The Cape Dory Board

I'm looking for a bronze hold-down clamp to replace this: http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h64/jwmarin/Boat/HoldDownClamp.jpg The one in the picture has a piece broken off where the two pieces are supposed to connect. They don't seem to be in the Spartan catalog, and I've found them everywhere in s...

I just had my mechanic replace my exhaust elbow. Dalton, your elbow wouldn't be so exhausted if you had an automatic bilge pump instead of manual. (Sorry, hope you don't mind a stink-potter intruding on your debate. I'm watching with fascination, as I had no idea there are those who eschew electric...

The 1983 manual available on this site says, on p28: "All CD-36's are fitted with 1" diameter bronze "Tru shaft" propeller shafts." You could do a quick sanity check by measuring yours. If you can't accurately measure the diameter, use a tape measure to check the circumferen...

I had a 176 (b&w) on my prior boat. It is a precursor to the 478, uses the exact same mount etc, but lacks the built in charts and some other capabilities like XM weather, depth, etc. I bought a BlueChart chip for the Puget Sound area, and the chart detail was great It served me well at the time...

I bought one recently too, and for my needs it's really great. I have a CD28 (power) with flybridge, and I really wanted something I could move with me when I change stations. The rechargeable batteries let me do that without turning the unit off. Plus it came with three mounting options, so I was a...

The wrenches are available from Spartan: http://www.spartanmarine.com/source/22.htm (see full catalog: http://www.spartanmarine.com ). They run about $50 for the pair, but they're very nice tools. The first time I needed to make an adjustment, I didn't have the wrenches. You can break loose the stop...

It does help! Thanks.

Sure looks good to me, very clear and precise! One thing I've always been curious about is why a flexible (or semi-flexible, at least) hose is used to attach the stuffing box to the stern tube. Is it important that it be flexible? Is it just the simplest way to attach the two together? Is it flexibl...

An easy way to check the intake is to remove the intake hose from the seacock and stick it in a bucket of water, then try flushing. I replaced my Groco recently. After comparing the cost of rebuild kit and new head, new head seemed like the better way to go. New bolt pattern pissed me off a little, ...

Maybe corrosion isn't quite right -- it looked more like a little rust. I don't think it was simply residue from the old packing, however. It came right off with little effort and looked as good as new. So you're probably right, it probably was not corrosion, but did seem to be from the shaft itself...

I just repacked both with GFO Gore (goretex) packing material, which explicitly says that no grease or other lubricant should be used.

I had just a small bit of corrosion, and did exactly as you were advised -- scotchbrite took it right off and it looks like new.

That's my understanding -- the pigment helps with protection. So there's some tradeoff, but I'd like a little less color.

The prior owner of my Cape Dory used regular Cetol on the teak. I'd prefer less pigment, so I was thinking of switching to Cetol Light -- tentatively planning to do a light sanding this spring, followed by a couple coats of Cetol Light. Does anyone know if this is ok, and what the result of this mig...

The reasoning behind the putting the auto bilge pump on the house battery instead of the start battery is the capacity (size) difference. The start battery is only 25% the size of the house battery and its purpose to sit for long periods and then supply starting power. The house battery is designed...

I found this diagram on the web. I think this set up is probably better than what I did (I wired the float switch directly to the battery and directly to the pump). In the diagram, the float switch goes from battery to panel switch, so you don't need to leave the main battery switch on, but you DO n...