The Cape Dory Board

So sorry to hear this, thanks Cathy for posting. A real loss to this community.

Hello! I would use a stiff wire like a bent coat hanger or an electrician's fish tape. Put the wire through first, tape it to a the wire and pull the halyard through.

Looks like a really nice Ty. Just saw this thread. FYI, some of those abrasions go deeper than gel coat, so I would consider applying a couple of coats of epoxy as a barrier coat before bottom painting. Hope that helps.

Interesting. Does the forestay attach at the end of the bowsprit? Or near the end of the bronze bracket? Or at the stemhead of the hull? Hard to tell from the pix. Curious whether the bracket takes the rigging load or is just meant as support for the the anchor. My first CD was a 27 that I am 99% co...

The "dolphin striker" is actually a spreader for the bobstay that is not used on CD-type designs. I never really liked that term, but even Wikipedia acknowledges its use:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobstay

Very nicely designed and executed!

One of the Pro's for drysail in your circumstance is less worry about the boat while you are 90 minutes away. Conversely, a Con for the mooring. On the other hand, when you multiply the number of times you haul/block and launch, you multiply the possibility for bumps and scratches. This is a calculu...

I like having both the paddlewheel/water speed as well as GPS because it gives me a good estimate of the current I am dealing with on the Hudson River. The water speed paddlewheel always fouls after a couple of months, but I'm not ready to ditch it and I'm not ready to Break Out Another Thousand (wh...

Congratulations on your new adventure. I still recall the tour you and Bruce gave me at the CD rendezvous years ago which resulted in me finding a CD32 of my own!

I love my CD32 but I do miss my CD27 in a number of ways. Sitting forward to steer is the way it was designed. It's nice to be able to steer under the protection of a dodger when the weather turns wet.

John, I prefer the vacume pump from West Marine. Youve got much more working room than my install. Youll probably get your side pump to work just fine but its awkward and stiff on my engine and plus I can get the TMC atf fluid out too with the West pump. Also- The condo association we live in has t...

John, I use one of these for the engine oil changes and the TMC 40 ATF. I just remove the top fill plug and stick the pump extraction wand/hose into the trans as best I can. You kind of have to jigger the wand around to get it down to the bottom of the trans housing. Is there actually a drain plug ...

John, My Hurth has a drain plug as well, but I use Paul's method largely because it is very difficult to fashion an appropriate pan to catch the uses fluid while also accessing the drain plug. I also like (really like!) the syringe idea but would double check that the extracted fluid registered full...

I second the suggestion to check all connections. Wonky connections can cause this kind of intermittent failure. Happened to me 10 years ago and found a loose-ish ground-to-engine wire. I removed the connection, cleaned it up and reinstalled and it's been fine ever since. The ignition/alarm circuit ...