Topics

We are thinking of moving and would like to go out on a sail on either Kentucky Lake or Lake Barkley.  We have been sailing Lake Ontario for the last 14 years and are looking for a lake that is somewhat comparable.  Preferably in the upper part of both lakes near Grand Rivers.  If anyone is interested, please reach out here on the forum.

I see Universal/Westerbeke alternator brackets are on ebay again.  Heavy Duty, 1/4" thick. 
www.ebay.com/itm/154943469772?hash=item241359b8cc:g:FY4AAOSwspZiVFLj

Anybody been successful in getting the Garmin Gnd10 black box bridge to share nmea 2000 data with OpenCPN?

I loaded nexusrace software and it can talk to the gnd10 and also setup which data to share on the n2k but no sharing is apparently occurring with OpenCPN.  I can find no explicit data on the WWW as to how to, only that everything is supposed to with no problem due to being all n2k.  I'm using a laptop with win7 ultimate, and a Prolific BU 353S4 usb gps antenna.  I'd like to see my boat speed and wind data inside OpenCPN and have the Gnd10 use the gps position data from the laptop.  Why should I think this won't work?

Thanks!

(a search for opencpn here had 1 hit)

I posted a couple years ago seeking manual or any paperwork on this.  This season the depth sounder is not working.  Replacing and adding wind instruments is 2K, that's a lot of boat bucks I was not budgeting for.
If anybody has any paper manual or tech info for this I'd love to get my eyeballs on it.
Searches for this have come up 404.... not found.  Dana Plus had a location in Buffalo NY but they were dissolved when KQL? bought them. Any boats from the Erie, Ontario, Toronto region may have gotten this system between 1989 and 1995. Whomever bought them have zero data and zero interest in old stuff from Dana Plus. 
Any help would be great!

Catalina Direct is offering 15% off this month only.  For a C34 std rig 150 Gen and fully battened main both sails are approx 3800.00, this includes the numbers, logo, tells, and foam luff on the genny.

Is that a good deal? 

I'm going to the Annapolis boat show Columbus Day Weekend.

Does anybody think we can do better at the show?

I wouldn't mind used sails either as long as they aren't 15 years old!

Since I needed a keel bolt socket when I re-bedded my keel.  I had to make one.
Last year a forum member really needed a socket so for a few bucks I sent him mine... I'll just make another one.
The first one was 10'' long and was a $9.00 1-1/8'' six point deep well, laser cut in half with a tube mig welded between.
It won't win any awards but it couldn't be broken and fit all the bolt positions.

I made a second one after putting a bit of grey matter into it, to make an improvement or two.
The laser cut is stepped and the tube between is cut to fit almost so tight you don't need to weld it.
It's laser welded just so the parts don't loosen and fall apart with a few uses. 
The torque load is on the physical connection not the weld and shall never break.
If anyone needs a socket..... for the cost of material and a six pack, I can help you out. 
Just email my link here on the forum. 

I've had the mast down for the first time since we owned the boat.  Is this defect in the head stay cable at the mast head a concern?  This is at the top, above the foils for the head sail.

My knots and depth have been inaccurate for a while now. I just discovered how to get into the display to play with the gain and linearity for the speed.  Does anyone have the instructions for this?
I cannot locate a shred of info either in the wide world web or in this forum... I do hope that Stu and or Ron will slap me upside the head with a link.... I searched for 30 minutes here and no hints were available.

My display has two buttons:  Cal and Mode, it says Global in between as if it were the Mfg'r name.  the display is square with red backlighted LCDs and from all outward appearance is original equipment from 1990.

Thanks!

How easy is it to bend the bronze prop shaft by getting a dock line fouled in your prop?

I need a new line on my Hood 915.  I bought 90 feet of 1/2" double braid polyester, not the super stretch resistant type.   For this application it seems to me a bit of stretch is a good thing as I have to cleat off two lines on the one cleat.

I ran it through the furler to see how it fits through and works with the rope stripper and other blocks along the way and as I'd hoped, the .060'' difference makes no difference. 

Since it's a nice rainy day  today I made a fid from 7/16 dowel and a pusher from 1/4'' dowel.   A few minutes on Youtube with norseaknothead and I made two constant diameter splices in less than two beers.  The first practice round had thin spots and I realized what I did wrong.  Cut it off and did another with much better results.  If it so happens that there is a thick spot that drags through the furler, I'll just re-do it on the boat.

It's quite easy and no one should have to run off to a rigger to get a line spliced.  If I can do it I'm sure anyone can.  Not so fast you say?  I agree that this would be extremely difficult with certain types of Line. I tried to practice with the line that came off the furler and I couldn't even open the cover to pull out any core.

I started the arduous task of separating the keel from the stub.  It's been 3 years of research on and off this forum, reading everything I can get my eyes on.   For me and my lack of fiberglass and boat experience the stories of Keel re-bedding are lacking some details, so I go into this with a great deal of apprehension.

The plan is to cut the fairing and fiberglass along the joint.  I'm using a 3/4'' wood chisel so I don't have to grind and make hazardous dust. In an hour I got 1/3 of the way around, just following where the lead meets the stub, cutting the glass mat so that when it lets go, it won't tear anything.  

The mast is up, the keel bolt nuts will not be removed.  If the keel just falls away as the boat is lifted, then hardwood 2x3's will be placed in the gap and the boat set back down, keel bolt nuts snugged to accommodate a drying and cleaning stage.  I'll be ready with oak wedges and sledge hammers if not.
The gap at the front is close to 1/4'', and the joint seems tight and gap-less 2 feet behind the leading edge.
The wedges can get a good start at the front.

Once clean and dry, 3M 5200 will be slathered on the surface.   The keel nuts will be tightened only 35 ft/lbs. Until Cured.  Then at the recommended 105 ft./lbs.  

Cleaning up the joint after this with glass tape and epoxy will depend on what it looks like when done.  My cutting operation is only about an 1'' wide along the joint, and glass is only 3/8'' thick in some places along this line.

Water has leaked out of the joint all winter.  I could not keep up anti freeze with the water coming down the mast this year.  The few times we had some cold weather it was preceded by lots of rain.  The rain water freezes and makes my keel joint worse.  I did do the sealing of the keel nut washers the year before, however this was not successful.  Water came up around the washers after a few weeks.  This method may keep the water out of the bilge, but it does not eliminate access to your keel bolts from the lake or sea, and I'd really like to seal this one up like it's supposed to be.

Any advice is welcome!

[added for searches: Catalina Smile - Stu]

We purchased the Froli system for the V Berth in our '90 Mk 1.5 and gave it a shot last summer.  It was described on their website as the "Froli Traveler V berth Kit"  325.00 new.  I can sleep on anything and this did make a significant improvement.  However my wife's sensitive back is making us pursue a mattress this coming season.
You will need to undo the cover on the removable piece of cushion and place the Froli parts in there and re-staple the cover.  Hardest part was pulling all the 20 year old staples out.  We'd like to recoup as much as we can but want to offer this here first.   How about 250 with free shipping anywhere in the US -or- Best offer?

Ha!!!  Keep an eye out for this one! 
So I'm watching this commercial with a sailboat, where the main sheet bail breaks and the skipper, cool, calm, collected, rectified the problem in short order all the while the narrator is going on about how "this is the age of knowing what to do... " then the scene cuts to sailing and the jib is back winded like a heave to, but it's let out to the other side of the boat with the jib sheet pulling to the windward side and the sail plastered up against the shrouds.  The irony is killing me!
Maybe he knows how to take viagara but he looks like he's at the age of don't no sheet!   Am I the only one who notices this stuff?  And I would like to add that I was only paying attention to the commercial because of the sailing.. really...   I got no problems...  :-)

I should just put this directly to Peggy Hall, but maybe some of us could benefit from the post.

Early this year I went all out on my septic system.  Changed all the hoses, insured vents are clear, insured there are no leaks, so on and so forth.

Under the Port settee, wherein the holding tank resides, still has a foul odor. I washed and rinsed and flushed this area with "green" type cleaners so they could be discharged from the bilge, to make sure no spillage from servicing the system could linger.  However, weeks and weeks after, this area still stinks. 

It just so happens that I have some "Pure Ayre" pet odor eliminator due to having an aging four legged friend.  So as a resort... I soaked the entire area and tank with it.  2-3 weeks later that tank just stinks.  You can put your nose to the top surface and it stinks.  After I'd told The fella where I'd purchased the Pure Ayre from what I was doing he suggested that I add a drop or two of detergent to help it penetrate more. 

According to all the reading I've done on this forum this tank can't be the culprit, but I disagree.
I have soaked this surface twice with Pure Ayre and it is not having any long term affect.  The smell from the holding tank vent is different than the smell from the settee, although both have that "septic system" odor.  Yes I do know the difference between a leak in the vent smell and permeated hose smell. 

Could I really have a permeated tank?

Early this season the hoses in the entire septic system were replaced. 
Prior to this the holding tank was flushed 3 times and with a couple of chemicals:

1st flush nothing but 15 gals of City water.
Second, about a quart to 1/3 gallon of bleach and 15 gals water. 
3rd, 1 gallon of white Vinegar and 15 gal of city water. 

One can smell the chlorine in the city water so that's always there anyway.  Needless to say upon pump out and removal of hoses it stunk pretty good.  I only put city water in it for the next week to help find leaks whereupon I needed to pump out a fourth time and toy around with the connection to the head outlet.

Since then there has been a regimen of Odorlos and a moratorium on solids going into the head. 
No paper, no solids, only a dose of Odorlos, soapy water from hand-washing, city water from the freshwater tank and of course the nominal use it was intended for (urine only).

Odorlos has been used per instructions ( well maybe sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less) and the tank has been pumped out 3 times during the season.

Whenever the head is pumped the smell from the holding tank vent pollutes the cockpit and sometimes the salon below.

Filling the sink bowl about half way and flushing in Wet Bowl mode does put quite a bit of air into the tank.

Putting a second hose clamp on the port stanchion connection eliminated the smell inside by the Nav station unless it wafts into an open hatch/port.

I searched the forum and all of the feedback about Odorlos was very positive.

Now the question at hand:  Why is Odorlos not working under these conditions??

I replaced all the sanitation hoses and repaired the macerator which now gets connected to a through hull for overboard discharge. 

Lake Ontario is No Discharges Zone. 

I just spent over an hour trying to find specific instructions pertaining to making my system legal in the Great lakes including combing the coastguard.mil site.

All I can find is two statements:   
1.) hoses pipes must be permanently removed 
2.) locking the head door or seacock, removing seacock handle etc.  see 40 CFR Part 140 for more information.   

Searching for this is a circular dead end.  I can't seem to find a specific paragraph that says what is acceptable. 

The PO whom was from Canada, had the hose from the macerator output capped with an easily unscrewed plumbing cap on the hose barb that normally screwed into the seacock.  The seacock had only a pipe plug installed.  I can't even find literature that indicates this was legal.

Any help or link to Coast guard regulations would be much appreciated!!!

Recently while working upwind I encountered a right of way decision.
Another sailing vessel, with sails down motoring full speed close to shore made a bee line for my position as I worked upwind along the shore all sails up enjoying top speed.
I was tacking often and when the depth got into the mid teens I would tack away from shore.
Meanwhile another vessel is coming from behind heading right for us. My wife was concerned by his approach from behind and my reply was "I have the right of way and why is he heading directly at a s/v working up wind?"  As I was approaching the shore and running short on depth I decided to tack which would put me on a soon to be collision course with the motoring sailboat whom still had not decided to give me any room.  He had not changed course and I had yet to see the sides of his boat.  Our positions were such that he should alter course 10-15 degrees toward shore to pass behind me.  His course was still aimed about one hundred yards in front of me.  As our point of impact steadily got closer I broke this rule:  I was the stand on vessel and should not change course.  I began to turn into the wind to slow down, when sails began flailing I turned back as little as possible. I repeated this zigzag 3-4 times  The other vessel still did not change course. Our courses and wind direction indicated that if one of us did not alter, we would be T-Boned by this vessel.  Wind was 11-13kts and luffing was violent.  I slowed my progression without losing steerage, so that the collision would be avoided and I'd pass a few yards behind him.  As soon as it was evident to me that the collision was avoided the other sailor made a too late "drama queen" evasive maneuver  and then began shouting heretofore unknown statements that likely concerned my knowledge of the col-regs.  This operator never made an indication he would change course when I tacked into his path.  They were in close proximity and should have immediately angled toward shore.  He did not and since I was unsure anyone was at the helm I decided to zigzag and pass behind at roughly 135degrees off perpendicular to his course.

Since this incident was in July, and it still bothers me, I'd like to have the situation critiqued by the seasoned sailors and their vast experience on this board.

Thanks!!

Mine is missing, probably for a long time.  The screw holes and gauge openings were sources of leaks in really rainy weather.  I looked for a replacement but, it just seems that most people go to home depot and get a slab of poly carbonate rectangle drill some holes and done deal. 

On the other hand, it may be possible nobody replaces this cover.   

Since I have my own laser shop, I made a cover for the engine panel in the same time it takes to drive to home depot find somebody to cut the plastic and then drill the holes...... ONLY mine is better.

I brought the bottom of it below the key switch, blower switch and start switch in hopes of thwarting as much water entry from sideways rain as possible.   See picture. 

If anybody wants one or two, let me know, (don't worry it will be really cheap!)

Ok I give up, I have searched the tech wiki, and the forum and the general internet that google has access to  and I cannot find replacement options for the vents in my cabin top.

These are 1990,  cracked, dried out, and just one stumble on deck away from being kicked overboard in a flurry of dried out plastic and 40$ cowl vents.

First off, I ordered what seemed correct, but the 4'' nicro soft plastic cowl scoop does not fit. I could not find anything smaller so I figgered it was the right item.

I could return them, but I'd like to replace the "dorade" part of the vent without using a big teak box.

I can only find that nicro no longer makes this item.

What have you folks been doing about this particular item? 

The solar ventilator is still available but the one installed in the aft cabin is a diff. size and I fear that ordering these will result in the first problem above:  doesn't fit.

Someone on this forum used the small hatch from the head to replace these.  I'm not interested in all that cutting just yet.

Anybody have a solution??

Thanks!!!

I wish I could find out the logic behind smearing "handfuls" of bedding compound around in the bilge in my 90C34.

I found upon my last visit that diesel is leaking into the bilge from the engine.  About 1.5gal in 2 weeks.
I closed the valve on the tank, which I should have done after winterizing, add it to the list. 

I think this event saved me from a diesel spill after getting back in the water.

Now for the cleanup, I sopped it all up and found that the diesel is dissolving the copious amounts of compound which are neither dissolved all the way for easy removal nor left hard enough to peel off in hunks.
Who would have done such a thing!?  What a mess.  I've searched the forum for compound removal tips and I've also searched the compound mfg'rs for cleanup tips that may apply to this situation.  I have to rebed the keel bolt washers, yes I have the cracks, smile, etc. and it does leak into the bilge from that.  But I would really like to remove the diesel soaked bedding compound with something other than more diesel.  I wanted to use a heat gun but now that fuel is involved I'm a bit concerned.

Any suggestions?

I'm not finding the content about racing in the forum for newbies...   so far a lot of it is over my head.

We have the opportunity to race this summer on amateur night. 
(I use the term "race" loosely as I will likely just be following all the other boats.)

I look at this as a way to gain invaluable experience.  I never sailed more than a "Sandals Hobie Cat" before and I'm hoping this is a smart way to add some vertical degrees to the learning curve. 
One of my potential crew races on another boat, so I have some direction.  The other potential crew persons pretty much are going along because there's beer at the end and know less about boats than I do.

My questions include: how many crew members are needed on a c34? what should or should not be done to the boat for this gentle learning experience?  What are the bare necessities?  Who does the PHRF rating?  Does everyone have to be tethered?  Can you race without a spinnaker? (have not used our symmetrical yet)  What is the best source for yacht racing rules? 

Much of my research so far only finds vague and general information or info too far over my head.

My ability so far is I can take her out, get to a destination and get it back in one piece and enjoy the trip!

Thanks!

It's great to be among such company.  I've been in the forums as an outsider for weeks.

Now we're registered.

The topic concerns that my surveyor may have done us a disservice:

Before purchase we had the boat hauled and surveyed. 

The surveyor did not detect that the hot water tank had frozen and split like a beer can, the head pumps in an odd way and you end up with water in the shower sump, the joint in the ice box around the copper drain nipple was broke, leaked, the check valve allowed lake water to enter the ice box, the breaker for the hot water tank is fried enough that the button is missing, accidentally turning on the disconnected macerator blows the fuse and the fresh water demand pump was double connected with butt splices followed by wire nuts.  There also seems to be evidence of an impact with a fixed object 4 inches below the keel joint forward port, (hauled last week) there is a lot of bedding compound smeared around in the forward bilges.  By the way the keel bolts leak water too.

The survey mentions a small area of fiberglass repair over lead said to be professionally addressed. 

Looks to me like it hit a rock ledge fairly hard at about 30inches below the surface.

This is only what we've discovered on our own so far, not knowing skeet about sailboats.

I'd like to know your valued opinions in this matter.  I'm inclined to contact the surveyor and ask for some of the 14$/foot fee back.  However being new in this sailing community I'm not sure of the protocols. (and I don't want to name the boat Faux Pas either)

Thanks in advance for your consideration!  And we look forward to your comments!

Dan & Dar
3rd owners 1990' C34 997 Named SeaScape, then Resolution and soon to be renamed