Messages

The dripless shaft seal won't affect the alignment procedure.

When the seal was first installed, the installer should have checked to see if the shaft was centered in the shaft tube where the shaft exits the boat.  Once the PSS seal is installed, it's hard to check that while the boat is in the water without taking additional precautions to keep the boat from flooding.

Once that is taken care of the procedure I used was to back off on the couple bolts to give yourself a 1/4 inch clearance or so and slide the coupler apart.  Then slide the coupler back together until it touches.  Now slide a feeler guage around the circumference and look for gaps.  My recollection is that .001"/inch of diameter of the coupler flange is acceptable.  So if the couple flange is 3" diameter, .003 is good enough.  If it's out of spec, you use trial and error adjustments on the motor mounts to tilt the engine at different attitudes to bring it back in spec.  A large gap at the bottom of your coupler would indicate the front of the engine needs to go down.  A gap measured at the top of your coupler would indicate the front of the engine needs to go up.  A gap on either side means the engine needs to be slid sideways one way or the other.

That's the down and dirty method I've used. 

Well, the kids had to back out, so we're travelling north solo this year.  The tides really suck this year for travelling during banker's hours around July 4th.  We'll probably try and head out the evening of July 3rd, maybe July 4th and travel in the afternoons till around supper time.  We haven't decided yet where we're going yet, but we'll probably be around Nanaimo around the 6th or 7th, either at New Castle Island or the boat basin and we'll try and monitor the VHF a little better this year in case anyone is in the neighborhood.  (got an outside speaker installed last weekend, so that will help) 

Anyone else firming up their itinerary yet?

Also, I've been reading mixed information on passport requirements to get back into the country.  At first I thought a passport was required, but then I've read if you don't have a passport, photo ID and a birth certificate will still get you in.  Anyone have the straight scoop on that?

Cool!

I think SPOT found a nice niche for this product and as world wide coverage increases seems a pretty reasonable alternative for those of us cruising on a budget.

Ever wonder what the crab are doing down there while you're drinking your umbrella drink?  I borrowed a drop camera from work and hooked it up to a bait bag and dropped it overboard at Hope Island.  Took about 4 minutes for the crab to show up once the bag stopped skidding across the bottom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpmflENfnwo

A WHAM mic is on our list too.  The VHF down below isn't very useful when we need it at the helm.  I bought a little external speaker to wire out in the cockpit, but after this weekend, Sandy and I both agree that a WHAM mic would have been nice.

I wasn't sure whether I got your postion report or not.  I was messing around with the radio and shortly after I did a position report POL, I pushed another button on the radio, I think it was marked display, and a lattitude and longitude started scrolling across the bottom of the display.  That puzzeled me, and I wasn't quite sure if it was my location or perhaps yours. I looked at the lattitude real quick and compared it to the lattitude displayed on our gps and it seemed that they matched, so I figured it was my postion being displayed. 

I think I got some of the features figured out this weekend, but I agree, it would be nice to be nearby and confirm that all the features are working.

Well, nutz!  I apologize Craig.  I started working on my teak and forgot all about turning the radio on.  Around 3:00 I realized my mistake and turned it on and pinged your radio for a position report.  It looks like my radio does two broadcasts on 70, the first on low power, the second on hi power then it goes back to the working channel.  I think I got the DSC stuff figured out after reading a bit more on the boat.  Neat technology when it's used by more people.

We broke down Saturday and had an exciting trip back south down Rosario with no wind and no motor.  We drifted like a log at 5 knots past Black Rock.  I got the engine patched up before Bird Rocks and then idled back into Skagit Bay.  We're at Hope Island now.  I'll still have the radio on tomorrow between 10 and noon.

Have a good trip.

We had a bad day today. Left Spencer Spit around 11:00 and headed north towards Doe Island. There was no wind so we motored. Just south of Doe Island a ways, in Rosario Strait, the engine sounded different and I noticed no water shooting out the exhaust. Temperature gauge was okay, so I caught it in time. I shut down the motor then went down below to check the water intake strainer. When I pulled off the engine cover, I found a fan belt completely off. What the heck. Next I found the pulley on the raw water pump broken, with the pulley completely missing.

Rosario was ebbing. It runs at 5 knots in places. We put up the sails and drifted south down Rosario like a log, doing 5 and 6 knots over the ground but only a knot or two through the water, barely able to steer at times. Rosario doesn't ebb straight down the middle of the channel. It sets to the west a bit against Blakely Island where it looks like river rapids. Even though I was trying to sail away from Blakely Island, we were being set towards it. My wife was getting scared. I've spent enough time running the Skagit River that I knew currents will push you towards an obstruction and then usually around it at the last minute. We zipped along the east shore of Blakely Island sideways and cleared a point I was worried about. The next obstruction was Black Rock and we were heading straight for it.

I put the 3 H.P. on the dinghy and hooked a tow line to the boat because there was no wind to sail and therefore no steerage. I started pulling the boat and could only get 1 knot. We just barely cleared Black Rock. I was starting to get worried now. The next obstruction we were getting pushed into was Bird Rock. I decided to see if I could patch the engine to get some control of the boat again.

I took our garden hose that we use to fill the water tanks and cut and end off. I screwed the other end into the anchor wash down hose. I took the cut end down below and bypassed the raw water pump and hooked the garden hose directly up to the hose to the heat exchanger. I started the engine and turned on the anchor wash down pump. Water was coming out of the exhaust again, but at a reduced rate. I put the boat in gear and started idling. We were making almost three knots and the exhaust elbow hose was staying cool. It looked like we were going to make it. We motored over to Deception Pass where it was flooding at 6 knots. We headed through. Unfortunately, a big power boat was coming through the other way against the current and taking his share out of the middle. I didn't have much steerage and aimed for the middle too. It's my understanding a down current boat has the right away due to reduced steerage. We cleared the boat right under the bridge and headed over to Hope Island and anchored. We can relax again. I think we'll sit here until Monday and then go in with the current. It could have been a lot worse. I have a new found respect for Capt. Vancouver who explored this area 200 years ago without an auxilary engine.

Craig,

We left town Friday just before noon to see if we could get the dock at James Island.  It was already full.  We're over at Spencer Spit now and may try James again tomorrow.  My MMSI is 338069638.  It's hooked to my GPS.  I'll have both on Sunday around noon if you want to try polling us for automatic location.

Ray

I entered your number into my directory just the other day.  I don't remember my number though.  I'll see if it's accessible online where I registered and get back to you.

Craig,

If I wanted to hail you using your DSC id #, would I have to know what frequency you're monitoring and then hail on that frequency?

We're going to be out for the long weekend too.  I don't know where yet, but I thought I'd enter you into our VHF address book and perhaps give you a shout to get some practical experience with DSC.

Ray

Craig,

Emailed them to you:

True story:

On a previous boat (Islander 28) I started getting some vibration from a worn cutlass bearing.  On our three week vacation, the alternator broke off its mounting bolt the first night out.  I carry a bunch of tools with me, so I drilled out the broken grade 5 bolt and replaced it with a grade 8 bolt.  Two days later, the alternator broke off again.  This time my harder bolt held, only it broke the mounting ear off the timing chain cover, exposing the timing chain and slinging oil inside the engine compartment.  We sailed into the nearest marina.  I bevel filed the edges on the aluminum engine cover and Marine-Texed it back together then made a card board template for a new alternator mount that I took into town.  A machine shop machined me a new bracket so I could mount the alterntor again and we finished our vacation with that awful feeling in our gut wondering if we would make it back home without any further break downs.

Anyway, we hauled the boat that fall and changed the shaft and cutlass bearing and I was amazed at how much smoother the engine was.  With the gradual wearing of the cutlass bearing, I was aware there was a little vibration but just wasn't aware how bad it was until we had everything brand new again to compare it to. 

So, you might get by this summer just fine, but you could do some damage you never even anticipated too.  How's that for a wishy-washy answer?

I did that upgrade a few years ago and I seem to recall that there was an adjustment screw on the backside of the tach for the fine adjustment.  I noted the high rpm and idle rpm setting before the change over and then adjusted the tach as close as I could to those previous settings.

By the way, what is that fellow getting for his alternator now? 

I've seen zincs tied over the side of boats before.  They're supposed to be electrically connected to the prop shaft with a wire aren't they?