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  1. tpenfield

    DIY - Canvas Enclosure

    Greetings . . . With boating season only a month or 2 away in the Northeast (USA) I have been busy doing some canvas work for my boat. My boat only came with the mooring cover, not the full camper-style enclosure. So that is on my project list for this year. . . to make an enclosure. The...
  2. tpenfield

    2024 Boston Boat Show

    I went to the boat show today to wander and wonder. Overall a good sized show, probably as big it has ever been. . I stopped by each of the usual suspects to see what is new and what is the same as before. Key take-aways: 1) The upholstery quality and workmanship is way up this year, pretty...
  3. tpenfield

    Thinking about an upgrade for the tow vehicle

    Greetings, I've been thinking about selling my current truck and getting a bigger/better truck. My current 2012 F-150 EcoBoost is pretty well outmatched for my rig, which comes in at about 14,000 lbs. (boat + trailer). The dry weight of the boat is 11,080 lbs and the trailer is 1,600 lbs...
  4. tpenfield

    Anti-freeze Question . . . Change of Color ???

    OK, I know that the color of RV/Marine antifreeze is insignificant and more arbitrary. However, I've had a fairly strange occurrence in my winterizing last year and now this year. It seems that on the hot water side of my boat's plumbing system the AF goes in pink (or red for the -100˚F) and...
  5. tpenfield

    Happy Birthday Aspeck !!!

    Happy Birthday, I hope you have a great day. :)
  6. tpenfield

    Happy Birthday Bob_VT !!!

    I hope all is well and you have a great day. :)
  7. tpenfield

    New Boat Launch Ramp

    Our local boat launch ramp is getting replaced. It seems like they are re-grading it to make it steeper by the looks of it. The stones are placed over the existing ramp. I'm not sure on the construction method so far; it appears that more than stones will be needed to re-grade . . . perhaps...
  8. tpenfield

    My AGM Batteries Singing Their Swan Song . . .

    My boat was built 8 years ago and put into service about 7 years ago. I think the AGM batteries ( 31AGM) are starting to die out. I believe that 7-8 years would be about a normal replacement cycle for AGM batteries. I think it may have been the cause of my voltage warning issues last year...
  9. tpenfield

    P.S.A. . . . SAE J2807 Towing capacity spec's

    In my research on trailering and tow vehicles, I came across a new standard for establishing towing capacity ratings for light trucks/SUV's, etc. SAE J2807 came into effect on/about 2015 model years.
  10. tpenfield

    Thinking about converting surge brakes to electric - Tri-Axle Trailer

    My 2021 trailer came with surge brakes on all 6 wheels. Even so, stopping is a weak-point as it puts too much forward pressure on the truck. I'm assuming that with electric/hydraulic brakes the trailer will tend to stop more on its own. I am thinking about a conversion to electric (what I...
  11. tpenfield

    Don't forget that outdrive anti-fouling paint. . .

    Just saying . . .
  12. tpenfield

    Check those wheel bearings . . .

    I've been doing a bit of checking on my tri-axle trailer the past few days, as I'll probably be using it to pull the boat out of the water in the next few weeks. I've felt that the surge brakes were not really working in previous uses of the trailer. Yesterday, I hit the calipers with a little...
  13. tpenfield

    . . . and I Thought Hi-tech Boat Engines Were Bad . . .

    I had a problem with the AC/heat system on my car for the past 6-8 months and finally decided to fix it. As I was checking fuses (there is something like 150 of them), I managed to get one back in the wrong slot. :unsure: All heck broke loose and the car would not start and proceeded to...
  14. tpenfield

    Fuel Cost vs.Total Cost of Ownership . . .

    Often there is discussion about the cost of fuel, which is a consideration of boat ownership, but not as significant as you might think. I try to save $$$ on fuel more out of principle than actual make or break of the boating budget. This morning, since I just came off a 3+ week 'vacation' (a...
  15. tpenfield

    Kodiak Anchor - Made by SouthCoast Marine . . .???

    I had an anchor mishap today while anchoring at the local sand bar. The shaft is bent and the rode frayed because the roller flange that the anchor & rode feed through had a sharp edge to it and eventually cut through the line and the bow anchor & chain went into the bottom . . Thankfully...
  16. tpenfield

    Faria SmartCraft Speedometer???

    Greetings- I have been trying to select the speed input source to be the GPS on my SC1000 Speedometer. The User Manual makes it sound simple (hold - Mode and + buttons for 6 seconds, blah, blah, blah) All the thing wants to do is go into the depth gauge menu, no matter what I do. Any...
  17. tpenfield

    MacBook Pro . . . Tragedy

    My MacBook laptop of 6 years decided to go into a reboot loop all of a sudden today. I tried a bunch of things, but the situation only got worse. I first was able to boot into safe mode and it would stay running for about a minute then crash . . . blank (black) screen no error message . . ...
  18. tpenfield

    Lowering the bunks . . .

    Since I might be taking my boat out in the next few weeks for some un-planned maintenance, I wanted to lower the bunks to make retrieval and launching a bit easier. The trailer has quite a few adjustments. . . height, spacing, etc. The increments are 1.5" on the height, and it looks like can...
  19. tpenfield

    2016 Mercruiser 6.2L ECT DTS Axius Cooling System Issue

    Greetings, Branching off from my 'boat is being a boat' thread, I am posting about an issue with the starboard engine cooling system (Serial # in my signature below) Keep in mind that the engines in my boat are the in-house Mercury built engines, not the GM 6.2 that preceded them. Fun Facts...
  20. tpenfield

    1983 25 HP Evinrude Shifting Very Stiff

    Greetings, Model E25ELCTD , Which I believe is 1983 (ish). Cable single lever remote controls . . . electric start. The shifting F-N-R is very stiff and takes an excessive amount of effort on the control lever to get the motor to shift in and out of gear. I've taken a quick look at the parts...
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