Chip,
Were you on the Bulwagga anchor? Before our recent trip I was ready to buy one based on all the rave reviews. Maybe it is not the magic bullet after all. We actually had very good luck setting our Claw on the trip and it performed great. My confidence in it has gone way up. The Guardian likewise did it's job well in the soft bottoms and I must say having two out can help you sleep a whole lot better as well as keep the boat parked in one place.
Broke a window :-(
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
- Admiral
- Posts: 2459
- Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:41 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Bellevue, Wa '96 26x, Tohatsu 90 TLDI and Plug In Hybrid Electric drive
- Contact:
-
Chip Hindes
- Admiral
- Posts: 2166
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 6:13 am
- Location: West Sand Lake, NY '01X, "Nextboat" 50HP Tohatsu
This is what I posted in response to the same question on the Conch Cruisers' website:
"Despite my incident with the Bulwagga, my overall experience confirms the testing, that it is a great anchor. On this particular trip, there were only two instances in which it did not set on the first try, and on each of these, after removing a wad of grass about the size of a medicine ball from the flukes, it set on the second try. Obviously, there was the single instance in which it let go.
I believe the point of my enforced learning experience is not that I need a different anchor, but that given the right combination of adverse conditions, even a good anchor, properly set can let go. It's my whole anchoring strategy which must evolve.
I continue to recommend the Bulwagga to those who are willing to cope with the storage and deployment headaches."
Bottom line: I got complacent, because all week when nearly all the others were dragging, I wasn't. My long term experience over nearly three years was that the Bulwagga held, and when the wind shifted it reset, every time. This time, quite simply it didn't.
"Despite my incident with the Bulwagga, my overall experience confirms the testing, that it is a great anchor. On this particular trip, there were only two instances in which it did not set on the first try, and on each of these, after removing a wad of grass about the size of a medicine ball from the flukes, it set on the second try. Obviously, there was the single instance in which it let go.
I believe the point of my enforced learning experience is not that I need a different anchor, but that given the right combination of adverse conditions, even a good anchor, properly set can let go. It's my whole anchoring strategy which must evolve.
I continue to recommend the Bulwagga to those who are willing to cope with the storage and deployment headaches."
Bottom line: I got complacent, because all week when nearly all the others were dragging, I wasn't. My long term experience over nearly three years was that the Bulwagga held, and when the wind shifted it reset, every time. This time, quite simply it didn't.
Getting back to windows; I just replaced all of the windows on my '95 Mac-X.
One front and at least one side window were leaking. I naively expected to remove the screws, gently remove the window, re-caulk it are replace the screws. Well, like a total bathroom renovation that started from dripping faucet, things didn't go easily at all.
In the end I bought a 4' by 8' sheet of 1/4" smoked plexiglass (used less than half) , two tubes of marine grade silicon caulk and 36 SS machine screws,cup washers and nuts.
By far the biggest job was removing the double sided tape that had failed causing the leaks. Attempts by previous owners to seal those leaks with more caulking may have worked temporarily but I wanted to do a better job. In attempting to remove that cursed tape I tried every solvent I could legally buy. Acetone seemed to be the best but it still took hours of scraping to rid the window openings of that gummy gunk.
The plexiglass was quite easy to cut on my bandsaw (fine tooth blade) and the edge was beveled like the origional using my router table and a "straight raised panel bit". The screw holes were drilled 1/8" oversize because plexiglass expands considerable with temperature changes. I added two extra holes on each window. Marine-grade silicone caulking was used to seal the windows - moderate adhesion but lots of flex. The screws hold the window in place and the over-size holes allow for expansion/contraction.
I learned the hard way that the front windows need to be pre-formed to fit the curve of the cabin. This was done with a heat gun to bend the plexiglass to shape.
So far everything looks good, but time, temperature changes and sun are the real test.
One front and at least one side window were leaking. I naively expected to remove the screws, gently remove the window, re-caulk it are replace the screws. Well, like a total bathroom renovation that started from dripping faucet, things didn't go easily at all.
In the end I bought a 4' by 8' sheet of 1/4" smoked plexiglass (used less than half) , two tubes of marine grade silicon caulk and 36 SS machine screws,cup washers and nuts.
By far the biggest job was removing the double sided tape that had failed causing the leaks. Attempts by previous owners to seal those leaks with more caulking may have worked temporarily but I wanted to do a better job. In attempting to remove that cursed tape I tried every solvent I could legally buy. Acetone seemed to be the best but it still took hours of scraping to rid the window openings of that gummy gunk.
The plexiglass was quite easy to cut on my bandsaw (fine tooth blade) and the edge was beveled like the origional using my router table and a "straight raised panel bit". The screw holes were drilled 1/8" oversize because plexiglass expands considerable with temperature changes. I added two extra holes on each window. Marine-grade silicone caulking was used to seal the windows - moderate adhesion but lots of flex. The screws hold the window in place and the over-size holes allow for expansion/contraction.
I learned the hard way that the front windows need to be pre-formed to fit the curve of the cabin. This was done with a heat gun to bend the plexiglass to shape.
So far everything looks good, but time, temperature changes and sun are the real test.