New to me Mainship 430 Aft-cabin

I'm the new owner of a 2002 Mainship 430 aft-cabin and have a few "to do" items. The first I've noticed is a big discrepancy between what the hour meters at the upper and lower helms record for the main engines and reality. My first cruise was a 8 hour trip north from Miami and found the port engine VDO guage recorded 8 hours and the starboard only 4. So my question, how/where do I begin to troubleshoot or do I actually bother and instead install hour meters at the engines?

Thanks in advance.

-db-

Welcome aboard. Congrats on your new boat.

I installed a new separate meter and logged it with a date. You can't rely on what you can't rely on.

Are the present hour meters part of the tach? What are the readings, hundreds, thousands or many thousands? Just curious. What year is the boat, what does the P.O. say?

pete

great boat

Welcome to the group!

Hobbs meters fail with regularity. The Hobbs that is recording half time probably needs to be replaced.

The hour meters are part of the tachs, but since I have twin Yanmars the port/stbd meters differ from each other also.

Welcome. We have the same boat, but a year newer. Also twin Yanmars.

Nice to meet you

porman said:

Welcome. We have the same boat, but a year newer. Also twin Yanmars.

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Lots of “deferred maintenance “ in mine. Might make me a poor man also.

Ah, but you get to have all the fun of working on your boat. And you will get to know the boat very well...

So back to my question - upper and lower helm starboard side hour meters run "slow" and are about equal and port side are close to equal, which to me rules out the meters themselves.

I'm thinking a loose connection somewhere causing intermittent operation, but everything looks tight. One other possibility - batteries are going bad, I have to parallel them to start the starboard, so perhaps things will improve after they're replaced next week.

I would guess defective meters. I picked the hour meter that matched my actual time of engine running and just use that one. Since both engines are running at the same time, that's close enough for me.

Solved!
Original problem of both upper and lower helm hour meters running slow for only the starboard engine

It was the battery for the starboard engine, wasn't holding a charge. I knew it was bad because I'd have to parallel the battery with the port to start the engine. So once the batteries were replaced everything is working as it should.

DB,
Welcome,
I just sold my 2005 MS430PT after 6 years and 2500 cruising hours, so if you have any other problems I may be able to help. Regarding your gages, I sent mine for repair when the voltmeters failed. Cost is about $100 but they will give you an estimate. The company is:
NICHOLS SPEEDOMETER
Greensboro, NC
336-273-2881.

We also just bought a 430 aft cabin.. We also have alot of "deferred Maintenance' going on. Any chance any of you could send me pics(if you have any) of your lower helm seat and freezer configuration?. The PO ripped it out and put in a full size fridge. Also have marquipt Davit on the back that is locked downand I cant get power to it. thanks

dbullendsl said:

Solved!
Original problem of both upper and lower helm hour meters running slow for only the starboard engine

It was the battery for the starboard engine, wasn't holding a charge. I knew it was bad because I'd have to parallel the battery with the port to start the engine. So once the batteries were replaced everything is working as it should.

Click to expand...

There's a speedo place in Ft Lauderdale that I think can reset hours on VDO gauges... so you could get everything to match up, if you want.

-Chris

SofaKIng said:

We also just bought a 430 aft cabin.. We also have alot of "deferred Maintenance' going on. Any chance any of you could send me pics(if you have any) of your lower helm seat and freezer configuration?. The PO ripped it out and put in a full size fridge. Also have marquipt Davit on the back that is locked downand I cant get power to it. thanks

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Mainship 430's didn't have a lower helm seat to my knowledge. Mainships used NovaKool refrigerators. Hopefully the PO didn't cut opening as NovaKool's tend to be a bit shorter than Norcolds and they don't share the same rough cutout.

Shrew said:

Mainship 430's didn't have a lower helm seat to my knowledge. Mainships used NovaKool refrigerators. Hopefully the PO didn't cut opening as NovaKool's tend to be a bit shorter than Norcolds and they don't share the same rough cutout.

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It was an option, our refrigerators are original and are Sub-Zero.

Our 430 didn't have a lower helm seat. There are two configurations for the galley. The two cabin boats had the galley down and the three cabin boats had the galley up. Our refrigerator was a factory installed 11 cu ft GE household AC only. It died two years ago and we replaced it with a dual voltage Vitrifrigo that was slightly shorter, but the same width.

Actually, some did come with a lower helm seat with the freezer underneath.. BTW can someone tell me how to access the aft head vacuflush assembly? I think it may be under the aft cabin floor between the head and the bed, and I hope I don't have to rip up the entire floor to get at it. Have any other 430 three cabin owners had to replace it?

SofaKIng said:

Actually, some did come with a lower helm seat with the freezer underneath.. BTW can someone tell me how to access the aft head vacuflush assembly? I think it may be under the aft cabin floor between the head and the bed, and I hope I don't have to rip up the entire floor to get at it. Have any other 430 three cabin owners had to replace it?

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Sorry, can't help with that. We have Jabsco macerator toilets. I can tell you that I had to cut two access holes in the aft cabin floor to replace the waste hoses. Too many 90 degree turns and ribs in the way.