The Cape Dory Board

Let me know if you hear of a weather window worth considering. I don't usually look more than five days ahead and I really can't start until sometime in Jan. I'll try to get the boat moved from Town Creek back to MBYC before we head north to "your" creek.

I have decided to install a Charles Isolation Transformer. The best price I could find was at iMarine with an advertised flat rate of $10 for shipping. That turned out to be too good to be true. If you live near someone who stocks these 60# bricks, you might do better to go pick it up. Defender has ...

I'm the guy who raised his hand, the only hand, when at an annual meeting the speaker asked who left their boat "plugged in." Properly admonished and having seen what happened to the zincs, I stopped staying plugged, but I want to prevent freezing and still be able to sail on a good day in...

I was hoping that Oswego John would step up. He did recommend Peter Kennedy, so that is good. This is not my field of expertise; please step in if you have an opinion. Here's what I think I know; please correct me if there are errors, especially glaring ones: I believe galvanic isolation is provided...

Beyond cost is there any advantage or disadvantage to using a galvanic isolator rather than an isolation transformer? It seems to me that the galvanic isolator has more components to fail. Do they fail safe or just connect everything to promote corrosion?

Parfait's new Yanmar makes me feel warm and cuddly. The Perkins never had a chance to get close, but I have suspucions about its history. Re-powering was hard, expensive, and very satisfying. However, if I had a leaking Perkins that was as reliable as the Yanmar, I'd keep it.

Bill,

Parfait is 3 hours away. That is far from optimum, but close enough for a weekend escape now and then. I usually try to stretch the weekend to Friday through Monday. Yes, I am retired, but have a 24x7 job.

Keep on sailing,

Ken

When I repowered the yard almost ate the Robinhood bed rather than having to deal with it any longer. There was prior experience with fitting that bed to the Cape Dory 36 and they finally got enough advice from Robinhood to make it fit. It is a very nice bed with a sump. There are probably less expe...

Those new rollers are too nice to put chain across. Your old ones are slightly worse than mine. Parfait's portside roller is about like yours.

Thanks,

Russell, From your description, I guess the rollers I am removing must be the originals. They are grey and somewhat mushy. I priced the Spartan rollers after seeing a pair on a Robinhood 40 and decided that if I really wanted bronze rollers from Spartan, I should buy the Robinhood. They are both gor...

I pulled the cap off the bow roller shaft with the thought that I would pull the shaft and replace the rollers. Fortunately, I wasn't in a hurry. The shaft had been there a long time, maybe 27 years? I don't know what the original rollers were, but these are not hard as nails and had worn through to...

Propane is heavier than air and if there is a leak you want it to go overboard, not into the bilge, nor the cabin. If you use a locker, it needs to be closed to the rest of the boat and vented overboard from the bottom. I'm sure you can find more expert advice elsewhere, but you do not want to mess ...

For those who are still fussing with engine control locations, here is a $99 Engine Pod that mounts on the pedestal: http://store.oceanequipment.comProductInfo.aspx?productid=EP162 It might be worth the trouble to have another panel ready to go below decks should the pod not be as watertight as adve...

Unfortunately, I am pulling some gear from a different century into the pedestal area. Until is it time to toss it all out, I will using Raymarine chartplotter/RADAR, a B&G quad, and an Alpha Marine autopilot which is rugged but very vintage. I doubt they will talk to one another. I have found a...

When I added the chart plotter I was able to sneak the cables past the steel and into the guard, but I don't think it is worth the trouble. I am now faced with moving the autopilot head and the depth/speed instrument to the helm and I am going to have to do something different. A third tube of stain...