Boat Forum / Building / July 2006

I just joined this group and have a dilema to present:
My boat has a large engine room and I want to add a genset to it.  BUT
it must be diesel as I dont want any gasoline aboard.  I can buy a new
marine diesel gen set with warer cooling for $7,000 or so.  I dont have

I am installing an isolation transformer and want to isolate the ground
from the shoreside supply.  The manual from Charles states that I need
a 2-pole GFCI circuit breaker.  I have not found any marine breakers
for 30 amp 120v that are also ground fault.  Anyone have any

I have noticed that real numbers concerning electric outboards seem to
be few and far between. Therefore, I thought some of you might be
interested in some results I obtained the other day with mine.
I used two Excide 6 volt golf cart batteries in series. Open circuit

Hi.  I remember seeing a picture of the SO-DO-IT, 14' enclosed ocean
racer a while ago.  I believe this was designed at least in part by Jim
Betts.  I've been looking for this picture because, believe it or not,
I really liked the paint scheme.  I'm building a small cockleshell and

First thanks in advance to all posters!
I just bought a 1986 21 foot sea ray cuddy with markings on the side of
the boat 210 CSL and Sun Runner (think it is a sea ray, maybe not),
chevy/merc stern drive 260hp.  No manuals or boat info, very clean and

For my current project - a Stevenson's Weekender - I'm very close to being
able to put on the sides.  To avoid crawling around inside the boat coating
and painting, I'm wondering about doing that before I put the sides on.
I'll mask off where the glue joints will be during a trial ...

I just picked up a roll of Nautolex headliner on ebay and am trying to
figure out the best way to install it.  It needs some sort of backing to
keep it from sagging so my first thought was 1/8" masonite but masonite
doesn't resist moisture very well.  Okoume is to expensive.  Any ...

I'v been to look at my uncle's boat a De Ruyter 35' steel  motor boat
based on the Thames, I'm a trades man and he want me to fix his teak
deck, some plank have become loose and warped from there fixing, It
seem the the planks are 6mm thick (with a very thin pelet covering the

After trying to tell Mercury about their engine and not being successful I
tried to e-mail them and unless I make up some appropriate info they won't
respond.
The fact is the serial number doesn't match their criteria. stamped in the

I would like to get some opinions on whether I should remove partially
cured epoxy in one large area of my deck.
Due to my failure to follow instruction in mixing epoxy and failure to
do a test batch before using a new type of hardener, I had not

I would be very interested in knowing people's experience with commercial
watermakers.   What do people like and dislike about these?  What are their
characteristics, such as Reliability, energy per given volume of water
produced. Maintenance issues, s ize, noise, price, etc

I am looking at obtaining an older 20' fibreglass Crestliner boat with
a Johnson 140 on it. It is out of the water on a trailer and where the
keel sits on the front roller it has damaged the fibreglass leaving an
indentation. I have looked at it and found water drops in that

having to re-paint the deck of my 33 years old 33' steel boat, I have
a question to the DIY-and specially paint-gurus here. The old, well,
it's been three years since I built it from  ground up, paint is still
good, but the anti-slip additive (by International) I stirred into it

I'am building a little daysailer (Pirat) , and I want to build a mast
for it.
I do not know anything about boats, an building techniques, but build a
"puer" wood mast is out. Is any problem with a plywood epoxy mast?. I

Corrugated cardboard, die-cut and numbered, forms the frame of a
fibreglass dinghy mold. To it you fasten a wooden breast hook, transom,
seat, gussets, and gunwales. Pull the cotton-jersey "sock" over this and
harden it with resin. Two layers of fibreglass and resin go on, then a