The Cape Dory Board

Whether this has anything to do with the lack of fuel or not, check the vent line to be sure it is clear. After sitting so long some critters might have clogged the opening. If the vent was clogged when you last filled the tank, it could have given you a false indication of the tank being full. If a...

Why did you install a dedicated battery, solar panel and charge controller, instead of hooking it up to your house battery? I bought one of those day and night solar vents and installed it in my forward hatch, years ago. It worked okay for a while and then died. It never did move much air and was no...

Very nice. I think about doing that whenever it is cold while I am sailing. I try to hold my hand in the exact same place so it warms up one spot and doesn't suck quite as much heat away. \ I have never seen that stitch before with the twist in the cross over. Nice way to spend a bit of time in the ...

On Raven all external metal goes to the grounding plate. The DC grounds all go to the engine or a buss bar that I added that ties everything together before going to the neg battery post. The engine does not go to the grounding plate. Who knows if this is in line with current thinking but that is ho...

This is what I used on Raven. I have separate USB charging ports in other more convenient places. This may seem like a lot of circuits but they fill up fast. You may find that you want to separate some of your existing components and you already have a couple of items that do not go through the pane...

It would help to know what material your lifelines are made of. If they are older vinyl coated wire, then the preferred cleaning method, is to replace them with new wire. You could have brand new, shiny and reliable lifelines for just a couple of hundred dollars. I never really count on my life line...

Each 12volt battery in the group 27 to 31 size you would typically find on our boats are plus and minus 100 amp hours.
You would definitely need to regulate a 50 watt panel.

Be very careful with that solar panel. They typically put out 18 volts and however many amps the size of the panel and the amount of sun will provide. This is way too much for your battery to accept. This is especially true when it nears a full charge. You definitely need a charge controller. This i...

I doubt your batteries were at 13.2 volts when at rest. A fully charged battery, should show about 12.8V when at rest. Voltage tells you very little about amperage use. I run a battery monitor on Raven and it will tell me much more about the state of my batteries. I can scroll through, voltage, perc...

Not many in the Virgin Islands but tons in the Bahamas. We finally figured out how to crack and remove them from the shell. The part closest to the "guts" was pretty tender and could be eaten raw with wasabi sauce. The rest of the thing was more chewy than an old quahog foot. Once you get ...

In this case I believe it is vanity. Orion, is probably the most tricked out CD-31 in existence. Jim is now having a hard time thinking of any improvement he could possibly make to his boat. If anyone has any ideas, it would be good to submit them well before the winter layup so he can order parts. ...

Have a fast and safe passage.

Spring is in full swing, headed for summer. Nice time of year to get home.

Have fun and enjoy, Steve.

You could just buy plain yogurt and add fresh crushed, Maine, blueberries.

It would be cheaper and much better.

Hum, did I close the hatches?

I did not put another Hurth transmission back in. The damper plate was in extremely bad shape. Fresh motor mounts were also recommended. I could still tidy up some stuff here at home. My gauges and switches got repeated salt water soakings. The tach works sometimes and not at others. It needs a wate...