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If the boat is new, then this should be a warranty fix and your working on it may be a warranty problem. There can be air in the power loop but not in the manual steering. Jim

That was not my experience on either boat. On Fintry the unit is in the engine room which has 24" diameter intake and exhaust fans, but no air conditioning. The unit sat near a CAT 3406 and a 12kW Northern Lights generator. The gyro was putting around 6kW of heat into the room, which is small...

I have commented on the advantages of the Quick Gyro over the Seakeeper several times -- cheaper, smaller, and air cooled.- The air cooling means that much of what is in this invoice does not apply. Also note that the Quick Gyro requires maintenance only every 2000 hours and if you can convince...

I'm with SeaDogAK -- if it's less than $10K, I'd take cash and not bother with a wire. The Buyer is not going to knock you over the head and steal the money back after you hand him the bill of sale (notarized if its documented), so you can just take it to the bank.

Farwell's commentary on the Rules of the Road (ISBN 978-1682475492) says that while the Rules do not specify what "restricted visibility" means, a reasonable person would believe that if sidelights must be visible for two miles, then if visibility is less than that it is restricted. That seems...

Reading the regulations, "Ship's stores" seems to apply if it is for consumption on the boat. Tried it checking in by phone last time we entered and was told that it didn't apply to recreational boats. However, they couldn't be bothered to come and collect for it, so we got a pass. Another...

Emphasis added above. My wife and I have sailed around the world and have crossed the Atlantic on Fintry. Such voyages need serious life rafts as it may be days before you are rescued. On the other hand, on the Great Lakes, you are within helicopter range everywhere and you can expect to have...

Not a comprehensive list -- just what came quickly to mind: Vulnerable -- deep water around one or both supports at the sides of the main channel: Mount Hope Bridge Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge Tobin Bridge Deer Isle Bridge Piscataqua River Bridges (first two)...

That's nine people -- a high, but not unreasonable load on a fly bridge. I would take your bags and fill them slowly, keeping a close eye on deflection -- how much the center of the area goes down. If it seems unreasonable, I might fab a 4x4 from under the deck to the next level down which you...

Great pix here -- thank you. Jim

The putty knife is also useful when applying the coating of your choice -- simply hold the knife against the gel coat where you are working. Six inches is a minimum size -- I use a 12" drywall blade for straight wood. You need a rag which you can wipe the blade on frequently -- or wear and old...

For consistent high quality crimps, you want a ratchet crimper such as https://www.mcmaster.com/products/wire-crimpers/terminal-and-splice-ratchet-crimpers-7/ Poor crimps can cause a fire -- not for years, perhaps, but they are a risk. A quality crimper is only $30, so there is no excuse for...

This would not be my choice. Unless they happen to be on a perfectly flat section of the hull, the 3/4" glass will not pull into the hull and will leave a gap which would have to be filled by whatever adhesive is used between it and the hull. I also don't like depending on threads in G10. I...

Google "GB 53 ALASKAN layout". Several come up. Jim

That's a winch handle socket on top of the windlass, so you can operate the windlass manually in emergency. If you want power for it, there are a number of companies which make purpose built power winch handles and others that adapt power tools for the job. Much cheaper than anything you could...

The only thing that really counts is the A/C units -- everything else is small. While a microwave draws a thousand watts, it's not on for long. Hot water can take heat from the main engine. I assume your stove is propane. You're in Detroit, so presumably cruising nearby, not in places where you...

I disagree. The typical P&S agreement requires the seller to get the boat to the place where it can be surveyed. When we sold Fintry, we had to take her, at our expense, from Boston to Fairhaven Ship, a day's run (Fairhaven Ship was is the closest place to lift her 150 tons). Once she's in the...

I'm with the crowd here -- glass sheet from McMaster. Jim

I agree that double faced foam tape works very well. It is a real nuisance to get off when you sell the boat -- maybe half an hour of Goo Gone and careful scraping, but if you do that carefully it leaves no trace. Note, also, that Velcro and Velcro-like products come in different levels of...

Welcome aboard -- although we're mostly Trawler people, we're happy to offer advice to anyone, some of which is great and a little of which is baloney. I tend to agree with RT Firefly -- this may not be a good project for a beginner. When fiberglass takes a hit, what you can see is rarely all...

I have never understood the appeal of the devices discussed above. We own a monocular low light viewer which works well even on very dark nights, but have used it very rarely, maybe half a dozen times. That's in around 40,000 miles, much of it offshore and maybe a third at night. Our Furuno...

Rather than use Blue Sea labels, which often don't have the text I want, I have used Carolina Laser (https://www.legend-plates.com/) for eight years and hundreds of labels on Fintry and Morning Light. They're fast and accurate. Their 3/4" labels match 3/4" breakers and if you use white letters...

VHFs type approved in the USA after 1999 also must have DSC, which, if properly set up with GPS input and MMSI, is a great help in a distress situation. Jim

NAVTEX, which provides written weather forecasts, is widely used in Europe, but little used in North America because of the VHF weather reports. We used it crossing the Atlantic on Fintry. It provides a new weather forecast every four hours. Although it has a nominal range of 200 miles, we...

Fintry needs 120/240VAC while underway for steering, lights, and hotel loads, so we ran one or the other of two 9kW Northern Lights whenever underway, including the Atlantic Crossing. No problem -- marine generators are built to run continuously. Jim Sweetwater - Swan 57 sloop -...