Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

When I mounted my radar on the mizzen, I drilled through the mast step and fed the cable through it. It is a bit of a pain when I unstep, but it works nicely.

Looks like a Furuno cable.

It is pretty easy. Sand the offending area down with 320 grit. Then revarnish it with the rubbed effect/satin varnish. Your problem likely came from not adequately mixing the satin varnish before you used it. Rubbed effect/satin varnish has a flattening agent mixed into it. However, over time it ten...

This is the first year I have had the boat at home. I find myself resetting the jackstands every 2 weeks or so. In particular, since this has been a very rainy winter here on Mount Desert Island, ME, I find that I check and often reset the stands after every rain/freeze cycle. Am I over doing it? By...

I am sticking by my guns. THe Racor 500MA is marine UL rated and the 500FP is not. ABYC reccommendations on fuel systems call for all marine UL rated components. Yes I know that the ABYC reccommendations are just that. However, more and more insurance companies are demanding that the boats they insu...

I redid my fuel system a couple of years ago. I would suggest the following. 1. Get rid of the copper tubing and replace all the fuel lines with USCG approved A-1 fuel line. 2. Replace both the sediment bowl and the Perko spin-on filter with a Racor 500MA (note - the Racor 500FP that Tim suggests is...

I like Norton 3x 320 grit. It doesn't gum up much at all. It does cost about 25% more than the usual stuff, but since it lasts 3-4 times as long it is definitely worth it. If you are having a real problem with varnish gumming up your paper, you may be sanding too soon after coating. I like to allow ...

I replaced the halyards on my Allied 36 a couple of years ago. I too was going from wire halyards to rope halyards. I went with 3/8" StaSet X for all the halyards. I chose StaSet X over regular StaSet for two reasons. First StaSetX is a bit stronger and less stretchy than StaSet in the same dia...

As Tim says, having the wood horizontil makes it easier to avoid runs. However, I varnish my coamings with them on the boat (vertical) with no problems. Runs and sags are simply the product of poor brushing technique. Once you have done a bit of varnishing you won't have that problem any more. Incid...

I switched to a Raymarine ST-40 bi-data three years ago. It works very well and has not two, but 4 functions - speed, depth, water temp and log. It consumes very little power, which is nice. I think they sell for about $240 now including the transducers. For Tim - I have painted my speedo paddle whe...

This is my first post on the Plastic Classic forum. I am looking forward to tons of helpful suggestions. Last summer I noticed that the cabin sole stepped mizzen mast on my Allied Princess ketch was slowly sinking into the balsa cored cabin sole. That seems to me to be a sure sign that the basla und...