Cruising in boats





Archive for December, 2011

Steering gear chains

Has anyone ever heard of Edson pedestal steering gear chains breaking?  I
ordered new steering cables from them a couple days ago and they talked me
into a new chain which they say should be replaced every 5 years.  He made a
good case, crevice corrosion, etc., so I went along.   I know Edson would
like to sell chain but I wonder how often the actually happens.  My chain
appears to be original from 1980.  It looks fine but I would have to clean
it up and dye test it to  be sure.  Quicker, and probably not much more
expensive, to just buy a new chain.


Roger Long

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Racor filter installation

Does anyone have any information or advice on whether or not a racor element
filter can be installed above the fuel tank on a V8-71 detroit diesel? Thanks

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Can't get off this e-mail list, advice?

Can’t get off this e-mail list, advice?
i have sent numerous e-mails to unsubscribe to no avail. anyone ever
tried to stop getting e-mails from this group?

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cruising w pets

This Spring Break we’re taking our 85 pound lab with us on a week long
cruise, kids excited wifie not really….first time the can will spend
that long on the boat, longest leg might be a bit more than 10 hours.
Any advice from this savy bunch?
M.

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Polysulfide by brand .. what is your favorite and why

Trying to pick a polysulfide to use when rebedding hardware.  There are a
few brands.

Stuff such as 4200, Life Caulk,, etc.

What is your favorite and why.

Thanks

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Cap'n Navigator and NOAA download question(s)

My apologies if this shows up more than once – I’m forced to use a web-
based posting medium and I got the message that the server wasn’t up
to it at the moment and to try again…

I have the Cap’n aboard – and am still trying to get to know enough to
be dangerous.

With our recent decision to go up the East coast before setting out on
our Caribbean odyssey, we set about acquiring the appropriate charts,
including replacing the umpteen we’d given away as not needed when we
first decided to do the Caribbean and not come back any further north
than St. Thomas once we got that far :{/)

A visit to the Seven Seas Cruising Association offices when I had to
be in Ft. Lauderdale last week provided nearly 60 paper charts and
kits.  A visit to the NOAA website provided 153 electronic raster
charts.

The NOAA charts come in what appears to be a couple of formats –
a .bsb which seems to be an index of the parts for a chart, and others
(.kap) which have from one to many parts.

When I did the download for FL and the other areas which we thought we
needed (many months ago), I *thought* I had succeeded in making them
part of the Captain’s inventory.  However, attempting to see these
(electronic) charts I’d just gotten duplicated on paper on the Captain
failed.  Apparently, I’ve stored them in a place which the Captain
doesn’t like (even though I updated the path), or he can’t read them,
or they’ve got some association attached to them which is improper.

Can anyone tell me a couple of things?  They are:

What is the name of the program (something.exe, I presume) which opens
either the bsb or the other, .kap?

If the file in question has something inappropriate (previous attempts
to open the download yielded the usual windoze "do you want to search
the web for something to read this file??" message),  how do I make
the association disappear in the "view/options" section of my folder?
I’ve currently got the Captain Voyager Mosaic as the selected opener.
Double clicking any such file opens the Cap’n to the last chart I’d
had, and not the one I’d clicked – and searching for a specific chart
in his list doesn’t have that one (or any of the others I’d
downloaded).  Attempts to delete the .bsb have failed as the "delete"
button is grayed out in the "view/options" section…

Or, anything else which comes to mind if you’ve succeeded in
downloading NOAA charts.

And, on an entirely different tack, ENC charts are also available from
NOAA on free download.  They seem from reading the info, to be
somewhat more robust, or perhaps more feature-rich, or some other
reason to have them as well.  Are ENC charts readable by the Cap’n?
In my inventory ("get chart" in the "file" tab), there appear to be
some of that type from the CDs I got when I bought the areas I was
going to cruise, initially.  If ENC charts are both readable, and
worth having, how do I organize those in order to make that happen?

Thanks.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2      Disaster link: http://ipphotos.com/FlyingPig.asp
SV Flying Pig   KI4MPC
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You seek problems because you need their gifts.

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Donna Lange photo

See photo here:

http://www.donnalange.com/

Come on, Donna, how about a little truth in advertising?  I can buy the
first part but the second line is a little hard to believe:)  Didn’t you
mention something about being a grandmother?

A picture from the starboard quarter would probably be a reasonable comment
on your current location.


Roger Long

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Magellan GPS question

A poster to a boat site I visit recommended that I get a Magellan handheld
GPS, not a Garmin.

He said the Magellan is better and that the mapping software is much
cheaper.

I really don’t know hardly anything about Magellan or the Magellan software.

Can one of you knowledgeable sailors fill me in..

Thanks

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Refinishing teak trim

Need some info from some wood finishing experts. I am refinishing a few
pieces of teak trim that had been finished with *something*, and
unfortunately I cannot get Pearson Composites to give me any clues as
what it really was. They first told me that it was Sherwin Williams
varnish, but that company could find nothing in their inventory that
matched Pearson’s description, and their marine division makes only
paint for big/military ships. After a lot of back and forth, Pearson
told me that a good substitute would be Interlux #60 varnish. Turns out
that #60 is something called "polyurethane varnish". That name of course
is nonsense, it is just poly that resembles varnish. So now after doing
a little research I find out #60 used to be regular varnish up until 2
or 3 years ago. So did Pearson use varnish, or poly? The final piece of
info dragged out of them is that all the finishes they use are *indoor*
only, and these pieces of wood are exposed to the sun (they run around
the companionway) and got all ratty.
   Since they won’t fess up and I still need to refinsh, what would be
some recommendations? I need to match as best I can the rest of the
interior, and yet it needs better protection from exposure. Can straight
spar-type varnish be used on wood previously poly’d but sanded? Can you
varnish over a few new coats of poly? And if anyone knows, what finishes
might meet my needs AND be a close color match with Interlux 60, and
hold up well like a good UV varnish? Of course, relative ease of future
upkeep and refinishing is important which is why I would ‘prefer’
varnish vs. poly if possible – poly is a PITA to remove adequately for
refinishing.

Thanks,

Red

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Radar Furuno 1623

With my eye on it’s automatic zone-larm I am planning on installing a
Furuno 1623.
Some time ago I have read somewhere that users drilled a hole in the
fot of the dome in order to let condensed water pass. Anyone here with
experience regarding this allteration? Or with experience with
problems due to condensed water?

Fair winds,
Len.

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