My wife and I are die hard boaters especially after completing a 1600+ mile trip this past spring. I am wondering how does everyone do it? I realize many of you are retired or early retirees. How about the working stiffs such as myself. Do many of you work contractual jobs in various places of the country/world wherever you stay for a while?

The only virtue of alcohol as a fuel is that > accidental alcohol fires can be extinguished with water - that is its > raison > d'etre for marine useage Larry-- You can die from starvation waiting for your food to cook on alcohol or risk explosion from gas--I'll choose the latter fuel and take the chance of making a crispy,well-fed corpse rather than endure

You might not die of drowning. Capt. Mike Maurice Wilsonville, Near Portland Oregon

I guess I can see where the die hard's would like the varnish look better, but with the easy maintenance of the Cetol, it's a very good compromise. What I REALLY can't imagine is painting teak. I can't imagine painted teak being any easier to maintain than Cetol. It still would chip & wear off, but would look much worse when it did.

This short circuits any attempts at six sigma with a "make your numbers or die" strategy. Most of my speaking engagements had a theme of "Security isn't a technology problem, its a people problem!". I do love my old PPI Raytheon RADAR! Regards.....

From then the boat will remain in salt water until fall when I cruise through the Chesapeake...So I expect to lose my salt water growth ....and I think salt water barnacles, if any, die in fresh water....And my experience is that after an active summer boating season, there is very little salt water bottom growth.

>Arild > > Reply: > Sometimes old traditions die hard. I like GPS and have a good backup GPS that operates on batteries. Predominately where I operate there are no foghorns. If the fog comes, all electronics are on and a plot gets started so we could go to DR if necessary. We keep very busy watching and listening to everything and go slower.

If you want a quick fix, and don't want to swap out the bushings, I've used a roll of emery cloth to slightly open the bore in the die cast housing. It doesn't take very much effort. It would be a good idea to find the recommended lube before putting in new bushings. Anyone know what it is?

(or maybe they did) Two seconds with a die grinder and problem solved. Phil

Your going to die of a broken back. Hire some teenager to do that part, most of them are invincible--and disposable. My battery system is 12 golf cart batteries as a single bank. That means it is the start bank for both engines and the house bank. Relatively speaking; house banks are like anchors. The only thing better then a good one is a big one.