The Cape Dory Board

I agree with Steve's comments. I had a 25 pond CQR on our previous CD30 and felt it was marginal. The 35 pound CQR we have on Oryx has worked flawlessly over 6 years of coastal New England cruising, with not one slippage issue or need to reset ever (including one night riding out a nasty blow anchor...

Oops - it didn't attach. System won't let attach a PDF. Send me a private message with your e-mail address and I will send it.

I have attached the Merriman pedestal installation/maintenance manual in PDF format.

Washed, dried, folded, stored on the boat. Highly unlikely a mouse will manage to get aboard. It's worked for me for years.

No real problems doing the swap. The only down side is that unlike with the 2 inch heat exchanger, after installing the 3 inch heat exchanger the transmission dip stick cannot be removed without first loosening the HX attachment hose clamps and moving the entire HX back an inch or so. However, this ...

My heat exchanger was the 25 year old 2 inch original, which was undersized for the M25 and prone to overheating above 2100 rpm even without the years of scale buildup. Since Universal had recommended upgrading to the 3 inch heat exchanger, I opted for that instead of trying to refurbish the old uni...

A word of caution: removing the thermostat in the M25 unless it is really necessary is an invitation to spend hours solving a non existent problem. Replacing the thermostat regularly is not a bad idea with a raw water cooled engine (i.e. one with no fresh water loop) because the thermostat is always...

David: I tend to second everything Jim pointed out, especially if I am single handing. If, on the other hand, I am sailing with my wife, who is reasonably comfortable on deck in heavier conditions (or at least a semi-willing participant) I opt to go with the staysail at 20 knots or beyond, and furl ...

David: After sailing a CD31 for 6 seasons I can reasonably say that like any boat, it has its good and not so good points. It sails at least as well as the CD30 I previously had. The added displacement and freeboard tend to make it a bit drier and smoother than the 30 in chop. The only significant i...

If your M25 still has the original wiring harness, do yourself a favor and at the same time spend the hour or two to replace it (see Maine Sail's piece on the pitfalls of the original Universal harness/trailer connectors.) After several heart rending episodes of failure to have any response to pushi...

Today was a spectacular day of sailing, probably the best of the season. Perfect conditions, and a prime example of why I love sailing a Cape Dory - a good 15 mile sail upwind in 15 knot breeze, helm locked and such good sail balance I had no need to touch the helm nearly the whole time.

Here you go:

http://www.rigrite.com/Spars/SparParts/ ... er%20Bails

Depends on how much is installed at the mast top (i.e. antenna, etc.) Mine is 47 feet +/-, and I play it safe by assuming 50 feet clearance is needed.

Don't agonize over the impeller vane orientation. Every raw water pump I have had over the years has sufficient squeeze on the impeller vanes to pump properly regardless of vane orientation. The vanes may kick back to the "backwards" orientation on shutdown, but will pump as long as they a...

Take a close look at the bracket that attaches the shift cable to the transmission at the same time. You may find it's in worse shape than the cable itself, and a harder part to get in a hurry.