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It sounds like the throttle cable was recently replaced. This is common with a new cable. Get a cable clamp and put it around the cable near the engine, not a hose clamp. Tighten it to firm but not too tight. Adjust until it feels right.
Eduardo,
My boat has an aluminum collar where the main mast passes through the deck. That rod goes through the collar. I assume you have the same fitting, yes? The rod has a nut and washer where it attaches to the collar.The rod is a source of leaks as is the whole collar. Water that gets in there, and it doesn’t take much, has a clear path to the plywood core around the mast and from there to the balsa core. I recently bought an inexpensive moisture meter (Ryobi E49MM01) and ran it across my deck. The meter indicated moisture around the mast collar for a distance of as much as three feet. I have no sign of deck delamination. I’ve since removed the collar, cleaned and painted it, and put it back. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to stop it from leaking. The aluminum corrodes and loosens the caulking bond and there is quite a side-load on the thing under sail. When I painted it, I used aluminum primer this time as the first coat.
As for the moisture, I removed the headliner and drilled a pattern of holes on the underside of the deck. I’m hoping that this will allow the balsa to dry.I had two original aluminum tanks that I tried to recertify after the valve type changed many years ago. I was unable to find valves that fit the 6lb tank at the time. I bought replacement tanks ($$). I tried again last summer to get them serviced, bringing them in along with a few 20 lb tanks used for my grill. My gas company serviced the 20 lb tanks, though for what it cost to reinspect, I could have almost bought new tanks. Once again, they couldn’t find valves for the 6 lb tanks so I discarded them.
I converted my boat gas grill to use the onboard gas, installing pipes, hoses, and valves to do the conversion. No more green bottles but I’ll be going through more 6 lb tanks. I wish I had a spare to swap out. I looked on Amazon for a spare 6 lb bottle and found replacement valves a few weeks ago. I was kicking myself for tossing the old ones. You can’t keep everything. There just isn’t room for all this junk. Hope the info saves you a couple of bucks.Replacement valves are available on Amazon. Worthington 6lb 1410-0006 Vertical Aluminum Propane Tank Valve DOT 240 LPG OPD
My tanks are aluminum. They don’t rust, thought they are subject to the same inspection laws. Are you sure yours are standard 6lb aluminum tanks?If you want to fix the light, take an old fuse holder, the glass tube barrel fuse type, and pull out the wire from one end. There will be a brass terminal that should be suitable to replace the missing part of your light.
I changed mine to an LED strip too. The bullet type light was not effective and a PIA. You can get LED lights on Amazon for a few bucks. Beware, some of them are very bright. You want one that’s designed for interior use, not an exterior flood light. Something like this should work. As I recall, mine was crewed into the underside of the deck. Be careful not to drill too deep or put a screw in that’s too long.
Oh, I forgot about those reading lights. I removed mine from the nav station years ago. It’s not bright enough and uses a lot of power. I replaced the bulbs over the aft bunk with LEDs but kept the fixtures. The bulb bases tend to stick in the socket. A bit of oil on the bulb base can fix that but if you still have those high intensity bulbs, oil will cause the glass to crack.
Many LED bulbs won’t fit in that socket because the base is recessed. You have to try a few. If the on-off switch doesn’t work, try squirting a bit of PB blaster into the switch. That kills the corrosion and lubricates the switch.Pearson built the 424s with inexpensive plastic lights. If you have a brass fixture in your nav station, it’s likely something added after purchase. What’s wrong with the fixture? It can likely be repaired. A photo would help.
The RV20 doesn’t have an oil pump or oil hoses. It uses splash lubrication like a lawnmower engine. The only hoses on it are seawater cooling. The cooling jacket is known to corrode over time, filling the cooling jacket with rust. Eventually, it reduces flow through the jacket and causes the engine to overheat. Replacement cases are no longer available. Some owners have bypassed the cooling jacket and let the V-drive run without cooling. They report success in this configuration but I can’t vouch for it. Walter recommends opening the cooling jacket and scraping out the rust every few years. If you do this, you risk punching a hole through the jacket into the gearbox, allowing seawater to contaminate the oil reservoir. This will eventually happen anyway. You should check the oil by pulling the dip-stick to verify the oil level and observe the oil color. If it looks like chocolate milk, water has gotten in there and it must be resolved. More info is available here on the website. I recommend that you get a copy of the V-drive manual and read it.
One thing to be aware of is the bedding of the aluminum mast collar to the deck. The mast pushes against this thing on each tack and tends to tear any bedding you put there. If the bedding fails, water will leak under the collar and into the mast hole. From there, its a free ride through the plywood core and into your balsa deck. Even if you seal around the mast and keep water from leaking there, water can still get in there under the fitting. The only way to prevent this is to periodically pull the collar, clean it, and rebed it. If you never pull your mast, you’ll find it very difficult to do this.
While I’m at it, attached is a copy of the original owner’s manual for anyone who doesn’t have one. The book came with a plain blue front and back cover in heavy paper. The first page was a double-sided color photo, attached. Following pages were printed on one side. The book was bound in as a spiral notebook.
Attachments:
ownersManual.pdf
Attached, please find the manual for the original alarm system installed by the factory for my 424. The bell was mounted in the port lazarette on the forward bulkhead.
Attachments:
aqualarm.pdf
I have an original Grunert engine-driven refrigeration system on my boat. I suspect it was a factory option offered by Pearson. It’s been a service headache since I bought the boat many years ago. I had to learn to service it myself. The original York compressor was unreliable. I installed a Sanden car air conditioner compressor. It’s been much more reliable. I’ve replaced everything except the holding plates over the years. including a replacement water pump where I used a seawater washdown pump instead of hunting for an original replacement. The washdown pump is way too big for what the reefer needs but it works. It consumes a lot of power, approx 15A, but I don’t really care since the engine is running anyway.
It works very well. If I come aboard after a few days and start the system to cool the fridge, I have cold beer in about 30 minutes. It takes about 90 minutes of engine time each day to keep the fridge cold. I usually run about half in the morning and half in the evening. Since I’m not running a 12V electric refrigeration system, my batteries never get run down.
I’ve thought of replacing it with a large 12v system but what I have works and it would be a lot of work to convert, including upgrades to the ice-box insulation. If I kept my boat in a slip with shore power, this would not make sense.
If you have questions about the system I can probably answer them.
