Questions about boat

Caphenning · Aug 1, 2020

Ducatihottie said:
Caphenning, I'll trade you moorage. I'd love to be at Bainbridge or Gig Harbor. Is that huge tug your first boat?

Thanks again ComoDave. Looks like I don't have to fire up the engine much. I do need to buy a few batteries.

Just curious, (maybe for batteries)? Does anyone know if Amazon delivers to your dock? To your boat?

Lol, no, I started over 35 years ago with a Catalina 27, and I’ve had a 30+ year career as a captain between then and now.

Fisheries Supply will deliver to your dock for free on orders >$100.

There is moorage available here.

Ducatihottie · Aug 2, 2020

Disharp, won't be putting it in gear, lord knows how much damage I'd do.

Nice to know, ill be spending some time at fisheries Supply.

mvweebles · Aug 3, 2020

Ducatihottie said:
Perfect. How often? Once a week.... once a month? Do you know "about" what temp? Or are all boats "temps" different. Thank you.

If you need an excuse to duck out of the house, by all means, it is critical that the engines be run once a week "Sorry honey - can't do housework today.....".

But in reality, as long as you're using the boat periodically, not really necessary. Good to check for leaks and such, but the engine is fine, especially in your climate. That said, nothing like the lope of a diesel beneath your feet to make your head right.

Peter

FF · Aug 3, 2020

The reason to operate the engine is to keep the cylinders and other internals from rusting ,but that is only a minor danger which 10 min of operation would solve.

Temperature is of no concern as weather the engine is cold or warm only changes its shape a bit.

What is required is a Load on the engine .

As the engine operates combustion gasses get behind the rings forcing them to seal properly , with no load the gasses have too little pressure , so the rings wont seal , leaving too much oil on the cylinder walls.

This extra oil gets into where the rings sit and burns which slowly seizes the rings .

Instead of being properly scraped the cylinders get burnished and the partially burned oil goes into the crankcase.

Takes a while but eventually the engine will burn more and more oil, and the loss of compression only comes back with taking the engine apart and honing the cylinders , or installing new ones.

"Just let it sit" is less harmful than a weekly turnover.

How long you can let it sit is covered in most repair manuals.

Pete Meisinger · Aug 3, 2020

Not good to run a diesel just because it hasn't been run in a week or a month. Take it out and run it under load. Just sitting at idle will kill it. All the trucks you see at rest stops with smoke coming from the exhaust are killing themselves. Don't do it!!

LOL, your batteries look great. Only replace them when they get dirty.. Better yet, replace them all now, you will be glad you did. They will run you a little over a hundred each.

pete

ScottC · Aug 4, 2020

Portage_Bay said:
Also pay a visit to Marine HowTo and start reading.
.

Thanks for this great tip, Portage_Bay! I went to this site to check it out, since I had never heard of it before. I thought I would open a few tabs on topics of interest to me...and before I knew it, half the day was gone. What a wealth of valuable information! I noticed that he's running "in the red" with this project, so sent the site a donation (easy to do via PayPal). I wouldn't want to see this go the way of the GB site!

rgano · Aug 7, 2020

As discussed above DO NOT run your engines at idle under the false assumption that this practice is a good maintenance practice. It is absolutely BEST to get underway at cruising RPM to properly run them. That said, if you just feel you MUST run them get them started and place one in ahead gear and the other in astern gear and carefully ease them up to about 1200 RPM for a half and hour. I would not do this unless it had been a couple of months since the boat had been underway and was going to be another couple before it might be.

rjwilliams11741 · Aug 7, 2020

Ducatihottie said:
Disharp, won't be putting it in gear, lord knows how much damage I'd do.

Nice to know, ill be spending some time at fisheries Supply.

If you have all lines properly tied and have your engines are at or just above idle speed you are not going to do any damage by putting you boat in gear at the dock. It's done all the time. Regards you batteries, if your boat has a good modern charger or inverter / charger your batteries will be kept in good shape but don't get caught with the false security that the batteries that started your engines right up at the dock are going to start your boat after an overnight at anchor. You should have, or if not you should install, a crossover switch that will allow you can to your house batteries to start you main engines in a emergency.

Ducatihottie · Aug 7, 2020

I now have a feeling I'll have a few friends that will want to go out on the boat. So hopefully I'll get it out on the water at least once a month. This should keep the engine up and running. Some day this weekend I'm going to print up all the advice I'm getting and keep it on the boat.

Nepidae · Aug 9, 2020

Boat questions

Ducatihottie said:
For some reason I can only cut and paste the whole thing. But I only have questions about....

SORRY FOR THE CAP LETTERS, ITS TO DIFFERENTIATE, NOT TO YELL.

1. What is a macerator pump? Would my 1987 boat have had one or is this an add on?
MY MACERATOR IS ON THE TOILET, THEY USUALLY ARE. THERE IS ALSO USUALLY A VALVE WHICH IS 2 WAY THAT WILL DIRECT DISCHARGE TO A HOLDING TANK OR POSSIBLY OVERBOARD. MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN A LEGAL AREA TO DO THAT.

2. I won't be doing much cruising for about a year until I learn my boat and it's ways. How long until I HAVE TO change my bateries below. If there hooked up to a battery tender will they last longer? BTW, they look great.
GOOD TO LEARN BOAT. BATTERY TENDER IS GOOD, BETTER TO USE BATTS AND RECHARGE WITH 3 PHASE CHARGING. BATTS CAN GO TO 10YRS WITH TLC. CHECK WATER LEVEL RELIGIOUSLY, IF WET CELL, THAT WILL HELP WITH ELONGIVITY.

3. About how much will each battery cost to replace?
BATTERY COST WILL DEPEND ON WHAT YOU WILL USE THE BATTERTES FOR. START CAN BE DIFFERENT THAN HOUSE. COST WILL ALSO BE DEPENDANT ON THE CHEMISTRY. THIS IS A LONG DISCUSSION FOR ANOTHER TIME.

4. What does 2298 hours on genset mean? Is mine on the new or older side?
HOURS SHOW AMOUNT OF TIME IT HAS BEEN USED. OLD VS NEW IS DEPENDENT ON GAS VS DIESEL & MAINTENANCE PERFORMED.

5. 2019 services main, gearbox & genset? What's usually done and how much would these procedures cost?
DEPENDS ON HOURLY COST CHARGED BY SERVICE PEOPLE OR IF DOING YOURSELF, COST OF PARTS, IN BOTH CASES.

AND. 6. Are there any red flags below on something I need to adress now?

Thanks all.

1987 CHB Ponderosa 42' "Dream Too"
Highlights:

- [ ] Added bow thruster-2015
Garmin electronics-2018 & Garmin depth 2019
- [ ] New galley fridge(2017), new hot water heater2018, new macerate pump(2019, water pump 2015,
- [ ] March 2019-Kevin Ambrose services main, gearbox & genset
- [ ] New starting batteries in 2013
- [ ] New genset battery 2016
- [ ] New house batteries 2016
- [ ] New anchor chain(120’)and rode(300’)2016
RODE IS THE COMBINATION OF BOTH CHAIN & LINE. DONT KNOW IF 300 IS TOTAL FT.
- [ ] 3,100 hours mains
NOT HIGH DEPENDS ON MANUF AND MAINTENANCE.
- [ ] 450 gallons of fuel out of 500 gallons
AGE OF FUEL?
- [ ] 2,298 hours on genset
- [ ] Last bottom paint-8.2019 CSR
- [ ] ZINCS-8.2019
- [ ] Varnish cap & hand rails done - April 2019

Overall looks pretty good. If you haven't had the boat surveyed, do so.

God luck & enjoy.

Questions about boat

Caphenning

Senior Member

Ducatihottie

Senior Member

mvweebles

Guru

FF

Guru

Pete Meisinger

Guru

ScottC

Guru

rgano

Guru

rjwilliams11741

Senior Member

Ducatihottie

Senior Member

Nepidae

Senior Member

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