alibaba

What is the keel sliding on? Last time I saw one, the trailer channel was lined with timber. If so, wet timber ain't going to slide very well. Rather than adding to the strain with a more powerful winch, I would be considering getting some rollers in there somehow, or - lining the channel with one of the modern very hard plastics.

Yeah - good luck with that on my Lotus 9.2, she's a bit broad in the beam for 15 degrees. In fact haul her in too tight and she stalls. I have tested as much as I can on a steady wind day, using a waypoint and the chartplotter VMG. What I have discovered, for my boat, is that you need a polar diagram to give your best point of sailing. The maths bears this out. Hard on, if say your speed is 4knots and your VMG is say 3.2 knots... if you bear away by 10 degrees and your speed rises by more than 10%, you are winning. For the my Lotus, my best VMG in smooth water is at 35 to 40 degrees

Just a small point which might help some. When you have to prime the system, the little lever on the side of many lift pumps is a] a b....y pain to get at, and you often find that you have to pump and pump and.... to get enough fuel through. We've fitted an outboard squeeze pump into the line from the tank and this really helps get the fuel through and started. In addition, I'd add my thanks to all the detailed advice you gave. We should cut and paste it into an article for later.

Thanks for all the advice. I may have found the problem. I traced the switch wire from the solenoid back to the ignition switch. The wire leaving the relay was of quite sufficient size I thought, but then I found at the back of the engine, someone had spliced a 3m length of thin red wire all the way to the ignition switch. Spliced again to thick wire at the switch but couldn't be seen behind the panel! Replaced the whole length with decent tinned marine heavy duty wire. Can't make the fault reappear now. starts every time. I do know, from the previous owner, that the relay was fitted by

I've looked up relay connections and half of them state that the start switch goes to terminal 86, and terminal 85 goes to earth, the other pair 30 goes to battery +, and 87 goes to the solenoid. The other half state these terminal pairs are the opposite, ie 87 to battery and 30 to solenoid.Does that mean the the terminal pairs connections are interchangable? Ie 87 and 30 can be wired either way?

Thanks wheels and ballystick and others- all of that makes sense. With a bit more investigation, I note that the wire from the switch is heavy gauge white, and it disappears into the wiring harness. That makes sense because of the heavy current it has to carry. It then disappears into the wiring harness and emerges at the other end going to a little relay [ which I have renewed] attached to the bulkhead in the engine bay. Because the input wire into the relay from the switch is no longer heavy gauge white and is much lighter gauge red, I'm assuming that it was fitted as a after market d

aaah- intermittent start now getting worse. I've replaced both the start button and the relay. I guess I now remove the starter motor for servicing? But before I do, has anyone got any other ideas? cheers

Just for the record, members tows are free up to 340 nautical miles. Rescues - ie emergencies are free anyway, whether you are a member or not. The callout "donation" for non-members is $280 per hour. I Would suggest that there would be no need for increases if EVERYONE was a member. There are probably a lot of boaties out there who are not members, and who take a chance that they will never have to call for assistance. The extra revenue would make up for the shortfall I think. I'm not sure what the definition of a 'spurious' callout is by the way.

Yacht was an 8.5m yacht. Don't know what design.

For headsail clew - brilliant. Over 30 years I've experimented with allsorts. No heavy bits of steel to hit you on the foredeck. Make them [ from old rope even] with long tails. They look a bit untidy, but it makes then easier to take off if you are changing sails. I've never had one break on me, but probably best to replace each season due to u/v damage.

Nobody on the West Coast?? On a day like this there would be at least 300 vessels out over the various bars, and if Raglan has a fishing competition on, that easily doubles. One of the things I note, is that the number of calls for assistance that Coastguard gets on the West Coast are far fewer than on the East Coast. I think because the bar crossings are known to be dangerous, the Westies take better care of their craft, very few seem to run out of fuel etc compared to the EAst, which is more benign. That said, when it does go wrong on the West COast ........ Do insurance compa

Actually, that is not a silly thought- there are bound to be rats on a boat of that size. At least DOC should take one of their rat-sensing dogs aboard. An experiment with a monitored rat on the Noises a few years ago demonstrated that they swam between islands, and it is only a very short distance to the shore. Especially important with all the regeneration of native bird projects on Motutapu at the moment.

Yeah- I sort of understand the limit, and why. BUT- I always find it disappointing that the solutions to this sort of problem always seem to penalise the innocent. I'm not sure that 95% of us should suffer because of the actions of a few. Bit like vaccinations and roadblocks really.

Job done, for reference for others whose transducers stop working: looks like most just need new bearings - 10 dollars each from Gofish - good service there. Make sure that you get them unlubricated. Grant at gofish lubricates them as they are used in fishing reels which is great. BUT- the anemometer is slowed down by even a small amount of lube. If you need new rotating cups or wind direction swivel, discount marine has the kits. Thanks again for the help

Great to see the writeups on the 9.2. I'm lucky enough to have a wooden one. They are very dry and light on the helm. I don't have a problem getting in and out of the water, I have a substantial boarding platform and folding ladder. I think the scoop idea is a good one, means that you can keep the transom rudder. Real nice for going astern.!