Kent, I did not finish my research since it sounded like the 1/4” rivets might work for me so I did not source the oversized rivets. I found some 1/4” (.255 OD) all Aluminum (alloy 5062 for the rivet

Kent, Thanks for this information. I hope that I can put things back together just as you did. I would like to put back the aluminum rivets since they won't be a dissimilar metal and cannot unscrew wi

Vladimir, Thank you for the information. The Mil-spec maximum hole size for a 1/4” rivet is 265 thousandths and 7mm is 275.5 thousandths. I wonder if the hole size you are reporting has been increased

Kent, Can you tell me if the 1/4” rivets fit the original holes in your furler, or did you need to drill them out some? I will be changing my headstay this year so need to drill out the rivets and wou

Bill and Bill, Thanks for the tip about tying the line securing the anchor to the top of the windlass so that it can be seen from the helm, that is a really great idea that I will adopt. Did you use a

Kent, Anchor chain is nice in that it doesn’t chafe on sharp things like rocks but it’s your anchor and a proper scope that is required to give you good holding. With your back situation, I would cons

Ian and Judy, I am really glad to hear that you feel you are making progress with solving your engine problem. I think that we are certainly lucky to have knowledgeable and helpful people like Bill Ki

Ian and Judy, Sorry, I don’t have the same engine but hopefully someone else will answer that question for you. In general, if your engine is reaching your normal full throttle loaded rpm in neutral b

Ian, The diesel engine governors that I am familiar with mechanically limit the engine RPM to a preset level by reducing the throttle setting. If you are getting full revs. in neutral but not under lo

Hyères, The quickly oil resoaked air filter is also making me think that engine oil could be causing the oil spots on the water. A simple test to check to see if the engine oil is coming up from the t

All, I did some research on using Mineral Spirits and Paint thinner on Plexiglass to see if my past experience in working with these materials seemed to be accurate. I found that there seems to consen

Ryan, Well I have used mineral spirits/paint thinner (for oil based paints, not urethanes) on Acrylics for 40 years on countless boats without any obvious negative effects but that is the only testing

Ryan, If you want to use the butyl tape, just get some longer screws, pins or even some drill bits that fit the holes in your window panels. Next locate a few corner holes in your frame. Insert two lo

Miles, I have used the Ballooner on Sueño a few times now. My boat also just has two grooves so once I hoist the ballooner up the second groove using my spare halyard, I am unable to furl either the b

Danny, Thanks for sharing your opinions on this subject. My working jib has the foam luff, and is tri-radial cut in Hydranet and I think that it does reef well. I think that my working jib however is

John, That is great that the oil pressure is still good. Could the shavings from the wearing pump drive components plug the ability of the lubricating oil to flow back to the oil pan? The only other p

John, This is just a guess since I am not familiar with this particular engine. I am wondering if you might have a lubrication issue that is causing accelerated wear? Do you know if your oil pressure

Danny, Some great discussion! I am curious about how deep you feelnthat you can reef a well made Genoa and still have good shape? Also, I was wondering your thoughts on how much using a well made Geno

Bill, That was an amazing post, chock full of useful information and very well written. Thanks for sharing. James SV Sueño Maramu #220

Hi All, When first bought my Amel, I was thinking that I might add a staysail. I liked the idea of having the smaller sail ready to use in higher winds as opposed to using a deeply reefed genoa. Now t