Topics

I was out in my sister's new boat this weekend and noticed that the battery charger, which is a smart charger, failed every time to go into bulk charging.
Her house bank is an 8D and is on it last leg and she is hoping to finish the season before replacing.  Am not sure of its use and charging history but assume that it was discharged beyond 50% on a regular basis and undercharged.  My question is whether a battery is this shape could trick the smart charger into skipping the bulk stage and going right into absorption mode or could there be something wrong with the charger itself.  there is also a starter battery but it is separated with the house bank.

I'm working on a small project and would like to paint it the same color as the deck and topsides.  Anyone find a color in a spray can that is a close match?

I attempted to calibrate my tach last week with little success.  I have an 87, #446 and the tach has no dip switches.  It does have a small hole that is marked as "cal" but when I inserted a small slot screwdriver and a phillips, there was nada. 
There doesn't appear to be any screw to adjust and I was wondering if maybe there had been some adjusting stem that had been broken off by a previous owner.  Any enlightment would be appreciated.

I'm looking to purchase a garhaurer rigid  vang this year. Can anyone enlighten me as to the pros and cons of stainless steel versus the aluminum vangs that are made by them.

Attended the boat show yesterday and there were no Cat 34s on hand.  Not sure how reliable the information is because it came from the sales staff, but they told me that the 34 is done and on its way out.

I'm looking to buy or have made, an awning to run from the mast to aft of the back stay.  Ideally it would keep both sun and rain off as we sit in the cockpit.  The only photos I have been able to find are on the projects page posted by Ron several years ago.  I'd appreciate any recomendations, thoughts, and better yet photos any of you have.

I've just finished installing my new traveller cars from Garhauer.  I believe that the original lines were 5/16 ,does anyone know what the recommended size is for the new cars?

I plan to make more use of our computer this year, including using it for naviagation.  The batteries only seem to last about two hours and I have a question about recharging them.  I have a  small 700 watt inverter located near the nav station.  Is it ok to plug the regular AC charger into the inverter or is it better to buy a dedicated DC charger  thats designed to plug into an Aux plug, or does it not matter.

I installed a new Balmar  712 alternator a couple of years ago and have had a recurring problem with a fine black belt dust in the area of the alternator pulley.  In retrospect, I believe that the PO probably had the same problem with the old alternator as well.  When first installed, I had cut off part of the 2 inch foot so I could use spacers to properly align the pulleys.  Problem not solved, so I spoke to Balmar who suggested changing out my Gates belt to a Top Cog and reducing the power output from 100% to 90 %.  Still no relief, so I read thru all the past threads on this site and decided to take off the alternator bracket and check it out, it look bent so I have replaced it with a new one as well as changing out the original pulley that came with the alternator with a new pulley at the recommendation of Balmar.  I accomplished that yesterday, but still think I have a problem.

When you take a straight edge across the face of the engine pulley to the face of the  alternator pulley, they don't seem to be on the same plane.  What I mean by this is that the straight edge sits perfect flush along the engine pulley and then touches the alternator pulley at the far side only with approximately 1/16 inch gap between the far side and near side of the  alternator pulley.   I don't see how there is anyway to adjust that angle without litterally shimming the bracket away from the engine.

Has anyone else confronted this problem or is it something I have to live with?

I'm in the midst of the installation of a Raymarine S-1 wheel pilot and have two questions. One, I'm really perplexed on how  and where to install the rudder positon sensor on my 1987 vintage boat. If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate it.   Secondly, the manual (which doesn't seem like it was designed exclusively for wheel pilots)   seems to indicate that I need to power the computer with 8 ga wire and a 30 amp circutit breaker, that seems overly excessive. 
Any thoughts? and I have talked with tech support at Raymarine, but not too confident with what they told me.

Having recently installed new forward cleats and a bow roller I am now contemplating the installation of an anchor windlass.  Can anyone tell me what Catalina installs as an anchor windlass on their new 34s?  I am  looking at the Maxwell 500 and with  tackle weighing in at about 110 lbs it looks like it would handle those weights.  Any thoughts out there?

I am in the process of disassembling and cleaning the  Maxwell 26 winches on my 87 catalina and am stumped.  I have everything apart but can't figure out how to remove the main gears from the main spindle.  Can anyone help me out?