The Cape Dory Board

The first time I took a some thru hulls out, I used a regular Craftsman wrench. Take a selection of different sizes of large wrenches, the kind with the the open end on one side and the 6 or 12 point circle on the the other. Try to insert the wrench length-wise into the thru hull. Find the one which...

To my knowledge, all were shipped with the club footed boom. Usually, when they are upgraded to roller furling, the bronze stand to which the boom is attached is left in place. In your photos, it appears the windlass installation replaced it. In your case, the bronze base mount will interfere with t...

I'd pull the engine and take it home. Trying to do what you are attempting while leaving it in place is very difficult. With the engine out, safely on your work bench at home, one of two things will become apparent; 1) the old engine is not economically repairable, and needs to be replaced. In the p...

I assume it is a Whale Gusher 8 or something similar. You can get a service kit and rebuild or you can replace it. The price difference is not very much. If you opt to rebuild, the problem is finding out exactly which pump you have and getting the proper spares kit. This is not so easy as there are ...

After getting pooped with a wave breaking into the cockpit, filling the cockpit with sea water until it could drain out, I was dismayed by the large quantity of water which entered the closed and secured cockpit lockers. The contents of the lockers was pretty well soaked. So I determined to make the...

I wouldn't. Repowering is painful and expensive. The cost of the install (new mounts, beds, prop, shaft, controls, cables, exhaust, etc.) is about the same for a brand new engine as a 40yr old Yanmar. If you were repowering with a running version of the same engine, it would be a different situation...

You should be fine with your approach. I do this routinely as I prefer not to leave my heat exchanger full of salt water. In my case, I have a T with a valve connected to the inlet hose which I put in the bucket full of fresh water after every sail, but your solution is fine. My first comment is to ...

I can think of a couple scenarios... 1) the cracks were always there, but now dirt has settled or mildew is growing in them making them unsightly. In this case, it is relatively easy to use an algaecide or bleach to kill it and scub it off after it has died with a stiff brush. I use the pool and spa...

I purchased a steaming/deck light from MarineBeam three years ago and could not be more pleased. It replaced the AquaSignal which was OEM and had been replaced a couple of times previously by myself and possibly the previous owner. The MarineBeam quality for the steaming light is a significant step ...

I did my Bomars 15 odd years ago. It was quite a bit of work but they came out pretty nice. Make a temporary replacement out of plywood or something which can be securely mounted so you can remove the hatch frames and take them home and work on them in the garage and not have to worry about security...

I did the replacement with teak 16 odd years ago and have a couple comments which may be helpful. 1) The original eyebrows were half round. The mill which made my replacements made them square because they had trouble sourcing the round. After installing and varnishing them, I found water from dew o...

Or you could add a bunch more batteries and loads to make use of it...

-Steve

I would not place much value on a high output alternator unless you have the battery banks to take it. If you have the usual dual lead acid battery set up and basic charge (no smart charger Li ion battery), you can only charge at around 10A anyway per battery. Next time you put a charger on your car...

I repowered my CD28 in 2015-2016 from a tired MD7B to a Beta 16. I agree with your mechanic that it is not worth it as you will spend more than the boat is worth. I think my boat is valued ~ $13k and the repower was closer to $15k plus a fair amount of work. The question distilled as follows; How lo...

While I can't speak to the CD25D, I have the CD28 which I assume is similar. My previous boat was a Cal 25, which has a very similar LWL but a fin keel and spade rudder. They are not even close in performance to windward. The Cal 25 points higher and better than the CD28. We used to enjoy finger sai...