making our decision to acquire a MKII, which became ours just a couple of weeks ago. She was trucked from Boston to Ottawa. We will be sailing out of Nepean Sailing Club on the Ottawa River, Canada.

There are a few jobs to be done, and one of these is to repair the non-skid where voids have caused the gelcoat to crack and break. After reading the posts here, it seems the standard recommendation is to gelcoat and then carve. This seems very time consuming and requires some skill to produce a good result. So I have searched and found another solution. I discovered that a company called Gibco makes a self-releasing mat molded to the profile of the non-skid, and there are instructions from West System on how to use it:

http://www.westsystem.com/ewmag/22/nonskid.html

I called them, and they are sending samples that should match the Catalina pattern. Has anybody got experience using this system?


Thanks

Tony