NANCY ANN - Rosborough Archives

Archives |  Rosborough Boats  |  Destinations  |  Tips & Tricks  |  Old Newsletters |  Boats Pics | 

Tips and Tricks - back to Home Page
Advice from owners

Subject	Problem		Discussion
ACCESSORIES top	top
Refrigerator	Marina over voltage burned out fridge power supply		See write-up.
Holding Tank	Odor from head in bilge.		Use the "Green stuff". Be generous.  Pump out ASAP after a "serious" trip.
Anchor	Delta Fast Set 22 lb
AIR CONDITIONING top
	Anchor Mfg		Home page    Krusin' Kool model
CABIN top
Cleats	Need a cleat to hang a fender.		If you have rod holders, cut a piece of closet rod about 15" long.  Use three coats of spar varnish to seal it.  Put the rod in the rod holder and tie the fender to the rod.
Doors.	Sticky side and rear doors		Try some spray silicon lube on the side doors.  Do not put too much on the rear door as it will slide when the boat rolls.
Extended roof	Banging your head on the extended roof?		Take a piece of 1/2 " high pressure air hose, split lengthwise, and slide it over the roof's edge.
Swim Ladder	Cannot get back in the boat after a swim.		Add an extension to the swim platform ladder if you have only one step. When buying new, get a three step ladder.
Windows	Center window hinges frozen		See write-up.
ELECTRICAL top
Bilge Pump	Bilge pump sometimes turned off accidentally.		Re-wire the back of the switch so that the "off" position is the same as the "auto" position.
Wipers	Wiper switches are hard to locate for a quick wipe.		Add a momentary push-button switch in parallel with the panel switch.  Push the button for a quick wipe.
Power Panels	Forget to turn off DC or AC power.		Add small indicator lights to both panels to remind you that the power is on.
ENGINES top
What engine to buy	Fuel burn		It is a practical argument to ignore fuel burn.  The RF-246 burns so little fuel that you should make your power decision on other factors. Horsepower requirements vary by taste, but 150 hp seems to be a comfortable target. Diesel fuel is a little harder to find, and the extra cost of the diesel power plant can only be made up on fuel burn, which is going to be very close between gas and diesel.
	Outboards		Outboards offer simplified maintenance and improved low speed handling.  Mounting the outboard on the transom requires a well that extends into the cockpit, reducing the available area.  Mounting on a bracket opens up the entire cockpit for seating.
	2-stroke vs. 4-stroke		Less weight and more power is usually the reason to buy 2-stokes.  Less noise, easier starting, no oil mixing are the reasons to buy 4-strokes. The new engines are so trouble free it makes little difference - buy what you like.
	Twins vs. single		Twins offer redundancy, singles are better protected by the keel.  It is another tossup.  Factor: most engine problems are fuel contamination related.  If you don't have separate tanks both engines will stop.  Again, buy what you like.
	I/O (Inboard/outboard)		I/O's offer approximately the same handling characteristics as outboards, but with considerably increased complexity (translation: maintenance cost), and a huge loss of cockpit area. Higher horsepower is common and these are among the fastest boats.
	Our engine choice - bottom line		Buy any outboard(s), mount it on a bracket (narrow, half swim or full swim platform).  Choose a brand you can get maintenance on.
Fuel/water separator	Filter can be hard to get off.		Use a 3 1/2 - 3 7/8 band type filter wrench to change the filter.  Hint: do not take the filter off just to check it (use the plug on the bottom).  The o-ring swells up from contact with fuel and it will not fit back on.
115 HP Yamaha 4 stroke	Changing the oil filter		Use a 65/67 mm 14-flute cup-type oil filter wrench to remove the filter. If the cup slips on the filter, wrap the filter with one layer of black tape to make the wrench tighter.
FAVORITES  top	Some of our favorite things.
	Doreen		Doreen is a CPK (Cabbage Patch Kid) and travels with us.  She also wrote Doreen's Corner when we had a newsletter.  Now you can find her at her web site.
	Wendy		Wendy is a Ty baby (Beanie Baby).  She also travels with us and has her own web site.
	WD-40		Really great at un-sticking things, no boat should be with out WD-40.  Not so well known is that WD-40 is not a lubricant.  Things unstuck with WD-40 will soon re-stick.
	CRC 6-56		A terrific marine lubricant.  Use this to lubricate all those things you un-stuck with WD-40.
	Cleaners		Soft scrub is great for cleaning the non-gelcoat surfaces of the boat, like the inside of the transom.
	Cruising guides		The Maptech Long Island Sound cruising guide is one of our best resources. Inside are sections of local charts with details in formation about the surrounding area.
	Personal radios		Wendy's sisters (twins) Debbie and Muffy love the personal radios. Range is somewhat limited, but you can usually pick a channel and be alone on it.
	First Aid kits		We carry a couple of first aid kits. Nothing fancy, just the basics. Be sure they include (or you add) burn cream, and tick removal tweezers.
	Volt Meter		A volt meter from Radio Shack can be very handy.  A simple digital model will do.
	Polarity checker		This little device can tell you if the marina you just hooked up to is going to blow your AC circuits.
	"Velcro" tape		You can buy short Velcro tape made up to hold lines, etc.  Also, at some boat show you can buy a simpler version like the piece Wendy is holding.  This tape can be cut in smaller pieces to handle smaller chores.
	Indoor/Outdoor temp		We were curious about in/out temperatures, but not enough to buy a good thermometer.  This cheap version from Radio Shack works well.  We drilled a hole through the front wall, under the visor for the temp sensor and sealed it with the white stuff.
NANCY ANN  top	What's in our boat		Do we like it or not?
Hull/Cabin	"Low side"		High Side version was not available. We would have bought it to keep the cockpit dry (as well as the added headroom in the cuddy).
	Extended roof		Sun is a problem for us.  The roof is also a great place to carry a dinghy.
	Opening middle window.		Very nice breeze, but you have to watch the spray when there is a chop.  We keep it closed in all but smooth sailing.  At anchor, it is very nice to have this window open.
	Wipers		Wipers on both sides.  We don't have momentary switches (yet) but they would be very handy.
	Head		As received from Rosborough, except that we removed the door which interferes with the use of the head when the table insert is in the bunk location (all the time for us), and we replaced all the non-septic hoses.
	TV Shelf
		Wendy and Doreen love the new TV	Top view                      Bottom view                 Too much clue!            Bungee Stops hold TV in place   Stops hold shelf in place  Glue expands!           For when we  forget.
			We have to pay for cable whether we use it or not, so we bought this little 9" DVD player/TV at Best Buy (Toshiba MD9DP1).  Runs on 110v AC or 12v DC.  The shelf is intended for stationary use only, we will set the TV on the bunk when we travel.
	V-berth pad		Tried some of the cheap "egg crate" fixes but finally bought a "Temper Pedic" type pad at a discount store. This works very well.
Engine	Yamaha 115 4 cycle Armstrong Bracket		Quiet.  Very easy starting.  Cruise 12.5 to 15 knots.  Top end just under 20 knots.  We would buy the 150 next time on a full width bracket.
	Mercury 5 hp-2 cycle		Carried on a bracket.  Dinghy motor and emergency backup.
Galley	Pressurized water		We were never impressed with the manual systems in campers, so we got the pressurized on the boat.  Works great.
	Refrigerator		Norcold.  Runs a lot, and switches from AC to DC automatically upon loss of shore power.  During a recent repair, we added a manual shutoff switch outside of the refrig. so we can shut it off underway without opening the door.
Anchor	The fender is to help us (and our neighbors) when docking.  Notice the hole we drilled to let the anchor sit down on the roller at rest.
	Stove		Two burner alcohol. Works just a little slower than propane.  We cook pasta, eggs, lobsters, whatever.  A gas barbeque is nice too!
	Water heater		The boat spends a lot of time in our slip. With shore power, the heater works great. After two days at anchor, we still have warm water.
Cockpit	Cockpit Shower		Terrific for rinsing off after a salt water swim.
Electronics	Radio		Apelco 5160 VHF. Nothing special. Monitoring Wx (weather), Ch 16 and one other channel (09?) is necessary.
	Thru hull depth		We installed a thru hull depth finder when the boat was built.  It works great, but is totally unnecessary.  The transom mounted fish finder never loses the bottom signal.
	Fish finder		Raytheon L365. Nothing special.  Has depth, water temp, speed (not great), fish. Fast bottom readout, never loses signal.
	Chart plotter		Si-tex Nautilus NT (color).  Very impressive. It is a joy to pick waypoints off the screen instead of figuring them out from charts and then typing them in. We find the chart plotter very handy.  Look for faster refresh rates, then other features.
	Radar		JRC 1500. This is a real extra, however, when the fog rolls in, it is very nice to have.
Ground Tackle	22lb Delta, 200' rode		The Delta is a bit of over kill for this size boat, but the extra holding power is always comforting.  We would not go smaller.  200 feet of rode lets us anchor in 30 feet of water with almost 7:1 ratio.  Less would be too little.
Curtains	Mini-blinds plus home made		We have the mini-blinds (no longer offered?) on our cabin side windows and large aft window. For the other windows, we used muslin and made our own.  They are attached with strips of Velcro.  Note, we rarely use these extra curtains.
TRAILERS top
WATER SYSTEM top
Pressurized	Leak at accumulator tee.		Teflon tape. Read about our leak on Doreen's web site, old newsletter from Jul 2001
Raw Water	Cracked valve body. video		Raw water wash down draws water from a thru hull in the cockpit that runs thru a pump and out to a hose in the cockpit. The system has to be filled with "pink stuff" over the winter months in the Northeast, and the valve should be left OPEN when the boat is stored on the hard.  Winter of 2004-2005 I forgot to open the valve, and found the valve body cracked in the spring, AFTER we put the boat in the water. After talking to Rosborough, we decided to change it in the water (see video). We used pipe dope on the threads. A side issue: it seems I was a little heavy handed with the old valve and bent the stop tab on the handle (left picture).  The bent tab meant that the flow was restricted when open (right picture).

top