We have 2 Marine Air units 16000 btu and 7500 btu. The larger one is installed under the forward port settee in the salon the smaller is installed in the port closet in the aft cabin. They have work well over the past 10 years. One feature is the humidity mode that we use when we left the boat in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala 6 months each year for 5 years. The boat would be just as we left it in June when we returned in January.
With regard to a generator we used a Honda 2000 for the years we had Up Jinks in Central America. It is quiet and efficient. The only down side is it uses gasoline which we kept in a 5 gallon can secured on the deck. While cruising we would keep the generator in the space between the laserettes just in front of the
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Question for those of you who upgraded to a folding or feathering prop. From what I researched so far, it seems like folding is a better way to go, especially with 2 blades. Folding has less drag when sailing but slightly inferior with respect to motoring performance. 3 blades is better for headwinds and waves but has more drag and costs much more. The two best choices for price seem to be Gori 2-blade around $1300 or Flex-o-Fold 3-blade, slightly over $2K. The Gori 3-blade is well over $3K. One thing I couldn’t get a clear answer on was whether folding props reverse blades when backing up or if that is only a feature of feathering props. Can anyone approximate average speed gains? Any improvement with prop walk when backing? Any problems/failures with prop not unfolding? Any maintenance problems from marine growth on the gears? How about the 2-bladers? Anyone
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For anyone who has followed the long and tedious thread on my F-O-F prop, here is the conclusion:
I finally exchanged the blades to 18×11. This is either the perfect pitch or slightly under. An 18×12 would probably work fine too, but the 18×13 was clearly too much. My RPM is around 3750 while it should be 3600. Trouble is, my tach shows inconsistent reading when above 3500 RPM. Bottom line is at the top of my cruising range 3000 RPM boat speed is between 6.7-7.4 knots. This is as good if not slightly better than the fixed 18×12 prop I replaced. Sailing in light air gains ½ knot boat speed when folded. Haven’t had heavier air as of yet which is uncommon this time of year. Prop walk is virtually non-existent. I am very happy with the prop.
One word of caution if you are a prospective F-O-F buyer.
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Standard Equipment on early model C380 series boats beginning in midyear 1997 to discontinuation in midyear 2001. The prior windlass (1996 – 1997) was a horizontally mounted VW800 and the later windlass was a vertically mounted VW800 including on the C387.
The Freedom system automatically feeds anchor rode into and out of the anchor locker allowing rope, chain or rope/chain rodes. But the chain to rope splice is critical for smooth operation. Reducing the speed make a smoother transition from chain to rope.
The transition from rope to chain is by means of a tension arm system inside the enclosed design. Maxwell suggests annual replacement of this inexpensive mail-able item, as the material will become brittle with age and use.
Correct chain and line type are
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Polar diagrams show the boat speed at various points of sail. Let’s look at the innermost curve (labeled 6.0) as an example.
Polar_Diagram_387 Wing Keel, 150 Genoa
1. First delete all the other curves in your mind so you are looking at only one curve
2. Now look at the two scales
a. The horizontal scale goes from 1 knot to 9 knots – it represents boat speed
b. The vertical scale at the bottom represents wind speed from 6.0 to 20 knots
c. The numbers on the outside of the half-circle represent the angle you are sailing relative to the true wind direction – straight up (0 degrees) is directly into the wind and straight down (180 degrees) is dead down wind
3. Back to the inner curve the true wind speed is 6.0 knots (not apparent wind speed)
4. Following that inner
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Boat repairs are like war; the plan only lasts until the first battle starts!
It all started when the boat was pulled at the end of last season. I noticed that the lower rudder bearing was loose – something new since the boat was last pulled. From there, I noticed a crack in the forward portion of the rudder so drilled a small hole in the bottom of the rudder and found that a small amount of water drained out. As with many projects, had I known at the beginning what I knew in the end, I would have done a different project. It was just one of those things that kept getting bigger as you went along.
Important to this discussion is that I have a C387 and not a C380. Evidently the length of the rudder post is different
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When we moved up from our Catalina 30 to a 380, the extra room and ease of boarding certainly made life easier for us, especially given our crew includes a 50lb Portuguese water dog. The two nice state rooms and ample salon means there’s even room for friends. This allowed me to justify a larger more stable RIB to carry all the people, pets, and supplies. While the 11’ RIB tows well, its bottom quickly fouls with growth if left in the water. I also don’t like hoisting a 120 lb. RIB on and off foredeck, squeeze around it, or trying to spot objects in the water over it. Towing the dinghy also overly complicates arrivals and departures, or docking, since we must reposition the dinghy often. My initial inclination that davits weren’t in our future dissipated quickly, and it
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John Welch, Dragon’s Lair Hull #7, League City, Texas
My wife and I are preparing our boat for cruising once we retire. One of the modifications we felt we needed was a wash down pump which, when we have chartered, we have found a useful tool.
I purchased a Jabsco Washdown Par Max 4.0 Washdown kit model 32900-0092 from West Marine. The current price at West Marine is $199. The pump produces 4.0 GPM. When I purchased the boat, I had a ¾” bronze full flow safety seacock/thru-hull installed just forward of the keel which provided a water source for the system. If hauling the boat to install a thru-hull is not an option, another approach would be to place a “T” and a shutoff valve in the water intake for the AC unit. You will need hose, stainless steel nuts, washers and bolts, clamps, sealant, and electrical wire to
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John Szarek, C387 #129, Magical Dreamer, AnnapolisMD
Mainsheet, May 2010
I have always been amazed by LED’s, ever since that star wars LED watch I had as a kid so I thought it would be interesting to experiment with upgrading my lights to LED. Before I get to the fun part of replacing the bulbs, I want to explain a few semi-technical things about LED’s. I will be extremely general so all the EE’s out there please forgive over simplification of some parts. So the first problem I ran into was looking at my 10 watt halogen bulbs and trying to figure out how to match them to LED’s since LED’s are rated in lumens. One does not relate to the other directly as a watt is a measure of power and lumens are a measure of perceived light. On average most incandescent bulbs (DC) produce about 10 lumens per
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