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Pete Fallon

My condolances to Elaine, Brett and the rest of his family. We lost one of the founding faithful today, I aways looked forward to his posts, enjoyed the hours sitting on the bench outside the big room at the flop house smoking cigarettes with him, enjoyed his passion for quality built boats, he woul...

Pete Fallon

Russ, She's beautiful. I like the lockable helm pod on the bridge and the pocket cabin entrance door, the livewell is fabulous, great job. She'll be splashing pretty soon, a question what are the 2 fittings on the transom near the underwater light for, deck & livewello drains drains? Another beautif...

Pete Fallon

JoeZ, When you replace the cables have the ends put on with a professional crimping tool or have the ends soldered on and heat shrink the cable ends. Make sure that the posts on the battery switches are cleaned good, I've seen too many new cables wasted because the battery switch is completely green...

Pete Fallon

Uncle Vic, It's gets easier to type with percocets, hell I take 3 a day and 2 oxycontin, the pain just gets dulled a little. As you once said this board is a bunch of highly opinionated guys that have there own opinions on just about everything. You have to stick around for a while, I need some expe...

Pete Fallon

Uncle Vic, Say it aint so, I'm going to miss your wit and humor on the board, your advise to the faithful was always right on. You have fought this demon for long enough, rest in peace and you and Snow will be together agian. Thanks for letting me be you friend, you will never be forgotten. Pete Fal...

Pete Fallon

I wonder who his dive buddy was Barney Frank or Mark Foley?

Pete Fallon

Scott, I found that Cooks Armor Coat has the best fade retention (10 years), when I was building boats that's the only gel coat that I would even consider, It's also the most expensive, about twice as much as everyone else on the market. A local rep for one of the composite/ resin companies should b...

Pete Fallon

Bruce, An alternative way of getting those batteries up to PA might be a boat hauling company or a car delivery trucker. Check with Barney at Skipper Shipper in Jensen Beach the office # 772-225-1279, he has brought different items North for me at reasonable prices (teak boards, fighting chairs etc....

Pete Fallon

John.
Nice job on the boat and a good full moon stripper, congrats on both.
Pete

Pete Fallon

Bill,
Check the transducer for barnicles over the temp sender dot on the flat surface, also check your ground wire connections, spray the plug connections at the back of the unit and look for a bent pin on the male end at depth display.
Pete

Pete Fallon

John,
The old style gauge was made by Rochester Guage in Dallas Texas, I had a brain fart last night, looked at the gauge display that I still had in the drawer on the boat today. Daniel M has the correct number for the spiral guage
Sorry for the mix up.
Pete

Pete Fallon

John, My anchoring skills? Latley my only skills seem to be going to orthopedic doctors offices. I have anchored from the cockpit and forward deck, I find it's easier from the cockpit. I use a 25' peice of line that is secured to the bow cleat, run through the chock down the side of the boat to a sm...

Pete Fallon

John, The old style mechancal guages were made by Dallas guages of Texas. They had a mangnetic guage that sat into the top of the guage . The old style had a cork that ran up and down on two bronze rods that screwed into the top of the tank. I don't know if they are still in business. Isapro (spelli...

Pete Fallon

John, Sorry to hear about Jose, he was a great guy, a great fisherman and wonderful ambassador for saltwater fishing. On the subject of knee replacement be careful, don't push yourself and do the PT. Take it from someone that knows, 16 surgeries and 3 replacements, all the replacemnts from 1999 to 2...

Pete Fallon

Peter, I have had good luck with removing the black spots with a mixture of Spic &Span and a stiff plastic bristle brush, make a paste let it sit the scrub and rinse. I have used it on teak, oak, mahogney and plywood with good results. If that doesn't work try soaking the area in some Vodaka for a d...

Pete Fallon

B ruce, Good to see you yesterday, nice little get together at Bill's boat. I used Surette Batteries for years in New England, The were made in Salem, Ma. I used their group 31 lead acid units which weighed about 75 pounds each. Old John Surette's grandson took over the business in the late 90's and...

Pete Fallon

Walter, The federal requirements for our boats are: White all around light(anchor) must be visible for 2 miles, side lights(bow) 1 mile, stern light must be visible for 2 miles. I replaced my sockets years ago they now take a 1157 bulb. I just went to the NAPA store and got replacement units both we...

Pete Fallon

Joe A, When we were installing the instruments in the LARC he took off and landed a couple of times with the 4 seater helio. He's a real nice guy, wears a fatigue jacket, chambry shirt and blue jeans. He looks like street person, he had a bushy beard, never know he had a buck, except for the helio. ...

Pete Fallon

Guy's, Brewster Minton is in the Stuart/Port St Luice area until Saturday morning. I met with him this afternoon at my boat in Indiantown. We are planning a small get together at Bill Machovinia's boat at Sunset Harbor Marina around 4:00-4:30 PM Friday afternoon. I've already talked to Bruce Creamer...

Pete Fallon

Sad day for a great fisherman, I knew him from tournements in south Florida back in the late 1980's. He was a true gentleman. RIP Jose.

Pete Fallon

Guy's, The boats name was Sandy Bird the incedent happened over the July 4 weekend in 2004, I surveyed that boat in August 2003, it had 240 Yanmars that were installed in June 2003 at Murrell's Marina in Lantana. The boat was driven onto the South jetty at Lake Worth Inlet at 20 knots, minor injurie...

Pete Fallon

Spencer, The surveys that I've done on the 31's with different power plants have varied between 5 and 8 knots depending on which power. Here are examples of some of my findings, all the boats were in different stages from total rebuilds to just engine swap outs. Speeds are in Knots. 1. 1961 Express ...

Pete Fallon

Bob,
I'll look into the Mako Surgical Corp, thanks.
Pete

Pete Fallon

Charlie J, It's a small world back in the late 80's I installed a bunch of electronics in Jeff Kamens LARC. VietNam era half boat half truck, like the Duck Tour boats. He had a island in Long Island Sound some where?, I had a standing invite and a fist full of his island money, never got to use it. ...

Pete Fallon

Joe A, Was your old express cruiser the old aqua color one that Jeff S had in Beverly back in the late 70's. I still miss the fishing on the bank, the curl and the shipping lanes, whale shows were increadible back then. I finally found out that the plastic insert in the fake knee is breaking down an...

Pete Fallon

Bruce, I agree with you on the drivers skill, it kind of looks like a typical day on I-95 anywhere south of PGA Blvd. I did some pit crew work, fire safety and truck driving back in the early 80's on the old IMSA series. I remember my driver's tire bill for the 24 hour of Daytona Race was $10,000. I...

Pete Fallon

CaptBone, Be carefull with epie if you have any type of allergies, I have a friend thats in the wood supply business, he can not cut epie without breaking out into hives and a nasty rash. Also make sure that you have plenty of sharp blades around when you start cutting, I've never seen a blade get s...

Pete Fallon

Walter,
Your rudders sound like the ones I posted about earlier, they have a forward edge about 3/4" to 1" thick and then a slight tapper aft, the larger rudders seem to be on the early 31's, they are made of cast bronze. Wursty, you will love the oversized rudders from Capt Pat.

Pete Fallon

To the faithful, A while ago there was a post about the difference in size on the 31 rudders. The 28' style was used quite a bit by the manufacturer, they are almost useless at low speed and with one engine forget about it. The 28 stlye were 12" long by 6" wide and had a 1-1/4" shaft, Patricks rudde...

Pete Fallon

Joe E, I can't understand why didn't you just buy a Skip Jack, I know the 31 Bertram rides great but it seems like a lot of work on your conversion. No resale value as a 31 Bertram FBC anymore. But to each its own, just seems like a waste of a perfectly good 31 FBC, I could see the conversion if the...

Pete Fallon

Walt, The material that you need is called bulb seal, it's now black in color and fits into the slot on the aluminum frame, 3/8" in size. I got mine at the local window doctor franchise in Stuart, Florida. The stuff is not cheap, it cost me over $ 160.00 for all 4 windows on my express cruiser, (two...

Pete Fallon

Spencer, Like Sim said if there is enough meat at the cutlass bearings and they look like they would hold up for the 1-1/2" shafts I'd use them, they aren't original that's for sure. Just make sure there are no cracks in the castings( sand they down to bare metal and use a magnifying glass look very...

Pete Fallon

The original struts do have six carraige bolt head bores and a tappered leading edge. I had my struts cast at Buck Algonquin when I re-did the bottom, both of the old struts were almost paper thin around the barrels were the cutless bearings had been. When I had the new ones made they made the barre...

Pete Fallon

Spencer,
When I looked at your boat awhile ago I remember the struts were not original, they were not from a 31 I made a mental note when I saw them.

Pete Fallon

Guy's, I used to fish along side one of the principals of the show, Billy Monty on the Bounty Hunter, he had a 28 Topaz back in the early 70's. He was a good fisherman back then, let's see what the TV producers did to his ego now. I wish Ed Murray was still alive to see this program, he and Frankie ...

Pete Fallon

Guy's, Those were the days when we were all young and didn't pay attention to the details, I watched all the shows and remember them filming off of Key Biscayne and the upper keys. He tied off the T-bird to a pedestal in the cockpit, and when he dove into the water to go over to meet Flipper the ves...

Pete Fallon

Brewster,
My cell is 561-310-7179, looking forward to seeing you, where are you staying when you get down here?. Pete

Pete Fallon

Conchy Joe, If your going to repower why not go with new at least 1-1/4" shafts. Due to the age of the boat, the condition of shafts(around shaft log tightening nuts, {major wear area } cutless bearing tubes both ends and thread and key way conditions). If it was my boat I would go with newer larger...

Pete Fallon

Brewster,
I'm in Stuart, moving alittle slow walking with a cane. Call me 561-310-7179
Pete Fallon

Pete Fallon

John,
Congratuations John, It's about time that a down to earth guy gets some reconition, you've quitely paid your dues over the years. Pete Fallon

Pete Fallon

Peter,
Drink holders are availble through Lewis Marine, they have a bunch of different styles, fold-up, gimbled, some made by Whitecap, some by AFI, also Pompanette makes a SS glass holder. Prices range from $15.00 to $40.00. Info came from Lewis Catalog 2010 edition page 310.

Pete Fallon

Harry B & Mike C, Thanks for the telephone calls and ideas on what to do about my situation, I really appreciate the help. I know we are small group but there is a lot of smart people and loads of compassion among the faithful. Thanks again for your support, like always there is a solution to the pr...

Pete Fallon

Mike, I agree with you about the poly failure, I've already done the blood tests in Chicago for metal allergy (it came back 4.8 just over the limit for colbat) Drs don't seem to feel that's out of line. There has never been any infection in all the samples of the synovial fluid they have tested(ever...

Pete Fallon

Guy's, To get away from my knee problems, I need to get some info from the faithful. I've got a composite sole in the cockpit 3 peices of 3/4" high density foam 80 pound density. It has 3 layers of 1708 on the bottom and 2 layers of 1708 on the top, with sprayed on white gel coat and a sand finish n...

Pete Fallon

DQ & Marlin, I've had 2 replacements and 6 arthroscopic surgeries at Holy Cross in Ft Lauderdale and 1 total and 6 arthroscipic surgeries at Mass General. 2 other surgeries at Salem Hospital. DQ my knee looks like I've been in a knife fight with a miget, I have been very lucky never had any infectio...

Pete Fallon

Bobx, I dodn't know what type of fish your targeting but if it's for gaint tuna or big marlin I would use some of the swivle style heavy duty striking gimbled rod holders Murray Products( Murray Bros) used to make them. Anything heavier than 50 pound gear should have the big Lee's units, heavier pin...

Pete Fallon

Bruce,Sim, Spenser, Bob and everyone else. Bruce, I will keep their number, my doctor is talking with the head guru's in Boston. Capt Pat, I think a brass inlay would look good, would like an all ivory peg like Ahab but ivory is hard to get, tree huggers have killed the ivory trade. Sim, I have been...

Pete Fallon

Guy's, Bruce,The poly part is curved to conform with the femur, but what I can remember the tibial surface is fairly flat.I don't think that the hydro style componant would bear all the weight, spinal ones have the entire body muscle mass to hold it in place, a knee joint doesn't have enough muscle ...

Pete Fallon

Harry & Bob, Thanks for the come back, Harry, your in the machine fabraction business, do you know anything about Ceramic coatings for metals, I now have a Cobalt-Chromium metal tibial and femarol parts in my knee with a polyethelene plastic peice as a cushion between the 2 peices of metal. I am thi...

Pete Fallon

BuzzK, My accountant and his wife live at Circle Bay and a real close friend and former neighbor from Salem, Ma lives at the Windjamer. I like Circle Bay better, plus they just dredged the channels and basin last month at Circle Bay. The basin is well protected from storms at both places. Circle Bay...

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Stuart get to together Friday around happy hour.

Rudder Sizes for a 31 Bertram

What brand of paint to use on the cock pit sole will last ?