Water Lilly Archive.

A forum for discussing boat or trailer repairs or modifications that you have made or are considering.
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Russ
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Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Russ »

Some discussion about M25 battery here
viewtopic.php?t=19831
--Russ
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Bilgemaster
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Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: Woodbridge, Virginia--"Breakin' Wind" 2001 26X, Honda BF50A 50hp engine

Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Bilgemaster »

Not that it has any bearing whatsoever on your Mac 25, but my 2001 26X holds an ancient Exide Nautilus Dual Purpose NC-24 in a suitable Wallyworld black plastic Group 24 marine battery box in the compartment under the single seat aft of the galley. The battery measures 10 1/4" long x 6 13/16" wide x 9 7/16" high. It shares the compartment with a 2nd slightly taller but not as long Group 34M Diehard Platinum.

Thing is, that Exide is nearly as old as the boat, but simply WILL NOT DIE. I got it along with a little electric Minkota trawler motor and some other fishing and boating-related gear and LOTS of tools from an old buddy moving into a new house who had no interest in all that "junk" left by the previous owner. I just shoved the Exide in there "temporarily" to replace another Diehard 34M that was crapping out. But it's still there years later.

I throw a load tester on them now and then, but while the remaining DieHard looks like it's also now nearly ready for that Big Recycler in the Sky and that sweet sweet $20 core charge refund, the Exide's always tip-top. I am led to understand that a lot of folks have had issues with Exide products, but I ain't one of them. Then again, I do keep the boat on a nice 50 watt solar charger with controller when not in use, but still...

Attached below is a shot of "The Eternal Battery". Please remove your hats and bow...


Image
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

When I worked for Schucks (CSK Automotive) before they got bought out by O’Reilly’s we sold the Exide Nautilus battery. It was by far the best marine battery I have ever sold. I had a customer leave one behind all sorts of pi$$ when I would not warranty his perfectly good battery when it would not start his truck. I tried to tell him that first off this is a marine deep cycle battery and it is not designed to start an engine… even though it can, and that if the engine won’t crank it’s most likely a bad starter or something else wrong… not the battery. He went back and forth with me, while I was trying to help, telling me that is I was such a good mechanic why was I working at a parts store and not in a shop. Well I have my reasons, and I am still a damn good mechanic. He got pi$$ and left, leaving the battery. This was 1999. We kept it in the store for over a month thinking this guy would come back for it… nope… so I took it home. I used it for anything I needed a 12v supply for and it served me until about 2018 when it would only last about an hour with a less than 1 amp draw. Damn good battery!
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

So I got Lilly’s decals the other day, and I put the name and home port on today! I still need to polish where the registration numbers are going to go before putting them on.

Image


In other news, I got the bird’s nest out of my mast… all of it! I can see completely through the mast now. I also treated my mast to a scotch bright and simple green bath. The moss and oxidize is gone, and the mast looks great. My mast raising kit arrived today as well. So this weekend if I get some time, I’m gonna install the needed equipment on the boat, and rig the gun pole. I’m kinda excited. I still need to get the engine on a stand and drop the lower end so I can replace the water pump and then rebuild the carb. After that I should be ready for the water!

Ok more here soon.
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

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Jimmyt
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Jimmyt »

That looks great!
Jimmyt
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2013 26M, Etec 60, roller Genoa, roller main
Cruising Waters: Mobile Bay, Western Shore, Fowl River
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

Jimmyt wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 8:06 pm That looks great!
Thank you!

OK so when I was cleaning the moss and crud off my mast tonight, I noticed that my anchor light was not happy. I also noticed that the light kinda floated there on the mast with some silicone kinda holding it up/on. It had the 3 screws but in reality only one was doing the holding. I got to thinking that this needed a mount to make life happy. So I got on TinkerCad and made a 3D model of a mount based on some basic measurements I took before coming in for the night, and right now it's on my printer being created. I will let you know how the prototype turns out.

This also got me to thinking about my lighting situation on the inside. I got some new 6" Aqualitz LED light strips to go in the boat. One for the V, 2 for the Salon, one for the Head, and 2 more for the aft quarter, one for each side. I was just going to have these on a master switch under the galley seat like the factory unit was, but then I got to thinking that this would be a good thing to have on individual switches. It's easy enough to do, and with the 3D printer I should be able to make some light switch brackets to hold everything nice and pretty like. I bought the printer to make things for my model railroad, and I have yet to print one railroad item, but I have made a ton of Neko's and owls, and even a cute little fox. With my Resin printer I have made Grogu and 2 Akira class starships.

Well I'm off for tonight, see ya all in the morning.
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Remember freedom is never free.
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Russ
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Russ »

The boat lettering looks fantastic! It must be exciting to get close to launch.

I'm envious of you guys with 3D printers. I may have to ask Santa for one this year.

I'm not familiar with Aqualitz LED light strips. They looks pricey so I'm hoping they are good quality. Spec say .48 amps which seem high for 18" of strips. I've got some cheap Amazon/China LEDs throughout. They come on a spool and the first thing the package says is DO NOT run them while on the spool. Why? I thought. Plugged them in anyway and they get HOT.

These LED strips have tiny resistors on each LED that produce a lot of heat. And heat is also wasted ENERGY.

My assumption was LED must sip power. Well, compared to incandescent they ARE much better, but at full power they burn a lot of amps.

My solution was to dim them. Dimming them caused a significant amperage drop while still providing ample lighting on the boat.

Here's a video I made showing the difference dimming makes on my LED strips.



Mine are also multicolor so I have an RF remote that will work anywhere on the boat, can dim and change color to mood. Change to RED to preserve night vision etc.



There are single color dimmers that work well also. I use several of these around the house for tray lighting, under-counter etc.


I have them wired into "Cabin Lights" panel switch and the LED strips on a separate toggle switch to the dimmer. I love LED strips and use them all over the place. But controlling them is important.
--Russ
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

So the first prototype failed. It was all my fault for not realizing just what my arc was for the mast. I used a half round shape and stretched it out to 76.2mm which is only half the dimension I needed. So on the new file I made a cylinder that was 76.2mm (to simulate the mast) and created the part on top of that. It is on my printer right now, and if it works I will post some pics of it.
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Remember freedom is never free.
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

Russ wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 6:17 am The boat lettering looks fantastic! It must be exciting to get close to launch.

I'm envious of you guys with 3D printers. I may have to ask Santa for one this year.

I'm not familiar with Aqualitz LED light strips. They looks pricey so I'm hoping they are good quality. Spec say .48 amps which seem high for 18" of strips. I've got some cheap Amazon/China LEDs throughout. They come on a spool and the first thing the package says is DO NOT run them while on the spool. Why? I thought. Plugged them in anyway and they get HOT.

I have a Curality Ender 3 V2 that's making these parts. I also have a resin printer that is for making highly detailed objects which are far more delicate than the PLA printer but far more detailed. The Ender 3 is very reasonably priced, I got mine off Amazon for less than $300 and it has been really fun to use.

The lights I found on West Marine clearance for a pretty good price. They are $49 per each on the normal but I got these for $24. I would not have purchased them at full price.
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Remember freedom is never free.
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

SUCCESS! So the prototype print #2 worked perfectly. The next one I print will be solid and much stronger than this one is. To save materials I printed this one hollow.

Here is the piece in the raw.

Image

Image


Here is how it fits to the mast.
Image

Image
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Remember freedom is never free.
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Jimmyt
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Jimmyt »

Light base design is very nice.
Jimmyt
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2013 26M, Etec 60, roller Genoa, roller main
Cruising Waters: Mobile Bay, Western Shore, Fowl River
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NiceAft
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by NiceAft »

Eagerly waiting to see photos of Water Lilly under sail.

This is like waiting for a baby to be born. The members of this board are the eager grandparents. :D
Ray ~~_/)~~
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

NiceAft wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 6:14 am Eagerly waiting to see photos of Water Lilly under sail.

This is like waiting for a baby to be born. The members of this board are the eager grandparents. :D
As am I. And I’m getting closer to that every day. I got a new electrical fitting for the deck and mast, I will be installing that here soon.

So last night I installed the bale and side support lines on the mast to go with the mast raising system. I also built the gin pole, I even made a plastic cap for the top of it just to clean up its looks a bit.

Today I tried the Meguires #67 gel coat polish on the bow where the new registration numbers go. Just a simple green bath and a few minutes on the polisher with a wool pad and I got beautiful blue back. This was so much easier than the West Marine oxidization remover, about 1/4 the amount of work and 200% better results. Below is a couple pics I took after just a quick run over with the buffer. Oh and the starboard side is far more oxidized than the port side, and it took about the same amount of work to clean up.


Port side.
Image

Image

Image

Starboard Side
Image
Last edited by Massey on Sat Jun 19, 2021 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Remember freedom is never free.
User avatar
Russ
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Posts: 7543
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:01 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Bozeman, Montana "Luna Azul" 2008 M 70hp Suzi

Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Russ »

That blue looks amazing. Looks brand spanking new.

I recently spent a rainy afternoon watching Drakes boat detailing channel on youtube. It's great to learn from people who do this for a living. For years I used boat cleaner wax or carnauba wax. Apparently I've been doing it wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUgcx ... NyptBaoDhg

One takeaway was to use this polymer sealant. It's expensive, but I'm hoping for better results. This product sheets water rather than bead it up. According to drake, that helps prevent water spots from minerals/salt in the water on the hull. So far, this seems to be working well as my blue hull is still shiny and spot free.

https://drakesmarinedetailsupply.com/pr ... er-sealant
--Russ
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Massey
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Re: Water Lilly Revival

Post by Massey »

Moss moss and more moss. That’s been my bane today. I have spent the last 3 hours scrubbing the cockpit… just the cockpit and it is finally clean. I started with water and simple green, and that got the loose stuff just fine, but it didn’t even dent the major stuff. For that I used a tire brush and simple green right out of the bottle. It looks like that’s going to be the main deck scrubbing method as well. At least the weather is beautiful!

Well getting back to it.
A Veteran, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Remember freedom is never free.
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