Plastic Classic Forum

Ric, I did some research last night and today I was able to talk to Blue Sea technical support. Essentially the new switch that they have isolates the batteries from each other but they do not allow charging both batteries at the same time. You need to purchase their automatic charging relay to go w...

The existing battery selector switch failed today on my Rival 32. I have to replace it and I was considering buying a Blue Sea Parallel Mini Switch (the one with a separate switch for house and cranking batteries and an emergency switch for combining both banks. Am I making the right choice in choos...

Thanks, that product looks good, is there anybody else who has had experience in using this product?

What do you suggest to use to refinish a teak and holly sole that has been refinished before without success? Currently the sole has had it's finished sanded off waiting for something else.

Just pick up a copy of DIY Marine Magazine. There is a good article on a Pearson that was rebuilt. Article is very interesting. (issue #2005-4)

Tim, awesome pictures and great workmanship on everything. What type of panelling did you use for the deckhead and hull sides?

Peter, I have an Alado Furling System on Secret Arrival. I am very satisfied with the quality, price and construction. It works very well, and easy to install. Did you get my email that I sent you some time ago?

Has anyone bought used sails from a sail loft. I am looking at replacing my worn out genoa with a new sail, but the cost is around $2000 Cdn. So I am investigating used sails. My sail dimensions are: luff-34' to 35', leech -32' to 34' and the foot can range from 14' to 16'. Material weight should be...

That was quite the trip. By the look of your chart you were offshore until you reached St. Pierre. That is a long time offshore in this area of the ocean. By the looks of things, you guys had a ball. I would like to visit the south coast someday but the east coast is my stomping grounds, and I only ...

If you are seriously considering downsizing, then go for it. However, in saying that be carefull that you don't compromise too much comfort doing so and by that I mean does your better half agree with you. If so, then may I recommend a few boats to consider. 1. C&C 24, these are great little boa...

How so? When crossing Trinity Bay last summer I realized that I had forgot to switch from my starting battery (No.1) to my house battery (No.2) after about 2 hours sailing. I was using my radar and my handheld GPS (Eagle Explorer) was plugged in to my 12volt outlet. So I reached into the boat and s...

Here is a link to some photos that I posted on the Yahoo photo page. It shows photos taken over the last few years. Hope you like it.

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rivals ... /my_photos

I would agree with Tim, it should be run from the house system. In any case you should probably look at replacing the battery switch with a parallel mini switch like the one Blue Sea sells. I am replacing my basic battery switch this year as it was the partially the blame for frying my handheld GPS ...

After reading your last post, I am now seriously thinking about replacing those panels. I have been checking the various mfgrs web sites, such as Blue Sea, and others. I also have been talking to a local Electrical Marine Supplier and fabricator and it looks like I can get a new 10 dc circuit panel ...

I just purchased a Garmin 172c chartplotter and the 'Bluechart' data card with the charts for Eastern Newfoundland and parts of Labrador. I haven't installed it yet, however I did set up over 100 waypoints and it was very easy. It appears to be very robust and I am looking forward to using it in yea...

That's perfect, Thanks

is that primer on your topsides left over from last years paint prep? The picture you see is a picture of another Rival 32 located in England. Presently my boat has never been painted before, and the finish is the original gelcoat. I have sanded the entire topsides with 220 grit paper and filled al...

Tim, how do you post your pictures within the text as you and others do. I have used the Free Image Hosting site. It is so much better to see the picture as you read the message?

Tim, I should have been clearer about what I was describing. The panels that I used are illuminated switch panels ( rocker type switches) one panel has six switches and the other three switches with a cigarette lighter socket and a battery meter. Similiar to this: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/upl...

Thanks Jason, I will consider every option and take any advice I can. My funds are limited and I have to be very careful here. Here is a photo of the bow of a Rival 32, which shows the Rival rub rail.

I would suggest the "ALADO Furling System out of Brazil. There is a Canadian and American Distributors in place. I spent about a 6 months reviewing furling systems and weighing the pros and cons. I finally settled on the ALADO system for Secret Arrival. Great system, robust and well made. Like ...

A couple of years ago, I replaced Secret Arrival's electrical system in its entirety. I purposely limited the number of devices on a circuit, for example; The lighting circuits were separated so that I ran one circuit on starboard and a second circuit on port. I tried to minimize the load on each ci...

Last year I prep Secret Arrival to be painted in June, in the great outdoors. A friend of mine who is an expert in spray painting boats using IMRON was doing the painting. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate at all. I cancelled the painting for the year and put the boat in the water in late ...

Sailnet is back , and is up and running under new management. Overall, it appears to be no different than before. The new management team is a large on-line marine supplier. Check out the Sailnet site, there is a full explanation as to what went on.