Maxwell Windlass There’s been quite a lot of discussion on our email list concerning operating problems with our windlasses. These are principally the clutch not releasing, jamming when rope/chain splices transit the chainwheel with the “Freedom” version and failure/stalling of the unit.
To release “stuck” clutches, some captains have had to undertake some severe hammer work, as advised by Maxwell. The answer here seems to be proper maintenance, with at least annual cleaning and greasing required. The rope/chain splice problem is best minimized by having a good, professional “thin” splice made up. Some captains report that pulling the anchor line during the critical splice transit helps. A great way around both of these issues is to go to an all chain rode and add a down switch. This way, there is no splice to jam, and the clutch never needs adjusting, just
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Companionway Door Options Author:Warren Elliott 8/1/2005 Hull #: 44
Mainsheet August 2005
Hi C380+ Captains, Admirals and Crews–
Here in the N.E,. thankfully, the new season is in full swing, with nice warm temps and some fair winds. Trust you’re all enjoying sailing. But, if anything is preventing your getting-out-there boat-wise, please contact me or sign into our Sailnet.com email discussion list where there’s a lot of captains ready to help.
This Mainsheet issue is devoted to four companionway treatments, most of which are “doors”. I must confess that I received much of the info a couple of years ago, so some of it is a bit dated, but still applicable. My apologies to the four captains, who may have expected to see their handiwork “somewhat” earlier. The first article is a fairly detailed one from Tom and Barbara Lincoln, who were sailing in the Bahamas. Lately, they are “sailing”
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A few notes for those of us with the Westerbeke 42B.
Raw Water Pump.
First, there is a new raw water pump, P/N 48080, which is a bit larger but directly replaces the old one, P/N 033636. From our Sailnet discussion group, here’s an email from one captain who went through the exchange: “The seals started to leak on my seawater pump so ordered a new one. Found out Westerbeke had replaced it with larger model. The frame and bolt holes match but the pump is larger, has a higher volume, and the impellers are not interchangeable. Just finished mounting the new one. Keep the 45-degree elbow on the inlet. The new pump comes with the 90 degree fitting on the outlet but not the 45. Everything fit and it works fine. Having the old one rebuilt for a spare. Don’t forget
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As a follow-up to Steve’s article, I did some further enquiries on spinnaker/jib poles and cars. For the older C380’s with Z-Spar masts, Julian Crisp at US Spars [was Z-Spar, tel: 386 462-3760] indicates that, for the standard [non-furling] mast, the cost is about $250 for a car and short section of track. They also sell the same track in a long version [4 meters], for those who want to store their boat’s pole on the mast. US Spars’ furling mast uses a simpler approach in which the car can be added directly to the mast groove, and is about $170; installing this car does not require stepping the mast. They also sell complete poles with fittings, at better prices than the big catalog stores, per Julian. [But remember that shipping long items means that a trucking
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Lee Berths for the Aft Cabin Jos Sonneville 2/1/2004 Hull #: 33
This article is from Jos Sonneville, a C380 captain residing in Holland. He gets out into “blue water” environments and finds a better rough-water sleeping set-up is helpful.–Warren
The aft cabin with the wide, comfortable bed is not an easy place to sleep when sailing through the night especially with moderate or serious seas. While it is possible to use, for example, sail bags to create a space where you do not roll around, it is not ideal. So I had been thinking about creating two lee berths in the aft cabin, without structurally changing the cabin.
Photo 3 shows an artist’s impression of the concept I came up with: on top of the mattress custom-made canvas lee-cloth ‘cocoons’ are installed. They are fixed on the bed itself by 1-inch webbing that is passed through stainless steel loops
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Filters for Drains George LaForge 2/1/2004 Hull #: 147
Regular cleaning of the inline shower bilge strainer is a task that is easily moved down a to-do list. The strainer’s out-of-sight location under the head sink and the difficulty in twisting the filter can contribute to a lack of cleaning. A simple, next-to-nothing cost project to prolong the cleaning interval is to silicone caulk a piece of nylon window screen over the drain in the shower stall. A quick wipe of the screen with a piece of tissue removes materials and hair that would otherwise be trapped in the under sink strainer.
Measure and cut a piece of nylon window screen the same dimensions as the shower’s stainless steel drain cover. Run a thin bead of silicone caulk around the edge of the drain plate and a few of the bars in the grid. Press the screen onto the drain
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Automating Refrigerator Startup and Shutdown with a Battery Combiner George LaForge 2/1/2004 Hull #: 147
We only run the refrigerator on Freebird when power is available from a charging source. That source is either dockside power or the engine alternator. I try never to run the refrigerator only from battery power. [George- maybe your fridge needs an insulation upgrade; Catalina has a procedure for installing expandable foam–Warren].
Not wanting to run down a battery, yet at the same time wanting to keep beverages cold, we developed a routine: as soon as the engine was started someone would need to go below and switch on the circuit breaker for the refrigerator. And after the engine was shut down someone would need to go below and switch off the breaker. Most of the time the problem was remembering to switch the breaker on when the engine was started.
One day while researching
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Hatch And Portlight Issues Warren Elliott 2/1/2004 Hull #: 44
While most of us realize that our hatches and portlights will not last forever, on the other hand a certain, and at least moderate, period of trouble-free performance is expected for new equipment. This is apparently not the case with regard to crazing of the acrylic. To be sure there’s also problems with leaks–there always will be with any exposed openable equipment on a boat. But crazing, a natural, usually slow, deterioration of the acrylic where fine lines appear randomly, should not strike for a few years. And when it does, we should see only minor amounts adding slowly over the years. Of course, this will vary depending principally on exposure to sunlight, so those of you in southern climes are most susceptible.
However, quite a large group of your fellow captains have indicated significant crazing appearing in their acrylics,
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The oil filters on both of our fleets engine types [Westerbeke and Yanmar] are horizontally mounted, resulting in some oil spillage when changing filters. This remote adapter allows you to relocate the filter so that its feed/return end is up, avoiding any messy spills. Further, the filters location on our Westerbekes is a bit awkward, as Captain Earl Poe so aptly describes below, so the remote filter also allows for a much more “ergonomic” location. –Warren
The idea of a remote location for mounting an oil filter was first investigated by Tom Lincoln on Ridge Runner, so he gets the credit. The servicing of our oil filters is, to say the least, awful! Mounting the filter in a vertical direction on an easily accessible bulkhead would save time, knuckles, and the environment. Covich-Williams (800-833-3132) of Seattle sells just
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The following is from Earl Effelsen –Warren I have always kept a fuel log for our 2000 C380 (#271), Valkyrie, and know that fuel consumption can range from 0.6 to 1.0 gph (average 0.85 gph) depending on conditions. I am also well aware that the stock fuel gauge is not linear and that, although my tank is rated at 34 gals, when the gauge reads 1/4, there are only about four gals remaining. So, I was particularly annoyed when I recently ran out of fuel despite my calculations indicating that I should still have another hours worth of fuel.
At about this time, I saw an ad for the Cruz Pro FU30 Smart Fuel Gauge and ordered one from the e-Marine, Inc. web site for $169. This gauge learns the shape of the tank and, via its digital readout, can accurately
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