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Kevin

Olivier Welcome to the site. Everything you need to know is right at your fingertips. That is roughing it for sure. Sometimes you have to do what you need to do in order to get the job done. The tide has come and gone countless times since I started this. I guess that is one advantage of having time...

Kevin

Hawaiian sling it is. Basically a thick wood dowel with a hole drilled through it and some surgical like tube tied to it. Hated it at first but I am getting more comfortable with it. We follow the same basic rules with the spear gun as with firearms but they are not nearly as safe as using a sling. ...

Kevin

That looks like it would be very nice to have. I just reset the trip odometer on my GPS every time I fill up. I am usually pretty close to judging how many gallons I am down but the piece of mind would be great. Heck, I don't even have a fuel gauge, just a wood dowel. Might be time to upgrade.

Kevin

Wow I think that information is going to save me some serious time on the learning curve. I do have a buddy with a bottle jack press and the struts are off the boat. Sounds like the home made idea can be done but with uncertainty due to friction. Going to save the time and energy and see if I can go...

Kevin

So far I am thinking upon receipt of bearings to stick them in the freezer. I know I need to clean the bores out and get them smooth. What do you think about some 3/4 all thread with large fender washers and nuts to pull bearings in, with soap of course. Does that method have a good success rate? No...

Kevin

Getting there. I am going to order a new set of bolts and nuts as well. Mine were a bit to long and some were stainless. Silicon bronze is tough to find around here also. I need to reposition the bunks on my lift, too much flex in the hull the way she is sitting now. It was ok in the water but I thi...

Kevin

Not sure if this will play. No play button in the preview but I will try anyways. This is just a clip of killing a hog fish with a sling. I think this sling will be my primary instead of the gun from now on. Lots of fun. http://vid189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/th_AMBA0069_zpsa535d775...

Kevin

Just looked up Buck A. on Lewis and it appears that Duramax and Buck A. are one in the same? Just want to make sure I am on the right course.

Kevin

Thanks for the help. I ended up unbolting struts. Hardest part was getting nuts past some paint on the threads, but overall not to bad. Saws all did the grunt work and then used hack saw for final cut and they came out ok. No way they were going to come out from my original plan.....they were in the...

Kevin

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P6112802_zpsfa7cf181.jpg http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P6112803_zpsbd6da80d.jpg Here is the puller. You can see the 1/2 inch threaded rod started to bow a little. Thanks for all the tips. So you can heat the struts to the...

Kevin

Bruce, There are 2 set screws in each strut. I used a sharp pic to clear out thread sealant (after set screws were out) and corrosion build up around forward portion of barrel. Sprayed a bunch of penetrant but it may need a few days to get in there. Tried some heat with a heat gun. Was a little shy ...

Kevin

The time had come for new strut bearings. Being the do it the hard way guy that I am, I figured I would take a go at it without removing the shafts. I really don't like messing with the PSS seals and rudders unless absolutely needed. No working room behind the tranny since I jammed the engines way a...

Kevin

I can run with it up if there is virtually no wind. Depending on direction in relation to the boat there is too much funny turbulence on a windy day. Yeah, you should be able to use the aft rod holders for more shade. Just depends on what you have up top to secure it to. You will want the bridge end...

Kevin

JR, Here is another option. Some one inch stainless bimini tube with end caps for pins and just stick it in a rod holder. The fabric is Sunbrella but you could substitute that with what ever you want. Mine has straps with clips holding to seat. When not in use just roll it up and secure it to the se...

Kevin

Mark, A single weekend sounds like a tall order to fill! Went to the sand bar yesterday despite the wind. Not much has changed. Sand bars on SE Florida all seem to be the same. Weekdays they are nice. Weekends and Holidays the niceness seems to go away. Too many 30' Concept cookie cutters with overp...

Kevin

Bill, I wish the timing was better, the wife's family just flew in last night. today is looking like the best day this week as far as wind goes. Some very odd wind conditions predicted this week....not normal for this time of year I may try to get them to the sand bar today. we leave wednesday for o...

Kevin

Here is back on 2005 after I bought it and started prepping for paint it. This boat was apparently a real POS but I did not know any better at the time.

Kevin

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P5252160_zps37f03c2f.jpg http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P5252159_zps71b25ca1.jpg http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P5252158_zpsc0f12c19.jpg http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P5252157...

Kevin

That looks sweet!
Nice UW lights.

Kevin

Frank,
When we did my boat in 2006 the 545 was rolled on. I think it was 2 or 3 coats, but my memory is not so hot anymore. Ran the DA over it till smooth and then shot the awlgrip with the gun. Rolling that stuff on will fill lots of minor imperfections.

Kevin

Got my prop back today. 50 to fix it. Diving in the stinging mud was the worst part about the whole episode so far. Loctite and cotter pins no exceptions from now on. I did pull the other prop so I could move the bunks for some touch up paint work. The nuts were not tight, but I did have to use the ...

Kevin

Found it. Took about 20 minutes of probing with aluminum pipe. Visibility was zero so I got lucky in that aspect.
It is pretty banged up from impacting the rudder. Back to the prop shop in the morning.

Kevin

I had my props tweaked at the shop in order to maximize my gains after the bottom redo. The prop guy said that I was out of pitch and rake on both props. Not a huge surprise since I have hit a thing or two over the past two years. Trap line will most certainly mess up a prop if you hit enough of the...

Kevin

Ughhh. That is pretty bad. The funny part is you know there is a group of loyal people that have website devoted to that thing! You know they don't deploy anchors....they throw them as far as they can. All bumpers and ropes.

Kevin

I remember back in 2005 when I had far less wisdom than I do now! The yard monkeys used three jack stands on my boat. One under the v berth and one on each side at the stern. I thought it seemed as though there should be more..........but these guys stacked boats for a living and who was I to questi...

Kevin

I have Noco Genius 3 bank multi-stage charger. There are no provisions to change the leads as they are one with the charger. There is a small plastic device right where the black and red wire split about a foot before the battery. It may just be there to keep the wires from pulling apart.

Kevin

http://www.coastalnightlights.com/styles-LEDspreaders.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Keith, I have a pair of these for the cockpit of my boat. They will make you see stars. They are mounted under the brow of the bridge so they are only 4 feet above the engines and they illuminat...

Kevin

Can the length of the charging leads be lengthened with out negatively affecting how a smart charger works? I only need about three more feet to get the batteries where I want them. I thought I read that you were not supposed to cut and splice those wires but I am not sure.

Kevin

13.5 gallons of resin! That's a lot of glass work. I used about a gallon on mine over the past few months and must have logged 150-200 hours of grinding, glassing and sanding. Glad to be done and following someone elses posts.

Kevin

Capt Rex, I could not find them when I was looking. I ended up having a local that does boat canvas work whip some up for me. I just bought some of those plastic t hook thinks and had them sewn into the new fabric. Anyone that does sunbrella bimini tops and canvas work should be able to make them fo...

Kevin

A BIG thanks to Mark (Buju) for coming down and spraying the bottom with VC Performance Epoxy. The boat looks sweet. I always liked black paint on a white boat, but this new white bottom color looks sharp. Took it for a quick spin and from what I can tell there is about a 1/2 knot gain at cruise and...

Kevin

Gert,
You should step it up a notch on the next 3.1 build and stick a Cummins in it. I mean, nothing too radical, keep it around 300 hp or so.

All kidding aside that is pretty cool. Wish I had the talent to do something like that.

Kevin

It was the ON OFF switch located inside the fridge. Cleaning it did not work. When you cross jump wire number 3 and 4 together if fires right up. The thermostat is also on the same board and it still works which is great. Unit still automatically switches to back and forth as it should. Runs perfect...

Kevin

14.4 volts gets relay to click. 14.8 gets compressor to try and do its job but does not fully engage. This is while on 6 amp charger. Alternator voltage regulators don't let the voltage get much higher than that. This thing is officially broken.

Kevin

I could have sworn this thing used to run no problem on battery with out engines running. 12.8 volts at rest. I cant start the engines since I am still working on the bottom. I may borrow my neighbors conventional charger and see if it will run while hooked up to it. My charger and the boat charger ...

Kevin

John,
I would think as long as you are straight forward with your assessments and price them accordingly you will find a buyer. Someone out there is looking for big blocks to rebuild. Just need to find them.
Hope that helps.

Kevin

I was hoping so. I thought about UV and that old TV he blasted with CX. I put it back in the boat. Sometimes when 12V is applied you could hear a distinct click of a relay followed by that noise a compressor makes when it wants to start. While it is trying to start the 12V house multi meter on the p...

Kevin

Thought I would kick the dead horse again. After giving the CX a couple days to marinate I hooked the battery charger up to the PWC battery I have been using for testing. I thought maybe I should put the smart charger in START mode to push some real amps into this battery. It is probably too small t...

Kevin

Thanks for checking Ed. There are several part numbers/models listed on the unit that have interchangeable power supplies. DE 540 is not listed on this one. I appreciate you checking into it for me.

Kevin

Sounds good to me Bruce. I would love to get my hands on spare parts/filters/manuals. As soon as I get the boat back in the water the first thing I am doing is my annual service on the engines and gears. I do not know what an oscillator is so it is safe to assume I will not be fixing the fridge. At ...

Kevin

Thanks Ed, that is greatly appreciated. I guess the worst case scenario would be just running an inverter. 12V inverted to 110V then back to 12V in the end! I have done worse things before.

Kevin

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P4131563_zps246a2dbf.jpg http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P4131562_zps966eb973.jpg http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z170/1kevinmehegan/P4131561_zps40701d52.jpg I took the power supply apart just a little and ran new 12VDC ...

Kevin

The DC side of it gave up the ghost but she still works fine when plugged into AC. I can't stomach the cost of a new AC DC fridge. Can I just get an inverter to run this thing? Any recommendations on brand and size? I only have one house battery so I think I could only run it while the boat is under...

Kevin

The rear ones are easy due to the round peg in round hole so you can get them to rotate easily to 90 degrees. The front I had to put in large pieces of angled aluminum to the beds. Kind of a PITA. That is one thing steyr could have put more thought into. I am no engineer though.

Kevin

We rushed the install to get it to the boat show back in 2006 I think it was. The front mounts had too much pre load, they were angled back a bit. Hatches leaked at the rear and water caused some rust that I did not stay on top of. Spray rails also leaked and salt water got to one of the mounts and ...

Kevin

Bruce,
Just so I understand, since my motors are not knockers the 1400 pounders are acceptable to use?

Kevin

I never realized that. Small world we live in. Guess I need to pay a bit more attention!

Kevin

Pat, I think that is about right with the weight. I am thinking the bigger ones may be better for longevity? I found a set of 4 on ebay for 395 dollars. They say Cummins on them but I don't care about that. Unless there are any objections I am thinking about pulling the trigger. I am guessing there ...

Kevin

The words of UV, "Just sit down and write a check payable to "Patrick McCrary" and mail it - how about including a note from you thanking him for what he does for us? - to him at 834 Scott Dr., Llano, TX 78643....or stuff some green money in an envelope and send it. No credit cards, no PayPal, its n...

Kevin

It's go time. I'm in.
We need a PayPal link!
Going to grab the check book right now.

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