Just a short comment here. Judy and I always answered the question, "What is that sail" with this answer: "Secret Sail." And if you try to set and retrieve this sail without a Sock, you are in for a

Ian, The two blocks I was referring to for the Ballooner are forward just behind the deck lockers - actually they are the foreguy blocks for the poles, not the ballooner sheet, sorry if my wording

James, Interesting.... I have never seen or heard of a dacron mizzen staysail--on an Amel or any other ketch. It seems to me like it would be an odd beast. I would think if the wind was far enough

Craig Thanks for quick reply. The boat already had two pretty substantial blocks permanently attached in front of the rear cleats. I assumed these had been for the Ballooner (but as you said you only

I don't think that's necessary, Danny. Actually, the composite collar is what overhangs the fitting. If I can get the fitting and collar out, I can just reinstall, properly this time. I think I'll

HI, As I have recently discovered, Amel used several different motors which had different brushes. The only sure way to get the correct replacement is to copy the numbers off the plate on the motor

Per James' question, on my Santorin the bow thruster motor is a Leroy Somers Type TF15. The name plate shows: - PkW 6.3, which I take to mean kiloWatts (don't know P in french, but likely Puissance

Ian, We use a small block with about a 1M long pennant fastened to the aft mooring cleat. It gives a very good run inside the life rails and under the mizzen boom with no interference and presents an

Ian, The mizzen staysail can be made of either either Nylon or Dacron. The former as you state is much easier to handle due to the bag stuffing. You can think of the Mizzen staysail a bit like

Hi Dennis It seems that there was an evolution of the mizzen staysail. On the Santorin (and photos of SM) they are made of the same material as the ballooner and are easy to handle and do stuff into

Hi Kent, sounds like there is a bit of the tube overhanging the fitting. Why not do a careful hacksaw job on it, unless you feel you want to get back to full length. Regards Danny SM 299 Ocean

Notwithstanding my comment of not to bother with them, you are EXACTLY right, Bill, and your engine starting battery fuses are EXACTLY what would have saved SM Miss Lindy from burning her wiring three

Yes, do be careful as that fitting can break - I had a clever Greek welder fix a cracked one for me by puddling a lot of new metal and it was a good fix. (Although I had a spare). My first thought for

Harmonie has had the battery terminal fuses for years. They work fine. In addition to the fuses on the house battery side, we also have a 300 amp fuse on the engine starting battery terminal. Also

Oops, you're right, Craig. That didn't make any sense at all. It's the inboard end of the long (whisker) pole that was damaged. When the machinist put it back together, he mounted the inner

Hi Miles, Frankly, we used a lighter weight sail I call a drifter on the mizzen rig rather than the standard cruising sail that is technically the mizzen stay. The reason we didn't like to use the

Hi Miles, Good to see another normal (i.e. not Super-) Maramu. I've yet to fly my foc d'artimon as I'm suffering the same confusions as you are. I had my first try last week

Hi Hajo, your dimensions seem quite different to mine and perhaps I should have said the mainsail furling motor. The sides of my brushes are 8mm x 10mm so I guess we are talking about

Hey Kent, Can't quite tell what the problem is. If we call the long pole the whisker pole and the short one to the mast a jockey pole, I'm not understanding how the whisker pole won't connect to the

Frankly, Kent, a separate chase seems a bit of overkill. Probably just disconnecting the engine starting cables every few years (maybe when you replace the battery) and pulling them out of the chase