10 Feb 2007

Hello everyone:
Some time ago I purchased a copy of the Onan MDKAL (the genset
Liahona (2001 SM hull # 335), operator's manual and Parts Catalog.

Page 16 of the Operator's Manual shows a table entitled "Periodic
Maintenance Schedule". I have two questions:

1. At 800 hrs it indicates to adjust the valve lash and says this
must be performed by an authorize Onan Dealer. Has anybody
had this done, and if so what where the cost and time requirements?

2. At every 5 year interval the generator bearing should be
replaced. Again the indication is that this must be done by an
authorized Onan Dealer. Again, anybody had this done?
If so please post your experiences.

Thanks in advance,

Gary Silver

Robin,
Your technique of using the manual pump to clear "muck" is a good
one that works well for me.
Priming used to be an issue, but that "joker" valve in the "strum"
box,(rubber thingy with three star points facing up, like the valve
in your toilet discharge line) is meant to keep the suction hose
filled with water, so no priming issue.
Sounds like your "joker" valve is missing or old and crusty - mine
was gone and I just happened to spot a new strum box that had the
joker included - voila! problem solved.
Cheers,
Craig Briggs - Santorin #68

Bill, I wouldn't even think about putting a 153% genoa on your Amel. The boat sails just fine with a much smaller headsail. I personally think a 135% would be a great cruising sail. With the larger sail you have a reef in it most of the time anyway. Buying a larger sail then you usually use is not cost effective. Also the smaller sail has a much higher cut then the big one allowing you to see under the sail. Peter Grimm sailmaker in Ft.Lauderdale made me a 110% genny for the Caribbean winds and I.v'e had it on ever since. We just sailed from Turks and Caicos to Panama,900 miles, and sometimes we even had to reef the 110%. I lose some speed going to weather in light air,but when I ease sheets the boat really flies. I think the big genny gets partially blocked by the main when you are off the wind. Anyhow my SM goes as fast as I want to go, or as fast as the seas will let me go. I did 197 miles in one day in the Caribbean. john
"Moondog" SM248

From: "btleonore" <leonorebt@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Amel Yacht Owners] FOC replacement
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:31:51 -0000

Hi, I am considering buying a new FOC and have an old letter from Amel
stating that the size should be 153.8% Genoa. Does anyone know the
dimensions for that. Also would you install foam in the luff or not.
I do not think mine (SM72) has foam. Would you recommend Dacron and
any particular style. We are just a cruising boat so nothing fancy is
wanted. By looking at the Amel diagrams that came with the boat, it
appears that the luff is 17.1m, leach 16.15m and foot 9m. Does this
comport with what I am looking for? Thanks for your input.
Bill on Leonore of Sark.

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John:

Related to your question quoted below:

I belive that what Joel was refering to was Polytrol (European Name),
or Penetrol (US name). Researching on the web indicates that they
are the same thing. See the Photos section for pictures of deck
treated with Polytrol. Search the message base under Deck Stripes
for more information about using this product.
Regards,

Gary Silver, SM 2000 Hull # 335

John,
My wife just reminded me that is a weird screw that holds the grill on. I'm sorry but I don't know what it is called. It is not an allen (the hole is "star" shaped) and I have only previously encountered it in automobile interiors. I got lucky and I found the appropriate bit as part of a set, hidden in the handle of a stainless screwdriver I bought at a marine supply store. You may want to try an auto parts store if you have trouble locating it elsewhere.
Ed

John,
That's right. The strum box looks like a vacuum cleaner head. The rubber valve that fits in it, is conical with three slots. The cone end points towards the pump. Very basic but it usually works unless some debris is jammed in it holding the "slots" open.
Ed

I met with Mr Gateff, the director of the sailmaking Company (a subsidiary of Bic) making the original sails for Amel. He is based in Hyère, an I had him make a new Genoa for my Mango. We discussed the possibility of putting foam in the sail so as to have a better shape in the sail when reefed.

He was against the idea, suggested the sail would not have a good shape when not reefed, which is the way it is mainly used. And if there is to much wind, well, the shape is not as important.

I have used the new sail (made out of a recently developped Dacron based material) for a 2000 miles, it is very good.

Serge, Opera, Mango 51


btleonore <leonorebt@earthlink.net> a écrit :
Hi, I am considering buying a new FOC and have an old letter from Amel
stating that the size should be 153.8% Genoa. Does anyone know the
dimensions for that. Also would you install foam in the luff or not.
I do not think mine (SM72) has foam. Would you recommend Dacron and
any particular style. We are just a cruising boat so nothing fancy is
wanted. By looking at the Amel diagrams that came with the boat, it
appears that the luff is 17.1m, leach 16.15m and foot 9m. Does this
comport with what I am looking for? Thanks for your input.
Bill on Leonore of Sark.






Serge D. Tremblay

À bord d'OPÉRA

Lettres d'appel radioamateur: VE0ACI (contact radio: le réseau du capitaine, 14118 Mhz à 07:00 du matin, heure de Montréal, responsable M. André Fleury (450) 653 6021)

Tél:
Espagne: 34 606264003
Martinique:(596) (0)696398472
Montréal: (514) 871 0064

Courriel: laetitiaii@yahoo.ca
et (pour tout BREF courriel à recevoir en mer par ondes courtes: faire l'envoi en mode texte brut, sans pièce jointe, ni image, ni photo à ve0aci@winlink.org Notez bien: v e zéro a c i ...)

---------------------------------
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I met with Mr Gateff, the director of the sailmaking Company (a subsidiary of Bic) making the original sails for Amel. He is based in Hyère, an I had him make a new Genoa for my Mango. We discussed the possibility of putting foam in the sail so as to have a better shape in the sail when reefed.

He was against the idea, suggested the sail would not have a good shape when not reefed, which is the way it is mainly used. And if there is to much wind, well, the shape is not as important.

I have used the new sail (made out of a recently developped Dacron based material) for a 2000 miles, it is very good.

Serge, Opera, Mango 51


btleonore <leonorebt@earthlink.net> a écrit :
Hi, I am considering buying a new FOC and have an old letter from Amel
stating that the size should be 153.8% Genoa. Does anyone know the
dimensions for that. Also would you install foam in the luff or not.
I do not think mine (SM72) has foam. Would you recommend Dacron and
any particular style. We are just a cruising boat so nothing fancy is
wanted. By looking at the Amel diagrams that came with the boat, it
appears that the luff is 17.1m, leach 16.15m and foot 9m. Does this
comport with what I am looking for? Thanks for your input.
Bill on Leonore of Sark.






Serge D. Tremblay

À bord d'OPÉRA

Lettres d'appel radioamateur: VE0ACI (contact radio: le réseau du capitaine, 14118 Mhz à 07:00 du matin, heure de Montréal, responsable M. André Fleury (450) 653 6021)

Tél:
Espagne: 34 606264003
Martinique:(596) (0)696398472
Montréal: (514) 871 0064

Courriel: laetitiaii@yahoo.ca
et (pour tout BREF courriel à recevoir en mer par ondes courtes: faire l'envoi en mode texte brut, sans pièce jointe, ni image, ni photo à ve0aci@winlink.org Notez bien: v e zéro a c i ...)

---------------------------------
Personnalisez Yahoo! à votre goût Essayez Mon Yahoo!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi John,

I agree with everything that Ed says. It takes longer to take it off and work on it out of the engine room but, what he doesn't say, is the real risk of losing bolts, screw, tools etc. down the bilge! A problem that I have experienced after having manually pumped the bilge - the manual hose goes lower than the electric hose so I can clear some of the muck that accumulates, however careful you are, at the bottom of the bilge - the electric pump can't self prime itself. I used to remove the outlet pipe from the pump and fill it with water, refitting it to the pump very quickly, but later found that if I filled the bilge right up the pump would self prime. Means you need to have water to spare!

Regards,

Robin Cooter.
Santorin 004

johnabo2003 <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Hi Ed,

Thanks for your quick response. I understood everything you wrote
except for the part about the strum box.

Are you referring to the vacuum cleaner like attachment at the bottom
of the pipe going down into the bilge?

When I inspected this I found the following: It looks like there
should be a snap on filter/mesh over the end of the as there are
clips. On mine there is nothing clipped on, I guess whatever was once
there is now lying in the bottom of the bilge. If this attachment is
the strum box I can see no valve as such, however there is some kind
of very basic flap with slots in it, is this what you are referring
to?

Regards
John

--- In amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com, "Edmund Steele"
<edmundsteele@...> wrote:

John,
You can remove the cover of the bilge pump, while it is still

attached to the bulkhead. It faces to the port side and is held in
place with Phillips headed screws. There are two rubber flapper
valves inside, that are held in place with two each of tiny Phillips
headed screws. First cycle the pump (the float switch is within easy
reach and you operate it manually) to make sure that the motor is
working and the diaphragm reciprocates. You then cycle the pump so
that the diaphragm is away from the valves to give you more
clearance. You can unscrew the tiny screws and either invert the
rubber flapper valves or replace them. I have used a quarter inch
socket to hold a Phillips screwdriver bit and then used this to
loosen the two Phillips screws. After they start moving you can
probably fit a jeweler's screwdriver in to unscrew them the rest of
the way. Don't drop any pieces in the bilge!!! Also check that the
valve in the strum box is working. There is a replacement valve in
the rebuild kit and they are easy to replace. You just pull the hose
up out of the bilge and take the snap-off cover off the strum box to
access it. I have done all of these operations while at sea but I can
guarantee the flapper valve replacement is easier at the dock.

Ed Steele
SV DoodleBug
www.sv-doodelbug.com

---------------------------------
To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre.

Hi, I am considering buying a new FOC and have an old letter from Amel
stating that the size should be 153.8% Genoa. Does anyone know the
dimensions for that. Also would you install foam in the luff or not.
I do not think mine (SM72) has foam. Would you recommend Dacron and
any particular style. We are just a cruising boat so nothing fancy is
wanted. By looking at the Amel diagrams that came with the boat, it
appears that the luff is 17.1m, leach 16.15m and foot 9m. Does this
comport with what I am looking for? Thanks for your input.
Bill on Leonore of Sark.

Hi Ed,

Thats good news. Do you know what type of bolt holds the grill on. I
looked at this but my metric alen key did not fit

Regards
John
--- In amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com, "Edmund Steele"
<edmundsteele@...> wrote:

John,
We had a problem with our Thompson machine on our year 2001 SM331.

If you have the same model as ours, what we found was:

To free the drum on the washing machine, you open the lid and you

will see a grill on the side of the machine towards the bow. Take
this grill off and you will probably find it is filled with sediment.
This you can remove by chipping out with a screwdriver. Next you
spray the bearing / seal inside with WD-40 from inside the drum.
After WD-40 treatment, you free the drum by carefully rocking of the
drum back and forth. You can do all of this without dismantling the
machine - as we did of course!

Good luck!
Ed Steele
SV DoodleBug
www.sv-doodlebug.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your quick response. I understood everything you wrote
except for the part about the strum box.

Are you referring to the vacuum cleaner like attachment at the bottom
of the pipe going down into the bilge?

When I inspected this I found the following: It looks like there
should be a snap on filter/mesh over the end of the as there are
clips. On mine there is nothing clipped on, I guess whatever was once
there is now lying in the bottom of the bilge. If this attachment is
the strum box I can see no valve as such, however there is some kind
of very basic flap with slots in it, is this what you are referring
to?

Regards
John

--- In amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com, "Edmund Steele"
<edmundsteele@...> wrote:

John,
You can remove the cover of the bilge pump, while it is still

attached to the bulkhead. It faces to the port side and is held in
place with Phillips headed screws. There are two rubber flapper
valves inside, that are held in place with two each of tiny Phillips
headed screws. First cycle the pump (the float switch is within easy
reach and you operate it manually) to make sure that the motor is
working and the diaphragm reciprocates. You then cycle the pump so
that the diaphragm is away from the valves to give you more
clearance. You can unscrew the tiny screws and either invert the
rubber flapper valves or replace them. I have used a quarter inch
socket to hold a Phillips screwdriver bit and then used this to
loosen the two Phillips screws. After they start moving you can
probably fit a jeweler's screwdriver in to unscrew them the rest of
the way. Don't drop any pieces in the bilge!!! Also check that the
valve in the strum box is working. There is a replacement valve in
the rebuild kit and they are easy to replace. You just pull the hose
up out of the bilge and take the snap-off cover off the strum box to
access it. I have done all of these operations while at sea but I can
guarantee the flapper valve replacement is easier at the dock.

Ed Steele
SV DoodleBug
www.sv-doodelbug.com



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

John,
You can remove the cover of the bilge pump, while it is still attached to the bulkhead. It faces to the port side and is held in place with Phillips headed screws. There are two rubber flapper valves inside, that are held in place with two each of tiny Phillips headed screws. First cycle the pump (the float switch is within easy reach and you operate it manually) to make sure that the motor is working and the diaphragm reciprocates. You then cycle the pump so that the diaphragm is away from the valves to give you more clearance. You can unscrew the tiny screws and either invert the rubber flapper valves or replace them. I have used a quarter inch socket to hold a Phillips screwdriver bit and then used this to loosen the two Phillips screws. After they start moving you can probably fit a jeweler's screwdriver in to unscrew them the rest of the way. Don't drop any pieces in the bilge!!! Also check that the valve in the strum box is working. There is a replacement valve in the rebuild kit and they are easy to replace. You just pull the hose up out of the bilge and take the snap-off cover off the strum box to access it. I have done all of these operations while at sea but I can guarantee the flapper valve replacement is easier at the dock.
Ed Steele
SV DoodleBug
www.sv-doodelbug.com

John,
We had a problem with our Thompson machine on our year 2001 SM331. If you have the same model as ours, what we found was:

To free the drum on the washing machine, you open the lid and you will see a grill on the side of the machine towards the bow. Take this grill off and you will probably find it is filled with sediment. This you can remove by chipping out with a screwdriver. Next you spray the bearing / seal inside with WD-40 from inside the drum. After WD-40 treatment, you free the drum by carefully rocking of the drum back and forth. You can do all of this without dismantling the machine - as we did of course!
Good luck!
Ed Steele
SV DoodleBug
www.sv-doodlebug.com

Having just purchased my 2003 Super Maramu, I would like to give the
whole engine room and everything in it a clean and also give it some
sort of protection against futher corrosion.

Could anybody recommend some metal/fiberglass cleaners that can be used
to remove rust/oxidisation/grease/staining etc without damaging the
surface. Also what can be used to protect the surfaces once they are
clean.

Also during a conversation with Joel Potter he mentioned that there is
a cleaning product that is particularly good at cleaning and restoring
the faux teak decks. And again once clean at sealing them against sun
fade. Could anybody recommend particular products for this?

Regards
John Abercrombie
sm2003

During the process of selecting an Amel to purchase I viewed serveral
that had protected the horizontal mahogany surfaces with a quite thick
clear vinyl/silicon sheet.

The material adheared very well to the surface but was not actualy
stuck on and provided great protection.

When looking for this product, the closest I can find is simply a clear
vinyl that is only held in place by "static cling"

Does anybody know where I can buy a thicker clear sheet that clings to
the surface better?

Regards
John Abercrombie
SM2003

It is not possible to rotate the drum of my Thomson washing machine
both when it is powered off and on. When I try and run the machine it
stops and the change filter light flashes.

Having searched the archives I believe that the drum bearings are
frozen. Should it be possible to rotate the drum by hand when the
machine is both off and on?

I know that I can remove the corner panel to access the machine. My
question is how much of the machine has to be stripped down to access
the bearings. Also if it is dead, is it possible to get a replacement
machine and at what cost?

Regards
John Abercrombie
SM2003

My electric bilge pump is running but not pumping water. After
searching the archives I have concluded that I need to take the pump
portion appart in order to clean and possible replace the pump valves.

Do I need to remove the whole mechanisim from the bulkhead and service
the pump on a workbench or can the work be done by removing the
plate/cover and working on the pump valves and diaphram while it is
still bolted to the bulkhead?

Regards
John Abercrombie
SM2003

I have a 1985 Maramu with electric roller furling on both main and
headsail. Unlike more recent models, there is no obvious way to
disconnect the motors and be able to manually operate the rollers in
the event of an electrical power failure. I have never had such a
failure, but would like to know just how to go about reducing sail in
a blow if the power had gone down. Amel via email has been
unresponsive to my question.
Thank you for whatever assistance you may be able to offer.
Jim

Hi Roy:

I just re-read your post on painting the deck stripes in
preparation to doing my decks. I have been able to
purchase some Penetrol (the US equivalent of Polytrol)
from Budget Marine in Antigua. How much did it take to
treat the decks? Did you also treat the white cabin tops?
If so how much did it take to do that? Do you use the
Polytrol on other areas of you fiberglass? Finally, how
is your re-striping job holding up, and would you do
anything differently in hind-sight?

Thanks for the follow-up.

Gary Silver, s/v Liahona SM 2000 Hull # 335
Jolly Harbor, Antigua