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Amberjack

Is this a 31? That's a lot of fuel!

Amberjack

The board has been quiet during the winter lay up season and I finally figured out Imgur so I decided to chronicle for the amusement of all my spring 2019 salon upgrade. Amberjack has been a project for the 25 years I've owned him and this was the last job that has been nagging on me for most of tho...

Amberjack

I found the same as Toeez when I removed Amberjacks cabin sole floor boards to refinish them with teak & holly. Each one had the individual Bertram hull production number hand written on the underside. The carpenter working with me thought I should sand and paint the undersides which still had the o...

Amberjack

it looks like an official hull number for documentation. Try looking it up in the USCG documentation website.

Amberjack

Welcome to the board JW. I bought my first and only Bertram 31 FBC 25 years ago. It was a functional project boat then so we were able to use it during the summer season while I worked on upgrade projects over the winter. Sometimes (many times) the winter projects bled over into the summer cruise se...

Amberjack

Mine were dead center on the rudders when I bought the boat and I've left them there. I don't think it makes a lot of difference.

Amberjack

Tooeez--My theory on that is that every join (zinc to bond wire, bond wire to engine block, engine block to shaft, etc) creates some resistance, plus the resistance of the wire itself. We're talking about really tiny currents. This is probably why my direct zincs wind up taking more load than the bo...

Amberjack

I have both bonding wires to a transom zinc which is my back up and individual zincs on my rudders and shafts. When I haul annually, the transom zinc which is also connected to shaft brushes and through hulls is usually in pretty good condition and gets replaced every 3-4 years. The shaft and rudder...

Amberjack

if you have all the pieces try to carefully glue them together. It worked for me. I was careful not to stress them when re-installing them.

Amberjack

Amberjack, One of the common issues I find now in the custom car business on older cars is rust in the tank blocking fuel flow. Like what I described above can be done on cars also.[/quote] Yes, in fact it was a fuel issue. I found a new mechanic and had him put it up on the rack based partly on inf...

Amberjack

Now I really need to get down there, thanks for the good input. I'll work on the deck boss to see if we can get something on the schedule, probably fly into Tampa and make a two day drive to the Keys as Daniel recommended. Another 10 day string of overcast damp weather like we've been having here wi...

Amberjack

Wayne--I replaced my headliner several years ago, it was simple. Remove the trim and save it, and use the old headliner for a pattern. I cut my new one from 1/4" ply and had a marine upholsterer glue a yacht fabric over it and back up it went. Before you take the old headliner down think through any...

Amberjack

Thanks guys this is helpful. If anyone has rented a specific place and liked it let me know. I''m working online and you know how that can go, especially with independent rentals. I'd like to avoid spending a week in a dump or next to a busy highway. But other than that shorts, flip flops and a cold...

Amberjack

heading to the keys for the winter in a few years. Winters in the Pacific Northwest get pretty gloomy and I'm thinking about loading up the #1 girlfriend (AKA my wife) for a drive down the west coast of Florida with the idea of winding up in the Keys for a week or two this February. I think many on...

Amberjack

Something that has worked well for me with seized bolts is to heat them, then spray with penetrating oil, let cool and repeat the process. In this space I would use a hairdryer or heat gun rather than a torch.

Amberjack

The Yanmar manual recommends propping to achieve between 50 and 100 rpm over maximum engine speed (3800 rpm) to prevent overloading the engines. Also operating "at maximum speed for 5% or less of engine hours (30 min every 10 hour and at cruising speed (2800 rpm) or less for less than 90% of operati...

Amberjack

I have been told most diesel engines fail from lack of use rather from hard use.

Amberjack

Max-I have Yanmar 6LP's also although Amberjack stays in the water year round. Here are some thoughts: 1. I also change my engine zincs yearly but my count is 6 per engine--2 r/w heat exchanger, 2 lube oil heat exchanger, 1 turbo, 1 fuel oil heat exchanger 2. The r/w impellers will last three years ...

Amberjack

Steve--Advice from my experienced Yanmar mechanic is to run the engines hard, up to 95% of WOT for half an hour on a regular basis to clean carbon from the turbocharger. I had been running my engines conservatively and developing a buildup which happens with these engines. If you can free up your tu...

Amberjack

Ditto the last posts. While still new to my repower set up I popped the engines out of gear at about 3000 rpm--thought I was reaching for the throttle. Panic call to the engine dealer who said not to worry about it, the ZF transmissions I have were built to take occasional abuse. That was 15 years a...

Amberjack

Peter-I have two original 1 3/8” stuffing boxes in good condition. You Are welcome to them if you want to pay FedEx packing and shopping from Seattle, plus a donation to the board. If interested I can send pictures.

Amberjack

Max-I’ve been doing the dipstick routine for 20 years and have the process down to one hour per engine including filter change. I use a hand pump system mounted on a 3 gallon container, just enough capacity per engine. Warm up the engines so the oil flows more easily. Also I think warm up may help t...

Amberjack

All good advice. Also, there is a lot of FREE stuff to do in the city. We wander the neighborhoods (flaneur) for days and never run out of things to see. Many people appreciate the Broadway shows, I've been to Manhattan for business and now pleasure for 30 years, have never been to a show and don't ...

Amberjack

As Mike points out USCG doesn't care how much water our boats draw. They are looking for the "gross tonnage", essentially the cargo or passenger carrying capacity which is how they base most of their regulations. I made the same mistake a couple years ago which is embarrassing since I have my-------...

Amberjack

Hmmm, I've been thinking from in the boat looking down. Never considered I could be in the water looking up (...and thinking "Wait a minute, I know that boat can hold 3 more people!". Boat capacity of course depends on conditions and intent--just getting people out of the water vs transporting them ...

Amberjack

These numbers are about in my range of thinking and it is good to have thought through the process before any situation.

Amberjack

Recent natural disasters got me thinking how my capacity to respond in an event. We don't see hurricanes this far north but if one of the Washington State Ferries went down with 2,000+ POB it would be a small boat rescue operation as was the Miracle on the Hudson. There isn't enough Coast Guard, Fir...

Amberjack

Also one needs to remember from the motor boxes, it's a good ways down. It becomes 2nd nature very quick.[/quote]

...until one day you forget. Several years ago my wife wound up with two badly smashed ribs when she fell between the engine boxes while getting the boat ready to dock.

Amberjack

Well, I'm at it again working on my Hynautics engine controls. The top of the black nylon bleed screw has shredded to the point I can't unscrew it to bleed that sender. In the past I've tried to carefully drill one out but wound up damaging the seat so the whole unit had to be replaced and they're e...

Amberjack

Hey Decent, what is your boat name and description? I'll keep an eye open although Amberjack will be pretty much nailed to the dock at Elliott Bay while we finish up the refit, then we head into BC for 6 weeks on July 10. Tony--I also get a lot of drawbridges when I listen to the VHF at home. Seattl...

Amberjack

Working on the boat last week I had the radio on bridge to bridge. Communication from harbor tug Angela Foss to a large container ship entering Seattle, Elliott Bay.

"Hello there big boy..."

Amberjack

The Yanmar 315's with the valve issue were built sometime around 2003-2004 and the color of the valve guides was an indicator if yours were built with the faulty parts. Yanmar published the serial numbers of those engines. Mine were built just afte and have been wonderful engines. Yanmars 315's were...

Amberjack

The 315 hp Yanmar 6LP's have timing belts which require periodic replacement but 1,000 hours is a heck of a lot of seasons for most of us.

Amberjack

The news last night showed a clip of a great white attacking the chum bag hanging from the starboard quarter of a Bertram, looked like a 28 or 31. Was it anyone from this forum?

Amberjack

Nigel-You will see raging arguments on this board on both sides of the Cummins vs Yanmar question. They are both good engines and are the two modern marine diesels best fitted to our Bertram 31's. I installed Yanmar 6LP-STP's in Amberjack in 2004 and they have been reliable and comfortable (quiet, n...

Amberjack

Ernie--The work is being done with the boat in the water so all things should be equal. BUT, I knew the cabin sole in the dinette area had sagged and when we removed the dinette table we could see it was more than incidental and the new teak and holly sole wouldn't lie flat without correcting the sa...

Amberjack

Yannis, mechanics say a lot of things. More to the point, has he said why the rust was an issue?

Amberjack

1700 hours is getting up there. If the previous user was overpropped, it could be an issue. If he babied them you should get another 2,000 hours. Is there anyway to find out what his actual vs mfr spec WOT was?

Amberjack

Tony--I've been putting off setting up an Imgur account and now its come back to bite me in the rear so I can't post images. We installed the seat cushions yesterday and they told us what the settee geometry should be so it looks like a simple matter of fitting and perhaps a shim. The large, taperin...

Amberjack

We are refreshing Amberjack's salon with fresh paint, teak and holly sole and new teak settee "end panels" (I'm not sure what to call these pieces). Everything moving along reasonably well until we tried to mount the new settee end panels. We used the old pieces for patterns and used the same thickn...

Amberjack

Keeping the iconic Bertram navigation lights and using the existing deck pipe is technically possible but you will give up much of the benefit of the windlass. You would have to lift the anchor over the side and feed out the chain before dropping the anchor line into the bow chock and letting the wi...

Amberjack

When I bought Amberjack 25 years ago it had two zinc collars on each shaft. Next year at haul out I just went ahead and replaced them with two more per shaft. In those days Amberjack was a "hot" boat and the zincs were obviously being worked hard. Since then I've pulled out 2-300 feet of unused, una...

Amberjack

Enough of this about speed! Amberjack moves at fast cruise all day long when we're traveling but I gotta tell you some of my best time on the boat has been when we throttle down to idle out in the middle of nowhere for lunch or for a second cup of coffee in the morning. There's a lot going on out th...

Amberjack

Yannis--The factory listed 31's at 10,300 lbs with gas power. Presumably that is right out the door with no fuel, or other added weight. I've never been able to get an accurate weight on mine as it is presently configured. The weight gauge on every comporter that has lifted Amberjack has been either...

Amberjack

smart people choose a trade or business that does not abuse there body unfortunately i choose an occupation that was detrimental to the back. Bob--Those of us who own them understand that Bertrams are fiendishly designed lower back torture devices. Anything that needs doing on Amberjack (except dri...

Amberjack

I understand the point...but whats funny is these boats came from the factory with 4-53's GM diesels at 130-140hp back in 60's. Then for more performance the V504 Cummins at 195hp were offered. Low hp, big, heavy iron... Now today we consider a light, 240 HP diesel as "slightly under powered".[/quot...

Amberjack

I reduced the props on Amberjack last year to reach a WOT of 3900 rpm so we're still dialing in the results but here from memory is what I recall from the speed chart I'm building: Yanmar 6LP-STP 850 hours 2500 rpm 22 knots slow cruise 3000 rpm 25 knots very comfortable fast cruise 3900 rpm WOT so f...

Amberjack

Sunpaccaeo- If you have your mind set on flow gauges go for it and enjoy them but you don't have to have them to understand your fuel burn. I don't have a flow meter and removed my fuel tank gauge years ago (fuel tank fill gauges can be inaccurate with bad consequences) but still have a very good id...

Amberjack

Yannis--The service bulletin I saw only mentioned the 6LP models. I don't know if 4LS models are built differently or if perhaps they are addressed in a separate service bulletin. Try doing an online search for Yanmar 4LS coolant to see what turns up. When I have the engines serviced this year I'll ...

Amberjack

John--Yanmar issued a service bulletin several years ago that was very emphatic about 6LP-STP (315 hp) engines. You can find it on the Mack Boring website if you Google Yanmar 6LP-STP coolant. Because of the dissimilar metals used in the cooling system you will experience galvanic corrosion unless t...

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