Guess I have to learn how to sail now.

[taylormade]

Well what an introduction to this boat! First, I didn't raise the sails at all this weekend, and, in fact, removed the mast entirely yesterday. We decided we'd take a "sunset cruise" Saturday night to break her in, just an hour long cruise out to the bay, watch the sunset, come back in type of thing.

We got out to the bay and watched storms forming all behind us, where we'd just left. A quick look at our phones showed that the nasty stuff was over our house and we should be ok. Just to be safe, we pushed forward a little more. Then we started seeing the skies darken near us. We whipped out our phones again... "Well, it looks like we can just keep going here and miss all of it." Turns out there was no escaping these storms. They formed all over Tampa Bay and I got to see, firsthand, what the X can handle.

I've been out plenty of times and have been caught in some nasty stuff that just popped up, so it wasn't my first rodeo, per se, it was just my first rodeo on this unfamiliar horse. We got near an island in about 10' of water, I filled the ballast, pointed the boat towards the waves and dropped the anchor.

To quote George Costanza "The sea was angry that day my friends" with seas easily reaching 6' in a matter of mere minutes. We sat in the cabin and closed the hatch roof and waited it out. By the time we got back it was after 10pm, quite a first experience, but I was remarkably relieved at how well the hull took the beating and how nicely it cut through the 4' rollers all the way back home.

We went to a local island yesterday with a cooler loaded full of refreshments and snacks and had a great time. Several times we had to climb back into the cabin though as we endured bouts of rain. These were just pop up showers though and lasted typically five minutes or less, not the thunderstorm we went through the night before. It made us very grateful we had the cabin! Sidenote: we desperately need some ventilation in there, man it was sweltering.

On the way back home yesterday I noticed we had an oil slick behind us, which is never a good thing. I took it easy on the way back home and we made it. Today I'll pull it out of the water and see if I can't get a better look to see where it's coming from. It's a decent amount and it seems to be running down both sides.



[
Unless I've blown a headgasket, I'd consider this a very successful opening weekend! I'm going to work on the rigging, replace the bent and broken spreader bars, work on new, sturdy mounts for the bimini and do a lot of touch up this week in preparation for it's maiden sailing next weekend (fingers crossed the oil leak is a loose hose or filter).

[Bilgemaster]

Well, they DO say it's very good luck to be caught in nasty weather one's first time out in a sailboat. And I can't see why that wouldn't apply even if you left the sails at home. I hope the engine's oil leakage is something minor.

[taylormade]

Well, they DO say it's very good luck to be caught in nasty weather one's first time out in a sailboat. And I can't see why that wouldn't apply even if you left the sails at home. I hope the engine's oil leakage is something minor.

Well then I'm lucky! And to be fair, that night the sails were on board... just not attached

I just checked the oil and it's normal level and not milky at all, so I've got that going for me. It may end up being the seal for the trim pump or who knows what else.

[taylormade]

and one pic of the mighty mastless Mac, our respite from the storms.

[Bilgemaster]

It's not the exactly the same trim setup as my 2001 Honda BF50A's (which has a separate small pressure relief screw for the trim system on the mid-upper port side to allow the motor to be tilted up by hand for trailering and whatnot). Still, that looks from here like gear oil. If you're lucky, the previous owner could have loosened that slotted hex bolt shown near dead center of the cropped pic below just enough to release the trim system pressure a bit to be able to tilt the motor up by hand, but not enough so there's no pressure at all and the electric trim would still work...sort of (especially with a too-heavy 90ish weight gear oil in there, like one might use in the lower gear unit). Still, that might have caused your own little hopefully easily-remedied Exxon Valdez...if you're lucky...just a loose screw:



For the record, my BF50A's trim system doesn't take gear oil, but something like regular old reddish ATF fluid. In fact, although I went ahead and got the Honda name brand stuff, I have since been led to understand that plain old ATF Dexron III also works just fine. Of course, for best results check your particular model's Service Manual. PDFs of both the User and Service Manuals are pretty easy to scare up online.

[Tomfoolery]

I see the MRS pole in the cabin, so that's good. If you have to go under the bridge to get to your sailing waters, you can drop the mast on the water, travel under, and put it back up. But don't even think about that if you don't also have the baby stays to hold the mast steady side-to-side when it's lowered enough that the shrouds can't. And check height above water when it's in the roller but still pinned to the mast step, before attempting to go under that bridge. It has a published 33 ft bridge clearance (28 ft mast, 5 ft deck to water), not counting anything on top of the mast.

And don't forget the close the sliding hatch before laying the mast down, or when attempting to pin it in the tabernacle. The mast or the goodneck tube will hit it. Not good. And keeping the sliding hatch closed when rigging on deck is always a good idea for the extra real estate and reduced chance of falling into the cabin.

The step in the cabin is a pain when you want to get into the stern berth. Later models have a ladder, earlier models have the ballast vent in the step, and my '99 has no vent but still has the step. I store the registration in a waterproof box under it, since that's about all it's good for. I'll leave it off if I come across a fold-up ladder, but that's not a priority.

It has a real marine head. Presumably the holding tank in just forward, where the cooler box originally was. Real nice. Original (but guessing optional) cockpit cushions; also nice.

Spidered ports? Meh. As long as they don't leak, I'm happy.

Do check the shore power wiring, as a lot of it is DIY, and not necessarily safe, with solid building wiring and undersized conductors and iffy connections.

The water pump indicator 'pee stream' may clog. It's a very common known problem. Honda made a retrofit kit with a larger fitting into the engine and a hose that adapts to the outflow fitting, and it seems to help, but that little outflow hole still clogs. I'm pretty good at finding it from on the boat with a paper clip to clean it out. I'd suggest you test the temp switch (closes to ground at 190 or so) and the light (single wire - ground it to light the light, and hopefully sound the buzzer). Oil light comes on (green) when it has oil pressure, so normal running is green oil light on, red temp light off.

That's about all that comes to mind right away. Looks good from here, and seems like a very good deal, even with the cosmetic work it needs.

Congrats!

[taylormade]

Yeah, strangely enough it DOES look like some sort of gear oil but it looks like it's draining from the screws in the bottom of the cowling. The gears are just the standard push/pull rods right? Nothing hydraulic, just cables and a rod to engage/disengage? I ask because I just went to take the boat out of the water and I couldn't get it to engage in gear. It was if the center (neutral) button was pushed and I was just revving the engine. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to go into gear.

[taylormade]

I see the MRS pole in the cabin, so that's good. If you have to go under the bridge to get to your sailing waters, you can drop the mast on the water, travel under, and put it back up. But don't even think about that if you don't also have the baby stays to hold the mast steady side-to-side when it's lowered enough that the shrouds can't. And check height above water when it's in the roller but still pinned to the mast step, before attempting to go under that bridge. It has a published 33 ft bridge clearance (28 ft mast, 5 ft deck to water), not counting anything on top of the mast.

Yeah, I'll have to do that each time we go out actually as the bridge's height is only 28' on average. I'm not sure what "baby stays" are but it sounds as if I'll be familiar with them soon.

And don't forget the close the sliding hatch before laying the mast down, or when attempting to pin it in the tabernacle. The mast or the goodneck tube will hit it. Not good. And keeping the sliding hatch closed when rigging on deck is always a good idea for the extra real estate and reduced chance of falling into the cabin.

Agreed, so far the cabin hatch has been closed whenever we're under way and open (unless it's raining) when we're anchored.

The step in the cabin is a pain when you want to get into the stern berth. Later models have a ladder, earlier models have the ballast vent in the step, and my '99 has no vent but still has the step. I store the registration in a waterproof box under it, since that's about all it's good for. I'll leave it off if I come across a fold-up ladder, but that's not a priority.

Good idea and one I fully intend on stealing! The other 99s we looked at both had regular ladders and they were much nicer.

It has a real marine head. Presumably the holding tank in just forward, where the cooler box originally was. Real nice. Original (but guessing optional) cockpit cushions; also nice.

It is indeed just forward of the head and it's a 3 or 5 gallon, I can't remember and I've only looked at it once. I haven't really figured out how the whole setup works as of yet, though. There's also a 10G freshwater tank cut out under the v-berth with it's own pressure pump. Sweet!

Spidered ports? Meh. As long as they don't leak, I'm happy.

They don't, but there were quite a few other spots that do, so I'll be taking the garden hose and a caulk gun to them shortly.

Do check the shore power wiring, as a lot of it is DIY, and not necessarily safe, with solid building wiring and undersized conductors and iffy connections.

Yeah, the electrical plug, from what I can tell, only goes to the battery charger and neither the charger nor the plug work so I'll be redoing that set up and adding a breaker in it, which it currently lacks.

The water pump indicator 'pee stream' may clog. It's a very common known problem. Honda made a retrofit kit with a larger fitting into the engine and a hose that adapts to the outflow fitting, and it seems to help, but that little outflow hole still clogs. I'm pretty good at finding it from on the boat with a paper clip to clean it out. I'd suggest you test the temp switch (closes to ground at 190 or so) and the light (single wire - ground it to light the light, and hopefully sound the buzzer). Oil light comes on (green) when it has oil pressure, so normal running is green oil light on, red temp light off.

GREAT ADVICE HERE! The tell tale has clogged some already... hopefully lol. The PO told me that he replaced the water pump and the impeller within the last 5 hours of use, albeit six months ago. The green light doesn't work or at least hasn't in my two outings. I plan on taking the side panels off the steering console today and seeing what I'm working with in terms of wiring and space. I'll get to grounding and testing then as well, thanks!!

That's about all that comes to mind right away. Looks good from here, and seems like a very good deal, even with the cosmetic work it needs.

Congrats!

Thanks very much, I appreciate it! I'm decent at mechanical work and excellent at electrical and cosmetic work so we should be fine. Whatever I can't figure out with the engine can be handled by my trusted outboard mechanic.

[taylormade]

As an update, I spent some time this afternoon going over the motor and the linkage for the gears. Some good news (maybe) is that by the time I got the boat home, the problem disappeared and the boat was going into gear again. I was able to go forward and backward while on the earmuffs. As soon as I pushed the button in to go to neutral again, the problem came back. Everything's fine on the engine side, so tomorrow I'll tear into the controls and see what's going on there.

Bit of bad news is that I cleaned the tell tale "pee tube" and the actual discharge port and still don't have water coming out. When I removed the port it was gross and cruddy. I shot some vinegar in there to dissolve some of the corrosion and took a bottle brush to clean it as best I could. While I was there, I swapped out the fuel filter... crazy, I ordered that from Amazon yesterday, non-Prime and it came today. The supplier must be down the street. I already have an impeller kit on order, so I'll know more on this little problem later this week.

I was out of troubleshooting time and didn't want to start a new BIG project, like topside painting, so I did some experimentation with Newglass2. I know a lot of folks here swear by it, and if it lasts more than 2 months, I will too. There are so many holes and dents and bumps and scratches on the hull of this boat that using the buffer wasn't going to do any good. It'd just make the blemishes stand out more in fact, so I went this route because now even the blemishes are shiny



Hey, regarding the leaking oil... I couldn't find anything pointing to where the leak would be coming from. Before we left to go out Sunday, I changed the plugs and checked the oil. The oil looked brand new and was within the hatches so I didn't bother changing it, but perhaps I didn't put the dipstick back in fully and oil was able to come out from there, collect on the bottom and then leak down? I'm shrugging on that one still. I sprayed the entire engine down with degreaser and tool shop towels and cleaned the inside of it completely. Once I get the impeller confirmed as good, I'll have a better understanding of where it's coming from.

[Tomfoolery]

Yeah, I'll have to do that each time we go out actually as the bridge's height is only 28' on average. I'm not sure what "baby stays" are but it sounds as if I'll be familiar with them soon.

Top red arrow points to the starboard baby stay. Bottom points to the adjuster on the port stay. Just under that adjuster is the eye strap on the deck, and the lower attachments of the baby stays slip into them. They terminate about 6 ft up the mast, and keep the mast straight when raising and lowering.

As to the oil, if it has a fresh oil change, it may be coming from the oil spilled when the filter was changed. It's tough to get it when you loosen the filter, as you need to stuff oil diapers under it, and get them all the way to the block, and be quick when you remove the filter. Whatever gets by goes down into the lower housing, and eventually comes out the drain holes to make a mess.

Just a guess.

[taylormade]

Top red arrow points to the starboard baby stay. Bottom points to the adjuster on the port stay. Just under that adjuster is the eye strap on the deck, and the lower attachments of the baby stays slip into them. They terminate about 6 ft up the mast, and keep the mast straight when raising and lowering.

Got it, thanks! Are these a DIY thing or are they available at BWY? Do you only attach them when raising/lowering or are they there all the time? Seems like they'd be in the way?

As to the oil, if it has a fresh oil change, it may be coming from the oil spilled when the filter was changed. It's tough to get it when you loosen the filter, as you need to stuff oil diapers under it, and get them all the way to the block, and be quick when you remove the filter. Whatever gets by goes down into the lower housing, and eventually comes out the drain holes to make a mess.

Just a guess.

Good guess and it's as good as anything I've come up with. It's definitely coming from the upper cowling so it's not gear oil, and the oil in the engine looks like it just came out of the bottle and is at a good level so I'm shrugging on that one. Thanks for the suggestions and explanation!

[Tomfoolery]

Top red arrow points to the starboard baby stay. Bottom points to the adjuster on the port stay. Just under that adjuster is the eye strap on the deck, and the lower attachments of the baby stays slip into them. They terminate about 6 ft up the mast, and keep the mast straight when raising and lowering.

Got it, thanks! Are these a DIY thing or are they available at BWY? Do you only attach them when raising/lowering or are they there all the time? Seems like they'd be in the way?

They're not needed when sailing, but I often just leave them in place. Sometimes I unhook them and bungie them to the mast, and at the moment I've removed them altogether (single bolt through the mast). But they're easy enough to put on, and if on a road trip (where I'll have to drop the mast again soon), I leave them on and either unhook them and bungie to the mast, or just leave them in place.

BWY shows the wire with tang and one half of the adjuster (replacement part), and they may show the other parts, but I didn't look that hard. Best to call them and just ask for a price on the whole thing, including the strap eyes for the deck, with instructions on where to place them and the bolt hole for the top tangs.

The M version doesn't use that style, by the way. Those are attached to the stationary MRS pole, which uses a brake winch instead of the block and fall system. You can modify the X system by adding the winch (Dutton-Lainson 350 lb brake winch) and a single block with at least a 600 lb capacity. I don't know what the differences are for the baby stays, though. Maybe one of these days I'll modify my system to resemble the M system, but my 5-part big sheave rework (see the blocks in the pic above) is actually quite easy to use, with the line passing through my main sheet rope clutch at the cockpit (so I can raise/lower it from the cockpit, and stop anywhere), and there are other places I need to drop money, so probably not in the near future.

[taylormade]

Well, upon further inspection, it turns out I already have them! I was working on the shifting box problem when I took a break and thought to look up on the deck. Sure enough, the eye rings are already mounted and ready! So I went to a photo the seller had posted on CL and, lo and behold, there are the baby stays!



Still no real closer to a solution on the gear problem except for I'm fairly certain it's the actual push button that's not disengaging from neutral and allowing the drive gears to engage. I've taken the control handle and mechanism apart but can't seem to get any further than that. I'm prying on a gear not that slides a little amount, but not enough to come off. Think I may have to call in one of the pros on that problem.

[Tomfoolery]

Baby stays connect to the mast only about 6 ft up. The terminations on the mast are where the green arrows are. The ones with the red arrows are the inner shrouds or lower side stays or words to that affect. But it looks like they are there, if I squint.

[taylormade]

Ok, so they are further down the mast as you said, but at about four feet instead of six. Funny, the PO told me that the lines just hung over the lifelines to help keep it from falling either way, ha. There are clearly flat eyes on the deck where they belong, so I must be at least the third owner.