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Paul
I assume that putting the sail on a furler implies that the luff is attached to something and doesn’t fly free. My old boat had something similar. The sail was a compromise because it was smaller than a spinnaker and wasn’t cut full enough. I later purchased a light air 180% gennoa and found that more useful.
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Rich Carter
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Tor
I weekend cruise and vacation on the boat.The sail bag is pretty large. It can be stowed in one of the cockpit lockers, but its a challenge to get it in there. In truth, the sail isn’t big, its bulky. If it were compressed into a smaller bag, I think the package could be much smaller. This would only make sense for extended periods of storage, but most long-distance cruisers that I know spend long periods of time at each destination.
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Rich Carter
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I use my asymmetrical spinnaker frequently (aka cruising chute). When not in use, I normally keep it in its bag up on the forward deck.
The 424 isn’t particularly fast when sailing downwind in light air. To be fair, most boats find downwind sailing in light conditions a challenge, but the 424 with its short rig seems to struggle more than most boats. A cruising chute isn’t a perfect answer, but it helps a lot. It works well with the apparent wind between 60deg and 120 deg. It can’t be flown in with the wind between about 120 degrees and 175 degrees unless the main is dropped. This sounds like a severe limitation, but the relative wind moves forward as boat speed increases. The boat will run directly downwind, but its a challenge for the helmsman to keep the sail from collapsing. It takes a minimum of two persons to sail the boat with a cruising chute, one in the cockpit and one on the foredeck. The same two persons can drop the sail if used with a sock. To fly the sail comfortably, you need a crew of four. One at the wheel, two at the winches, and one on the foredeck.
In light air, the sail adds about a knot downwind; more on a beam reach. As the apparent wind moves forward of the beam, the sail can overpower the boat.
I find the sail very useful and it adds a touch of class to the boat. If your cruising grounds include areas that have light wind and you have sufficient crew, I recommend the sail.
Photo attached
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Rich Carter
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Lee
The same thing happened to mine. I replaced the bolt with a threaded stud. There were enough threads left in the bottom of the hole to catch a few threads. I set it in Marine Tex anyway. In fact, I chipped out all the rust and coated the whole inside with marine tex. The old v-drive was replaced 3 years ago.Take a close look around the dip-stick hole. Mine started leaking through there and got water into the cases.
Rich
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When I change my oil on my 4jh3-te, I use one of those electric drill pumps. I clamp the hose on the end of the dipstick tube and pump the oil out. As long as the oil is warm and I get a tight seal, I can drain at least 4 quarts. I’m pretty sure the tube goes all the way down to the bottom of the crankcase. Be careful using a drill pump. If something slips loose, the oil will go everywhere.
Here’s a tip. When checking your oil, put the dipstick in the tube slowly to allow air to escape. Otherwise it will read low oil when in fact your engine is full.
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Rich Carter
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The bulkhead behind the toilet in my head is wallpapered with a vinyl fabric. To my knowledge, Pearson did the same thing with all the boats. If yours looks white, someone may have painted over the wallpaper.
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Rich Carter
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My guess is that the wire from the alternator is used to activate the alarm only when the engine is running. I’d have to see which wire is involved. I use a wire from the tach output to close a relay that supplies power to stuff that should only be on when the engine is running. This could include an alarm, but I don’t have it wired this way. The relay is required because the tach output is only about 6V; is a half-wave rectified signal.
You don’t want to use the tach output to enable your engine alarm if you use a muti-stage regulator with a delayed turn on. In this case, the alarm would only get enabled after the regulator time-out. This is typically a minute or two, more than long enough to cause problems with your engine should the oil pressure be low.
My W60 came with a stock engine alarm. Power to the alarm was gated through a pressure switch on the fuel pump. The alarm would get energized once the fuel pressure built up. This was typically well before the oil pressure built up, so the alarm would sound for a few seconds when the engine was cranked. Guests would frequently step out from their respective corners of the cockpit at the sound and start swinging at each other. I’d have to shut down and restart the engine to get them back in their corners. This drove me nuts, so I replaced it.
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Rich Carter
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John
I send my alternator out to the shop every two or three years to have them service it. They inspect and test it. I don’t remember what it costs, but its cheaper and easier to take care of it than to wait for it to fail. I recommend this as your first line of defense.I recommend a backup anyway. The choice regarding what type of alternator to keep as a backup depends on where you expect to be when it finally fails. If you expect to be weeks from replacement parts and service, then I suggest having an exact replacement including regulator. If you’ll probably be within a couple of days for sending it out to a shop and getting it repaired, then you just need something to work for a few days. A small alternator with internal regulator that has the same mounting hardware would be suggested in the second case.
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Rich Carter
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Cada
I’d be interested in PDFs. I have no need for hard copies. As I said earlier, I’d be happy to chip in to have them scanned. Paypal is pretty easy if you accept it.—
Rich Carter
BlackSheep #47
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Cada
I’d be happy to chip in to have the files converted.Rich
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West Marine sells the Balmar equivalent for $899.
Rich
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Bob
Its pretty straightforward to disconnect the internal regulator and hook up an external unit. If you send me the make and model numbers I’ll try and get more information for you. In theory, you can run both alternators off the same regulator if they are connected to the same bank of batteries. IMHO, this isn’t the best approach however. Your regulator would have to supply enough drive current to run two alternators. I would suggest using the smaller alternator to charge just the starter battery, leaving that battery basically disconnected from your house batteries. In this case, since the battery will never get discharged, a very small alternator with internal regulator could maintain it.The second alternator could charge the house bank. I’m guessing that the 85A Delco you have isn’t a heavy-duty alternator. I would suggest replacing it with a heavy duty unit. The general thread that we’ve been creating should have enough information to follow. Feel free to ask if you have more questions.
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Rich Carter
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Bob
The Pearson 424 website is full of information specific to the 424. You’ll
have to navigate your way through the website. There’s a lot of information
on sites that are linked too.
https://www.pearson424.org/The 422 is the same hull, but a different layout. Much of what we discuss
applies to the 422, machinery, sails, handling, restoration, repowering,
rigging, anchoring, etc. I know that some 422 owners subscribe to our
mailing list. For that matter, there’s a lot of stuff that applies to
cruising sailboats in general.Regards
Rich
BlackSheep #47
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Bob
That’s probably a good rule. From my experience and research, there isn’t a hard limit. Large alternators will eat your belts. Its a matter of how frequent you are willing to replace them. I’ve got twin 1/2″ belts and they still wear. Belts come in various designs with different quality materials. You can either get a belt that wears better but might snap or one that wears more quickly but is less prone to breaking. I recommend the Dayco Top-Cog V-belt. I’ve had no belt failures since switching to that brand.—
Rich Carter
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Tor
You are right about matching the alternator, but some assembly is required. I brought my old W60 alternator into a local shop that specializes in alternator rebuilds. The guy was able to match the footprint to a commercial alternator that is used on industrial engines. I paid about $250 for the alternator. (I bring it back to him for inspection every other year) The unit puts out about 160A, depending on load, engine speed, and how hot the alternator is. There’s no way that a single belt would drive this alternator. It would eat the belts, so don’t be tempted to go too large. I think that a 120A might be pushing the limits of a single belt. The problem is that when the regulator goes to the 14.2v charge state with a weak bettery bank, it puts a shock load on the belts. I’ve had the pair of them break at this point before. Read my notes on belts.My batteries can’t usually absorb 160A, but the extra capacity gives me a system that puts out serious power at a fast idle, about 80A at 1000 RPM. As I said, some assembly is required. As I remember, I had to drill out the mounting holes to make it fit, but that was the westerbeke engine. I bought a powerline regulator at that time, about 12 years ago. As I said in my last posting, they have a complete kit that includes the regulator, alternator, and harness that fits the Yanmar engine for between $700 and $800. That’s about 1/3 the cost that Balmar charges. I suggest taking a close look at the Powerline package. No modification should be needed. Even if you match the alternator at a local shop, you’ll have to buy a regulator. Their regulator is a good value at only $265. After your engine starts, it waits 90 seconds before turning on your alternator. This lets your oil pressure build. Then it cycles your alternator to 12.7V, 13.3V, 14.2V steps 20 seconds apart. I wish it ramped the setpoint rather than do it in steps, but I think they all behave this way.
Yanmar doesn’t use the tach output from the alternator. As I said earlier, you can use this to drive a 6v relay. Once the engine gets up to speed, the relay will close. This gives you a way to switch stuff on after the engine has started. This is a good way to drive a solenoid switch to connect your starter battery to the alternator. During the start cycle, the circuit is open. This means that a low house battery won’t interfere with your startiing process. I use the relay to switch in my refrigeration compressor. That way the compressor doesn’t load the engine during the start cycle. I don’t need the solenoid switch since I have dual alternators.
Regards
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