bertram31.com

Joef

Thanks guys. Engine blocks are sound. Less than 600 hrs. No blowby. Your recommendations is how this is likely to happen. Cleanup and replace the leaking seal, fix the gauges and go fishing. It is a cool boat. Almost everyone who walks by makes a compliment… he’s definitely not in this for “return o...

Joef

men - need some thoughts. My dad's B26 w straight inboards is finally in action - and at 85yrs old, im not sure what he loves more, the boat or all the attention he gets at his marina. Since dropping it in the water a few weeks ago, we've confirmed that the stbd transmission, which is a somewhat unc...

Joef

Men - some progress and now a new question. Ive removed the old distribution panel and built and installed a new one. Going to use the BEP cluster of switched w the built in combiners and parallel switch. Also added a "always on" circuit for the build pumps, 60 amp breaker for house loads to protect...

Joef

Good point. At this moment , it’s impossible to say who put those in there . It doesn’t appear on the Bertram diagram and it’s def not a crusader part. My research deemed that ABYC does not require the starting circuit to be fused. It’s the only circuit on a boat that doesn’t have that requirement. ...

Joef

Turns out we had the original Bertram manual- doesnt really show those big fuses. I’m sure someone did something at creative some point.

Joef

Sounds like the rudder system on my old North Coast. When the rudders are that far back you can get the props Back further and therefore lower shaft angle. I can tell you that on my boat it steered alike a big outboard… I could easily turn to port even when I had just the port engine in fwd. blackfi...

Joef

Now that i see my own photo it’s hard to believe that almost everything worked. We’re going to replace it all. This is a pretty simple boat. Two engines, three batteries. Three bilge pumps and some house loads that come off a small panel in the cuddy cabin. I found those BEP battery switch clusters ...

Joef

Will try to repost the photo

Joef

Thanks guys. Anything I do here will be an improvement. The cable sizes seemed a little small but I was comparing to my old boat w 3208 Cats. This boat has crusader 4.3 gas engines. The wire run is short. We re going to use group 34 agm batteries and they are located just behind the panel. You can s...

Joef

I’ve started the rebuild of the 12vdistribution system on my dad’s B26. I found two giant fuses in the wiring between the battery switches and the starters. I assume they are there to protect the starting wiring in case of a serious short somewhere in that wire. I think those can be replaced w a mod...

Joef

Thanks for all the thoughts. For this season we’re gonna get the other “basics” in order. We’ve redoing the 12v distribution system which has 40 yrs of molestation and corrosion on it- miraculously- even w all the butt connectors and green dust, almost everything worked. Some new modern electronics ...

Joef

Hey guys - anyone have or know of someone with 4LH 160/170hp engines in their B28 or b26? My dad purchased a b26 sport convertible (straight inboard) w 4.3 v6 crusaders. Engines are in decent shape but need cleaning , some Money and lots of love. In the hazy moments that sometimes happens when you s...

Joef

Thanks Tony. The boat(s) in that article look like the ones I saw. The one I saw in the advertisement was built later The ones from later - I think after 1986 or so had the rear cabin bulkhead moved back about 2 feet. Owner said the change allowed a much nicer cabin layout. But the engine boxes beca...

Joef

I’ve been searching for a diesel 33 sport fish. Saw 2 that were the older model where engine access was dreamy via that big engine boxes that covered the whole engine space. I was looking at one which is a few hundred miles from home and it was a nice newer version where the engine box is smaller. A...

Joef

anyone know of anyone who repoweedr a bubbled hull w higher hp engines? the boat I looked at had 260hp 3208s (they've been removed now). I don't know if any of those were shipped form Bertram w 300hp 3208s or if anyone repowered one w 375 3208s or cummins Bs. The Cummins B's would be the likely cand...

Joef

makes perfect sense guys. thanks

Joef

Hey guys. Ive been searching for b35s and have visited two of them out of the water. The first had a very normal looking bottom and running gear arrangement. The second had torpedo shaped bubbles molded into the bottom. They were not bolted, they were molded right into the hull. I’ve heard these wer...

Joef

How is the visibility from the lower station? I’ve looking at a few. All have a lower station... one guy removed the wheel but kept engine controls, one guy had a full helm... and I think I saw one picture from a broker that didn’t seem to have a lower station at all. Saw a cool one in Hilton head, ...

Joef

I have 320hp 3208ts in my 31 north coast. Exact same issue. Traced to a seal between a he injection pump and the lift pump... kinda expensive to repair but since then no issues at all. Cat mechanic seems to think it’s fairly common and didn’t have all that much trouble figuring it out

Joef

awesome - thanks Patrick!

Joe

Joef

Hey guys - dropped my boat off at Holtz last week. ...and wanted to shoot Tom an email. I got a "undeliverable" notice and i now vaguely recall that his email got hacked and he had to change it. Does anyone have his new one? The one i have is toakes@hotlzboatworks.com.

thanks
joe

Joef

UV -

you've said often that the B31 was the greatest boat ever built.

And i believe perhaps that you were the greatest Steward any of these boats has ever had.

Joe

Joef

Hey pete: We used to use heavy(ish) stuff like Penn 50TWs for offshore trolling and then inshore lighter stuff like the Penn 15KG (small lverdrag graphite reels). A few years ago i got a pair of those Penn 16 VSx reels. We loaded them with 80lb braid and i put 100 yards of topshot 60Lb mono. We've u...

Joef

UV, the tractor runs on six 6-volt golf cart batteries. The main tractor motor runs on 36 volts. The 3 motors on the deck are also 36V. There is a small motor that lifts the mowing deck up and down for going over curbs, tree stumps etc which is 24 volts (i think) and finally the headlights are 12V a...

Joef

oh yeah walt...going to sand/blast/grind/fair/prime until i get good clean smooth metal...or in areas where there is significant rust (but still useable steel), i'll OSPHO then go from there. This project must last me about 3-4 months...so i have some time here.

Joef

well men...as the end of fishing season sneaks up on me, i'm already makin plans to kill the winter. This winter i'm resotring a 1971 GE Elec-trac riding lwan mower. thing was ahead of its time with a 15hp equivalent electric main motor, a 3 gear transaxle and a 42" cutting deck push off the front a...

Joef

I was reading all these posts and wondered if people got together back int eh early 1900s and chatted about the pro's and con's of a horse vs car. I'll bet people were just as animated. ...why would anyone want a car anyway?...it gets tuck in the mud, where you gonna buy gas for it? you can only dri...

Joef

yeah...there is one near me in North Jersey...1964 aft cabin..the boat looks pretty beat - but the hull does seem to have the lines of a large 31.

Joef

Men - does anyone know about the hulls on those old cabin cruisers that bertram made back in the 60's and early 70s? The length/width appears to be the old "widebody" Hunt hulls...but i can[t tell. They all are ugly and way underpowered...but cheap. anyone know wht that hull shape looks like?

Joe

Joef

Walt...i dealt with the same crazy thing for about 3 seasons with my Cat 3208T engines ...though easier to restart after stalling out, it still was a major pain. While i did have other issues...i did find leaks in my racors. My solution was to replace them with those "double-double" fleetguard filte...

Joef

Bruce...i have 3208T in my 31 North Coast....320HP. They are bolted to a ZF 225A gear. I hnow there are loads of 220A around but had never heard of a 225 at the time i bought my boat. Guys at PanTropic Cat told me ZF made that 225 prior to the 220 and that the general dimensions and capabilites were...

Joef

one of Tony athens projects...

http://boatdiesel.com/Articles/Articles ... uction.cfm

Joef

SIM: I've been using the gore packing for 5 or 6 years inside standard Gracco stuffing boxes. Install is just like flax packing. Remove all the old stuff and put in new like normal, and be careful to not overtighten the nut...i'd say about "2-finger" tight is enough at first. the stuff is softer tha...

Joef

Pete - take a look around for used props. There are always some guys who have some that they would sell to you cheap. In terms of getting the right size, the key data requried is the appeture of the opening (the measurement from the center of the shaft to the closest point of the hull, the hp of the...

Joef

Pete - sounds like your running gear is generally beat up - so with all of the items that your surveyor suggested, you are probably best served by planning to pull all of the running gear off the boat for a major refurb. Start with your props. Sounds like the ones you have are beat up AND the wrong ...

Joef

Men - like most of you, i've read about the issues with these dis-similar metals...but... ...last year, i had and engine out of my boat for tranny repairs. While it was out i decided to relocate 2 seacocks that were located under the front of the engine and were hard to reach and would have been imp...

Joef

i was planningg to use the ebty clips...but IPE CLIP makes a similar item made of Stainless steel. I'll check the tigerclaw as well. Funny you mentioned 5200 - in my reseach, i saw several guys saying you should use polyurethan contruction adhesive...and i thought 5200 would be a great idea. The dec...

Joef

well men: thanks for all the input. I believe we are going to use IPE...and what all of you have said seems right...if you can live with the little bit of maintenance required, nothing looks as nice. ...and it can be restored and restored over and over iif needed. I found a local guy in NJ who is se...

Joef

well - the crappy offshore weather up here in the NE ( isay crappy only when i have time to go fishing) has meant that Mrs Fanelli has had her time to get on my neck about replacing the deck on the back of my house. We've gone around and around about what type of decking to use. She likes the "happy...

Joef

i have no answers to any of your questions except road height. As i work for a semi-trailer leasing business, i can tell you the max allowable height is 13' 6", unless you are in texas, california, new Mexxico arizona oregon or washington, in which case you have 14' as the max clearance. You can put...

Joef

Men - the othe day i was reading the manual on my hynautics system...which is aofcourse a little different that the SeaStar system. But, the hynautics system has a pressure relif valve in it that opens at 950PSI. (that valve sits under my fluid tank). So...i'm assuming that the components would have...

Joef

I have a pair of 320hp in my NorthCoast...if there is a leak in your oil-coolers, there will be signs of it in your expansion tank. If you just remove the cap on the top of the heatexchanger expansion cap and look in there, you;ll see oil in there if thats what's going on. As for "clogging", its not...

Joef

did some work on an engine 2 years ago...had the big 6" hose clamps hanging loose around the exhaust hose when i hooked up the batteries and turned the main engine battery switch to "ON", The clamp was laying accross the positve and negative studs on the starter...Some of the engine harness wires ca...

Joef

I have a 31 North-Coast...in the grand scheme of life and boat ownership, its roughly the same as a B31 in terms of maint. cost... - Winter storage(U won't have down south) $900 - Summer slip - 3500 - Spring prep (paint, zincs, engine "consumables" for Cat 3208T diesels - 650 - miscellaneous broken ...

Joef

Cecile - have you looked at Kobelt engine controls? They appear well made - same principle as the morse/teleflex, but perhaps better service. I live within 3 miles of Teleflex, in Limerick PA...i've heard their service leaves something to be desired...but if you think having someone show up at their...

Joef

...Me, and my whole crew love mine. I have a Scopinich chair with the ladder backrest. We replaced the ladder back with a rocket launcher. Now, we have an easy and safe place to put our rods when running out, or when clearing the cockpit to fight fish. We do mostly standup style fishing, we only onc...

Joef

Charlie - just called Ransome and asked them to take a look...off the top of his head, the guy i was speaking to said it was about 5hours of labor. I'll let you know what the quote is...i will not be replacing the pump...just too much $$. i'll let you know what they say with the quote. ...and tonigh...

Joef

Hey - for whatever its worth... i just stripped god knows how many coats of varnish off of my Scopinich fighting chair. I took the teak peices off the chair and coated them with a thick layer of that orange smelling stipper that you get at home depot...then i went to bed. When i woke up the next day...

Joef

charlie - about 1800 hours...not a lot for those motors. But i'm assuming the since the seal leaked while sitting over the winter (i know that fuel was not there last november when i winterized) that the seal issue has more to do with age. Will ask the guys at ransome - they straight with me (expens...

Joef

At the yacht yesterday - found a puddle of fuel in the v of the block of my port 3208T. Assuming this is from a leak in the thottle shaft seal on hte injection pump. ...i understand its not that big a deal to fix...but - since the pump is 20years old this year, am thinking of swapping whole pump out...

bertram31.com

Search found 104 matches

Re: Engine options to replace 4.3L V6

Engine options to replace 4.3L V6

Re: High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

Re: High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

Re: High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

Re: Stern hanging rudders on 28

Re: High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

Re: High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

Re: High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

High amp fuses on engine starting circuit

Re: Yanmar 4LH 160/170 in B26 or B28

Yanmar 4LH 160/170 in B26 or B28

Re: Engine maintenance/ access on later model B33 sportfish

Engine maintenance/ access on later model B33 sportfish

Re: B35 hull bubbles

Re: B35 hull bubbles

B35 hull bubbles

Lower station on B35

Re: 3208 Cat loses fuel prime over winter

Re: Tom Oaks email

Tom Oaks email

the greatest of all time

tractor paint

Ford vs the horse

old B38 "cruisers"

gears

You guys see this one?

Gore Packing

running gear

way off topic

i did the same...

Kobelt

another Vote in favor

seal.

stripper

cost of rebuilt injection pump - 3208T