On Egraine (H44/45.5 #84, (1991) some of our rig is probably original, although I have replaced the backstay and, after a knockdown, replaced the starboard lower because it had three ruptured strands.  We inspect the rig annually and before each passage.  The fittings are the focus, not the wire.  It's hard to believe that 1x19 rigging wire would itself fail catastrophically, but if you detect meat hooks, it's time to change it out. 

We have a SSB.  We also have a hardwired Globalstar phone and a handheld Iridium phone.  If I were to revisit the SSB, I wouldn't bother.  I might invest in a good passive receiver because there is information to be gleaned on the SSB nets, but not a lot of value in being able to transmit when you could make a phone call with a more satisfactory connection (albeit greater expense).  I am not a radio geek and always have a bit of a wrestling match getting the damn thing to work when I decide to transmit.  And I never did get the weather fax component to work and am just as happy getting OCENS weather data over the phone connection.  So, if you are a gearhead and a geek, by all means get the SSB.  There is an argument to be made that the SSB will save you money, but you can make a lot of phone calls for the $5-6,000 it'll cost to install it.

Tim Glynn

The dowel was aboard when I bought Atlantis.  I just guesstimate.  With the gauges installed, the dowel is only used when I’m low on fuel to verify the tank reading.  Installing gauges is not that hard.  I put the sending units in the inspection ports to keep metal shavings out of the tank.  I went with a WEMA gauge that connects to 7 senders so there is only one hole at the nav station

My 44 came with a dowel about an 1/8th inch in diameter.  There is a cap that unscrews on the top of the tanks.  It has a stainless rod attached, but it is too hard to read.
 I’ve since added gauges.  I also carry a second dowel for the water tanks.

Thought I would follow-up with some of the custom fabrication work completed today to get the Mantus 85 to fit snugly in the bow roller and address the deck flexing around the windlass which had been present with the smaller Bruce anchor.

Step 1: Come up with a custom fabrication and design to prevent the deck from flexing under the heavy load caused by the windlass pulling on the heavier load. It was probably overkill but that's how I roll. The design is similar in concept to the tie-rod on my last boat (Endeavour 35) which is used to tie the deck around the mast collar to the keel step and keep it from flexing upward. Instead of a single rod, we did some custom fabrication along with a used turnbuckle for infinite adjustments. This design was rock solid today when pulling the anchor up onto the windlass.

Step 2: Because the shank on the Mantus is a little wider than the groove on the Hylas 46 stock anchor roller, I had the groove widened and deepened slightly so that the anchor now sits inside of the groove and nests very tightly. No side to side motion at all!

Step 3: Unfortunately the anchor retrieval hole at the top of the anchor was just slightly off for the bow roller securing pin to pass through. Solution: disassemble the anchor briefly in order to fit the shank on the drill press. We drilled out the existing hole another 1/2" and now the pin passes through flawlessly and locks the anchor down to the anchor roller.




Dan
s/v Nepenthe
1997 H46

Hi fellow boaters, I am new to this forum. New owner as well of a 1995 H49. Looks like I found several cracks in the standing rigging. Had it inspected by Mack Sails in Stuart, Fl. and looks like my rigging is all original. They suggest all new standing rigging. I am afraid of the $$$. Getting an estimate tomorrow morning.
Since I am getting new wire I was thinking of getting a SSB antenna installed on the backstay. The boat currently is not set up for SSB and does not have a radio down below at the Nav Station. Is it worth it in today's world of Iridium phones and the like to install an SSB?