The Cape Dory Board

Troy, For the past 30 years I've used Dow Corning silicone grease. It's designed to lubricate (guess what?) water valves and O rings. I service my seacocks every 5 years. When I dissassemble them for service, the grease looks like it was put in yesterday. Admittedly, the grease is hard to find and i...

The best I've found is Dow Corning synthetic silicone grease intended for (guess what) water valve and O ring lubrication. I've used it for over 30 years. I service my seacocks every 5 years. Even after 5 years, the lubrication is is good as the 1st day. I sail in fresh water and don't know if that ...

100% bronze tapered barrel seacocks such as those manufactured by Spartan are the ultimate plumbing valves for beneath the water line applications. Properly maintained they will last a lifetime. They are simple in design, completely serviceable and bullet proof. The only achilles heel in the design ...

mineral spirits

Why not go to Home Depot or Lowes with a Cape Dory color sample in hand and ask them to match it with an exterior latex or oil based semi gloss house paint? Minimum size would be a quart.
What's so unique about bilge paint?

A little bit of wiggle is normal. The cutlass bearing is made of rubber which is somewhat soft and resiliant....hence the movement you've noticed.
Kurt

The CD26 I owned from 1991-2003 was documented. I bought it that way and sold it that way.

Bill,
There's an expert stainless steel fabricator in Marysville Michigan...would you be interested in shipping your rail that far for a repair? I've seen this guys work...and it's very professional. If you're interested I can get his name and address.
Kurt

Troy, There's a wealth of information on the internet regarding osmotic blistering. When I researched the topic back in the early 90's, I remember reading that vinylester was the most water impereable resin being slightly better than epoxy and much better than polyester. But vinylester is also the t...

Years ago I too read about the University of Rhode Island study regarding barrier coatings and the moisture exclusion effectiveness (MEE) of various products/coatings. And yes, alkyd enamel was proven to have a high degree of MEE but that study was done over a short period of time. I doubt the ename...

Troy, I did my System Three barrier coats in 1994 (CD26) and 2004 (CD27). On the 26 I did a complete removal of the gelcoat because the blistering was extensive with thousands of tiny blisters leaking blue ooze between the gelcoat and first layer of mat. On the 27 I did not remove the gelcoat but di...

Troy,
I used System Three on my last two boats with a great deal of success. I added pigment to the resin (alternating black and grey) as I applied it to keep track of the coats. I used around 3 gallons on my CD27. Never had another blister.
Kurt

Does Boat U.S. insurance cover mast stepping in the event of a catastrophic failure? Food for thought?

For those of you that are interested in stepping your own mast...the following article may prove helpful...

http://www.boatus.com/goodoldboat/maststepping.asp

A problem I discovered with my CD27's cabin light wiring is the fact that the wiring/lights are protected with a 15 amp circuit breaker. I was testing the circuit breaker one day by short circuiting the cabin wiring in the v-bunk and the circuit breaker wouldn't trip. Yet if I short circuited the wi...