Recent content by richardoren

Trying to dilute the grizzly repairs with hopeful improvements, I located a tender hoist which mounts to a swim platform at the transom. It would be great but I first have to make sure that an after market fiberglass swim platform could withstand the weight of the dinghy. The hoist accepts up to...

Hi Guys, Some of you will no doubt be wondering why I vanished from the forum for the past year. Call it a state of shock. Latest news was that we spent the summer with the kids working into the night, they did more than their share with 15 hour work days! 12 year-old daughter did all the...

Hi Guys, Well, after hand scraping the hull and watertite/repainting the old gal finally took to sea. The 8V53s run strong and she seems as seaworthy as they get. Although she's just a baby Hatt she has a noble name, the teak ladder steps are a custom carved gift from Paul Starzynski...

Hi Guys, Sure didn't know what to reply. In the process of hand scraping, dry sanding repainting, varnishing and generally fully refitting the abandonned HATT prior to her Mediterannean launch... and a shipyard neighbor told me to be sure to replace the zinc anodes mounted "inside" the engines...

I know this sounds crazy - and amazed I was to read in a diesel forum that Super Duty John from Vero Beach Florida uses ACETONE in both his diesel and gasoline engines: "Acetone is about $13 a gallon at paint stores. Add 2.5 ounces for every 10 gallons of diesel or B-100. It provides about a...

Came across this ad for an outfit providing Radiometric Thermal Imaging for yachts - I'd assume this is probably more useful for higher output recent diesel engines rather than for trusty old DDs. However, what does interest me is the ability to detect electrical hazards in the making due to...

Trying to spif up the old girl, simple tricks often work best. ;) But our friends at Sam's didn't know for sure what rail diameter I'd have in order to mount the right post for a Burghee flag. Here's a catalog pic of the boat with the original (smaller) flag in place...

Hi Guys, Like the title says, are they shafting me dripless? Got an estimate from the yard for changing the shaft seals at the hull and propellor mount: 45 hours of labor. :eek: Is this for real? I'd heard in this forum that it was a pretty straightforward task within the reach of even an...

Moved to Technical Discussion. Thx for deleting title.

Hi Guys, Off to the old boat this weekend with the family as elves. While down there it seems timely to address the fuel tank issue. The boat was left relatively unattended for quite a few years. Both tanks are full and diesel here costs $7/gal so I prefer to use it rather than scrap it but...

Hi Guys, I've been away, offline attending to Hatt problems among others, glad to at last be back. :cool: So I won't bore you all with a lost season of no boating - When in Vermont I upgraded my vintage heads with super comfy Elongated units, but this is in the house. Now the boat heads seem...

A friend recommended coveralls, diesel diapers and knee pads. But everything being Metric in Europe, it means that you have to buy a tool kit in the US and bring it back to the boat. What tools are of vital necessity? I'm partial to Craftsman as they're guaranteed for life and fairly reasonably...

Hi Guys, I'm heading to Miami at the end of the week, and will by making the obligatory pilgrimage to SAM's. However, the new old boat needs a lot of stuff, ranging from ropes and accessories which are less HATT specific. Considering the extensive restoration project, I need to keep costs...

This being off topic in another thread, it seemed useful to start a dedicated thread to Detroit Diesel MUSIC. I think we can add insulation ideas, exhaust muffling and backpressure management, air intake improvements as well as blower silencers. Regarding that last point, one very savvy forum...

DDs are great, and shouldn't be repowered to puny overstressed 4-strokes unless you have a need for speed or will be covering big distances and don't mind more frequent majors. But, over in the boatdiesel forum, folks are saying that there is up to a 30% difference in Brake Specific Fuel...