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Amberjack

http://i.imgur.com/y1rZaUTh.jpg Returning to Seattle from trip to San Juan Islands late August http://i.imgur.com/ukcdN93h.jpg Same view returning Saturday September 12 from an overnight in Port Madison. Cold and smelly with visibility maybe 1 mile in smokey haze. The Health Dept says air quality i...

Amberjack

Besides, a whiff of diesel exhaust on a cool, crisp morning when untying the lines is one of the finest smells in the world!

Amberjack

Thanks Mike, that was well said and appropriate. Perhaps we can get you to talk with our national politicians of both parties as well. They seem most interested in driving we the people apart when in fact I'm convinced we have much more in common.

Amberjack

Amberjack has a Rule 1500 with automatic float switch mid-ships wired direct to the batteries and a second Rule 1500 with auto float in the stern wired to the panel. I added an audible alarm on the bridge wired in parallel for the stern bilge pump because like everyone else I kept worrying whether i...

Amberjack

Peter that is real knife between the teeth boating. What waterway was that?

Amberjack

Carl--I have 630A's and have run Mercon III ATF for the last 15 years. This is what the manual calls for and I didn't even know there was a controversy.

Amberjack

Doug We are lucky enough to have enough inshore fishing with Blue Fish, Stripe Bass, Fluke and Sea Bass when the season is open to keep us busy when we don't want to spend 4 hour getting to the Tuna grounds. Tony, you broke loose some 50 year old memories. This kid grew up in Portsmouth RI and summ...

Amberjack

Jack--Amberjack came with a Jabsco-Par 36950 when I bought it 25 years ago. Don't know if it was original to the boat. The original pump lasted 10 more years and the replacement lasted about 15 years with a couple rebuilds. The third, purchased last year, has an issue with the pressure switch 14 mon...

Amberjack

It sounds scarier then it is to remove the packing gland in the water...but whats the worst that can happen, "you sink". Soon as you past that its easier. AND Chances of sinking are slim as only so much water can pass between shaft and gland...I forget the spec on how much water can come in. But th...

Amberjack

What happens if I go down to 1/4" and add extra rows to compensate. Peter-I would stay with the maximum size that will fit between the shaft and the stuffing box. You want the rings to "stack" on top of each other so they remain uniform as you tighten the collar, not slip out of position and create...

Amberjack

Peter--Are you sure you got all the old packing out? On mine the last row of packing was so tightly compacted I thought it was part of the fitting and could only get two rows of the new packing in. Also pay attention to what Carl said and be careful not to tighten too much to begin with. That was an...

Amberjack

It was dramatic but not that much of a bow plant. Any boat that's survived 30 years working in the charter trade was well found and tough enough. My guess is some undetected and/or unaddressed wood deterioration in the bow left it in a condition for this to happen. So I agree with both Carl and Mike...

Amberjack

Rick--I've had Yanmar 6LP's for 15 years and though I'm not a mechanic I'm familiar with them. If your undercarriage is clean the other logical cause is fouled turbochargers. When the turbochargers on these engines kick in at about 2000-2200 rpm you feel the kick, there is no mistaking it, and the b...

Amberjack

Has the boat been hauled in the last two years?

Amberjack

I'm curious as to how far back your windscreen goes near the centerline. It appears to go nearly straight up or even forward a little. If so, that would work with my set up. JR Jack-The windscreen does angle back, perhaps a 25-30 degree angle from vertical. Images attached from our first overnight ...

Amberjack

Jack--I reused the original hardware. Attachments are copper eye loop bolts and the trailing edge hardware is original Bertram windscreen attachments. I'll be on the boat next couple days and will take pictures of the entire windscreen.

Amberjack

Our house was adjacent to a very large wildlife refuge. The very first palmetto leaf I went to pick up after the storm had a rattle snake coiled up under it. Turns out if you scream like a little school girl it stuns them for just a second or two and gives you a little time to whack them with a 2x4...

Amberjack

Jack--It was Kel-Tech Plastics 3510 South Pine St Tacoma WA although I looked online and they closed recently. Don't know if permanently or due to CV-19. Doubtful if they still have a pattern after all these years but you never know. IF you decide to move ahead with a new windscreen and IF you find ...

Amberjack

Amberjack, Thanks for the pics, looks like a beautiful area for boating. Can you tell me about your windscreen on the flybridge? It appears to be a little larger and doesn't angle back as much as the original wind screen. Was your wind screen custom made up in your area? JR Jack you are right on bo...

Amberjack

Carl--I bet a hundred times starting when I was in college and dating my wife. I lived on Bainbridge Island so it was a trip across Puget Sound, maybe 9 miles, then up through the locks etc in the family's 16' outboard lobster skiff. Shortly that boat upgraded to my 18' inboard Poulsbo boat rigged a...

Amberjack

Carl there is no better feeling than the thrust of diesel power as you throttle up the engines. There is no sweeter sound than the rumble of diesels as you idle out of the marina and there is absolutely nothing finer than the whiff of diesel exhaust on a crisp, clear morning as you handle lines at t...

Amberjack

Amberjack winters under cover in Portage Bay, Seattle. Its protected water close to where I live and allows me to keep the boat in commission and work on winter projects. Every spring, usually April 1 the boat moves from fresh water to summer salt water moorage which eliminates the 2-3 hour trip thr...

Amberjack

http://i.imgur.com/LtvIEHbl.jpg On our annual trip to saltwater last week we stopped at my new favorite fuel dock in the maritime industrial area of Ballard. This place is my new best friend! The larger commercial boats that take on 3-4,000 gallons pay per gallon must be sub $1 per gallon. I paid $...

Amberjack

Let me ask those familiar with the insurance business: If the boat is insured for ACV at "X" dollars (the survey valuation) is that functionally different from being insured for an Agreed Value of "X" dollars?

Amberjack

Chuckak wrote:Home port is Anchor Bay - Lake St. Clair Michigan

Out of my area. I use a Portland, OR based company which writes an all risk policy including as far north as SE Alaska in the summer for about 1% of value.

Amberjack

Where will the boat be home ported?

Amberjack

We are looking south so that is Mt Rainier. Also off to the right of Rainier the white fleck just visible on the horizon we think are the snowfields of Mt St Helens--or what is left of it.

Amberjack

I used Git Rot years ago on my first large wooden boat. As I remember it does come in a syringe looking applicator which is really just a two part mixing device without a needle so there is no "injecting", you simply squirt it onto the affected area and (hope) it absorbs into the surface. If this ar...

Amberjack

..and driving a Bertram 31 on a beautiful day!

Amberjack

Not sure if I'd have ventured out with my boat running like that Perhaps I exaggerated slightly. (Does anyone on the forum ever exaggerate? No, never!!!). Amberjack was reliable at idle so maneuvering around marinas was OK and stable at slow cruise, around 22 knots out in open water. The challenge ...

Amberjack

Carl it was like driving in rush hour traffic with a sticky gas pedal and a faulty brake cylinder. The constant low grade anxiety took a lot of the fun out of running the boat.

Amberjack

[quote="Yannis"]Doug, The Yanmar anodes are probably overpriced. I understand that anyone can buy off the shelf anodes cheaper. After input from the board I switched to Yanmar factory anodes for this spring maintenance. Research showed the same product available online for from $30 per set of 5 up t...

Amberjack

Those of you who followed my multi year saga of the starboard Hynautic throttle control will be interested to know the issue has been resolved. Recap: that throttle control had all sorts of issues--spongy, throttle creep to lower rpm's which led to the 2018 debacle of bleeding the controls in BC and...

Amberjack

OK guys, enough said on both sides. Let's get back to being positive and mutually supportive--or not comment at all.

Amberjack

Hello boys, I hope everyone is safe and well. Now that the lawn is edged and mowed, and the weeds are pulled I'm free to work on the boat. Walk out the front door to the car, drive two miles to the yacht club, walk through the locked gate and down the empty dock to AJ and go to work--no human interf...

Amberjack

Doug, I have one blower with a duct. It is turned on automatically with the port engine. So, when engine is off, it is off too. What’s the problem with cooling down the engines? When entering any port, you have to slow down anyway for at least 5 minutes, or so. Also, by the time you drop anchor, ge...

Amberjack

I need to replace my ICOM Command Mic II which is no longer in manufacture. The only source I've found is Binnacle.com located in Halifax and I've never heard of them before. Has anyone here used this company or know anything about them? Are they still actively in business?

Amberjack

Early on Amberjack had issues with soot buildup on the transom, more than I considered to be normal diesel behavior. The long time diesel mechanic who takes care of Amberjack's Yanmar 6LP's explained to me that modern diesels get their increased horsepower per cubic inch by forcing more fuel and air...

Amberjack

Catching the virus and having it turn ugly is a fear...the other is have a heart attack or whatever. If EMS can't get ya going with paddles and drugs, they are done. No CPR, No ride to the hospital for a last ditch effort, they leave, family gets to call funeral home for pickup. That is some soberin...

Amberjack

How close to those (Yannis') figures? Don't know but I'll look through my receipts some rainy day. Again, its not so much the cost as 1. convenience and 2. the idea of paying 50% more for a part that has a different manufacturer's name and part number inside the Yanmar box. I also do most of my own ...

Amberjack

Carl-Yannis, good answers both. And the issue with the anodes is not the price but rather the trip way across town to buy them, plus another trip if I lose or break one. I know, buy a couple spares....and try not to lose them! So now I'm sold on the anodes because I don't know any better. But on the...

Amberjack

Thanks guys. As for every manufacturer there are some peculiarities, for Yanmars (I learned) you have to use the original Yanmar coolant and engine anodes. For the rest you might want to improvise but for those two you’d better stick to the manufacturer instructions of using the suggested parts. I ...

Amberjack

don’t just expect that by washing your hands when returning home is sufficient. What would be sufficient is not to have to return home because you never left home. Interesting comment Yannis and a good reminder from someone in the middle of the curve to those of us on the front side of the curve. ta...

Amberjack

Hmmm, well I guess the answer so far is we just don't know what will happen. Tony, the discussion about limiting ventilator access came from the medical directors of two of Seattle's large hospital networks. They were pretty open about what would happen in a worst case scenario of more patients need...

Amberjack

As Bruce mentioned this is a Bertram boating discussion site but there was a lot of response about the Coronavirus topic so I opened a CV topic in the Forum under Non Boating Topics.

Amberjack

As Bruce mentioned, the General Discussion is about our Bertrams and boating related topics but all of us now are being affected by the virus in both our boating lives and our personal health. For some of us this may be a place to chew over those issues as well as just connect. I managed to squeeze ...

Amberjack

I guess they're worth what the market will bear but that (those?) is a really run down bow chock. Another couple hundred for replating will make it a $450-500 piece. I removed mine with great regret when I installed an anchor windlass and now its a highly polished and valued desk ornament. It will g...

Amberjack

Peter-How did they start the boat? Did they find keys or hotwire it?

Amberjack

The more recent ones have multiple directional propulsion pods driven by electric motors so steering is done that way. A year or two ago one of the ships took a massive lurch to one side after a computer issue with the steering. I think the ship went over about 30 degrees which is a shock on a ship ...

Amberjack

Hello Rocky--I have seen them out of the water and I agree, there doesn't seem to be enough there to keep them upright. They have dynamic roll dampers in the form of underwater wings to minimize roll but those are only effective underway. I'm with you, it doesn't seem as though they should float upr...

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