Bob McLeran writes: >The question: should the fitting at the stove side be put together "dry" >or would it be more prudent to use tape or a compound such as Lock-Tite >or a joint compound made specifically for gas lines? Bob, A couple of points. First, propane fittings are compression-style fittings which depend on a tight compression between two beveled faces. The threads do not perform any sealing at all, but merely compress the two angled faces. This style of fitting has many, many advantages, especially the fact that it may be reassembled over and over. However, in order for it to work it is imperative that there is nothing between the two faces. This includes tape and compound. By the way, you may wish to investigate this type of fitting for all of your pressure applications. On Island Eagle I used JIC hydraulic fittings exclusively for the fuel system, and Swage-Lok fittings for the hydraulic steering and air pressure systems. Both of these styles of fittings are (a) inexpensive (b) readily available from industrial suppliers (c) easy to disassemble and reassemble and (d) capable of withstanding up to about 2500 PSI. Scott Welch Product Manager, FirstClass Group "If we continue to take an eye for an eye, then surely the whole world will go blind." - Gandhi

"Kerry Nelson" writes: >Would I need a passport to do this? Only if you want to get back into the USA. Scott Welch "If we continue to take an eye for an eye, then surely the whole world will go blind." - Gandhi

Apa Ongpin writes: >We will probably end up with several of these and see which works best. Hi there, There are a bunch of less-complicated solutions to this problem. I have a 1960-vintage Detroit 6-110 which has issues similar to yours. Two solutions which I have used are: 1) Use a mechanical tachometer. My engine room tach works just fine, it's a NOS (new old stock) Stewart Warner I picked up on eBay. I was also able to pickup up the right angle 2:1 drive and the flex cable on eBay as well. The drive tip was $2.50 at my local truck shop. 2) Use a programmable tachometer with your alternator. I have effectively 3:1 drive on my alternators (2:1 in the engine and 1.5:1 in the belts). The VDO makes a programmable tach (model 333-162) which you can set for any pulse train. It takes about 10 minutes to calibrate, especially if you have a mechanical tach to use. I also picked up a Veeder-Root hand-held digital tach on eBay, it's great for troubleshooting all manner of mechanical devices. Hope this helps, Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistake rarely make anything.

Glen Zwicker writes: >Seems as if there is an opportunity here for an inventive electronics >person to market a little black box that sits between any alternator and >any tachometer. Pulse counter on the inputs, pulse generator on the outputs, >manual control of the rate ratio. The tachometer would love a train of nice >clean pulses at a constant voltage! This is exactly what the VDO programable tach does... it's just built in to the tach. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistake rarely make anything.

"Arild Jensen" <2elnav@netbistro.com> writes: >I would strongly urge anyone who is retro fitting an new tachometer to their >engine to avoid the ones that rely on th xpulses coming from the alternator. Arild makes an excellent point. The reason I am following this thread is that I also have the problem of "jumping tach", when my 3-stage regulator goes to float and the alternator output drops to a level where the tach has problems reading the frequency of the pulses. My Detroit has a standard 7/8" - 18 threaded tach drive for mechanical tachs, and next summer I am planning on adding a standard VDO tach sender. These devices connect to the tach drive shaft and output 16 pulses per revolution. Note that this is an inline device so you can still connect your mechanical tach. At $60 seems like a good deal. For details see the following link: http://www.egauges.com/vdo_indS.asp?Sender=VDO_GM_speedo&PN=340-012 Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistake rarely make anything.

"Faure, Marin" writes: >Interesting. You wouldn't think they'd bother to use a kedge anchor >with a small boat like the wooden LCVP, but Ambrose speaks at least a >few times of them doing this during the Normandy invasions. Or rather >not doing it and getting stuck on the beach under fire. But the photos >I've just looked at of LCVPs in WWII don't show any sort of anchoring >apparatus on the stern. Two comments, which may be of interest: First, the Higgins landing craft were fitted with a special rudder (called a "monkey rudder" as I remember) which was placed forward of the prop. This was so that they could steer as they backed off the beach in reverse. Second, I worked for 5 years on a 33 foot landing craft in the arctic. We always used a stern anchor when we beached, not so that we could pull ourselves off but so that the waves would not push the stern onto the beach. Once you were sideways to the waves they would push you up the beach and you would be stuck until the tide rose. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistakes rarely make anything.

Folks, we are new to this trawler thing (a Monk 36) and now have a Genset. Is a sound shield worth it (~$700)? I have enjoyed the comments here very much! Also, best place to get filters for the Cummins diesel and Kohler Genset? Thanks, David Monk 36 "Significant Other" e-mail david.redburn@furman.edu

"Don Sorensen" writes: >Then there were the AGM Lifelines, Meridians etc. These ran almost $650 >each, however being 12 volts, I would only need 5 of these. Again these >would cost about $3,500 but require no maintenance. When I rebuilt Island Eagle (2003), I put in 7 Lifeline 8D AGM batteries. All but one of them are now gone. The two engine starting batteries lasted 2 years. The house bank (two sets of 24 volts) lasted 4 years. I was not impressed. And before you blame the chargers, these were both on good, modern 3-stage chargers. I would not put in Lifelines again. For the starting bank I switched to some no-name Chinese AGM 8Ds, and they have been just fine so far. For the house bank, I switched to L16 AGM batteries, and these have been awesome. They are much lighter than the 8Ds, but really pack the power (1080 Amp Hours at the 10 hour rate). The price I got from my local battery shop was excellent. I have a bank of 12 of these in series/parallel to get 24 volts at 3240 AH. Here's a link to the specs: http://www.discover-energy.com/files/EV216A.pdf No connection, etc. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistakes rarely make anything.

"Scott H.E. Welch" writes: >For the house bank, I switched to L16 AGM batteries, and these have been >awesome. They are much lighter than the 8Ds, but really pack the power (1080 >Amp Hours at the 10 hour rate). The price I got from my local battery shop >was excellent. I have a bank of 12 of these in series/parallel to get 24 >volts at 3240 AH. > >Here's a link to the specs: http://www.discover-energy.com/files/EV216A.pdf Well, looking at this again, I see that I made a mistake. The spec I posted was for the 2 volt L16 cells. I put in 6 volt L16s, here is the PDF: http://www.discover-energy.com/files/EVL16A-A.pdf These are rated at 390 AH, giving me 1170 AH at 24 volts. I knew that 3240 was not right. By the way, when I put mine in the 2 volt cells were not available, but if I were doing it today for sure I'd put in 12 of the 2 volt L16s in series. It's much better than running three 6 volt cells in parallel. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistakes rarely make anything.

"Brent Hodges" writes: >Any one know of a convincing reason to add the vented loop to this outlet? >Peggy, care to comment? There is no need for a vented loop because a back-siphon could not sink the boat -- all it could do is fill the holding tank. And even that's not possible, because the pump has two one-way valves. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com Those who make no mistakes rarely make anything.