What did you do to your boat today

Lake_Bum

Aqua_Aura said:

Got rid of my old 12v and replaced it with 2 6V in series that are about 170AH each. 

We are getting things ready for a 4 day weekend as we and another club take over the marina down river for some big festival thing. 

I have used that setup for years in my RV's, but never in a boat. 

Aqua_Aura

I needed to change out the battery so figured I would go this route. We have a generator but if I can avoid running it I would prefer to. 

Lake_Bum

I fixed the tabs that have been broken on one of my seatbacks for awhile. Cheap plastic construction.....it's amazing it lasted this long! Fixed with a strip of thin aluminum.  Here's a few pics...

Ian

I am going to look at replacing mine in the winter. The issue is not so much the plastic but the fact the cover is stapled and it provides a very nice perforated line and weakens the plastic. Stress on it will make it snap.

RiverRat232

Lake_Bum said:

I fixed the tabs that have been broken on one of my seatbacks for awhile. Cheap plastic construction.....it's amazing it lasted this long! Fixed with a strip of thin aluminum.  Here's a few pics...

I did a couple of upholstery repairs and all of the seats have plywood bases except the ones with the cubby holes. They are black plastic in my case. Don't know why they did it that way. 

LaRea

Today I went to the boat to fix my horn. 

Before fixing the horn, first I had to defrost the AC unit, which I forgot to turn off last weekend, so it was encased in 3" of ice. 

Before defrosting the AC, first I had to borrow a hair dryer, because mine wouldn't make hot air. 

Before borrowing a hair dryer, first I had to try fixing mine.  No luck, so I borrowed one, defrosted the AC and cleaned up the mess.

Before moving on the horn, first I had to come home for breakfast.  Over breakfast, we decided to go boating.  So I guess the horn will wait for another day!   

Ian

Put in the new fridge:


Ran out of time to install the Fire Ball in the engine room, tomorrow maybe. Got a poop pump at home to work on first…..  

Aqua_Aura

Do you have a link for that refrigerator?

Ian

Isotherm Cruise 130, West Marine have them.

YYZRC

That’s a good looking fridge. And not a cheap plastic handle!

Ian

Yes @YYZRC, very happy with it, just have to get used to a center pull opening right and not down as you would expect. When closed the door snaps closed nicely, has a light inside and the freezer door is held open by a magnet - nifty. Install was easy too, slid right in and side/top dress panels are wider than the prior units so covered old mounting holes.

Challenge was the cockpit door didn’t open far enough so had to unscrew from slides and force back as far as possible off the rear end of track. Even then we had to drop in from above as the opening was just wide enough. Was like giving birth - I pushed, my friend breathed and caught…

BTW, the hard stuff is in the very bottom drawer.

aero3113

Looks great @icoultha

You can change the swing of the door if you want.

Ian

No, right hand works well with the counter top and sink above. Just mind games - handle on left means opens right, handle center means should drop down! We’ll get used to it.

aero3113

Oh, I see

YYZRC

Exciting day. Could have been featured on Qualified Captain. Was enjoying a nice afternoon on the hook and 4 boats rafted up off our port stern maybe 100’ away max. A bit close but whatever. Then the wind picked up and I didn’t have enough scope out and the anchor started to drag. I could not add scope or I would have been on top of them. So we decide to call it a day and start getting organized. The anchor had moved so much that the stern anchor was under the boat. I decide to tie a fender to the stern anchor line and abandon it for later retrieval by dinghy. Fine. At this point we are right on top of the raft of boats against their bows. Snag their anchor marker line in my props. F. They hold my boat while I get it untangled, wasn’t bad. Then I use the bow thruster to try to push off their bows and one guy throws my bow line and it misses and goes under the boat. In the calamity the rope gets sucked into the thruster. I get the anchor up and move the boat away and re-anchor. Now I dinghy back over and retrieve the stern anchor, and then swim and cut the bow line out of the thruster. There’s a coupler between the bow thruster and the leg that broke (it is meant to do that), so no thruster for docking. Managed that without too much drama, surprisingly. 

What a relaxing day!

LaRea

Gonna add another 30' of chain to that rode?  

TonyG13

We need an "Oh Man!" emoji for posts like this! I feel for you.

YYZRC

LaRea said:

Gonna add another 30' of chain to that rode?  

+130’ give or take!!  Its 5/16 BBB, correct?

Ian

Installed the fire ball in engine room. No photo, its a 4” blue ball in a black mount! More peace of mind.

aero3113

@YYZRC , do you use an anchor alarm? I love this app, I use it on my phone.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchor-alarm-with-late-set/id1292028990

YYZRC

@aero3113 I do at night but not during the day. The whole calamity of raft-up plus wind came about in a half hour span. Lesson learned to have more scope even when it is calm! I probably only had 3:1. My bad. 

SimcoeRinker400

YYZRC....Was that today?  Simcoe was Calm than around 5pm it got windy really quick!  But no drama like you had my anchor got crossed with my brother's boat as we moored together but he was swimming so we pulled his up and it just missed getting snagged on my chain.  But I could not of parked without thruster today good crosswind as I back into my slip!

YYZRC

@SimcoeRinker400 yes, exactly!! We were anchored from about 11am until 4pm with no wind.  We had a nice hike and a couple of swims.  Even managed to swim around the boat and remove the scum line!  Swimming to cut the bow line out of the thruster was markedly less satisfying.

I have been docking at higher speeds lately with great results.  I used to put the boat in neutral as I approached my slip to burn off speed, and then I would move in an out of gear to keep her slow.  Now I do a 70 degree turn and throw it into reverse and go for it!  No lollygagging!  It has worked well, even with yesterday's crosswind and no thruster.

SimcoeRinker400

Yeah,  I find these Rinker's even my old 342 work great in parking.  Someone asked me the other day if I had a joystick as my slip is super tight.  But, yesterday I walked it in  but I need thruster as the nose of the 400 sticks out there ... I could do it without bow thruster but once you are spoiled with it... it's hard to go back to no bow thruster.   So what is the repair on the thruster does the boat have to come out?  

YYZRC

Repair is super easy. Thankfully there is a break away coupler between the leg and the motor. I ordered a new one and jury-rigged the old one for now. Boat doesn’t have to come out!

Dream_Inn

Well, sorry to hear about the mess. Lesson learned. Anyone that's tied up with me knows I've always put out 10 to 1 rhode.  Then no worries.  Thanks for the insight on the coupler. Definitely good to know.

SimcoeRinker400

I love to jerry-rigging stuff      Good to know the coupler thing thanks for sharing..  Dream_Inn have you had any oil leaks on your 496's?  I seem to have one around the oil filter adapter plate on the engine is that normal for those seals to leak after 14years or so?   

YYZRC

Definitely lessons learned!

mattie

YYZRC said:

Definitely lessons learned!

@YYZRC
What a brutal story.

I had some real issues with the plow anchor that came with our newest boat. Dragging all over the place. This one looked like a Delta. (def wasn't a Delta)

Switched both bow & stern to Mantus anchors. 25lb & 8lb. The new generation of anchors work very well. Zero issues.

Dream_Inn

SimcoeRinker400 said:

I love to jerry-rigging stuff      Good to know the coupler thing thanks for sharing..  Dream_Inn have you had any oil leaks on your 496's?  I seem to have one around the oil filter adapter plate on the engine is that normal for those seals to leak after 14years or so?   

It is normal to leak, but can be fixed. I just fixed mine that past spring by tightening the center bolt on the adapter plate.  I imagine it's a good idea to replace the seal on that plate as well.  But it worked for both of my engines and no small drips in my bilge!