Plastic Classic Forum

Maine Sail

This can be true with cheaply built LED's as temperature is the number one enemy. Well built & regulated constant current LED's do not generally suffer from this phenomenon due to expensive circuitry that regulates voltage and keeps temps within the safe range. A bulb like the Sensibulb should l...

Maine Sail

Sorry duplicate post..?? No delete feature??

Maine Sail

Sorry Tim I don't know what happened... Perhaps you can delete these flub ups??

Maine Sail

Or Ed's brother Dave at Battery World on Walton Street in Portland. I buy all my wire, crimp connectors and batteries from Dave now as Ed's price on Trojan's has become rather offensive (used to pay $61.00). They are both good to deal with but I give the slight edge to Dave in terms of price and ser...

Maine Sail

Since Dave asked about this I figured I'd post my review of a few LED bulbs. The Sensibulb is the clear winner but there are some good value bulbs too... I went ahead a acquired five different high output interior 12v LED bulbs for comparison. I wanted to capture the actual beam width and the light ...

Maine Sail

SCAD is the parent company of Sailors Solutions and their wholesale division. they sell Sensibulbs to other retailers. $34.95 is one heck of a price. Nick at Sailors Solutions will give you 10% off if you mention you read the review on this site but $34.95 is 12% off. Be careful with shipping and ma...

Maine Sail

I'm making my shopping list for my rewire project. For some reason my wife doesn't think a 100 ft spool of 12 awg primary wire makes a good christmas gift! If santa will only bring me one crimper should he choose the Ancor single crimper and a boatfull of adhesive heat shrink terminals or the Ancor...

Maine Sail

One negative is possibly inherent only in your photo-presentation and that is that there's very little bearing area under the head of that bolt that can carry load. Perhaps a good place for a washer, or even a fender washer? Guys the machine screw was an illustrative metaphor and was merely REPRESE...

Maine Sail

I used to mock Ryobi until I had spent over $400.00 on "contractor quality" drill batteries in just two years. On a trip to buy yet another battery I saw a Ryobi kit that was just to damn cheap to pass up.. I used to think it was junk but I've got a lot of use on the stuff and it keep on t...

Maine Sail

Good stuff, Maine Sail ... I've bookmarked the site for later reference. And a reminder for all those "single-handing" their repairs: Tim's ( I believe) great trick of under-drilling the hole then using a tap to thread the epoxy plug. This allows you to wind in the bolt and put on the nut...

Maine Sail

Hi All, For years I have been trying to describe, as have others, in words, how to "pot" or fill deck hardware penetrations with thickened epoxy to seal the decks core from further moisture damage. I have also been trying to describe why a slight bevel to each hole that penetrates the deck...

Maine Sail

Though with the new baby we only logged slightly over 1k nm..

Maine Sail

I own both and only bought my hex crimper after cutting open an Anchor Crimp just as you did. Sometimes the Ancor crimps are good other times not so good. I wanted consistent repeatability so I ponied up the $160.00. BTW the Ancor crimper is now almost $80.00!! For the price of a 1/3 of a gallon of ...

Maine Sail

I am trying to find out what the PSI peel strength is for fiberglass when using polyester resin vs. epoxy resin in the following situations. #1 PSI shear/peel strength for secondary bond of polyester resin and cloth to older polyester GRP hull. #2 Primary PSI strengths for polyester resin / fibergla...

Maine Sail

Anyone going to be out cruising Maine next week and into early September?? If you see us stop by and say hi..!

Maine Sail

The regular Sensibulb will remain in the line up and is still the choice for a "replacement" bulb. The totally new light will be more money and entirely different. I will not be a "replacement" type for the fixtures most of use are used to. I can't tell you more than that because...

Maine Sail

On & Off has a new gel formula that is a LOT less expensive and achieves the same results, just a little faster, because it's got more acid in it... I like FSR but stopped using it when they came out with On & Off gel.. http://www.premiumpowersports.com/images/CleaningProducts/On-Off%20Gell%...

Maine Sail

Hi All, First, I know sailors are a cheap lot and I can be too but... Those of you who know me know that I will only tout or support a product that I have; #1 put through the paces, and #2 feel works and actually lives up to and goes beyond my expectations and the companies claims. It's actually qui...

Maine Sail

Considering the two failures I've had of Balmar regulators (this is not uncommon) my guess is that it is a regulator issue and you will need a new one. They replaced mine for me after I discovered that my PC board failure was not an uncommon one and sent them a few forum threads of folks other than ...

Maine Sail

Rachel wrote:Yeah, Acoustic, save some exclamation points for the rest of us, hey?

<grin>

R.

Sorry, I took them out of the subject so we don't run out.. (wink)

Maine Sail

Hi All, It occurred to me, after seeing a guy at the boat yard destroy a $200.00 + NavPod, that some may benefit from my gained knowledge of how to handle drilling and mounting instruments to them. Rule #1 - If they offer a pre-cut NavPod for your instrument BUY IT!!!!! DO NOT cheap out on this and ...

Maine Sail

John, Unfortunately many owners over the years have used cheap or inferior "furniture oils" to oil the interior teak on CD's. The problem with this is that many of these crappy furniture oils contain silicone. If a PO used an interior oil that contained silicone even a thorough cleaning wo...

Maine Sail

I'll third "hard shells"! It has come to my attention over the last few years that the new "hard shell" mooring balls where the pendant connects to the top run a significantly higher risk of the pendant wrapping the chain than previously thought. Just last week in winds of 18-30...

Maine Sail

And I was not inferring that your tool was bad! Just comparing two crimpers I personally own. I have never and will never use the HFT crimper on my boat. I rarely use the Ancor Double Crimper because I use 99% heat shrink connectors that require the "Single Crimp Ratchet Tool"... So confus...

Maine Sail

Hi Guys, I have done a comparison of the Harbor Freight Crimper to the Ancor and there IS a difference... Over the years I have purchased a number of tools from Harbor Freight and it is more MISS than HIT.. The Ryobi stuff is a great value and surprisingly reliable. Here is an example of just ONE to...

Maine Sail

I really think you are over analyzing this in big way. I have a similar sized water lift muffler on a 44HP four cylinder Westerbeke and the volume of water that will fall back down from the high loop has never even been at the top of the inlet tube when I've removed the hose. I've removed this hose ...

Maine Sail

If I'm not mistaken Passports have gelcoated bilges? If so I would NOT recommend painting. Even the best bilge paints will eventually begin to peel, chip and flake off, as NONE of them are impervious to moisture penetration even Bilge Kote, and they will potentially & eventually begin to clog yo...

Maine Sail

Unfortunately I no longer have a local supplier for the flat butyl ribbon tape. Quite a few years ago I purchased a case of it from Portland Glass but they will no longer order it for me so now I get it on-line from RV stores like the one bellow.. http://www.mobilehomepartsstore.com/Merchant2/mercha...

Maine Sail

Yes for now I am trusting that hole to butyl tape!! It has worked flawlessly on my boat for the past 29 years with no leaks that I have found. The cleats that were removed had been there since 1979!! Bone dry/butyl tape! When I get the inclination to drill and fill I will but NOW it's sailing season...

Maine Sail

Hi All, I wanted to share a method I have used as a temporary and sometimes permanant solution for the holes when deck hardware has been moved or removed. Our boat has been upgraded to self tailing winches and we had not used the fixed cleats on the cockpit coaming since we bought the boat. The kids...

Maine Sail

Here's a tip for fellow infrared fans. 1) Run your engine at operating temp under load for 15 minutes. 2) Begin taking sample readings of temps at the following locations and marking (with a dot) and numbering each reading spot where the laser hits with a Sharpe marker for future repeatability. A) R...

Maine Sail

This question gets asked a LOT on forums and I finally decided to post a very simple "how to" for determining the proper packing size for your boat. #1 Measure the ID of thread to thread of the stuffing nut with a set of calipers. The nut on my old box measured 1.38 inches and I know my sh...

Maine Sail

Rachel can you point me in the direction for a source of butyl "caulk" in a tube? I'd LOVE to get my hands on some of that stuff!! I was thinking acoustic was being facetious, but just in case, I got mine last year a Maine Hardware on St. John Street in Portland - the big tube stuff. Mike...

Maine Sail

I wonder if this is why some people have used the butyl caulk in tubes instead of the butyl "tape"? I haven't used either myself (yet), but at least in photos, the caulk looks pretty "soft" and gooey. R. Rachel can you point me in the direction for a source of butyl "caulk&...

Maine Sail

I have gray flat butyl but I needed 3/8" round and could not find gray in 3/8" round... If you have a source for 3/8 gray I'll add that info to my site. I agree the black is VERY messy!

Maine Sail

Hi All, I know there is always talk of new ports here and I just wanted to offer my latest photo based "how to" I wrote up on the installation of my NFM ports.. Here's the link: Installing New Found Metals Portlights http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/nfm_port_lights http://www.pbase.com/m...

Maine Sail

Catalina's generally used lead keels and they are always external not encapsulated, unless a PO did it. That looks to me like a poor patch job by a PO but I also see rust which does not make much sense? Perhaps Catalina used iron on the 25's? Either way what Tim said still stands remove all of the l...

Maine Sail

Tim,

Is that Wheat Island??

Maine Sail

Just wanted to give kudos to Dave over at Battery World in Portland! He runs an excellent shop and sells heat shrink crimp connectors and Berkshire tinned marine grade UL listed wire for far less than I can buy Cobra marine grade wire at Hamilton Marine even with my commercial discount. For any mari...

Maine Sail

11.16.3. WIRING TERMINALS 1.16.3.3. Each conductor-splice joining conductor to conductor, conductor to connectors, and conductor to terminals must be able to withstand a tensile force equal to at least the value shown in Table XVI for the smallest conductor size used in the splice for a one minute ...

Maine Sail

Fusto, Just curious: Do you tend to use the heat-shrink terminals most of the time? Or some other combination that works with the ABYC-approved double crimper you show? Rachel Rachel, I use heat shrink terminal exclusively unless I'm wiring bullet plugs for a stereo or a device mounted in a very dr...

Maine Sail

That's the same tool I use but for the article I used less expensive crimpers because, as you know, most sailors are quite cheap and recommending a $300.00 list price crimper was not going to fly. I just scanned my copy of E-11 and find no wording stating that the crimper you & I use is the only...

Maine Sail

Rachel, The problem with using heat shrink tubing, over an already insulated terminal, is that in most instances it will not be able to simultaneously fit over the insulation and then be able to shrink enough to fit over the wire tight enough to make a seal. In order to use adhesive lined heat shrin...

Maine Sail

Hi All, Yesterday was a slow one so I got out the camera, marine wire, terminals and crimper's and wrote a new photo based "how to" on marine crimping. It came to my attention, after looking at nearly 50 boats before buying our current CS-36, that most DIYer's and or boat yards, do not kno...

Maine Sail

If I roll the first coat minus wax how long do I let it kick before rolling on a second waxed coat?

Maine Sail

Hi Guys, One of my projects this spring is to restore the inside of my anchor locker. I'm not a believer of storing my anchor on the roller because it can chew through a mooring pendant in short order in a storm so it resides in my anchor locker. Because of this I want to use gelcoat and not paint f...

Maine Sail

Couple of questions. I'm considering pulling the fuel tank to clean that compartment. Do you know whether businesses actually come to a boat and will pump out a tank? Under what name in the Yellowpages?? Marshall The easiest way is to buy an electric 12v fuel pump, some hose, the right fittings at ...

Maine Sail

The chain plates on my 2005 Catalina 310 were surrounded by aluminum that was laminated into the deck. Catalina does this now for stanchions and other deck hardware areas. A moisture meter may mistake this for moisture..

Maine Sail

For tight spaces these flanged adapters from Groco are nice alternative to a traditional seacock. The nice thing is if your valve fails or freezes up you simply unscrew it and thread on a new one leaving the thru-hull, through bolts and sealant untouched. They are also designed so the top threads ar...

Maine Sail

Sounds like what happened to me & why I'm no longer comfortable using them:

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