Sloop,

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.

I've got to move my daughter down to Nashville Is she stating at Vandy? Or, is she looking to break into country music? There's always the option of driving your CB-equipment beast of a pick'em up truck... Its prolly what 8-9 hrs between you and Nashville. That's a haul on an 'experienced' truck. I...

. . . I guess one test could be if I hook up to the vehicle and try to back it up with the electricals disconnected, so that I don't override the braking. It should be hard/impossible to back up, right? Absolutely! I've done precisely that (inadvertantly) and the trailer will not budge in reverse. ...

Yeah, I'm cheap, what can I say...

But, yes, they look very similar and may well be OEMs... I dunno, I've never had the West Marine unit in my hand...

I bought these Barska binos off ebay and have been happy with them. They aren't light and they aren't Stiener... but, they are great for boat use...

I'm getting confused on that "fuzzy line" thing. Why is it you can advertise a West Marine sale but not be too specific about other product's? It all comes down to the relationship between the poster and the product. In this case, I don't believe Catigale works for West Marine and in any ...

My starting battery is a basic lead acid battery. But, my house bank is 3 of these group 24s: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/01/64/46/i016446sn01a.jpg I have wa'ay too many accessories for a trailer boat, and have never run this batteries down... Of course, I also have ample ways to ...

I've only sailed my boat a few times with someone actually helping... Other than that, I always sail single handed, even with a boat full of folks... This is the very first non-dinghy-type sailboat I have ever sailed. So, I started this adventure with well below average skills/knowledge/experience.....

Ok, I'm shocked!

I dont have Mike's access to Roger, so I'll defer to him. But, I would be shocked if my 2005 M had balsa-core anywhere... Yes, I KNOW I have plywood in the cockpit sole and the pedestal base (with the SST tube therebetween). But, it looks to me that the rest of the "built up" parts are F/G...

The smallest cheapest you can find will work great.

http://macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin/mod ... record=664

A topping lift is not stock. But, IIRC, there is a stock bolt and nut on at the top of the mast just port of the main halyard cheek block. That, and a line and big washer, is all you need to rig a topping lift. Oh sure, you can get all kinds of fancy and even make the topping lift adjustible. Or you...

Yeah, mine has done that pretty much since day one. I have not found a good fix yet...

You may find that these boats are rather touchy at heel angles under 10-15 degrees. It other words, it won't take much to get 10-15 degrees of heel. Any significant gust can easily momentarily give you 20 or more degrees of heel... So, if your goal is to keep heel less than 20 degrees, you're going ...