[RichCarter]

I’d really like to replace my four gate stanchions with something more robust, something with two legs rather than a leg and a piece of rod screwed to the deck. Garhauer makes a gate stanchion and if there is enough interest would probably be willing to make them with the same mounting pattern and angle as the gate original. My boat is in storage. It would be difficult for me to pull a stanchion off my deck. Does anyone have one we could use to send in as a template?

To work with the existing lower-lifeline, the gate post must have ring welded to let the lower lifeline pass through instead of putting it on the support leg.

If I order replacements, I’m planning to have them made just a bit taller so the top lifeline is higher. My winch-handle currently snags the top lifeline. An inch higher would fix this.

https://www.garhauerstore.com/stanchions-accessories/stanchion-gates/stanchion-gate-with-welded-base-st-36.html

Rich

[RichCarter]

If you have a 6-gal water heater and want to raise the water temp from 60degF to 105degF, you’ll consume about 480WH. At 12.0V, that’s 40AH. Assuming a 1500W heating element, an inverter capable of producing 1500W, and a 90% efficiency, it would take about 20 minutes. Your batteries should be able to handle the load if you don’t otherwise have them heavily loaded. I’d be careful of overloading your inverter. Read your manual.

I have a 15gal water heater. I’d need 100AH, which is a lot of power. My battery bank is 440AH. By practice, I don’t discharge my batteries below 50%. This would consume half my daily budget. I put a Honda inverter-generator onboard. I use it to make hot-water when needed. I start it up and leave the boat for an hour.

Rich

[RichCarter]

David

Your thermostat is probably set to open at 195 deg.  Running a bit higher than that is expected.  Your engine should be running around 220 deg under load. 

 

Rich

 

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[RichCarter]

Ryan,

I use ¾â€ line for twin pennants.  The thimbles for larger diameter line are too big to handle.  I use 5/8” top-chain through the mooring ball.  On the top of the ball I put a swivel.  The pennants attach to the swivel with a shackle.  To fit two 1” thimbles in a single shackle would require a huge shackle.  I think ¾â€ pennants with proper chafe gear is strong enough.  I use fire hose cut to the proper size for chafe gear.

 

One pennant is about 12’ long, the other is about 14’ long.  They are different lengths to assure that one pennant takes the load even when the boat swings in the wind.  Having them the same length causes the load to alternately transfer from one pennant to the other as the boat swings.  This causes the fair-lead to saw through the chafe gear and cut the line.  It also causes the line core to heat up and melt.

 

Rich

 

 

[RichCarter]

Ben,

If you decide to replace the V-drive, consider changing the gear ratio so that you can better use the power your engine puts out.  I think I sent you a link to my repower notes.  I have the same engine.   Changing to a 2.5:1 gear ratio seems just about right for the Yanmar 4JH3-TE.  If I had it to do over again, I might go with just a bit more pitch on my prop but I’m happy with what I have.

 

Rich

 

 

 

 

 

[RichCarter]

I have a few projects that are documented on the pages below including a lot of info about repowering.

http://richardcarter.net/Projects.html

Rich

[RichCarter]

I have received no spam that I can trace back to the 424 mail list.  I recently had an issue with a virus on my machine that caused me to go down a rabbit-hole.  I’m very careful when browsing but still somehow got one.  I updated my virus protection and ran into a compatibility problem with acrobat reader that caused my machine to run slowly and crash regularly.  After weeks of trying different virus protection packages I finally tossed Acrobat Reader and installed a substitute.  All is well now.  I guess the moral here is that no matter how knowledgeable and careful we are, we can get a virus.  If any one of us gets a virus it is possible for our email contacts to be stolen and distributed.  Since several of us have reported no spam issues, I doubt the 424 mailing list is the culprit.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

Adam,

It’s a Leyland engine.  I don’t remember the model number. 

 

One would think if they can find the gasket, they can cross-reference it to the block it came from.  Try a different auto parts store.  There’s nothing special about a thermostat housing.  If the fasteners are in the right place the thing should fit.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

Adam,

As I recall, when I had a W60, I was able to find replacement thermostat gaskets at the local auto parts store.  This implies that there must be a popular car out there with a thermostat housing that is close to what you need.  If you can’t find a replacement, you might bring what you have to a good auto parts dealer and ask him if he can help.

 

Rich

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Adam

[RichCarter]

As I recall, the RV-20 was a bit noisy.  The RV-26 I have now is not as noisy.  I took great care to align the thing when I repowered so perhaps that’s why it seems quieter.  There are differences in the two models so maybe the larger V-drive just runs quieter.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

Bill,

I took careful notes when I repowered.  Please read this.

 

http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/

 

it’s probably best to have a stiff drink when you read the end of the last page.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

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One more thing…

If you do replace the V-drive, this is the time to consider the gear ratio change.  You should have a discussion with the prop manufacturer.  Have your engine specs and current gear reduction in hand.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

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The crusty crud inside the cooling jacket is rust.  It may not look like rust, but that’s what it is.  The thing corrodes from the inside, thinning the wall of the cooling jacket until it rusts through, allowing water to seep into the gear case.  The oil will turn a chocolate color when this happens.  You can’t rebuild an RV-20.  Spare cases are no longer available.  If you ignore the problem it will eventually seize up.

 

When this happened to mine many years ago, I cleaned and epoxied the cooling jacket using Marine Tex.  It was a lot of work to clean the inside, taking about 8 hours of chipping and grinding to clean it down to bare metal.  It can be done but it’s not easy work.  The lid is probably rusted too.  You can replace that however.  Pay special attention to the area around the dip-stick.  The wall is thinnest there.

 

Replacing the V-drive is not trivial.  The RV-26 is not quite a drop-in replacement and it’s an expensive retrofit.  Read my notes.

http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/Vdrive.html

 

Some owners have bypassed the cooling jacket.  I suppose this might work if you don’t run the thing hard.  I can say that even with cooling my RV26 runs warm when cruising.  If you bypass the cooling jacket, I recommend putting a high-temperature alarm on the thing.  This could just be an automotive thermostatic switch that is used for hot engine alarms.  Hook this into your main engine alarm; cheap insurance.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

To add to my previous post…

 

50 HP is probably adequate.  You should be able to punch through headseas and headwinds.  The original W60 that came with my boat was actually 50HP and did well.  Under normal circumstances, I would expect you to be powering at about 6.3 kts upwind.  Performance might be a little less with poor conditions, perhaps a bit under 6 kts.  You should check your propeller and gear ratios as I suggested.

 

So why go with a bigger engine than 50HP?  The larger engine lets you throttle back to a more comfortable engine speed when cruising, making 7 kts at a comfortable throttle setting instead of 6.  The cost of the engine is perhaps less than half the cost of a full repower so adding a couple of grand to the total cost isn’t that significant.  There are more expensive things to consider.

 

Rich

 

[RichCarter]

Ben,

The 424 came with a shaft-brake.  A previous owner must have removed it.  These brakes are no longer in production.  I don’t know what options are available for retrofitting a brake.  If you repower with a folding or feathering prop, a brake may not be necessary.

 

I have the same engine.  If you haven’t read my notes, please read this.  You should check that the gear ratios are correct for this installation.  To do this right, you need to change the gear ratio to about 2.5:1 so that you don’t cavitate at high power settings.  This either means using a different transmission than the original velvet drive (1:1 gear ratio) or a different V-drive (2:1 gear ratio).  You should reach a full cruising speed of about 7kts at 2700 RPM.  The engine redlines at about 3800 RPM with a max speed of about 7.8 kts.  If the gear ratios are incorrect, you’ll reach cruising speed at about 2200 RPM and may not be able to run the engine much faster.  This is bad for the engine.   You can check the gear ratio by turning the drive shaft one turn and observing how many turns the prop shaft turns.

 

http://www.richardcarter.net/repower/

 

Rich

 

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