kinardly

They don't exactly remind you of Donald Street, do they? I wonder if any of them can fix a windlass, splice a new halyard or throw a meal together in a single pot while underway. Kinda doubt it.

This! ^^^ What's wrong with this approach? I bought a boat with a Link 20 that seemed to be working with the ship's AGM battery banks OK but the batteries were old and suddenly the battery state indication LEDs went into the red. I replaced them and the Link 20 never worked properly afterward, although I had a boat electrical engineer come and check it out. For a while it was giving me battery voltage that seemed to correlate with the fact that I periodically charge both banks at the dock for two to three days but now all I get is those damned green LEDs and I don't know whether to trust them with everything else gone to crap. I'm about ready to yank the whole setup out and go back to the Stone Age with an ammeter and voltmeter. I would just like to go to Catalina for a couple of weeks and know when it's time to run my Balmar to charge them up. I know AGM batteries take too long to charge all the way up but I wonder if it would screw them up just charging them to 85-90% for a few weeks?

I too recall when Baltic built beautiful boats that went fast. This one I think just looks fast.

God bless and hurry back when you can.

And there's a poop deck! Who knew?

I'm sure Kris's fix is going to last longer than he's going to own the boat (cuz he sounds kind of crusty, like me) but I really think I would have gone with bronze or silicone bronze for those glassed in backing plates. I'd be afraid that sealing stainless with epoxy is only going to restrict access to oxygen and make it go active. Maybe I'm just over complicating things-I often do, but I'd worry about that.

Corollary to the original question: If your idea of fun sailing is going out with the missus and avoiding unnecessary hassles but you still can't stand to have another boat blow by you with your baggy sails up, what's the best headsail material for shape and longevity to keep rolled on a furler? Sounds like someone upthread thinks it's 3DI Nordac with painted leach. Yes?

How things have changed. In the old days they dropped a hanky. Hooray for the new days!

Well, there's a school of thought that says fly to Alaska, spend more time cruising on a charter yacht. I think that'll be my win the lottery approach.

You wait, in a few years they'll be telling you it's free bingo night at the retirement home and even the score.

You're correct of course but it's amazing what a good wash will take off without resorting to abrasive polishes. It's one of those things where, if you have to, you have to, but I strongly suspect more times the polish isn't as necessary as West Marine would have you believe.

I remember Guv posting that any polish removes the gelcoat and it's generally a mistake to do that unless it's really gone. So I follow his advice and cut up a bunch of old beach towels and, after I wash the boat thoroughly with a mild boat soap and an old sponge mop, pull the hull in tight to the dock and sit down, bare feet enjoying the cool water and with my beverage of choice and my Meguiars Gold Premium wax and go at it. I can apply half of my 39 ft. hull in about 25 minutes by hand in full sunlight and then buff, also by hand, to a mirror shine with no baked on residue. I can easily do the entire hull in a couple of hours if I don't have to replenish too many beverages (although it's important to stay hydrated ). Cabin top takes a bit more time but I break it up into two weekends and it goes quickly. I do this two to three times a year. Using an abrasive polish might get me a shine that lasts twice as long but there's only so much gelcoat and I'd prefer to leave it on the boat. I seriously doubt a buffer would make it any shinier and I am sure dealing with power cords and changing pads would involve much, more time. I get plenty of compliments as is.

OP, I don't know where you're located but Vangmaster can be a little tough to communicate with as those upthread have stated. If near San Diego, you can do what I did and have Rigworks do the rebuild for about the same cost. One thing I learned the hard way: Make sure when removing the unit from the boom that you take ALL the compression off with a topping lift or halyard at the end of the boom. Otherwise, after you pull the pins and wiggle the piston end out of the fitting it'll take off on you. I was lucky.

Didn't I read somewhere that you can't just crank down on the fasteners and leave it at that? Something about taking a few weeks to gradually tighten them down to prevent the stuff from thinning excessively under pressure.