On Wed, 22 Apr 2015 10:50:28 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

wrote in message ...


Why use the speed impellers at all? As you say, you need to pull then
every time that you stop and plug the holes and what benefit are they,
actually. If you are like most cruisers you have the GPS on all the
time anyway. On a racing boat speed through the water is helpful in
sail trimming but on a cruiser it is a bit different. One often
selects a heading that is "more comfortable" rather then technically
the most effecient and on a trip where you are at the end of the day
is the important fact, not what your speed log read during the day.

I like to see what's going on with our STW, because it lets me know that I'm
either not doing as well or as badly as I think, relieving me of other
problems which might slow down the boat. It also gives me a clue of how
much sideways push I have in the event of a cross current. And, finally,
they came with the boat :{))

Yes, but :-)

From your description you seem to have an "all dancing, all singing",
nav system. Doesn't your GPS positioning system tell you all that?



Re leaking raw water pumps. They leak so frequently that one might
almost say that it is "normal". I replaced them on several boats with
a bronze centrifugal pump, driven off the front crankshaft pulley,
with what one might call "sparkling success" as I had no problems with
one for 10 years, or more :-)

I don't know what a centrifugal pump is, unless it's of the variety which
our FW pump is. Given that car water pumps routinely last hundreds of
thousands of miles, I'd love to see something of that nature. I assume we
do not for not having a means to stop water (without a valve) when the
engine's not turning. And, I don't know how effective they are at moving
water; the flexible impellers variety is pretty volumetric with rotation...

Still, it's intriguing.

A car water pump is a centrifugal pump :-)

What I used is similar to
http://www.acepumps.com/en/index.php...ducts/C6/Belt/
gives an indication of the installation.

But, it is not a simple "bolt on" modification as it requires a spare
sheave on a drive pulley somewhere and a mount which is attached to
the engine, and might well not "fit" some installations.

Another point is that a centrifugal pump is not self priming so the
pump must be below the source water level. However, for long term
service is certainly was more effective than the rubber impeller type
although the rubber impeller pump is self priming.

A solution I've seen that works with apparent success and completely
eliminates the raw water pump is the use of a keel cooler which, if I
were building a new boat I believe that I would look at very closely.

Most of us aren't financially able to build a new boat. However, my
experience with a refrigerator keel cooler was outstanding, the problem
which killed the system not being there (though it seems a predominance of
such failures - mine was among enough to be commonplace - involved
Frigoboats with keel coolers, and without the supplemental air), was
outstanding.

I've seen them used on fishing boats where the "cooler" was simply a
"loop" of galvanized iron pile extending along the bottom of the boat.
see: http://tinyurl.com/o8vkcuh

As is good practice, we have our VHF radio on, tuned to the emergency
channel. As we motor down the ICW (Intra-Coastal Waterway) toward Ft.
Pierce, we hear the usual chatter traffic, moving off to working channels.
Chillingly, however, we also hear an announcement from the USCG relating to
extraction of a sunken barge in the Ft. Pierce Inlet.

Isn't a rule that one is supposed to monitor channel 16? Or is that
only for "big Boats"? It is certainly used in international waters as
the calling and emergency channel and any time I've called another
vessel or shore station they were monitoring it and has answered.

In the US, 16 is the emergency channel, and in places not very crowded, the
hailing channel as well. Lots of high-traffic areas have a casual (not
rules or enforced) hailing channel, frequently 68.

The CG uses 22A as their announcement and non-emergency chat channel. We
were notified of it via a Securité call...

Different than the rest of the world :-) But then, your channel
markers are too, aren't they :-) I seem to remember the little "memory
jogger" "Red Right Returning" for the U.S. changed to "Red Right
Returning Wrong" once you left the U.S. :-)



L8R
--
Cheers,

Bruce