Haven’t seen this topic on this list yet. Last weekend while on a mooring at Ithmus Cove Catalina Island in a fairly heavy and steady rain; very unusual for So California, water started seeping through the canvas. Spring Fever is a 2004 387 with original canvas installed by a local (Marina Del Rey, CA) canvas provider. The boat has always been kept in-slip, so it is exposed to the elements (both sun and rain) year round. Has anyone found a way to remedy such a situation before? I have to believe there is some compound that I can buy to apply to the dodger that will provide water repellent results.
This winter I want to replace the original dodger on my boat and am just starting the research. As luck would have it the guy in the next slip had is getting a new one on his power boat so I got to talk to his guy and get a price or $1800 for a new dodger about the same as the original one but with heavy gauge (I didn’t catch how thick) Strataglass. They will match the zippers to the connector and side windows (the big ones I added behind the normal side windows).
I haven’t committed yet and am looking for recommendations. What weight Strataglass have you used? We didn’t discuss it but of course we want to use Sunbrella fabric, what weight? The boat is in Winthrop, MA, so are there any people I should consider who do excellent work
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One of my larger ($$$) projects last spring was the installation of a hard dodger on my C387. Though I won’t mention the company that created it (good craftsmanship and poor customer relations), I have learned a lot about what makes the hard dodger a good investment and what issues captains should think about before they spring for this costly upgrade.
First of all, we love the new hard dodger. Our old dodger’s glass was scratched and becoming opaque and difficult to clean. The new dodger has a thicker Strataglass ™ that is sparkling clear and without the wrap-around nature of the old Eisenglass that caused wrinkles and distorted the vision. The downside of this thicker glass is that it doesn’t roll up easily for storage. When you take out a panel, you need to store it flat which can be problematic. We tend to store it on the rear
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I could not access the broken (inside) piece of the forward water vent earlier this year. I ended up with buying a 10” inspection port; carefully measured out the area for the port on the starboard side of the anchor locker; used a multifunction oscillating power tool with narrow cutting blade to cut the hole…leaving room to finish same with the sanding tool. I was able to access and replace the vent (ordered from Defender). Hope this helps!
from Jim, C380 #14
On my boat the old vent basically disintegrated and the outside portion fell off. From the V-berth I was able to reach up alongside the anchor locker and grab the vent hose and pull the remnants out and back where I could work on it. I then removed the old fitting, added an additional length of hose with a barbed coupling
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1) Head to Tank run. I did seal both ends with expanding foam which really helped control the odor. I then used duct take to spiral tape the ends together from the tank end. The pull-thru went okay until I got to the smaller opening just forward of the shower. I was pulling from the access in the shower wet locker and my wife was pushing from the tank end. Because of the increase in the OD of the new hose coupled with the large amount of cables running through the same opening it became very difficult to move the hose through that opening. So we used soapy water in a spray bottle to stray the hose in the pass thru opening forward and aft of the shower access. That helped a lot. I did measure the hose using an electrical fish tape and added about 4
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The Yanmar 3JH4E does not have glow plugs, but Yanmar instead offers an optional intake Air Heater to help with cold weather starting.
The engine on our 387 does not have this optional heater, but I believe the blue “glow plug” wire from the start switch is run all the way through/to the engine wiring harness (the 3-conductor plug on the Yanmar harness), and from there on to the stbd side of the engine block itself. Meaning, I think, that all of the wiring is in place so you could just drop in the optional intake Air Heater and plug it in if you were inclined to.
Jeff Houston, TX
C387 #90
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The fuel gauge is basically a simple ammeter circuit, that is, the meter is measuring the current thru the fuel sender’s variable resistor ( floating resistive arm…).
+12vdc is supplied to one side of the gauge/meter (from the ignition switch), the other side is carried, via a pink wire, to pin 6 of the 12 pin terminal strip within the engine control pod. From there it’s connected directly to the tanks variable resistor/arm via the center or main terminal at the tank ( fwd inboard part of tank). From there, current flows thru that var. resistor and is returned to -12vdc/ground. From the ground point on the tank, there should be a second wire which carries that ground to either the engine pod or main engine (don’t recall which). The engine & engine pod have a solid #10 ground wire between them.
Diagnosis is probably easiest by staring at the
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I need to replace a cockpit table leaf brace on our 387, as the cord broke. Searched our group and found conversation on replacement part for 380. Found it at ugly fish company which distributes for southco.com called a “click stay” for $44.30 each. Can anyone tell me if they used the same size/part on both 380 and 387? Want to be sure to order the right part. and at this price don’t want to get it wrong.
Natalie Speicher
No Fear
387 hull #3
Thank you all for the information on the cockpit table leaf supports. Found them in three places. Ugly fish: $44.30 ea. Catalina Yachts: $41.50 and Catalina Direct, part #Z2664 for $26.83. Will try the repair $1.00 fix first, but good to have a back up.
Natalie Speicher
S/V No Fear C387 #3
I’ve actually repaired the struts on Rhythm’s cockpit table. Remove.the bracket and you’ll see one end unscrews. Remove that
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I am considering changing from the present PSS shaft seal system to the Sure Seal. I am getting conflicting opinions regarding the SureSeal. On one hand there are those that claim that the SureSeal system is much more reliable and a change of seals is possible while the boat is on the water. On the other hand, there are those that claim that SureSeal may not be appropriate for 3 cylinder engines and below because of the excessive vibration of these smaller engines.
Any experience or opinion on this topic is very much appreciated.
I.J. Perez
S/V Windseeker II C387 #128
NJ
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Expanding on earlier posts on the same topic, I am please to share some lessons learned from my recent challenges of increasing engine temperature and the decision to remove the heat exchanger for a flush. The engine manual calls this out as due every 4 years or 1000 hours so definetly a routine mainenance task.
Following is a descriptive explanation of the process to both remove and reinstall the heat exchanger as follows:
Drain the coolant using the drain cock located on the aft side of the heat exchanger housing. You will need plenty of dry rags and a container to collect the coolant ahead of disposal.
Loosen the alternator adjustment bolts and remove the v belt allowing the alternator to drop away from the front of the heat exchanger.
Remove the 2 hex key bolts holding the fwd heat exchanger cap in place.
Tap the cap on the side
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