The Nor’Sea27 Owners NewsLine
The Newsletter of Inspired Nor’Sea 27 boat owners.
Issue # 18                   Jul., Aug., Sept. 1999

Highlights
Lyle Hess Sailing Association forming
Midwest Nor’Sea Get-Together Information
Gybe-Ho by Gary Campbell
Plus news from No News & Cruise Notes

Inside
Dean Wixom talks about Lyle Hess
After market Diesel fresh water cooling by Mike Haley
A discussion on what fuel gauge to use
Spring Sail-In to Oakland YC By Gary & Mari Campbell
 

Greetings Everyone!

Well, it's about to become a reality!  After nearly two years of promotion on the internet, we now have the impetus to form the Lyle Hess Sailing Association.  Here is what is in the works:

If you own a Lyle Hess designed boat or, if you used to own a Lyle Hess designed boat or, if you love Lyle Hess designed boats and just want to be around them, then you need to be in Long Beach California July 17th and 18th (plan to arrive the evening of the 16th if you can).

Roger Olson of Sam L. Morse Co., the builders of the Bristol Channel Cutter and the Falmouth Cutter, have planned this rendezvous and want to lend a hand in launching the Lyle Hess Sailing Association.  Mr. Olson writes:

"The Hess Boat Rendezvous is scheduled for July 17 and 18 at the downtown Long Beach Marina, across from the Queen Mary on Shoreline.  The docks will be $0.50 per foot based on deck length.  There are showers, restaurants, hotels, etc. available.  The activities are still open but we want any and all who admire or own a Lyle Hess boat there.  They must check in with the harbor master on arrival....by boat.  Also, let me know by July 1 so I can reserve space."

In addition, provisions will be made for those attending without a boat.  In fact, if you have ever wanted to be aboard other Hess designs, this is your chance.  Roger tells me that the emphasis will be on getting folks there even if they do not currently own a boat so... tell your friends and fellow sailors!  If you are interested in being part of the rendezvous, simply reply to me and I will forward all requests for more information to Roger.

Do you have an artistic flare?  If so, your design of a burgee would be most welcomed.  After all, we can't have all of these Lyle Hess designed boats sailing around without some kind of recognizable logo/burgee.

I am asking everyone interested to submit a burgee design to me ASAP.  I will place all of them on the internet and allow YOU to decide which is the design that best represents our loyalty and appreciation for well designed craft.  Keep in mind that Lyle's designs span the gamit from one-off custom boats to commercial craft including the La Paz 25 motor sailor (anyone know of someone with a La Paz?).  Please submit your ideas by June 1st so that we can get a quote on the burgee.  You can e-mail me for more information.

Right now, our "association" is exclusively internet based.  Obviously, we are leaving out a multitude of people.  I am interested in your input.  Do we want a "Snail Mail" newsletter or, do we want to be exclusively on-line?  Personally, I have come to view the Lyle Hess Sailing Association as a sort of "Yacht Club at large", if that makes any sense.  Again, your input is requested.

Ultimately, all of us leave behind a legacy.  One day, Mr. Hess will too.  It is my hope that those of us who appreciate his work will have a hand in helping his family compile such an archive, providing interested people in future generations, access to a catalogue of Lyle's designs, reference material, and a source for purchasing his plans.  Again, I welcome your ideas.

I want to thank the people at "Good Old Boat" magazine for the kind mention of our efforts in their most recent issue.  Special thanks are also in order to the Northern California Nor'Sea 27 owners who have caught the vision for this association.  I have received a flurry of e-mail from several of their members since the "Good Old Boat" mention.  I want to thank Mr. Storm Connors, a fellow Balboa 20 owner who helped to keep this effort alive (when I could have easily quit) with on-going e-mails (and forming a great B20 discussion group) during my recent political campaign.  Lastly, thank you all for your interest and thank you Lyle, for designing some of the finest sailing craft to venture away from shore. Well, enough for now.  I look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing many of you in Long Beach.

Good Sailing...

Cliff
 

"All I ever wanted to do was design boats"...Lyle Hess

"I would gladly spend the rest of my life building Lyle Hess boats"...N.D.Wixom

Lyle Hess never designed a bad boat.  All designers have a design or two that was...somewhat regrettable.  Not so with Lyle.  The needs of the boat always came first, precluding the needs of the builder, the sales people and the marketplace.  He would never have survived as an " in house" designer.  He designed the boats he cared about drawing  and hoped someone would build them.

He did enjoy commercial success with the trailerables he designed for Richard Arthur of Coastal Recreation.  The Balboa and Aquarius lines created the mass market for trailerable sailboats long before MacGregor et.al.

It was a sometimes tense relationship.  Arthur had his dealers hammering him for price and value and Lyle resisted economies that would harm the boat.  The struggle produced spectacular success, the boats sold in the thousands.

I still see them in every marina, especially those inland.  They serve their purpose well, and are still valued.

I think Lyle's greatest designs were those that were seldom or never built.  These are the boats I would have happily spend my life building --- if it were for fun and not for profit.  These are sailor's boats, not boats for a market.  Profit wasn't a factor in their design, nor did a builder commission and pay for them.  Lyle drew them for the sheer joy of it with little hope [perhaps fond hope] of finding a buyer.

There is a 40 foot schooner I would trade parts of my anatomy for [the left side].  It has a purity of line that takes my breath away, and would sail like a witch.  If I had a spare half million it would be mine.  There are so many others, trawlers, many variants of the Bristol Channel pilot boats, each more sophisticated than the last.  There are fun boats, quirqy boats and drop dead gorgeous boats, that will never see light, except in Lyle's mind and drawings.

Numerous people including the Pardeys and myself have offered to package the Hess portfolio into book form, to be available to all and add these unknown boats to Lyle's legacy.  Lyle always resisted; "I'm too busy now, perhaps after the next boat is finished".

That leads us to Lyles greatest legacy, his integrity.  The boats are a visible legacy; his integrity is what made them great.

Strong will is a virtue if the holder is right, and Lyle is usually right when dealing with boats [not economics].  If Lyle designed a boat for you it was his life [and yours] until the project was finished.  He gives all, long past the point he is paid for.

For all that he is a traditionalist Lyle is an innovator.  His backward-looking boats look forward below the waterline, with sophisticated hulls bearing little resemblance to tradition.

Our NorSea astonishes people with the room below.  Lyle transformed the interior of the boat with a clever trick. You all know it but perhaps don't appreciate it enough.  Lyle raised the deck to caprail level in the area of the house, dropping down to traditional deck level fore and aft.  These few inches of height allowed sitting headroom below the deck, and nearly doubled the amount of people room below.  This was done without spoiling the NorSea's lines.  That’s why our boat is a 27 footer that looks like a forty footer in profile.

Of all Lyle's builders I think I enjoyed the best relationship with him.  When we were tooling the 27 we had little to disagree on and I had money to burn on a cost-no object project.  This lack of friction and my profound respect for Lyle created a treasured friendship. Lyle and I fed each other ideas and enthusiasms.  We exalted in what we were doing.  The result, our 27 footer, was more than the sum of its parts; better than it should have been.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             That's what makes a classic.

Fair winds
 

The place for our Midwest summer NorSea gathering will be somewhere in the North Chanel of Lake Huron.  Schedules are crazy, but No News will be there the last   week of July and the first week of August.  If you plan to be in the area, give   us a call before July 20th at 309-661-8119 or give us a call on the VHF after  that.

  Gale & Nancy Saint s/v NO NEWS

April 17, 1999 25 sailors got together at the Oakland Yacht Club (OYC) on Alameda Island CA.  There are many NorSea's already at the OYC - Beth & John Lewis' PROPER MOTION, Paul & Diane Morrison's PILGRIM, Caroline & Frank Hooper's KALOLINA, Nick and Sandy Meyer’s MIRAGE and our boat WINGS.  Three boats sailed in - Alan and Nancy Brinkman from San Pablo (noname hull #139), George, George Jr. & Stephen and Elizabeth Marchotte from Tiburon (Sea of Tranquility) and Jay and Linda Hill from Coyote Point (Beowulf).

Bob Egg from southern California was in attendance.  Bob is now the builder of Nor’Seas.  I am thinking about buying from Bob a Montgomery 6'8" dingy that would fit under my boom (I have an aft cockpit Nor'Sea.)

Greg Delezynski and his wife Jill were important contributors with enthusiasm and knowledge.  They had enjoyed the boat show and participated in their third Lin and Larry Pardee cruising seminar.

Eleanor the chef at the Oakland Yacht Club prepared a wonderful dinner and Linneth Cox, the assistant Club Manager took care of us very well.  As my Illinois mother used to say, "A good time was had by all."

Gary & Mari Campbell
WINGS
Hull #95

Ed: See photos of the gathering on the Web site photo album page.
 

Monday, August 17, 1998

The mast was horizontal, lashed to the bow pulpit, supported at the mast step with a 4x4 and braced over our heads in the stern with a framework of crossed 2x2s. We were ready to make the critical right turn from the Niagara River into the Erie Canal and thus avoid going over the Niagra Falls!! We departed the yacht club about 0800 with the wind at out back. Without a mast up, the wind was not near as important as it had been as we crossed three of the Great Lakes, earlier in the summer.

With intense concentration we studied the river, the marks and the banks to watch for the entrance to the canal. Someone had mentioned that the Holiday Inn on port side was an easy mark telling us where to turn to starboard. A smaller sign on the river bank welcomed us to the New York Barge Canal. As we rounded the corner, we noticed a large beautiful cruising sailboat in the midst of the unstepping her mast. "Are you really from Illinois? I'm from Cicero! My boat is LA BOATIQUE" one of the men hollered.

We spotted the decrepet gas dock at Wardells Boat Yard and were not sure it would remain standing if we tied our 27 foot sailboat up to it. It was a "must" stop and others had been doing it for years, so we circled, slowed to a stop, held our breath and made our lines fast. Gale chatted a while with old man Wardell, we made our purchases of Captain Bob's canal guide book and other charts and started on our way, down the Erie Barge Canal.

Our eyes were wide open with anticipation as we meandered through North Tonawanda, watched small parks glide by as well as several small stores with their own dock on the canal. The day warmed rapidly. We jurry riged our awning over the mast to keep the sun off our cockpit. The historical significance of the Erie Barge Canal was always emphasized in geography classes in grade school and experiencing this first hand would complete the lesson.

The Skipper Bob's guide book for the Canal was written as if you were heading from Troy. NY to Buffalo, so we have to learn to read it backwards. The first lock we approached from the west was Lock #35 and #34 at Lockport, NY. "Lock 35 lockmaster, this is the sailboat NO NEWS approaching from the west. We have to purchase our pass." He replied on chanel 13 that he was in the midst of locking someone up, so we would have to wait about 20 minutes.

LOCK #34

WHOA! At this point, the canal had a current running with us of about 3-4 knots, so that made it difficult to stop a 10,000 lb boat. A highway bridge crossed the canal here, and we thought maybe we could find a spot to hang on to under there while we waited. Nothing was accessable for me to grab, under this decaying viaduct, so with the current carrying us toward the closed lock gates, and panic growing, we tried to circle back upstream. At that point I spotted a ladder on the other side of the bridge that I could run a line through.

About this time, the lockmaster opened the gates, a little tour boat motored past us and we were allowed to enter the lock. "Tie to the port side, since you will have to come in to buy your pass", he radioed.

Gale returned smiling with the orange diamond sticker pass in hand and announced that the lockmaster had invited us to use their newly constructed transient dock, with free electricity and rest rooms that was just to the left of the lock. During our two days at this free dock, we toured their museum, watched as boats from around the world, including LA BOATIQUE and ATLANTIC HIGH locked through and learned all the mechanics of running a lock, as well as shopped for ice cream and groceries right in downtown Lockport several blocks away.

Before entering the Buffalo area, we had stopped at Dunkirk, NY, on Lake Erie, for several days. Another transient sailboat docked next to us and the topic of conversation always starts with "Where are you heading?" They were returning to the Ohio area after a year of cruising, which included going both ways on the Erie Barge Canal, through the Chesapeak Bay and down to Florida and back. They had been there and done that! Out came their guide books and chart books with many tips on places to stop and fuel stops to avoid. This treasure of information can be priceless, but is so willingly shared among cruisers. Our confidence rose as Gale and I started this part of our journey from Chicago to New York City and beyond.
 

Middleport wasn't very far down the canal, from Lockport, but we knew we had to stop there. The tie ups are just at the side of the canal, with electrical boxes close at hand. The boat tied just ahead of us was LA BOATIQUE who was traveling with ATLANTIC HIGH. What fun it was to finally meet these folks and learn about the things available in Middleport, they had already discovered. It turned out that Pete, on LA BOATIQUE had also installed his own propane sensor unit and had overcome the same difficulties that Gale had encountered. He was a great help.

Middleport

The stop at Brockport, a college town, was our first encounter with PELICAN, a trawler, from Wisconsin, heading to the Bahamas. Sue and Tony became great traveling companions later on in the canal. Jon, who was in the small woodie "Lyman" restored power boat named WHISTLING OYSTER, was anxious to share his love of the canal with us. He and his dog would travel up and down this section of the canal each summer. He also shared his knowledge of Propane stoves with us, as we tried to determine the problem with our new oven and broiler that wouldn't light. If I would turn the button with the arrow pointing to the oven burner, the oven will light!! Thanks, Jon.

As we entered a lock down the way, the lockmaster said, "NO NEWS, wait right there, I have something for you!" The letter he handed us was a most congenial note from Jon, offering assistance as we neared his home. Real people are really great.

We connected with PELICAN again at Little Falls. The Rotary at Little Falls had restored one of the terminal buildings from the heavy shipping days on the canal, as a public restroom and gathering place for travelers on the canal. That shower really felt good. We had arranged for some of our mail to be sent to us at the Little Falls post office. When Gale picked it up, the elderly postmaster lamented the fact that only three people had used Little Falls for a mail drop, when there used to be many each year. The little lady working at the laundramat was most considerate and gave us a ride back across the bridge in the rain with our clean clothes.

Little Falls

The lock #17 at Little Falls was the highest drop of the entire canal system and the lock gate was unusual in that the gate would lift up and your boat would pass under it, as the water dripped down. The locks are only about 40 ft wide, so it is an oppressive feeling as your boat decends with the water. We would each grab a line and use a boat hook to fend off against the slimy walls. As the water was drained from the lock, the boat would move slightly, but not near as much as in the locks where you were being lifted. Those were really turbulant.

Lock #17

One evening's stop with PELICAN, was at lock #8 wall near a shopping mall. The lock master gave us directions to the local mall, so Sue and I hopped on their two bicycles in search of the mall with its promise of ice cream. Our line item "Ice Cream" was way under budget at the time. The bicycle path that followed the canal was blacktopped and worked its way through the trees. The ride was invigerating, but as we started our return trip, with the frozen blizzards in hand, we learned that it gets really dark on a blacktopped trail through the trees. At one point, teenage boys loomed out of the darkness with comments like, "Neat bikes". "Keep peddling, Sue", I encouraged. Our hearts stopped pounding after we had devoured the ice cream back in the safety of the well lighted boats.

As the lock numbers declined, we knew we were getting closer to the end of the canal and approaching a new chapter on the Hudson River. After completing lock number two, we would be on the Hudson River, but until we pass through lock #one at Troy, we would still be in fresh water, with no tide or current. At that point another story begins.

Nancy – NONEWS
 
 

Ed: We met Mike at the Sail Expo West and as a number of owners were talking about converting to fresh water cooling for their Yanmar engines, we had to as what he thought about it.  He was kind enough to write this for us.   Thanks Mike!

Ever year I get quite a number of customers inquiring about changing their raw water cooling auxiliary engine to fresh water cooling.

There are a couple of reasons why this may not be such a good idea.

One consideration is cost.  Between the heat exchanger, circulating pump, plumbing hardware, thermostat and custom fabricated brackets, one could quite easily spend over $2000.00 before it’s all said and done. On some engines, the heat exchanger is integral with the exhaust manifold. This part can cost over $1000.00 alone!

Secondly, there is the possibility of actually doing damage to the engine! Raw water cooled engines generally operate at 125 to 135 degrees (F). Fresh water engines operate at 165 to 180 Degrees (F). This increase in temperature and the addition of coolant can lead to loosening of salt and calcium deposits which can in turn, clog cooling passages. The increase in heat could also remove deposits which used to actually be blocking off pin holes, creating internal or external leaks. As metal heats up, it expands, and an abrupt change in this expansion due to an increase in heat could potentially warp a head or manifold creating other problems.

Those of you that are fortunate enough to have a Yanmar in your Nor’Sea 27 should know that Yanmar designs all of their smaller engines to be raw water cooled. Fresh water cooling is an option. Yanmar maintains that their raw water cooled engines will last just as long as the fresh water cooled version.

I have been a Yanmar dealer for well over twenty years and can tell you from my experience that this is true. I have NEVER seen a Yanmar overheat from clogging of the cooling passages under normal operating conditions.

Mike Haley
RICHMOND BOAT WORKS

Nancy Saint asks...
What fuel gauges have worked for you?

We had a new Tempo electronic fuel gauge installed and it never did work. I   think it’s the float in the tank that doesn't seem to work. It always registers   ½ full when turned on and then goes back to E when turned off.

Does the Tempo mechanical fuel gauge work? WM 1998 catalog pg246

Nancy & Gale - NO NEWS

From Greg & Jill Delezynski S/V Guenevere http://home.att.net/~g-j-delezynski/

We use a WEMA, electric, very low cost, and works good. West does not carry it,   but I can get you the address/Phone number if you are interested.

John Lewis also uses them. Also, you can use one gauge and set it up to read each water tank and the fuel. Check out: http://yachting.net/wemausa/
Greg

From: Bob Pletschke

Hi Nancy:I have just installed a Tempo fuel gauge in my Com-Pac 23. The package states each unit is 100% pre-inspected. It may be possible the installer didn't read the installation instructions (a common male trait). To answer possibly your next question, yes with age comes more wisdom. I did read the instructions.   Basic Tempo fuel gauges part # 576 for up to 35 gallon tanks are compatible with 35 to 240 ohm sending units. It may be the sending unit.
Bob P

 From Nancy Saint

Thanks for the hint. Would you be able to FAX me a copy of the instructions, since our installer never gave them to us - maybe never even looked at them. I tried to follow the wires today, and they were a little confusing. I guess I could contact the company for a copy of the instructions. I have looked at the WEMA, that Greg and John Lewis mentioned and it seems to be a very simple operation. I have E-Mailed WEMA to get more info.
Nancy Saint - NO NEWS

From: John Lewis

We have the same WEMA fuel gauge as Greg and Jill and it works great. I also installed sensors on the water tanks. They work OK but, due to the strange shape of the NORSEA water tanks, they don’t track the level as close as I'd like.
John

From: Alain Provost  AP5050@aol.com

I have a very accurately graduated wood dowel stick for the Nor'Sea fuel tank if anybody is interested in low tech.
Alain Provost

From John Lewis

I have a calibrated wooden dowel also but have found that the WEMA gauge works better.

I remember one night of motoring a crossed the gulf of California when I was getting low on fuel. I stopped every couple of hours to measure the remaining fuel because I wanted to save some for getting into San Carlos. The wood dowel method was so inaccurate toward the bottom of the tank that it indicated that I
was making fuel for one 2 hour period.
John

From: Alain Provost

John. With the wood dowel method the stick has to be calibrated from a totally empty tank as you put fuel in 5 GL. at the time. The shape of the tank is of a V cross section tapering aft. Each time you add another 5 GL. you mark the stick. Fool proof and VERY accurate once the initial measurements have been taken
properly. Total capacity is around 24 Gallon
L.Alain Provost

From: Greg Delezynski

A bit of info, not all Nor'Sea have the same "original" fuel tank. Some have been replaced due to the well know leak problem. Also, Like John, I have a wood dowel as a backup, but on dark and sloppy night, it's not a nice task to dip the tank. Another good point about the WEMA, the sending units have a built in
averaging system, so as the boat pitches, the gauge reads out the correct fuel level. With the dowel, if you are low on fuel and the boat pitches bit, you can not be sure of the level you are getting. AND, I can always use the wood if I need to. I think I paid about $35.00 for the gauge (only one required for all tanks) and about the same for each sending unit. Not a bad price to avoid having my head in the engine room when I would rather be up watching the surroundings.
Greg
 
 
 

From: John Lewis jklewis1@home.com

The problem was not with calibrating the stick at the dock. The problem is that the stick method offers no damping. Your reading will essentially be the highest point the fuel sloshed during the time you took the reading. When the level in the tank gets low and the boat is rolling, there is a whole lot of sloshing
going on. The net result is that it is very difficult to tell the difference between 3 gallons and 6 gallons left in the tank if there is any kind of sea running. Unfortunately that's when you need the information the most. The electronic system damps the signal from the sensor and effectively averages the reading rather than reporting only the highest reading it got. The measurement still has errors but it is more repeatable. The best part of the electronic fuel gauge is that you don't have to kill the engine to make the reading. On my boat the hole for inserting the stick in too close to the fan belts for comfort so I won’t take a measurement that way while the engine is running. The calibrated stick wins on reliability so I still have it. But, my WEMA sensor has been in place for a couple of years and quite a few bouncy offshore miles and shows no sign of trouble. I think its design is inherently more reliable than the sensors that have long lever arms. The WEMA has a floating collar on a rod. The collar contains magnets and the rod probably contains reed switches (I'm guessing). So, the float does not get torqued around when the fuel sloshes. John.

From: Kerry teeple kerryt@hotmail.com

John: I am interested in installing a WEMA fuel and water gauge on my Nor'Sea 27. I have found that Boat US here in S.D. has the catalogues for the company and if I measure the depth of the tanks I'll be able to order thru them. My question is how have you installed the sensors on the tanks... particularly, the
water tanks (if you still have the originals)? Please tell me what you have done.
Good Sailing, Kerry Teeple, "Emerald", #8.
 
 
 

From: John Lewis jklewis1@home.com

Hi Kerry, We met you one day in mariners's cove way back when we first bought our boat. Our aft-cabin NorSea is called "Proper Motion"..It has a green stripe. Anyway, to answer your question, I just cut hole in the top of the water tanks using a hole saw. WEMA sells a backup plate with threaded inserts that is cut so you can slip it through the hole for the sensor and then move it into place. I tied a string through one hole so I could retrieve the backup plate easily if I dropped. I did….Just cut the string after you get one of the screws started. I positioned the sensors near the inboard forward end of the tank. That's where the tank is deepest and where there is the most clearance for the part of the sensor that goes outside the tank.

Quite frankly, I would skip the water sensors if I had it to do over. They really don’t have good enough resolution to tell you what you want to know. I think I'd rig some kind of sight glass in the engine room using plastic tubing. The problem is with the shape of the tanks, not the performance of the WEMA
sensors.

The thing I did do with the water tank system that I find handy is I routed the lines from the tanks to a manifold of PVC sprinkler valves that I located in the galley cabinet under the stove. This was so I could switch tanks without opening the engine room access door. Now when the first tank runs dry in the middle of  washing the dishes, I just reach under the stove and close one valve and open the other. The valves are high in the cabinet against the aft bulkhead and do not take up otherwise useful storage space. I used stop cock type valves so I can feel them and know which is open and which is closed.

The fuel tank sensor works great. I mounted mine on the foward end of the tank about 8-10 inches aft of the front edge. I enlarged a hole that was already there by screwing a short piece of wood across the holeand using the wood for the guide hole for a hole saw. I am sure some metal filings fell in the tank but I tired to minimize it. Its been two-year and a couple of fuel filter changes and I have never seen any evidence of metal filings in the fuel filters.
Hope this helps\regards, John

From: Nancy Saint nonews@worldnet.att.net

John, Do you know the length of the WEMA sensor that you used in your fuel tank? I talked with the company and he said it should be a little shorter than the fuel pick up tube. He said the 24" tube was $43.00 I believe. It sure sounds more sensible than the one with the arm that swings. Nancy Saint s/v NO NEWS

From: John Lewis jklewis1@home.com

NANCY, I do not remember the length of the sensor I bought but you should measure your tank anyway. My tank was a replacement of the original but I don't think it's the current tank that Bob is installing. The newer tanks are taller than mine. I installed it in the hole that was already there for the dip stick so I just measured using the stick and selected the next shortest sensor. You want to get the longest sensor your tank will hold so that the gauge will track the fuel level as long as possible. Its when the tank is getting empty that I want the gauge to tell me what is going on. You can drill a small hole in your tank (about the size of the pilot bit on the hole saw you will use to cut the hole for the sensor) and stick a wire down the tank to measure the depth. Then run a sheet metals crew into the hole to seal the tank until you are ready to install the sensor. In addition to the sensor you want to make sure you get the back up plate that they sell for installing the sensor. Using the backup plate allows you to drill screw holes that are larger than the screws and that helps you deal with tiny errors in the locations of the screw holes. The alternative is to drill the holes precisely where you need them and tap the holes. That's tedious and does not result in any better installation. As a matter of fact, I think you are better off with the big holes because the stainless steel screws will not be in direct contact with the aluminum tank. I have always intended to calibrate my gauge by adding fuel a little at a time and recording the reading. That project is on the list somewhere but is not that high. I don't use enough fuel here in Sam Francisco to empty the tank very often and am to lazy to pump the fuel out for the sake of the calibration project. Maybe I'll get to it this summer. But then, maybe I'll just have another beer instead.

Another detail that may be helpful is that I installed the gauge where the original electrical panel was mounted. I replaced the original electrical panel with one I built in the aft cabin using 24 circuit breakers (3 Wheems and Plath panels). So, the original galley location was available for other stuff. I installed the 6 tank gauge, an Emeter, the propane switch, and a switch for the water pressure pump in the galley panel. I also installed a cigarette lighter plug for the dust buster and my little inverter that I use for charging the
batteries for our black and decker blender/margarita machine. I also moved the engine panel to my new aft cabin electrical panel sits out of the weather.

I was really aggravated by the engine stop cables rusting and refusing to work. I probably replaced the cable 3 times in 8 years. The woman who runs our local Yanmar dealership said that what happens is saltwater gets into the cable sheath and sits at the lowest point in the coil of excess cable. The cable is steel and rusts. The last time I replaced the cable I moved it below decks and the problem was solved. Now we have to reach inside the cabin to kill the engine. Not a big deal on a Nor Sea.

From Kerry Teepe

John: Many thanks for the reply... especially about the water tanks and the uselessness, etc. I would be fascinated to know how you would install sight tubes with plastic tubing...Your description of your installation of the gauge in the fuel tank is very informative. I was trying to figure out how a back-up
plate could be gotten into the Tank? I too, installed PVC sprinkler valves in my water lines... they are in the engine compartment and work OK but I'm intrigued by your idea of routing them inside the cabin under the stove.

Anyway, Good Sailing and hope to see you again soon.
Kerry
 

Well, summer is here and we are all planning a lot of outings with our true loves, our Nor’Sea 27s that is!  What did you think I meant?

I would like to ask you, as you sit back and relax in the cockpit, how about documenting a bit of that pleasure for the rest of the group to read about, come this winter. Send in that story and keep some other poor Nor’Sea sailor who has to work all year round for a living, and may be snowbound, from going insane. Or at lease give them a few tidbits to light the fire of their imagination and keep them going till next year.

We had a very pleasant visit with Jim and Cheryl Searls, who were visiting the Bay area from Madison Wisconsin. We had dinner together and talked about what fun we have had in our Nor’Seas in the past, and our plans for future voyages aboard our Nor’Seas. Jim agreed to write up a few items for the NewsLine. He has just replaced his fuel tank.  He gave a lot of thanks to Ed Zacko on his fine write up on how to undertake this sizable project. It was a fun evening and of course, ended way too soon. We all were still talking about our Nor’Seas as we said our goodbye.

We have not published the fuel tank write up in the NewsLine, (it’s about the same size as a full issue) but will get it on-line in one of the Nor’Sea sites as soon as we can.  In the mean time, if you are about to dive into this extensive project, contact us and we can get you a copy.

By the way, speaking about on-line, to view who has been looking at the Nor’Sea web page, and when, click on that small green box (with the check mark) at the bottom left side of the opening web page. The last time I looked, we have had people viewing from: Canada, United States, Italy, Ecuador, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico, Dominican Republic, US Military and Denmark

Greg & Jill

In the early 70’s I owned a Tartan 27, Andiamo.  Long keel like a Nor’Sea.  My boat, my wife and I were in Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.  This is a tale of how to sail out of a corner.  I should preface this with the information that at this point I had only been sailing about a year.

The Kwajalein Yacht Club sponsored a once a year get together for new sailors.  We agreed to take folk out on Andiamo.  We were overloaded but the winds were light.  Later about light winds.  I had been sailing Cal 20’s and Andiamo off and on moorings for about a year so I don’t need no stinking engine.  We anchored under sail with a lunch hook up the lagoon.

The problems start with picking up anchor (remember light winds?).

The crew pulled Andiamo up so fast that we were forced off on the wrong tack and I had to sail toward the island, bad news.   I picked up speed on a port tack and tacked.  She wouldn’t come through the eye of the wind, fell off, picked up speed and tacked.  Again she wouldn’t come through the eye of the wind.  I was going to go aground!

I was at wits end.  I Gybed.  No souls lost in the gybe and we sailed out into the lagoon where winds were better.

Lesson learned: You can always Gybe.  Light winds, Impossible sea state.  It doesn’t matter.  If you are going to go aground or on the rocks if you can’t change course, you can always Gybe.  Sea State is my primary concern.
 

I'm looking for a tandem axle trailer, anywhere on West Coast.
kghemingway@earthlink.net
408-358-1026

Thank  you,
Greg Hemingway