I was interested in reading Bill Martins note concerning canvas and its maintenance. I have a soft top which is now 7 years old and near the end of its life. It was recently stitched in an effort to get another year or so out of this blue vinyl fabric. We now have several hundred new holes where the stitching allows free passage of water. The vendor knew of nothing that would stop leaks other than beeswax! What is marine goop and where is it available? Thanks John Marquardt, M/V Water Marq, Eastbay 38

<> My wife, the seamstress, tells me that for light canvas work just about any sewing machine will perform adequately. Just make sure that you have enough space between the sewing needle and the frame pedestal. Otherwise you will be folding and refolding large cloth panels constantly. On our former sailboat she used a flea market purchased hand crank Singer about 70 years old. I guess this was the sewing head of an old treadle machine. It was slow but didn't require external power and with sufficient hand effort could penetrate several thickness of rhino hide. For heavy canvas and for sail work you need a machine that will do a zig zag stitch. You don't need any other fancy attachments, buttonholers, etc. That is unless you want to embroider your initials on your hatch covers. Brother sewing machines, sold by Sears work well. Resist the temptation to buy machines with built in patterns or electronic controls. They are not necessary for canvas work and serve mainly to keep sewing machine repairmen in business. Top level sail making machines use a moving foot to stop one layer of slippery Dacron from sliding over the other but unless you are stitching for an America's Cup defender they are overkill. Larry Z (dictated by Maggie Z)

I'm sure this is an old question, but I am still curious: Why do we cruisers use Gallons per Hour instead of Miles per Gallon? 3 GPH at 6 knots = 2 MPG. 6 GPH at 12 knots also equals 2 MPG. What's the difference in terms of fuel consumption? GPH seems cumbersome as one must first figure out how many hours one will travel, then calculate how much fuel will be used. If one knows distance and MPG, the fuel estimate calculation is more direct. Our purpose is to go someplace, seems to me, not just burn fuel. Regards, John Sawyer Freedom Krogen 39

Defender carried some

In a message dated 8/23/2005 2:33:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wing15601@gmail.com writes: four digits, then a comma and two more digits. ----------------------------------------- Henry-- I wonder if the comma is perhaps a decimal mark (period) and that it is reading hours (up to 9999) with 1/100'th to the right of the period. Best--Michael Oritt Durbeck 48--NAMASTE

Steve Sipe writes: > 1. They're unacceptable per ABYC. They won't pass muster on a survey. > 2. They will leak. If not oil out, air in. > 3. They will come loose. > 4. The compression nut or the ferrule can crack/break/fail. Sorry, but this is not right. If you use a Swagelok compression fitting, it will last more or less forever, be tough as nails, withstand several thousand PSI without leaking, and still be easy to disassemble in 20 years. It will also meet both ABYC and CG regulations. Scott Welch "Island Eagle" www.islandeagle.net "The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything"

DosAbogadosIII@aol.com writes: >Anybody got better ideas? Thanks. John Hi there, on Island Eagle I put in two PAR Sensor Max VSD pumps. These are electronic pumps which run at variable speeds depending on the demand. I ran a suction line from the port tank to one pump and starboard to the other, with a crossover valve for emergencies. There are three things I like about this setup: 1) The pumps have been excellent. Lots of pressure, even with multiple fixtures in use. They are quiet, too. 2) If I need even more pressure I can run two pumps in parallel (handy when there are lots of people on board). 3) Best of all, I usually just run a single pump at a time. However I wired each pump to a separate breaker, so I can choose whether I am pulling water from the starboard or port tank just by flipping a breaker (easy) rather than crawling into the shaft ally and moving valve handles (hard). I did have one pump failure, which was quickly replaced under warranty (of course, I have just used the pump to empty a full 750 gallon water tank...). Scott Welch www.islandeagle.net "The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything"

Steve Sipe writes: >You may want to get next to a >local plumbing professional, find one who owns a boat, buy him lunch >BEFORE you start picking his brain, and you may be able to use up his >scrap tubing or at least be able to get smaller lengths than a whole >roll of the stuff. You may even be able to rent/borrow his PEX crimping tool for a weekend. By the way, just as an aside, it may also be useful for listees to know that linesmen for the local electrical utility often have very nice, very heavy-duty crimping tools that have been known to migrate down to the docks for the weekend. Another good type of friend to have if you need to do any wiring. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com "The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything"

Motorola 32 volt marine diesel alternator 70 Amp http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorola-32-volt-marine-diesel-alternator-70-Amp_W0QQitemZ4602763047QQcategoryZ50441QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I know how expensive these are. This looks like a bargoon. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com "The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything"

There is one further bit of information about washer, dryers & combo units that I'll add: While the standard household units (e.g. stackables) are very inexpensive and very practical, almost all of them require 220 volts and substantial amounts of power (e.g. 30 amps) for the dryer. While there are 110 volt dryers, they are very very impractical and still take 15 amps. The net result of this is that you either need 220 volt shore power or you need to run your genset to do the laundry. The advantage of the combo units is that they take substantially less power. Only a few amps while washing, and only about 8 amps or so when drying. This means that they can be easily supplied by an inverter, even for the drying cycle. I got a vented combo unit for Island Eagle, and while it does take a looooonnnnggggg time to do a load of laundry, it's practical, quiet, and compact. Scott Welch FirstClass Product Manager www.firstclass.com "The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything"