Best Of
Re: Wet wood in the bilge. Is it a problem?
As I understand it, the plywood mounting plate doesn't add any strength. It just adds thickness so you can mount equipment without drilling into the hull. So, if the mounting plate is rotted, it doesn't affect hull strength.
LaRea
4 ·
Re: Wet wood in the bilge. Is it a problem?
Had this problem in my mid-bilge. Had some delamination in stringer and while repairing it I found the pad for bilge pump was saturated with water. Cut away fiberglass around it and replaced it with epoxy coated marine ply. Fiberglassed back in and gel coated Wouldn’t want to try this in rear bilge without at least one engine out
Pat310
2 ·
Re: Wet wood in the bilge. Is it a problem?
The pad is just there to mount the bilge pump. Annoying but not structural. Let it dry out over the next winter and repair if desired.
YYZRC
1 ·
Re: Rinker 350/360 2007+ Random Topics
I didn’t do anything with the oil pans; my boat came with the Merc oil drain hoses.
YYZRC
1 ·
Re: Depth gauge
Yep. Likely just plastic. You can put a big channel lock on the nut inside. It is just not easy to get to with an engine in. If you wack it really well with a large hammer or mallet you can beat it out. New ones are not quite the same diameter. So get a big tube of 5200 to seal in the new one.
davidbrooks
2 ·
Re: VHF radio upgrade
Here's what the box looks like. This was six years ago, so memory's kinda fuzzy ... On the 370, I think its a foot or two aft of the subwoofer, and not easy to see unless you stick a camera in there. I'm not sure if I took this photo before or after I relocated the box.
LaRea
1 ·
Re: 232 OEM bimini and boot
Mine is a 2000, and all the research I found when I went to sell my full bimini and camping enclosure, it should fit most years of the 232. The only change in re-configuration, was when they did the walk-through transom, instead of the bench across the back with padded engine cover.
Lake_Bum
1 ·
Re: Time to upgrade my gauges?
There are so many pros and cons of each approach it is hard to keep them all straight. The one piece of advice i would give is that before you buy anything start with the end in mind. Create a full-size cardboard cutout of your dash panel real estate. Then create full size cardboard circles or squares to put on the layout to see how they all fit together. This was invaluable to me. Once you have all your guages figured out and the layout looks good you can start to figure out the wiring and cost. I am a fan of the merc monitor or vessel view as it was truly plug and play for me. When i went the route of connecting my engine via a gateway to NMEA 2k i had a ton of setup to do...and redo untill i got it right. One of the frustrating things about the NMEA approach is i felt like i had to keep re calibrating everything. All of a sudden my view would just lose its mind and i would either not be able to read a fuel tank or an engine. So while the analog guages are not as sophisticated...they didn't need to be reset.
davidbrooks
1 ·
Re: Meet the new La Rea!
Today I flushed the cooling water lines for the seven air conditioners. Fresh hose water to the input side, and the output side went out onto the swim platform so I could see what it looks like. Had some nasty Potomac River mud all up in that place.
This photo deserves to be seen on a big screen! The water jet (coming from bottom center) is straight outta Hollywood.
This photo deserves to be seen on a big screen! The water jet (coming from bottom center) is straight outta Hollywood.
LaRea
2 ·
Re: 342 Bow Thruster
When i had my 342 i removed the original MFD from that location as well. Initially i just had a thin layer of HPDE maybe 3/8 in thick. It served its purpose till i removed the whole dash and filled it in and painted it. My plan was to move the radio remote over to that location but to be honest i like where yours is better. One thing to consider is how often you are using a control. I wanted to be able to quickly and easily hit the mute button if i needed to. So having the stereo remote by my right side just makes more sense. You can also find laminated plastic panels cheap on Amazon. I ended up using one that matched the wood grain on my steering wheel.
davidbrooks
1 ·