Maintenance Tips

Did a seach in the archives, and came up with nothing on this subject.* We probably have a trick or two that can be passed on.* I am going to start it out with a couple of my own.* Don't worry that some may have heard of any.* There will probably be some that haven't.* So here goes.* Pleae post some of your own.

When cleaning glass windows clean one side by wiping horizontally.* The other side by wiping vertically.* This shows which side of the glass is not clean.

On eisenglass wipe both sides vertically.* Because it is easily scratched, if you scratch it, it won't be all the way across your vision area.

Hope this helps someone.


-- Edited by Moonstruck on Friday 16th of September 2011 08:16:55 PM

Now, I need a tip.* When Textaline screens are put away damp, they will mildew.* This is easily handled.* When I got my windshield screen out, it has some stubborn yellow staining (no comical comments please).* Does anyone know how to remove those spots?

i have heard that soaking for a couple of hours in hydrogen peroxide (3% - what you buy at the drug store) will remove yellow stains from most any kind of plastic. I'd try it on an inconspicuous spot first, though, just in case it had any other effect.

dvd

dvd wrote:
i have heard that soaking for a couple of hours in hydrogen peroxide (3% - what you buy at the drug store) will remove yellow stains from most any kind of plastic. I'd try it on an inconspicuous spot first, though, just in case it had any other effect.

dvd

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*Excellent idea.* Thanks, I have some on the boat.* Maybe tomorrow.* I will let you know how it comes out.

I've been using Armor All on my prop as an anti-fouling. Here is a pic after 2 1/2 yrs maybe 3 in PNW waters. Bottom anti-fouling was Inter Lux Micron Extra. I have a 73 Buick and the PO covered the whole car w Armor All. Didn't really need windshield wipers as the water beaded up and streamed away a bit like in an airplane. Had the car about 12 years and the Armor All is still effective. Have'nt added any. So I thought it might hold up on the prop. Been doing it for close to 10 yrs and hav'nt had a barnacle. As you can see in the picture the prop has a bit of a greasy look to it. Haven't tried the "prop speed" that's been talked about lately.

nomadwilly wrote:
I've been using Armor All on my prop as an anti-fouling. Here is a pic after 2 1/2 yrs maybe 3 in PNW waters. Bottom anti-fouling was Inter Lux Micron Extra. I have a 73 Buick and the PO covered the whole car w Armor All. Didn't really need windshield wipers as the water beaded up and streamed away a bit like in an airplane. Had the car about 12 years and the Armor All is still effective. Have'nt added any. So I thought it might hold up on the prop. Been doing it for close to 10 yrs and hav'nt had a barnacle. As you can see in the picture the prop has a bit of a greasy look to it. Haven't tried the "prop speed" that's been talked about lately.

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*Eric, if the Armorall is less than $350.00 per can, it is cheaper than Propspeed. Great tip.* I will try it next time in Southern waters.

Eric, what type of Armourall is it? I doubt it's the stuff we get for use on car dashboards and other interior synthetic (not leather) surfaces. Is it some special heavy duty type. Can't image what I use on the car staying on the outside paint 12 yrs, let alone lasting on a prop under water...?

nomadwilly wrote:
Been doing it for close to 10 yrs and hav'nt had a barnacle.

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*As an incurable skeptic, I have to ask if others at your marina have badly fouled props. I see your prop looks amazingly clean and the rudder shows very few barnacles and your zincs are in almost perfect condition.

This makes me wonder if the fresh water layer in the upper end of Thorne Bay has as much to do with keeping the prop clean as anything else. Barnacles don't do well in a fresh salt fresh salt fresh salt fresh water environment.

Eric, what is that whitish sqare pad on the hull?
Steve W

Eric:* With your experience with ArmorAll, you might want to forgo bottom paint and use the ArmorAll instead, plus you have the side benefit of it being biodegradable.

Is it just me or is it just me that thinks that within a few minutes of submerging an Armor-All covered prop into the water that the Armor-All will be floating away with the current? As with Rick, I am a terrible skeptic. In order for it to somehow work for any length of time, it would have to either adhere to the metal or somehow molecularity bind with it. Armor-All is not much more than ionized water.

HAHA I've mention this several times before and nary a comment** ...is it the position of the moon? Actually I'm only guessing it's Armor All. I know of no other product that acts that way. The Buick has that slick silicone like feel to it and after years of washing w fairly strong soap and going 70mph or so in all kinds of rain the stuff is obviously still there so I decided to try it on the prop. That was w my previous boat and it seemed to work as I've not had anything objectional on my prop since. Good point Rick. We do have lots of fresh water in the harbor from the Thorne River. But only when there's lots of rain and that is** ..duh* ..most of the time. And w my other boat I was actually IN a big river at the harbor in Everett. Here's a picture of Thorne Bay and the river comes into the bay in the upper right hand corner of the pic. But Larry what if it did'nt work* .....I'd never get anything to stick to the bottom again and Peter I get the stuff that mentions upholstery from NAPA. Get lots of stuff from NAPA* .....cuse ther'e here. Steve* ...The squareish pad 1/4 of the way into the pic is a zinc and the one right on the pic edge is part of the boat lift.


-- Edited by nomadwilly on Saturday 17th of September 2011 10:07:41 AM

I had a marina neighbor that used to put STP on his props every spring. They would be clean when he hauled in the fall so I would have to say it works to some degree.

I never tried it but I'd have barnalcles as would just about everyone else in the marina.

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So I see there's other options. Peter, it's labeled "Original" and has a picture of a dashboard on the label. I squirt it on heavy as possible and swab it around w a paper towel folded several times* ...kinda like a paint brush.

Willy I do like the bees wax idea. Prolly another day in the house. Blow'in 40 and 50 w lots of rain. May finish the oil change on the Suburban in the car port. Here's my carport under const. And here it is now (last winter). Shelter is golden up here.

Stone,

Whadiuah mean "how deep"? They are right on the surface. Not even 1/2" deep. Everything here is built on a "slab" and that's just a pile of rocks leveled. Some of the rocks are as big as baseballs but most are smaller. This pic w the anchor is about as good as it gets in our "yard". The 2nd pic shows an adorable Thorne Bay girl but you can see the "pier blocks" in the background. We just made a box w 2X8s , put the yoke thingie inside and filled w concrete. The 3rd pic shows the area around the house. And the 4th shows the base of our new greenhouse. And the 5th the greenhouse foundation and deck. I hope I've got the pics in the right sequence.

* Wow! That's a mansion in my neck of the woods!* Nice job, Eric! You've done real well for yourself and I couldn't be happier for you! You don't even have your new carport in that photo.

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-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Friday 23rd of September 2011 05:11:53 PM

Walt,

Incredibly I only have one pic that shows how close the car port is to the house.

In Alaska we decided we could use a nice house especially in the winter or in exceptionally rainy weather like now. But we have no view and no beach in our front yard. Both would be nice. A few years ago we had a party w 60 people and the big house did* come in handy for that. Thanks for the friendly words Walt.

Yeah, Eric, nice wee hooose. I see garage doors attached to the house, so the carport is extra, right. For your toys etc. The permafrost must be quite near the surface for that kind of construction...? Do you have to dilute your car sump oil with kero in winter, or is that fixed by sump heating nowadays..

PS.* I still can't believe ordinary car dash Armourall could stick to something not only immersed, but revolving in water with pounds pressure per sq inch on it at the same time....not that I'm denyng something is stopping your prop from fouling, but maybe it is more like Rick said, and if you just spat on the prop it might work the same - or do nothing, and see what happens.* Maybe the water is fresh enough and cold enough nuss-ssing grows...?* Ever thought of that?



-- Edited by Peter B on Saturday 24th of September 2011 06:01:38 AM


-- Edited by Peter B on Saturday 24th of September 2011 06:02:40 AM

nomadwilly wrote:
Stone,

Whadiuah mean "how deep"? They are right on the surface. Not even 1/2" deep. Everything here is built on a "slab" and that's just a pile of rocks leveled. Some of the rocks are as big as baseballs but most are smaller. This pic w the anchor is about as good as it gets in our "yard". The 2nd pic shows an adorable Thorne Bay girl but you can see the "pier blocks" in the background. We just made a box w 2X8s , put the yoke thingie inside and filled w concrete. The 3rd pic shows the area around the house. And the 4th shows the base of our new greenhouse. And the 5th the greenhouse foundation and deck. I hope I've got the pics in the right sequence.

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*Eric, do you build with post tensioned slabs.* It seems to me that is the base is not entirely homogenous that uneven expansion and contraction could crack the slab.* I am really interested to know the process.

Beautiful home. Looks well thought out and livable.*

Yes of course, but you'd think running the old Buick down the road at 70mph or so in the rain would take the ArmorAll off too** ...but it dos'nt* ...even after many years. I've never added any more to the car. Perhaps I should stop doing it and see if it's worse.

Peter,** The garage as part of the house is basically a shop and Brown Bear (the old Buick) goes in there in the winter. The car port has room for 7 large vehicles, lumber storage, fire wood storage and other stuff. But yea mostly toys. And I don't know anything about permafrost here. That's where you dig down to permanently frozen "ground". Well we have so little "ground" it thaws every spring or during a mild winter never really freezes. Locals here call Prince of Wales Island "The Rock". As in cabin fever times "gotta get off the Rock". We have one beach that's sandy. It's called Sandy Beach and is very popular on a nice weekend day. We know as everybody must drive by our house to get there. And the road is not paved.

Don,** There's no process. Just a bit of re-bar and the yoke saddle in the concrete. And since the concrete block is just sitting on the rocks/ground there probably is a very small amount of movement. Sixty mph wind in the winter is'nt unusual and as far as I know it has'nt moved at all. Or are you talking about "uneven expansion and contraction" within each individual concrete block? Well none have cracked.

Stone,** YES the snow slides. See pics. First is off the house.

Old Stone wrote:
"Stone, YES the snow slides. See pics. First is off the house."

Eric - After looking at all the first pictures, I started feeling "wow, what a great place to live". After looking at these last pix with the snow, I have to rethink that!:smile:

It really is beautiful where you are, but I can certainly understand the "rock fever". Temperature doesn't matter though, we certainly got it when I lived in St Croix, and I understand it is very common in Hawaii !

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*Carl, with your being an architect and me being a developer, you are probably as interested as I am in the foundations in Eric's area.* Maybe you and Eric can help me out.* I am still curious as to how frost heaving under the slab is controlled.* It seams to me that it would have to be a tensioned floating slab to keep it from cracking.* The only other explaination I can think of is that*a porous*rock base is deep enough to pass water through before it freezes.

I was shocked by your sat. dish angle!! *Here in Washington State our dish elevation is around 33 degrees. *Yours appears, from the picture, to be nearly horizontal? *Who is the service provider, *I couldn't make out the company name? *Any problems with rain fade or signal strength that far north?

Larry B

I guess no more boating tips????

There must be a connection to boating, just can't see it. Oh I know. How about building a boat under that covered area?

Ron

windmist wrote:
There must be a connection to boating, just can't see it. Oh I know. How about building a boat under that covered area?

Ron

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*The shed is where Eric stores his Amorall that he puts on his prop.* Now, you do see the connection?

Edelweiss wrote:
I was shocked by your sat. dish angle!! *Here in Washington State our dish elevation is around 33 degrees. Larry B

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This is why if you buy a Tracvision or other similar antenna system for your boat*you have to spend more than twice the amount if you are going to want to use it up the coast in BC and SE Alaska.**According to our marine electronics dealer an*antenna suitable for tracking satellites in the San Juans and Gulf Islands can be smaller and does not have to have the "depression" ability*required of an antenna for the more northern waters.* The cost difference between the "southern" antenna and the "northern" antenna is more than double.

Stone says "but as to the rest of the slab not cracking"...You guys must be thinking there's more to it. There is no slab. But Stone also says "I'm still scratchin' my head with the concrete pads just lying on the surface". Just like in the previous picture w the cute little red head girl all there is is the 2X2' "bases" at the bottom of the posts. Nothing more. Is there something wrong w that?

OK John. Boating tip. Untie the mooring lines AND the power cord before engaging the gear. Seems obvious but it took me quite a while to learn that.