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Mickey
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Posts posted by Mickey
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We are trying to get ideas on how to mount the hose for our washdown system. We really like the way it is mounted on the 23 seacraft tournament. Here is a link to a pic of it:
http://media.trackermarinegroup.com/seacra...4_FO_09_700.jpg
Does anyone know what the little black piece on the right is, and where it can be purchased? Also for anyone that has been on this boat, what is on the other end of the pipe that the hose sits on that keeps it from falling? I know I have seen this black plastic piece before, but for the life of me I can not remember what its used for. Thank You!!
That's a bimini deck hinge and a bimini eye end (external). You can find them at your neighborhood marine store.
Taylor Marine makes good quality stuff like this in composite (plastic) or metal (aluminum/stainless).
Here's their catalog: http://www.taylormadeproducts.com/catalog/
Mickey
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Can't use a normal wet cell on a sailboat, since the boat heeling may cause acid to spill. A normal battery box is not spillproof enough to endure a knockdown. Some kind of sealed cell battery is essential. I am open to other possibilities than AGM (and they are expensive) but if I can't safely hold it upside-down and shake it I can't use it in this application.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.
I owned a J-24 for 10 years with a lead acid battery in a battery box and never had a problem with a leak, even with the rail buried pointed upwind in a race. The sealed lead $100 batteries don't leak unless they're overcharged or discharge at a rate that causes pressure inside the battery.
I'm sure that, in the weather that I have found myself in my powerboat, I have shaken my batteries very hard with no leaks. They're strapped down in a plastic tray with no apparent leakage. Power or sail, active motoring activity shakes batteries and puts them into unusual attitudes.
Enjoy whatever you purchase. $100 buys a lot of beer or a few nice bottles of wine...
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Thanks. Interstate sells the Optima series in stores only, according to their website, but there are a few dealers near me. I'll call around.
AGM is more than twice the price of a standard deep discharge battery.
Make sure you need the power - do you discharge your standard battery during normal use?
Otherwise, save your $$$ and buy a standard, good quality deep discharge battery. It will last nearly as long with proper maintenance. Look for them on sale at your local BassPro for $90 or so.
Mickey
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OK, back to the "making oil" issue: Leak down results were well within specifications, injectors pressure test perfectly, pvc valves, and thermostats check out. Service center is at a loss and has sent oil samples out for evaluation and is contacting Yamaha for their insight.
If you find out that it is all oil, let us know - we have an answer to the energy crisis!
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Maybe a one-day delay is needed before the official answers are posted?
I'm going to try to make the questions as tough to google or wiki as possible.
Two minutes! Some folks have too much time on their hands...
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When I got the boat home, I had the dealer change the oil and filter. The oil level did not change for 70 hours. I changed the oil again this spring and only filled the oil to within 1/2" of full. After about 10 hours of use, there was no change in the oil level.
Make sure you're measuring the oil with the engine in the same state each time - I'd suggest vertical for 30 minutes after shutdown - not tilted.
I have F225s and have never seen this problem. Adulterated oil could be a lubrication issue - if, for example, you have a water jacket leak and seawater is raising the level or gasoline could cause a oil film breakdown on a friction surface, like, say, a main bearing.
I'd do this:
Drain the oil into a non-opaque container - if you can find something glass that will hold 6.x quarts, more the better. Replace the oil filter and cut the old one open (yes, it is a mess) and look in the pleats for anything that doesn't look like filter or oil. Dispose of the mess responsibly, please!
Allow it to sit 24 hours. Look for separation at the bottom or at the top. Bottom, likely water, top, likely gas.
Whether or not you see anything, mix it thoroughly and send a sample out for analysis. It may be the best $30 you'll spend.
It is not normal for oil levels to go up, only down. Engines don't "make oil" and if your oil volume increases it is coming from somewhere.
Note - I am not a Yamaha mechanic, there may be a better explanation, but as an owner with 400+ hours on a pair and 30+ years boating, this would be a serious concern to me.
Mickey
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If his dad wasn't famous, this wouldn't be newsworthy.
Imagine living in the shadow, trying to live up to expectations when your father is the only person in history to have founded three different Fortune 500 companies.
I've met this fellow - he was stone sober and a likable guy. I didn't know who he was and he introduced himself by first name. But, by nature, substance abusers are social people.
I've done some stupid things, but have never been stupid enough to actually get caught at any of them.
You've got to have some compassion for someone who has the spotlight on him all the time.
This is a psychological and medical problem. Lock him up, maybe, but in a place that will actually put him through a good program.
Mickey
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What do you do???
My behavior has improved. A few episodes of "crap, somethings broken!" then looking back to see the ladder in the water works wonders to remind you to look next time.
Please, no more signs. Maybe you can use the "transom door must be closed when operating engines sign" as a substitute.
Hypnosis might help.
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"Notice that the Pentagon bans fuel and oil additives for US Military engines...
If one of those proprietary additives could give a tank or a hummer even a few % increase in service life, the Pentagon would absolutely require its use.. They ban additives instead... Draw your own conclusions..."
denny-o
The gov't over builds many of the machines used for war.. I can see them having a much better engine made out stronger components ad designed for some lack of maintenance. Another problem could be just what you said "additives could give a tank or a hummer " an M-1 Abrams tank has a jet engine, not your average V-8... Just a thought..I am no chemist, in fact, Organic chemistry SUCKED in college..
Hey,
The government doesn't really build anything. They hire the least cost contractor that has the ability to perform. The Honeywell AGT1500 engine that powers the Abrams tank weighs about 5x as much as a comparable shaft horsepower aircraft engine. It weighs 2,500 pounds and develops 1,500 shp.
It will also run on almost any combustible fuel - jet, kerosene, gasoline, diesel - found in the course of battle. It would probably run on a steady diet of fuel additive, in a pinch.
In elementary school, sometime in the '60s, I read that by 1980, all of us would be riding around in vehicles with shaft turbine engines that would go 200mph.
If we didn't realize that fuel was an exhaustable (ahem) resource, we'd probably all be doing that, getting 3mpg.
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...being in the fuel and lube business for many years.. I do not use this stuff. However i have and do use major oil and engine manufactures products if needed. This is true for all my cars,boats etc.
I have a friend in California who is a PhD chemist for a major oil company. He says that Techron is a patented formula that is recognized as the best in the industry and that Chevron has a major field testing effort to randomly test field outlets to make sure their products are genuine.
He cited BP as one a purchaser of Techron and that it ends up in some formulation in some or all of BP's fuel.
I can see where emulsifiers would help with alcohol seperation and perhaps with the resulting water absobtion. I know from my rudimentary (major university) chemistry classes that alcohol absorbs water and can see where that would be a problem.
Many years ago, I burned some Marvel Mystery Oil in a gas chromatograph and the phosphorous line was off the charts. I like it because it smells great. Something that smells that good can't be bad for your engine.
A few years back, it was all the rage to put PTFE (Teflon) in your crankcase. I guess that craze has died out.
As with many technical products, fuel additives seem to be about 90% marketing and 10% substance. Maybe I'll go get a couple of chemical drums and mix up some of Mickey's Magical Motor Lotion. With a full page ad in one of the boating magazines and a contract with West Marine, it's a sure thing!
Watch for the mushroom cloud!
Mickey
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I had not noticed the add until you said something, I know it was there but that is all. I guess it does not bother me.
We live Not So Far Away from you, north of the boat ramp on 13th Street.
Many of our neighbors are gone, as will I be soon. It's the Muggy Season... 90+ degrees F and 90+ humidity most days. Time to go on a vacation somewhere cooler, somewhere with no humidity.
I'm going to Northern California. My 78 year old mother has never been, so she's meeting me to attend her younger brother's 70th birthday party, as a surprise. A couple of days with Mom and Uncle, and it's off to our tour of wine country and north.
Lazy is the watchword this time of year in South Florida. The ocean is lazy, flat and hot unless there's a tropical wave or worse. I'm lazy, too, don't even want to think about getting the dive gear together to find a couple of lobsters... just sitting around, reading reelboating, frittering the time away inside, in the air conditioned space of the house.
Stay cool.
Mickey
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Additives are snake oil... If there was an actual advantage to a given additive that you named, then at least one major brand of gas would be licensing the stuff and adding it to their fuel and trumpeting the advantage to the high heavens..
The major brands do have proprietary additive packages (think TECHRON, etc.) of detergents and the like... So, for what it is worth if you are worried about your engine falling into a heap of rubble because you forgot to add that miracle stuff to your last fill up, then buy the major brands with their proprietary package and consider it good...
> snip <
Great response. This corresponds to what I've read over the years.
Here's a great article on gasoline formulation:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/
From someone who actually makes a living from fuel additives, posted at http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Miscellaneous/FuelAdditives.htm:
Which Fuel Additives Are Recommended?
[Merritt Wikle, Auto Enthusiast & Chevron Lubricants Employee - 2000/10/20] The formulations of all manufacturers aftermarket products is very proprietary. So it is unlikely anyone knows Chevron or BG's formulations. Chevron sometimes tests/analyzes selected products a part of competitive analysis. I do know BG44K is a fine product. Further, Techron Concentrate is not just "4% active ingredient", with "filler" for the balance. [bTW filler in gas additives is typically some type of solvent.]
The active ingredient in Techron Concentrate is engineered and manufactured by Chevron. Though we do contract the actual bottling of the "juice" to others; it is Chevron that originally invented, made, and patented PEA (polyetheramine) fuel additive technology in the 80's.
In short, Techron Concentrate is the "original", and still unbeatable fuel system treatment.
In fact, the automakers use Chevron gasoline with Techron for EPA testing, even though we do not market gasolines in the Midwest (they haul from Louisville KY).
While I cannot comment on any specific Chevron Chemical customers I might know of (I'm not in Chevron Chemical group), Chevron Oronite Chemical Division sells very good PEA fuel system additives (not Techron Concentrate, though) to many well-known customers both as aftermarket chemicals, and for use in bulk gasolines. Typically these customers package and market these chemicals, or use them in bulk gasoline.
[\quote]
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May I ask...
Is there a specific technical reason you're using Startron? What is the goal of this treatment?
Is it something you use a lot or is this a One Time Thing?
What other products have you tried or considered?
I'm not a market researcher, just curious as to how these products get adopted. As was posted earlier, most of these products have been renounced as "snake oil" particularly in the aviation and performance car communities.
But this seems like an enzyme activated biocide. Do you have critters living in your fuel?
Mickey
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No, we're not going to spill Texaco products all over a plastic sheet and have a party, but I'd really like to know if ANYONE has ANY scientific, empirically derived data about any of the fuel additives, like, for example:
Yamalube Ring Free
StaBil
Sea Foam (?)
Marvel Mystery Oil
Techron
Valvetec
They all seem to be some sort of solvent from the look and smell. Does anyone know:
Basic chemical premise of value? For example, "raises combustion chamber temperature by providing more volatile combustion products" or "detergent package so aggressive and caustic that the EPA won't let us put it in at the pump", "smells like Grandpa's haircut" or "vegan mineral oil product - you can drink it and it's Kosher for Passover"
(Warning - do not drink any of these substances. ^ That is an attempt at humor.)
You get the idea.
Ingredients: Maybe ether, urea, alcohol, etc. Be specific if you know! Guess if you don't!
Evaluations: (A million mechanics worked on a million motors, half of them used Marvel Mystery Oil and one of them wrote the Star Spangled Banner!) You know, quantitative stuff.
What's in gasoline by brand?
We know that all gasoline has additives. What you may not know is that, in some cases, many brands of gasoline are made in exactly the same refinery and an "additive package" of detergents, stabilizers, and yes, ethanol, are added later.
What's in YOUR gas? Why do people prefer one brand over another? Why is it necessary for us all to become "gas tank chemists" when there are very smart petroleum engineers doing all this work for us?
What do you have to say?
(Waiting for the first story like "my mechanic said that he'd never seen a cleaner engine than when he took mine apart." That doesn't count if your engine was BROKEN! A clean broken engine is still broken!)
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Your never going to get to an average of 35.5 mpg on all gas engines.You will see alot more hybrid and battery powered cars by 2016.There is also alot of work on hydrogen fuel cells but that will be beyound 2016 unless alot of investment dollars are directed that way.
Honda is test marketing a fuel cell car in Southern California. The company that makes the fuel cell (http://www.plugpower.com/) also makes a hydrogen generator that works by converting natural gas to hydrogen. This is used as a fuel source for the car, so you'd buy one of these things, hook it up at home and fuel it from your natural gas delivery through a pipe to your home.
Fuel cell technology has been around for 30+ years and is relatively mature. Hydrogen is combined with oxygen from the air to produce energy and water, pollution free, with almost no moving parts - just some valves and gauges.
Natural gas is plentiful - with fuel efficient cars, there is enough to power the entire fleet of US autos for 100 years.
And likely a lot of boats.
Why are we STILL using piston engines based on 100 year old technology? Embarassing...
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Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Big Al
same as it ever was
My God, what have I done?
Automatic Bilge Pump Wiring
in Boating and Fishing Discussion
Posted · Edited by Mickey
There is no "always on both batteries" lug on a manual switch. There are, however, two "always hot" terminals - one where each battery is connected.
If you're going to put it on a switch, pick a battery and attach it to that bolt with a nicely crimped ring over the bolt behind a washer. I'd install a breaker appropriate to the pump as close as possible to the switch.
One night in the water could sink it - be safe!