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  1. harringtondav

    Data keeps you from acting stupid.

    Yea, I know. Tomorrow.
  2. harringtondav

    Data keeps you from acting stupid.

    Earlier this year I bought a new water softener for our river house. 32000 grain, Fleck mechanical meter valve. I assumed (as in AssofYouandMe) that the well water was around 19 grain/gallon hardness. I couldn't get more than 600-700 gallons of water @ 10# of salt/regeneration before it was...
  3. harringtondav

    change steering shaft

    Yes. I was intimidated by the thought of an engine pull. But I had to do it to replace broken front mount studs. The worst was bolstering the garage trusses so I could hang a come along chain hoist. The actual pull/replace was easy. I used the set up to help my pal pull his 350 Mag to replace...
  4. harringtondav

    change steering shaft

    I think it's possible, but it would be the mother of all "build a ship in a bottle" exercises. Merc makes a kit to access the clamp nut and bolt on the steering/tiller arm. It comes with a drilling template, pipe tap and two large pipe plugs IIRC. The intent is to access this hardware through...
  5. harringtondav

    Old I/Os = Money Pits?

    Truth. I bought our second new I/O recently. I looked at O/B versions of each candidate, but I went with another I/O because of higher power availability, lower price and full swim platform access. A properly maintained and sanely operated I/O engine and drive will last a long time. ...longer...
  6. harringtondav

    Old I/Os = Money Pits?

    I agree with all above. I've been in I/Os since 1975, and they were all new. The first two were owned by my wife's family, and died, or are dying from neglect. ...to many users, not enough maintainers. I sold my first owned I/O after 25 yrs. I fussed over it like one of my children, so the...
  7. harringtondav

    Battery discharge. ...normal?

    I'm not discharging the battery intentionally, just trying to estimate the amount of the draw and sources of the excess load. That's why I'm using total capacity in that estimate. I'll have actual meter measurements in the spring by disconnecting devices. Assuming linear discharge rate my...
  8. harringtondav

    Is something wrong with the jack on my trailer?

    I wish I had your problem. I have to place a wood block or concrete paver under my trailer wheel to keep it from peening the asphalt or sinking into the gravel or sod. I orient the wheel for when the trailer sets into the tire chocks and moves a bit to keep it on the block. Dang thing has a mind...
  9. harringtondav

    Battery discharge. ...normal?

    Am I missing something when I say the battery has additional reserve below 10.5V? That remaining 10.5V is feeding the 'always on' circuits until it depletes to a dead battery.
  10. harringtondav

    Pre-mix ratio question

    I was queuing up the same reply. Run a vehicle's tank low. Bring the premix to the gas station and dump it into the tank. Top off from the pump. No one will notice except the old 2 stroke motorcycle owners, and they'll just get nostalgic.
  11. harringtondav

    Battery discharge. ...normal?

    Oops, my bad. Battery is a Continental Grp 21 1000 Marine/RV ....not 1000CCA. 800CCA, 140RC. The battery is dead w/in 14 days, well past 10.5 V. The VP instruments don't even wake up and beep. So using my logic of total amp capacity of 800/(14x24)=2.4A constant draw. Not as large as I'd...
  12. harringtondav

    Battery discharge. ...normal?

    No. Seems I'm down to the radio and bilge system.
  13. harringtondav

    Battery discharge. ...normal?

    Thanks. My sensor is a separate, small device wired to the pump. But .25A/day (10mA) is probably in the ball park. Per above I'm seeing 3A constant draw to drain a 1000A battery in 14 days. I'll measure actual draw from the radio and bilge sensor once the boat is out of storage.
  14. harringtondav

    Shimming Bearing Cover DP-SM / SX-M

    I converted from Merc Alpha II to VP SX-D recently. I haven't had the hood up yet, but have a good idea of VP's shimming/preload intent. I assume items #2 below are what you need to dial in to get correct preload/clearance between the upper shaft and cover. (?) ...guessing it is a slight...
  15. harringtondav

    Battery discharge. ...normal?

    I contacted Regal service. He didn't know the amount of standby voltage draw, but sent me a copy of a service bulletin about the Fusion radio malfunctioning during main power disconnect. He said this issue had been associated to excess voltage draw. Easy fix if I can get the dealer to do it...
  16. harringtondav

    Polishing or paint

    Apparently. I see several here are good at 1500 grit and go for the compounds. You get as much out of the process as you put into it. I always gave my boat an annual gel coat a spruce up. By looking down the finish at a very shallow angle I could see the difference between just polishing...
  17. harringtondav

    Polishing or paint

    Yes. Get a dual action/random orbit 6" sander. Use wet discs. You can find fine grit discs. For your boat I'd start at 1500 grit and work your way up about 300 grit/pass to around 2500. Finish hand sand with Meguiars Unigrit 3000 wet. Then put a foam polishing head on the sander and finish with...
  18. harringtondav

    Thoughts on Sierra carb rebuild kits

    ...afterthought once I slept on it. My 4.3LX carb was a Weber/Edelbrock 4BBL. Merc OEM wasn't OEM, but much pricier. I rebuilt my pal's 350 mag carb and mine with the same Sierra kit. Merc doesn't make seals and bearings either. They just put their label and price tag on them. Bearings are...
  19. harringtondav

    Thoughts on Sierra carb rebuild kits

    I like Sierra. ....sounds like heresy as a past Merc disciple. I've never had a problem with their Merc parts, including carb kits. I've used their Alpha II lower unit seal kits, shim kits, prop shaft pinion needle bearings and gimbal bearings (same Torrington and Link Belt parts). Also Sierra...
  20. harringtondav

    Removing caliper bolts

    It gets worse than that. Japanese bikes are build to JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). Metric is metric. But their Phillips head screws aren't Phillips. They're JIS. I learned this after gumming out some with a Phillips driver. After drilling these out I replaced the first bike's and current...
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