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Messages - Dolce_Vita

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16
Engine and Drive Train / Re: throttle cable end
« on: October 19, 2022, 09:47:13 AM »
I believe Pearson originally used Morse cables.  Searching for "Morse Throttle Cable" leads to this:

https://www.amazon.com/Control-Throttle-Cable-Female-Thread/dp/B00W8BZ1PI/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=morse+cable&qid=1666186819&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjMwIiwicXNhIjoiNC40NSIsInFzcCI6IjMuNjIifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-7

Might be what you're looking for.

17
P323 / Re: Pearson 323 boat speed under power?
« on: October 11, 2022, 10:05:01 AM »
Our 1977 P323 is driven by a 25HP Atomic 4 gas engine, and has a 3-blade 15R8 prop driven thru a 2:1 V-drive.  In calm water with a clean bottom, we can get it up to just over 6 kts @ 3100 RPM.

18
Engine and Drive Train / Re: Leaking Stern Tube! Help!
« on: September 26, 2022, 10:14:19 AM »
in my opinion, if the stern tube is dodgy, you have no choice but haul and block now.  To do anything else is to risk total loss of the boat.  If the tube separates suddenly, it can let in an enormous amount of water in a short time, overwhelming your bilge pump.  And even if it doesn't, sooner or later the bilge pump is going to fail for some reason.  Maybe a piece of trash gets caught in the float switch, or the marina power is out overnight and the battery dies.

That having been said, if it IS the tube, a temp. kludge to slow the leaking is to pack the tube from the outside with modelling clay while you're short-hauled.  This will slow or stop the leaking, but will leave the engine/prop unusable.  This might hold you until your January haulout.  But you lose use of the boat between then and now so why not haul out for the winter now?

If, on the other hand, your tube and hose are in reasonable shape, your proposed actions look good, with one addition.  Be sure to dig out the old packing and replace it with new packing of the correct size.  Your old packing is probably shot, accounting for that leak, and the compression nut is probably bottomed-out, which accounts for the whole assembly turning.

19
General Discussion / Re: Builder's Plate
« on: June 20, 2022, 10:57:48 AM »
Dick,

It looks great!  Where did you get it from?  I was unhappy with the one I got from Bristol Bronze years ago.

20
General Discussion / Re: mast foot bracket.
« on: April 12, 2022, 07:20:10 PM »
You'll have to have one made.  Its not a complicated job.  I had a new mast step for my P323 made by Carter Fabrications in Millersville, MD out of 1/2" aluminum plate.

21
Engine and Drive Train / Re: alternator belt squeal.
« on: April 12, 2022, 09:05:14 AM »
Are you using a solid belt?  If so, replace it with a notched belt of the same size.
A solid belt has a hard time with the tight radius bend of the A4's small alternator pulley.
This puts even less belt in contact with the pulley, allowing it to slip and squeal
under high load.

22
That limit is 4096 KILOBYTES (KB) , which is 4 MB.

As a rule of thumb, if you resize your images to around 800 x 1000 pixels, this should keep the image file well under 4 MB and be plenty of resolotion for viewing.

23
Nick,

I was able to remove the plywood flooring without removing the bulkhead, but it was tough.  I had two advantages: 1) I removed the whole floor and did this piece last.  This gave me a little more wiggle room.  2) The flooring was water damaged and delaminating, so it had a bit of flex to it, and I wasn't too worried about damaging it as I was going to replace it.  (that was 4 years and over 3000nm ago, and I still haven't done it!).

One thing I remember is that I had to remove the the storage hatch under the stove, the water foot pump, and the lower brackets for the ladder, in order to lift it enough to begin sliding it out.

24
General Discussion / Re: Standing rigging
« on: March 13, 2022, 12:32:08 PM »
Greg,

  Be careful, as I think they're all unique due to the hand-drilling of the holes.  It was quite noticable on the one I removed.  My fabricator had to use the old one as a template to drill the holes in the new one in order to get it to fit back on the existing holes in the fiberglass knees.

Also, the ones for the upper shrouds are longer and have one more hole than the ones on the lower shrouds.

25
General Discussion / Re: Mast Pumping on the Hard
« on: March 11, 2022, 09:56:52 AM »
Be sure to thoroughly wax the inside of the mast partner before pouring the stuff.  Otherwise, it will be impossible to remove the mast later without destroying the plug. 

26
General Discussion / Re: Standing rigging
« on: March 11, 2022, 09:52:32 AM »
Our Marina is a working boatyard and the (late) owner was a master rigger, so I had them order the wire.  Might have been from Rigging Only, but I honestly don't remember for sure.

I inspected the chainplates and ended up replacing one of them that showed signs of leakage and a bit of corrosion.  Probably should just go ahead and replace the rest of them.  It wasn't a hard job.  I just took it out and had a local stainless fabricator duplicate it, as the holes were hand drilled, so not precisely lined up on anything.  They're just flat bar stock with no bends.

When reassembling, be sure to put the bolts thru the chainlpate first so that it rests on the unthreaded shoulder of the bolt.  My mechanical engineer friends tell me that resting on the threads causes stress concentrations which can lead to cracks.

27
General Discussion / Re: Standing rigging
« on: March 08, 2022, 02:31:20 PM »
We used 1/4" 316 stainless on the lower shrouds and 9/32" 316 stainless on the forestay, backstay, and upper shrouds.
I did Norsman style fittings on all the deck height fittings, as it is possible to disassemble them and check for corrosion.
On the recommendation of several riggers, I used swage fittings for all the upper fittings, as they are not subjected
to the continuous bath of salt water, and the water drains away from the cable/fitting junction, which greatly
decreases the chance of water inrusion.

28
General Discussion / Re: Mast Pumping on the Hard
« on: March 08, 2022, 02:23:01 PM »
No useful advice.  When we got our p-323, the rigging was too loose, but the mast didn't pump.  As soon as I got it all tuned up, it started pumping in a crosswind.  This is not a problem at anchor because the boat (usually*) points into the wind, but frequently happens in a marina, and sometimes even under way.  If you figure anything out, I'd sure like to know.  Couldn't find anything useful online.



* The exception is when anchoring in a current, as frequently is the case along the ICW.

29
Mast and Spar Issues / Re: Spreader Failure
« on: March 02, 2022, 11:05:28 AM »
Selene,

  I'm a little puzzled by this, as it seems to imply that the spreader base was under a lot of twisting moment.  This can happen if the rig was loose enough that the downwind spreader could "flop" around, and then get bound up in the wrong position when tacking and it becomes upwind.

In a properly installed and tensioned spreader, the forces should all be straight down the length of the spreader, and it should not "flop" under any conditions.

When we purchased Dolce Vita, her rig was too loose and her downwind spreader flopped.  When rebuilding the mast, i found that the base of the spreader tubes had split where they fitted over the casting that is bolted to the mast.  That's why I'm surprised your castings broke instead!

With new standing rigging, the rule-of-thumb I found was to start with the tension around 10% of breaking strength, and adjust as needed from there. This resulted in a stiff rig that did not flop under any point of sail.

30
Plumbing and Galley Systems / Re: Composting Head
« on: March 02, 2022, 10:37:57 AM »
The clearance on the aft edge of the head is really tight if you still want to be able to operate the folding door.  When we replaced our original HeadMate Jr with the slightly larger Raritan Compact, I had to displace the mounting towards the bow in order to clear the door.  This leaves the head slightly off-center in the space.

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