bertram31.com

Tooeez

That looks like a CG documentation number.

Tooeez

Ironworker is right about the balance. I once had one shaft that suddenly developed a substantial vibration without hitting anything or any other warning. I thought I might have wrapped a plastic bag around the wheel, but when I dove under the boat I discovered a chunk missing from one side of the z...

Tooeez

2400 btu is too small. My 5200 cannot keep up with the Florida sun in the summer--I keep it set at 85 degrees, and it struggles at that. But--it does de-humidify the cabin, and that keeps the mold away and makes the cabin feel cool and comfortable, regardless of what the thermostat says. At night it...

Tooeez

After owning a 28 for 34 years I have to say, IMHO, that cutting the deck is a huge mistake--you will weaken the entire deck structure for both the cockpit and engine hatch decks. And you will also find a plywood bulkhead aft of the engines that sits right over the transmission, so that would have t...

Tooeez

You can run an a/c off of batteries, but it is marginal system and has to be set up just right. I wrote a long answer to a similar question a while back that listed all the trials and tribulations I went through to get it to work, but here's the short version: I have a 2,000 watt Xantrex inverter an...

Tooeez

What is the correct mailing address?

Tooeez

I have the side exhausts on my 79--I believe that was the first year Bertram used them. There are two advantages that I see: very quiet--you can sit in the cockpit at a 20 knot cruise and talk in a normal tone of voice, and the transom discharge is only about 1.5 inches in diameter, so it is much ha...

Tooeez

Mine was faded from the sun and had white spots appearing everywhere. I'm a child of the sixties, so I like formica, and I tried everything from furniture restorer to wax to try to clean it up with no success. Then, resigned to having to paint the formica and more as a joke than anything else, I spr...

Tooeez

13 foot Boston Whaler. I have seen two men hanging over the side of one, pulling another person out of the water, and the gunwale never went under the water, so there is no problem climbing aboard from the side. They are rated for 40 hp, but a 15 will push one just fine. Plenty big enough for 3 peop...

Tooeez

I use the foam insulation tubes sold for wrapping pipes as chafing gear. Cut to whatever length you need and put a ziptie at either end. It's softer than anything it touches and lasts about 3 months. Pricey, though--it costs about a dollar for a six foot piece. Bye the way, NEVER use vinyl tubing fo...

Tooeez

I have a 79 28, but I think the wiring should be somewhat similar. On the old point type ignition the coil is supplied from 2 sources: when the starter switch is closed 12 volts flows from one terminal on the starter solenoid to the coil. This supplies a hotter spark to get the engine started, but c...

Tooeez

A blue runner has really long pectoral fins. The line through the eye makes it look like a lesser amberjack--in any case, surely in the jack family.

Tooeez

That's the way the screen came from the factory. No reason to have the window and screen closed at the same time--it the window is closed, the screen should be back; and when you open the window you close the screen. The glass on the flybridge is only about 3/16 thick, at best--you need a backer beh...

Tooeez

It sure does sound like an air leak, and if you switched the fuel lines at the tank with no change it has to be between the end of the stbd fuel line and the pickup. Here's some thoughts: Take the anti-syphon valve out of the stbd line and re-connect without it. If pump primes the valve is the probl...

Tooeez

If it's any kind of electrical issue all the zincs on the boat should be wearing rapidly also, so it might be a good idea to check the running gear. As for the odd wear pattern, if the exchanger is draining at rest then there might only be a 1/2 inch or so of water around the zinc most of the time--...

Tooeez

When I was up north I would paint the shafts and wheels with the bottom paint--end of the season there was no paint, and few barnacles. When I moved south the bottom paint did nothing--within weeks the props were covered. I then used the Petit spray, which kept things clean for about 9 months before...

Tooeez

I have a 79 28 and it came from the factory with bronze gate valves on the thru-hulls.

Tooeez

Draining coolant always seems to end up with a lot of it in the bilge no matter what you do--a few years ago I came up with a simple modification that fixes the problem. I replaced the petcocks on each side of the block (which is the lowest drain point on the engine) with a hose barb, ran a 3/8 hose...

Tooeez

I replaced my cable system with hydraulic last year when the helm unit failed (after 40 years!) The difference is night and day--it's hard to put into words, but the boat handles much easier, especially when trolling--if you put a few degrees of rudder on it stays there, without having to hold the w...

Tooeez

I re-did my cabin sole with the PlasTeak in 2014. It lives up to all the advertising claims, but it gets hot if the sun is beating down on it through the open cabin door--way too hot to walk on with bare feet.

Tooeez

I spent an awful lot of time under that panel a few months ago when I upgraded the electronics and had to run new accessory supply wires. In my opinion there is not enough slack in the gauge wires to allow the panel to be pulled far enough out to disconnect everything from the front--the harness goe...

Tooeez

Higher seawater temp should not cause a steady rise in engine temp--just at best a slightly higher operating temp. I have the same basic engines on the east coast, and sea temps run from about 70 this time of year to 90 in the summer. My engines run 10 degrees hotter in summer than in winter. IMHO t...

Tooeez

Are these the same engines you had before? It's a real longshot, but a restriction in the exhaust will produce exactly what you describe; normal operation until the motor can't breathe anymore, than an even reduction the more the throttle is opened. If the new engines have more displacement or breat...

Tooeez

Sorry for the delay Toeez. I made my hatch gutters using capt. Pat's tips (Mcmaster frp). Basically I used 1/2" pvc tubing to connect the gutters all together below deck and that will be T'd in to my main drain pipe that runs through the starboard side and drains out of the exhaust outlet. I will c...

Tooeez

Jorge, can you provide some details on your gutter drain system? The deck hatches draining into the bilge have annoyed me the entire time I've owned the boat.

Tooeez

I have the same boat with the same power, and I don't think it can be done because of the bulkhead aft of the engines. On my boat the couplings are just about even with that bulkhead; as I recall the input shaft and pump housing protrude about 6 inches from the face of the tranny, so it would have t...

Tooeez

I had/have the same problem with the Noco Genius 2 bank charger--it just never stops charging. I replaced my original charger a few years ago with the Noco, and from day one it never showed a full charge on either bank--it just keeps charging. (the batteries are not the issue--less than 3 years old,...

Tooeez

I used 1/4 inch Starboard in seafoam for my panels--after 9 years they look the same as the day I installed them--dirt and stains just do not seem to adhere to the stuff, including squid ink and tuna blood. It is heavy. On my 28 I have oblong openings on each side of the cockpit without any doors, w...

Tooeez

Here's another thought: take off both distributor caps. Crank the port engine and note which way the rotor turns. Crank the stbd engine and see if it turns the same way.

Tooeez

On my original 1979 228 Mercruisers, and on the 350 Michigan Motorzs replacements I installed, the starboard engine has a gear train instead of a timing chain, so that the cam and distributor turns the same way as the port engine.

Tooeez

I had 13lb caps on my 350's, and was loosing some coolant. I borrowed a pressure tester from the auto supply store, and found I had a small leak where the return hose enters the exchanger. The clamp wasn't all that loose, so on a whim I tested the caps. One opened at 22 lbs, and the other at 19 lbs....

Tooeez

I have them on my 28, but only use them some of the time. They do work well in a tight head sea, but I use them mostly to offset any list. The only spot in a 28 cabin for passengers to sit is the dinette, and 2 or 3 people on one side of the boat pushes that side down--tabbing the opposite side take...

Tooeez

DB electric has good prices on starters and alternators.

Tooeez

I repaired a few soft spots in my deck over the winter--I used a router set just deep enough to cut through the fiberglass underside, and kept moving back until I hit dry core, filled with foam and reglassed. I plugged the top side of each screw hole with a dowel so no epoxy could run out, and then ...

Tooeez

The gauge I used had threaded connections, but whatever you use is for testing only--start the engine, see the pressure, shut it off.

Tooeez

Don't assume it's ignition just because it seems electrical. I had similar problems that I would have bet the farm had to be electrical in nature--turns out that alcohol laced poison they sell as gas up north had destroyed the fuel pumps. Invest in the cheapest fuel pressure gauge you can find in an...

Tooeez

Can you swap the panels side to side so that the tachs are on the outside edge of the console?

Tooeez

I replaced my panels with 1/4 Starboard--it has held up great. My window frames got beat up also, and I considered removing them and having them powder coated. On closer inspection I could not find anything holding up the flybridge except for those frames, so I decided to leave well enough alone. I ...

Tooeez

Mike, 28's came with small blocks and 1.5:1 reductions, but for what it's worth mine came with 17 x 16 wheels

Tooeez

I would be suspicious that the boat was stolen in the 80's and registered that way to hide the original title, like a tag job on a car. Pre HIN it was pretty easy to do.

Tooeez

About 20 years ago I worked for an organization that had 3 36' boats powered with twin 435hp 3208's. We lost five of the six original motors right around 1700 hours due to intercooler failure; I don't remember how many of the replacements failed also, but it was a couple at least. There was no warni...

Tooeez

Five years ago I left Long Island for Stuart, Florida. I read your posts now and find it hard to believe that I ever put up with that nonsense, but when you live with it every day you don't realize how bad it is. I wound up with a house almost twice the size I had in NY for about 2/3 the price. My t...

Tooeez

On my 79 28 those fuses fed the 12 volt fuse panels.

Tooeez

From the way the line is wrapped it looks like the wheel was in reverse when the line went in. Also, the line is not around anything fixed, like the strut or a cleat, so that shaft should be able to turn with the line in place, so don't assume that the line stopped the engine before damage was done.

Tooeez

The epoxy is going to try to escape as fast as you put it in. I think the screw will seal better, and can't get knocked loose if you bang into it while working on the next set of holes.

Tooeez

I've used Git-Rot for repairs for over 40 years--it's a great product, but only if it's applied correctly--and it's not easy to use. But done right it is as close to a permanent repair for rotted wood as you can get without surgery. The last big repair I did with it was the rear cabin bulkhead on my...

Tooeez

I had the same problem, and replaced all the cockpit panels and the inside flybridge panels with 1/4 Starboard. Ten years later it still looks like new.

Tooeez

Got it, Tony; I had it backwards.
I don't have a galvanic isolator.

Tooeez

Thanks, Tony. If I understand your post correctly you disconnect both the positive and negative battery cables, attach the positive lead from the multimeter to the positive cable, negative lead to negative cable, then turn on each circuit in turn to see if resistance is detected. No resistance indic...

Tooeez

My shaft zincs suddenly seem to be deteriorating much faster than usual, and I am having a hard time understanding how to check for stray current. Am I correct in understanding that any bad wire/connection/device would have to be in contact with water in the bilge in order to complete the circuit, s...

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