Messages

Mounting the starting battery next to the engine is ideal.   The closer the better.

I'll decline to answer the charger question, I'll let the real experts weigh in on that one.

The nature of the current draw for cranking the engine is fairly different then the what is typically expected of a house battery bank.     Cranking the engine takes a lot of power for a short duration.   Many house type batteries have difficulty putting out enough power quickly enough to crank an engine.   This can be true even if the bank has enough overall capacity.   Without you stating what type of 6V batteries you have it's hard to say whether you will have issues or not.   

Cable gauge and lengths also factor into this.

It may be that when your batteries are new things will be fine but as they age they will have trouble giving enough output to get the engine to turn.   This happened on my boat.   The PO had installed 4 deep cycle gel batteries in two identical banks.   When everything was new I was able to use either bank as the starting bank or house bank just fine.   As things aged neither bank would reliably crank the engine.   I switched to 3 deep cycle batteries for a house bank and a dedicated starting battery.   Viola!   Life is now beautiful, my house bank has more capacity, the engine cranks reliably and flowers now spontaneously sprout out of my ...,    well you get the idea.

So, you may not need a starting battery but eventually you will probably be happier with one.

Lee cloths?

2nd vote for a lee cloth.

The practical:. https://www.amazon.com/Boatowners-Mechanical-Electrical-Manual-Essential-ebook/dp/B006QA720O?ie=UTF8&qid=1467864992&ref_=la_B000AQTEW4_1_4&s=books&sr=1-4

The not so practical:.  https://www.amazon.com/Riddle-Sands-Record-Secret-Service-ebook/dp/B0092SIXMI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467865073&sr=1-1&keywords=riddle+of+the+sands

Steve, do you remember the model number for the coupling?    I think I may be headed the same direction you went and I am trying to save myself a trip to the boat.

BTW:   Here are the PHRF ratings for the boats   (from PHRF New England):

CATALINA 34   150
CATALINA 34 TM   144
CATALINA 34 WK   159

So there is a difference but my relaxed attitude about course and speed probably makes a much bigger difference then the different configurations.

I am a little put out that PHRF New England doesn't deem my configuration worth mentioning (wing keel + tall mast).   I am going to assume that I'm a 153 (150 - 6 + 9).

Assuming you are carrying an appropriate amount of sail then 20-25 knots won't bother a C34.    The bigger issue is what the seas would be like with that level of wind.    The boat really isn't made to pound indefinitely into large incoming seas.  Your mileage will of course vary on wind spead; wave fetch, height and length; depth of the water; skill of the sailor; etc.

I'm not sure how much the winged keel has to do with anything.   It has a tad more wetted surface and displacement but I'd think you would have to do some pretty controlled testing to see a difference in performance.     In my real world sailing experience I have never felt I had a lessor boat because we have a winged keel.

It could be fun though :-)

Do you have an extendable sprit for you spinnaker?   If so it might work, if not I think you would just end up blanketing the spinnaker with the jib.   There are a ton of variables to work out.   I stumbled across this article here and they touch on most of my points and explain them far better then I would have:

http://www.destinationonedesign.com/prep/index.aspx?subsection=608afb0f7a0443d6bb5b82f976be7098

I think in general you'll run into issues with both the heads and foots of the sails being to close together for it to be practical.

We just hauled the boat out for a new coat of bottom paint.    An inspection of all the underwater bits revealed that I need a new cutlass bearing.   After looking at the tech wiki and previous discussions on the forum I have a few questions.   The boat is an 1988 hull #805.

1) There seemed to be some confusion on whether there are set screws or if the bearing is simply pressed in.    Is there a definitive answer?   Are there set screws?
2) Seems like I can remove the shaft with the rudder on but I can only put the shaft back on if I install the shaft before the bearing.    How do I then install the bearing?   Do I need one of these:   http://www.strutpro.com/?
3) If I have to go to the trouble and expense of finding that tool isn't easier to just press the old one out with the shaft in place?
4) The shaft size is 1" but what is the outside diameter that I need?  What length is it?
5) Any other questions I should be asking?

Thanks,
Braxton

I once had to replace my impeller in a non routine situation and ended up having to reuse my gasket.    (I'm now better at checking my inventory of small items like that).   With the old gasket I ended up getting a little bit of seeping and a tiny spray (more on that later) that caused corrosion and discoloration just like that.    It also didn't take long to happen.   By the end of the weeklong cruise there was already a significant amount.

I new gasket and a little bit of time cleaning it stabilized the situation.

It's hard to tell by looking at the picture but it seems you may have a buildup of salt crystals around the edge.    Are you sure it's still not leaking?

Once you are sure that the leak is fixed you need to make sure that you get the dried salt crystals cleaned up.  Salt is hydrophilic and will absorb moisture out of the air, so you will continue to have a corrosive solution there until you get all the salt cleaned up.

Also look around the rest of the engine compartment to make sure you don't have a buildup else where.   In my case I had a tiny little spray that would intermittently flick a drop of saltwater up over the top of the engine and down onto the fuel shutoff lever.   The salt I didn't find there the first time around eventually seized the lever causing a few anxious engine start or stop scenarios till I got it worked out.   The point of this long winded story is that salt water leaks are insidious, make sure you get everything cleaned up or it will tend to bite you later.

We use ours to test that the shore power is plugged in and operating correctly.   It rarely ever cooks anything.

Are you sure it is the gaskets?   Both mine were leaking and the gaskets were fine.   On both I needed to replace the seal around the lens in the frame.   That's an easy (if slightly messy) do it yourself project.

Of course I made the classic mistake of jumping to a few conclusions so to back track a bit...

A few other thoughts:

1) What is the state of the fuel?   Is it five years old or is it fresh?
2) When you bleed the fuel lines, did the fuel that come out seem like pure diesel or could it have water in it?
3) What does your primary fuel filter/ water separator look like?   Any chance you're pulling water through?
4) Is the fuel pump running?   Most of our boats will gravity feed the fuel if the tank is full but if it's low you may not be getting enough fuel through.
5) Anything restricting the air flow?   After 5 years who know what could have built a nest in the air intake :)

Since he won't be able to put any load on it I expect that getting it up to temperature would be a bigger issue then cooling it.

My engine could run all day without cooling as long as I don't actually try and push the boat around.