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  1. harringtondav

    Troubleshooting a nonfunctional speedo

    I rigged up this thing years ago to help unplug trash from my drive's speedo pickup. If a drill didn't fix it I'd hook up this and without fail it would blow out the clog. I'm showing my boat for sale. I claim everything works great....almost. Speedp stopped working, The drill came out clean...
  2. harringtondav

    Best R Value Batt Insulation for 4" Stud Wall?

    I'm furring out our river house's basement concrete block walls with 2x4 studs. Goal is to make this a year round house in cold winter Iowa. I put up 1/4" R1 fanfold behind the stud panels. What is the best R value batt insulation to stuff in the stud spaces? I know I could triple up three...
  3. harringtondav

    Alternative to angle grinders?

    I have a Porter Cable RO sander/polisher that works great. I use their dust hood which attaches to a vacuum to control dust which seems to collect at least 90% of the dust. Only downsides are you have to handle the dust collection hose, and you're limited to w/in 1/4" of corners.
  4. harringtondav

    Dream Boat

    A new boat has shown up in our pool. Local dockside chat has it as a 40+ ft Formula.bowrider with plenty of space below deck. Four 300 hp BRP 'Rudes. Rumor puts it at $1.1M Rumor is you can get it with four 400 hp Mercs, if 1200 hp isn't enough. I made a search of Formula's web site and could...
  5. harringtondav

    Don't procrastinate fixing "small" problems

    ...a stitch in time saves nine. My boating pal has been putting off replacing a bad old style shift cut out switch in his 350 Mag Merc for years. I've repeatedly reminded him that this will eventually bite him in the form of a damaged lower shift cable. He checked the price of the replacement...
  6. harringtondav

    Inboard cruiser propulsion question

    Help me settle a disagreement with my pal who owns a Bluewater Coastal Cruiser. Twin Cruisers 350 with Borg Warner Velvet Drives. I say the prop thrust is transferred to the aft bronze shaft struts just in front of the props. He says the thrust is on the drive shafts and is taken by the...
  7. harringtondav

    Weekend drinking game: Name that boat...by ear.

    Retired, so we mostly spend our river house weekends on the deck 30' above the crowded fray. Mon-Fri water is nice. So I listen to approaching boats on our slough, and try to guess what is coming. Drink when correct, or wait until the next boat. -PWCs. Easy. -Flat bottom O/B. Easy. Slap...
  8. harringtondav

    Do current SX drives have a lube monitor, or is it a dipstick?

    I'm looking at the VP 240 G5 SX for my next boat. GM 4.3 V6, direct injection, partially closed cooling, cone clutches get my vote. But I can't find any info about a drive lube monitor system. Does it have one, or is it the 'ol dipstick?
  9. harringtondav

    Need ignition/switch wiring diagram

    I'm at our river place w/o my manual. Pretty sure my ignition/key switch failed. Several members have replied with a pic of the switch and ignition wiring diagram before. I can trace through with my meter, but a diagram would save me time. ...a reply with a diagram would be greatly...
  10. harringtondav

    Oops. Dang, forgot a part

    ....I'm golden. Now I have to figure out what to do with the sleeve. ...planning to sell/trade this boat before next season, and before I split the drive again. Couple friends/acquaintances are sniffing. If they buy, I'll hang on to the sleeve. Trade or other sale....it's pitched.
  11. harringtondav

    Trying a new method to pull my marine rail boat lift for the winter.

    I've been using a homemade pontoon winch to lift the end of my rail lift up to get the last 40' out of the water in winter. This has worked, but is a PITA. Someone has to swim to the pontoon winch and drop the lift, disconnect the cable from the winch and tie it to a retrieval line for fall...
  12. harringtondav

    Postmortmen. Starter direct short?

    This is "what happened" question. My pal's 1988 twin Cruisers port engine and starting battery had a complete, smoky cook down. B+ and B- cables at the battery and engine were fried at the terminals. He had new cables made up, checked the starter which was bad. New cables and starter and all is...
  13. harringtondav

    Welding Aluminum

    I'm no pro welder like Rick Stephens , but once I get things dialed in I do a decent job. I only weld aluminum once every year or two, so dialing in takes some time, and almost always a burnt back contact tip and a birds nest in the spool gun wire drive. Yesterday I did my dial in tip burn...
  14. harringtondav

    USCGC Wyaconda (WLR-75403) Port of Dubuque IA Ice Harbor

    Maintains upper Mississippi channel markers and day marks from Clinton IA north. ...thinking this a cush assignment. I rarely see it out of the harbor. For years there was a water slide and gas grill on the aft deck. ....guessing the brass had them removed for better PR image. Generally the...
  15. harringtondav

    A garage can never be too large

    Winter '18 ice came out in high water and bent my alum marine rail boat lift. Finally getting around to making the repairs. Drill and tap four holes. 1/2 hr of work. Move cars and stuff around to access the drill press, 1/2 hr. 24'x24' garage holds two vehicles and a lot of stuff....if you are...
  16. harringtondav

    '82 Merc 4 hp "Gnat". Our first motor

    Model 40 twin cyl 'cheapo' motor as described by some. Clutch is a square wire Chinese finger trap self tightening coiled spring connecting the FWD gear hub to the prop shaft. Neutral lever drove a shaft down to catch a tab on the spring to open it up. Reverse was swinging the motor aft...
  17. harringtondav

    Oops. Dang, forgot a part

    Buttoned up the upper and lower halves of my drive today after some Spring maintenance on the upper. Cleaned up the water tube and pump coupler. But didn't see this sitting on the bench until I was ready to hang the drive on the boat. Well, I think I'm OK. This tube is basically a reassembly...
  18. harringtondav

    ...just when you thought that new bilge pump was big enough....

    I'm guessing this captain is heading for the nearest dry dock, unloading terminal or sand bar. BTW, I've been trying to post this pic for a week or so. Hopefully happy days are here again.
  19. harringtondav

    Unable to upload pics to a post

    The JPGs I try to attach are well w/in size limits, but I get the tilt message "php error exe disabled" Is this an issue for others?
  20. harringtondav

    Glassing in new motor mounts?

    I had to pull my 4.3 to replace a frozen front mount, and to repair a twisted off lag on each side. Several methods for grubbing out the twisted off stumps. But I excavated the mount surface down 1/4" finished including a layer of glass. I fabed 1/4" aluminum plates so I could bridge over the...
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