Messages

Al : I have all three on board - laquer thinner, MEK & acetone.  I've found that acetone works the best for me 

Guys : The factory shipping cradles that I've seen have 3 pads on the side. 
As I mentioned in the Mainsheet many years ago , be where of yards puttin the boat in the cradle backwards.  Gerry Douglas mentioned this to me!  Look in your owners manual and it shows a front and back of the cradle.   

Al : I've use the acetone as mentioned, but let a wet rag with acetone sit on top of the spill and it will soften up so you can remove it easier.   

Pierre : You'd better check that you have a Oberdoffer for sure as the M25 series could have come with 3 differant raw water pumps!!

Guys : I'd keep an eye on the coolant recovery reservoir.  That coolant is going somewhere!! - if not a hose to the water heater, maybe an internal leak in the heat exchanger??? 

The idea behind a coolant recovery system is that you don't have to open the cap to check your coolant level.  All you do is look at the coolant level in the recovery bottle.
Even with a cold engine - if you open the cap you will get some overflow of coolant.  

Roland : I finally sad "screw it" and started using a custom made stick.  Actually I have 2 sticks, one for 3 inches open and one for 45 degrees. 
It beats the cost of a new hinge kit and is nearly fail safe!!   

Pierre : I think you could use the Xantrix wiring, but most of us didn't do it that way.  We already had the negative battery posts wired together with #4 or #2 size wiring.  So the simplest way for the single negative wire from the True Charge shore charger was to take that (-) wire to the furtherest battery negative post. 
The negatives are all tied together as mentioned by Stu and Ted. 

Tony : You are correct, Steve and I are saying the same thing.   

Terry : I assume that you have a MK1 ?  As Jon mentioned you might consider just keeping the starboard tank full as it keeps the boat in trim. 
If you have never been to the Keys, they used to have a water restriction that you could fill your water tanks, but could NOT wash off your boat with fresh marina water(water is imported from Miami in a pipe line down Rt 1)!!  For that reason I'd fill all tanks and at least be able to take a bucket full of fresh water from you own faucet to slosh down the deck/anchor well - if needed!! 
I don't think that those few extra pounds of water will increase the hulls wetted surface that much that (when cruising) will "slow" you down that much.  A thought

Bill : I apologize that I didn't see that you have an M35 engine.  I gave the solution for an M25XP wired fuel pump.  As Ted suggested use a jumper wire to get that lift pump going. 

Bill : The easyest way that I've found to drain the tank and save the fuel is to put a length of 3/8" fuel hose on the outout of the electric fuel pump. 
Then turn on the key switch and control the on/off of the pump with the battery selector switch.  When you fill a 5 gal tank turn off the battery switch and put the fuel hose into an empty 5 gal container and start again.  Inbetween you can sit on the head seat and monitor.   A thought. 

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Steve : I've never heard that. 
I would say that sailing with the transmission in neutral (like most racers with a fixed prop do) would tend to wear the cutless bearing, not having it locked in reverse !!  My openion.

 Tom : Hmmm !!  The WX could have changed enough to cause the coolant to flow out of the internal tank when the cap was opened.  However, I don't believe that the WX change would have emptied a full reserve reservoir.   I'd look for a leak in that coolant recovery line. 

David : On a new cutless bearing you should have no play. It will stay that way for a years depending on your engine/shaft alignment and engine hours run each year. 
The biggest wear factor on your cutless bearing is that alignment.  That's why people go to a "flexable coupling" and reduce that wear.  A thought