Messages

Ed,

Forward mast bend is not really out of column and will not impact the mast pumping one way or the other.  The pumping has to do with the mast cross section shape and how the air flows over that shape, it's length and where the stays attach all working together to create a harmonic vibration.  It is more pronounced when the broad shape of the mast is facing the wind, like what happens when you have the boat in a slip.  The only way to prevent this is to detach the laminar flow of the wind over as much of the mast as possible.  I have had great success with taking the spin pole toppling lift line and centering it up at the block on the mast and warping each end around the mast as many times as the length of the line will allow, crossing each line in an "X" pattern at the forward and aft section of the mast.  The more the line wraps and hence the more crossing of the line the more you break up the laminar flow, the less pumping you will have.  Just doing the lower portion of the mast is enough to break the harmonic range for our rig setup and stop the pumping.

Also, forward mast bend can be a good thing when you are trying to de-power the mainsail in heavy air.  Mainsails are cut with a forward curve in the luff to provide part of the shape(draft) in the sail. When you hoist that sail on a straight mast this is what provides the belly/draft in the sail.  When you bend the mast forward, the bend of the mast approximates the bend cut into the luff of the sail thus flattening the shape of the sail thus producing less power and heal.  Forward mast bend is usually produced by increasing the back stay tension, but on mast head rig such as ours the forward lowers can be use as well. If you are interested in learning more about sail shape do a Google search on "book on sail shape" and you will have your winter reading list for years to come.

Paul

Brian,
I had a similar problem with my alt bracket.  I placed a metal straight edge across the pulley faces and determined that the alt needed to move aft 1/4''.  Since there were no shims used between the bracket and the front of the engine there was no way to slide the bracket further aft on the engine.  I took the bracket to a machine shop and had them cut off the alt mounting ears and weld them 1/4" further aft on the bracket.  This fixed my alignment problem.  I also had the SAE bolt and swapped it with the metric bolt and had to drill out the alt a little to use it.

Hi Mark,

I see that you refunded my paypal account.  This must mean that you don't have any more strips?  Are you going to process another sheet?  If not, where did you purchase the sheet?  I still want to eliminate my screeching hatch.

Thanks,
Paul

Hi Mark,

Just used your PayPal Link to order a set, hope you have a set left.  They seem to be selling like hot cakes!

Thanks,
Paul

I forgot to add that though it did make the compressor run less often, the biggest improvement was in the accumulation of frost on the evaporator box really slowed down after I installed the "D" gasket.  We use the boat on the hot & humid gulf coast and before I added the gasket we were defrosting the fridge every two weeks.  After we were only doing it every 6 weeks.

Pablo

I installed some "D" shaped foam insulation around the lip of the counter top just bellow the bottom of the counter top. The "D" shape is hollow so as to compress some and allow it to deform easyly to make a tight seal.  I found at the home improvement/hardware store.  It is 1" on the straight side and 5/8" thick from the straight side to the curved side.  The straight side has an adhesive strip that you peal a tape off of to expose the sticky stuff.  I experimented with a short length to determine the height in which to install it from the top of the counter top.  You want it high enough to contact the bottom of the lid but not high enough to keep the lid from fully seating into the counter top.  You miter the corners.

Pablo

I have been upgrading my wiring and have reached the point where I have 4 wires attached to each of the positive and negative batery terminals and need to atach my new SmartGauge directly to the batery terminals as well.  I need to add bus bars to shift two of the wires off the battery terminals but the space is already tight with 4 GC2 6volt bateries.  I am looking for sugestions and pictures on where to mount them.  I considered placing them under the sink on the wall common with the batery compartment but that would require driling holes through the bulkhead.

Hi Russel,

I would defiantly go with an external regulator on any alternator you buy as both Mainesail and Stu suggest.  I tried the cheap route using the internal regulator of the 90A LN when we went cruising to the Bahamas for 8 months and ended up melting the alternator 6 months into the trip.  The internal regulator programming is very simple with no over temp protection for the alternator.  The problem as explained by Mainesail is that given the large battery bank size (~400AH), the LN will overheat while blindly delivering full output for 1-2 hours to bring the battery bank to 80% charge.  These alternators where not designed for this type of duty.  As Mainesail has said in his excellent articles, the LN will work with an external regulator that has alternator temperature protection as the Balmar AR-5 and the MC-614 regulators do.  I have since replace the LN with a new one and  added an AR-5 external regulator.  We did see a fair amount of belt dust from using the higher output alternator.  Bring spare belts, we had a new belt fail 100 hours into the trip and replaced it which lasted the rest of the trip.  Keep your old Motorola as a spare.  We did and it saved our bacon when we burnt up the LN in the Bahamas and did not want to pay the exorbitant rate to replace it there.

Also,  I would diffidently move adding solar higher up on the priority list!  Having to run the engine 2 hours a day to keep the fridge alive got old.  Especially when we were tucked into a quiet anchorage for days at a time.  I wish that we had spent the $1000 on solar instead of the Yamaha 2K generator we bought for the trip.

Paul

Hi Rob,

When we replaced our standing rigging in Jan 2016, we also replaced the forestay in our original Hood furler.  We have the single line model with two sail tracks. Not too much PIA.  Depends on the state of corrosion to disassemble the parts.  If the original rigger did his job properly and used Lancote/tfe-gell/silicone, then it should come apart.  The top eye is swedged on and the bottom is attached to a threaded stud with a Noresman mechanical fitting.  To disassemble, remove the two screws that clamp the drive tube to the foil sections.  Next remove the three screws spaced evenly around the drive tube just above the furler drum.  Now slide the drive tube up and off the drum and up the foil enough to expose where the stud on the bottom of the forestay threads into the drum assembly. Back off the lock nut on the stud against the top of the drum assemble.  Now you can spin off the drum assembly.  You can disassemble the Norseman fitting and reuse the stud and the compression nut but will have to replace the cone that goes into the center of the wire.  To replace the the wire without disassembling the foil section by section, first measure the wire from the swedged eye to the bottom end and record this measurement, you will need this later when cutting the wire to the correct length just prior to attaching the Norseman stud fitting to the bottom of the new wire.  Add one foot to this measurement and cut the new wire to this length.  Attach top eye to the new forestay wire either as swedged eye or mechanical eye.

Method 1: Post and Hole splice.
Now cut the old forstay just bellow the top eye.  Uncoil back the top layer of wire strands at the end you just cut to expose 4-6" of the core wire strands and cut the core strands off at 4" back from the wire end.  Also, remove one of the outer wire strands at the same distance you cut the core. Now on the bottom end of the new wire cut back all but one of the top wire strands the same length that you cut the core back in the old wire (4").  Apply fast drying sticky stuff to the "post" end of the new wire and insert into hole end of the old wire relay the outer strands of the old forestay wire over the core ("post") of the new wire.  Now take the one outer strand of the new wire and coil it amongst the old wire strands.  Think finger puzzle.  Now here is the tricky part.  Take rigging tape and apply over the "splice".  It must over lap no more that 1/3 and be stretched very tight and thin. Now have someone hold the top foil section stationary while another person slowly pushes the wire splice into the top of the foil section.  A third person is stationed at the bottom end of the old wire to ensure the end does not get hung up on the ground.  It is crucial that this third person NOT pull on the old wire for it might separate the "splice".  Slowly work the new wire into the foil twisting the foil as required to allow the new wire to travel into the foil.  If the splice separates you will have to start over or go to method two.

Method 2: Rounded End
Slowly pull the old wire out of the foil taking care not to separate joints.  Take bottom end of new wire and with a grinder round off the end of the wire into a "dome" shape.  Apply graphite powder to the dome and slowly insert into the foil when resistance is felt at a foil bearing slowly rotate the wire or foil while applying a light push on the new wire to get the dome to align with the hole in the bearing.  If a joint becomes separated move wire through the bearing block and reassemble the joint as in the original assembly instructions. Make sure that the brass pre-feeder fitting is properly seated in the foil before installing the Noresman fitting, otherwise you will not be able to insert the pre-feeder into the foil once the wire is in place.

Once the new forestay wire is through foil sections, measure and cut wire to the length measured prior.  Apply Norseman stud fitting and reassemble in reverse order of removal.

I saw this too.  Yes, structural damage, impact at front of keel causes the back of the keel to rise toward hull and caused the cracks in the floor pan and rib by the battery box under the settee.  The sink/settee cabinet structure makes the starboard side of the boat stiffer in this area and that is why you see the vertical crack in the rib just outside the lip that supports the removable floor boards.  It is repairable, but labor intensive.  That is why it was totaled by the insurance company.  Repairs exceeded 60% of insured value is the typical formula used.

I would also closely inspect the area of the hull where the leading edge of the keel meets the hull and the grid/rib structures inside the hull above this area for damage.  There would be a downward force in the leading edge of the keel with a grounding like this.

I would also inspect the rudder bearing tube for any damage.  But it looks like the force that could damage this area was dissipated when the rudder blade broke first?  But still should be inspected.

To repair you would need to grind out the rib and replace.  Also you would need to inspect the hull for any cracks.  These would need to be ground out with a 12:1 bevel and new glass added back.  I believe that this area of the hull near the keel stump is ~1" thick, so you would need to grind back 12 inches either side of any crack to repair.  To get at the rib you would need to remove at least the floor pan structure above the rib and 2 feet for and aft to gain access.  In the worst case scenario you would also need to remove the battery box/settee/sink cabinet to gain access.  You would want to add an aluminum stiffener into the center of the replaced rib that had a plate that extended on the floor of the bilge to the nearest keel bolts for added support.  Not a lot of materials but a lot of skilled labor.

Paul

David,

It is a database error that i keep getting and not a timeout error on every post.

Paul

David,

Just a FYI.  Since the move to the new web hosting provider,  I am getting a timeout error when posting to the message board.  I have to go back to the message board to confirm that the post did indead go through.  This did not happen before the rehosting.

Paul

I am atempting to remove the 6 Lemar opening ports in our 1988 to rebed them and i am having trouble removing the botom 4 screws on all the ports.  I suspect that they are corroded in place.  I have been soaking then with PB Blaster but no joy.  Next step it to try a 18v impack driver.  After that heat. Has anyone else had this trouble and what did work for you?

Paul

Hi,

We replaced our standing rigging 2 years ago before we took an extended cruse from Texas to the Bahamas.  The wire was 17-20 years old according to our rigger.  The rig inspection prior to the replacement found the port upper and stb. aft lower bottom swedges were cracked.  The rigger said that the cable is good for 20 years but it is the swedge fittings that fail first and in saltwater use, the rigging should be replace at 10 years and with mechanical fittings (sta-loc, norsman) longer based upon inspection.  He stressed yearly inspection after the first 3 years.

I shopped around after the rig inspection with APS, Catalania Direct, and two local riggers.  APS did not carry on of the wire sizes require, Catalina Direct had the best price but was in the process of tooling up for the C34 wire sizes but the lead time was going to delay the start of my trip.  Ultimately I went with the local rigger because of my time constraint.  If I was going to do it again today I would go with Catalina Direct because for the same money as the local rigger they provided sta-loc fittings on the bottom eyes and swedge fittings at the top ends. They also provided new the turnbuckles, so it was a pin-to-pin replacement.  My local rigger reuse my turnbuckles and the cable had swedge fittings on all ends. Cost was around $1800 for all the wire rigging including the furler wire

I would defiantly replace you rigging if it is that old.  If not for piece of mind then the cost of replacing your mast and rigging at your own expense.  Insurance companies consider wire rigging to be a wear item and if you do not do proper maintenance (inspections/replacement) they will not cover the loss.  One of my dock mates is fighting his insurance company over a failed chain plate that resulted in a total loss of his rig.   The insurance company said that they would not cover the loss since he had the original chain plates in a 29 year old boat and did not have documentation that they were inspected within 1 year of the loss.

Paul

All,

WestMarine is selling the Balmar SmartGauge on clearance for $180 through 1-15-2018.  This is a Great price 45% off.  https://www.westmarine.com/buy/balmar--smartgauge-battery-monitor--16030900

Paul