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  • in reply to: Additional Ballast in a Bav32 #15396
    JonathanMaddox
    Participant

      Hello John. I have the identical boat and have done several thousand miles in her. I agree with you that she is, and feels, ‘light’. She’s easily blown around when manoeuvring in marinas and in anything other than moderate seas she will be thrown about a lot. Remember that this boat is not really a passage-making sea boat; I should imagine that they are designed more for Mediterranean marinas rather than the high seas. I very, very much doubt that adding ballast as you suggest will make much difference. If you imagine how much the hull sinks when you step aboard then you can imagine how much ballast would be needed to make any difference even in just the waterline. I guess the answer is that if you want a serious sea-boat then you sell up and try something else. I sail frequently in company with a Westerly Corsair – a much heaver, sturdier boat – and that is far more assured in big seas than is the B32. Just my thoughts anyway.

      in reply to: Prop Walk on Bavaria 42 Cruiser #15369
      JonathanMaddox
      Participant

        You don’t say what engine and drive you have. I have, in my Bavaria 32, a Volvo Penta MD2020D with saildrive, and the prop is left-handed. So the boat turns to port, not starboard, in reverse. That said, there is very little prop walk in forward or reverse, but that may be due to having a saildrive. I have a Bruntons Varifold.

        I don’t know your particular boat but I find that my boat is very light on the wheel and very, very easily affected by the wind when manoeuvring. The only way is to keep speed up, which takes courage! The boats are very light. My B32 is considerably lighter than my old, smaller Jaguar. Yours may well be lighter, relatively, than my 2003 B32 as mass producers like Bavaria tend to cheapen everything with time. And the topsides are very high too, which causes windage.

        Under engine I cannot let go of the wheel at all without the boat veering immediately.

        in reply to: MS25S Saildrive Anode – B32 #15350
        JonathanMaddox
        Participant

          I have researched ‘elsewhere’ too and have nothing definitive. So far:

          1. The nee aluminium one ‘will be fine.’ What the suppliers mean when they say this is that it will be fine for THEM, not necessarily for us. I asked Keypart specifically and they didn’t know what I was talking about; they’re good, but understandably chiefly concerned with selling what they have to sell.

          2. Would VP market something that wasn’t suitable? Some suggest that the aluminium anode is actually a mix of various metals, including aluminium, and it ‘should’ be OK.

          3. I wonder to what extent VP are thinking of 20-year-old saildrives when they market anodes? We don’t all have new saildrives.  People like me cannot afford any possibility of an eaten-up saildrive.

          4. Some folk say that if you change away from zinc for one anode you should do the same for any others. I have a supplementary zinc pear anode for my MS25S and a Bruntons Varifold with zinc anodes (which dissolve in no time). Others say that because the prop & saildrive are electrically isolated it doesn’t matter if the saildrive is protected by an aluminium anode and the prop by zinc.

          5. Like you I didn’t buy an aluminium anode. I don’t know what to do, really. At the moment I feel that I will buy a pattern zinc one but I have always in the past valued the ‘reassurance’ of fitting one that costs a lot and comes in a nice blue box.

          in reply to: Bavaria 36 with Vovlo penta 2030 Exhaust meter alarm #15319
          JonathanMaddox
          Participant

            I agree with Frankieboy. Check also your strainer basket. Mine is normally pretty clean after a year but this year, after a circumnavigation of Britain, it was completely clogged when I checked a week ago. I think it is almost certainly poor flow of raw water; I had this for years with my boat and it persisted after completely stripping down the heat exchanger (very little crud after 18 years), replacing the exhaust elbow, replacing the strainer basket, replacing the impeller and seawater pump cover. It turned out in the end to be a very worn cam in the seawater pump. Changed that in a few minutes and now the flow is much greater and it always starts without delay.

            I don’t have an exhaust temp gauge so I don’t know where your sensor is but I suppose there is a very, very remote possibility of the exhaust water lock being blocked somehow. I’d look at the obvious things above first.

             

             

            in reply to: Header tank green to brown #15311
            JonathanMaddox
            Participant

              When I bought mine – virtually the same engine (2020D) there was brown sludge in the header tank. I doubt that anything is wrong. You just need to drain the old antifreeze, flush the system well then refill. Use the ‘proper’ Volvo green stuff (from Keypart) and dilute with distilled water (Halfords) not tap water. It is supposed to be changed every 2 years and move has remained clean now that I do that. Getting the drain plug out is a real chafe. It is definitely worth getting a 10mm drain plug socket (eBay) and a set of extension bars. Then you get a good grip of the plug and your tools don’t get tangled with the throttle cable.

              JonathanMaddox
              Participant

                I see. Pressurisation to that extreme extent suggests a duff sensor in the pump. Regular pump activation along with FW leaks is the common problem – obviously the leaks cause the sensor to call for more pressure. But extreme pressure in the tank must be a duff sensor. When I had mine our for a strip-down I noted the model number and a new replacement is still available at a not too excessive price. Given the original’s age and the severity of the problem you might save yourself hassle by simply replacing the pump.

                JonathanMaddox
                Participant

                  <p style=”text-align: left;”>You have 2 problems, then:</p>
                  1. The blocked breather – should be easily addressed.

                  2. The pump coming on all the time. Save for the remote possibility of a duff pressure sensor in the pump this can only happen if there is an air or water leak somewhere. Given that you have fresh water in the bilge you certainly have a FW leak. From what you said about the state of the tank you may have an air leak as well as a water leak. Both can be a struggle to deal with but at least there is near certainty that you are looking for leaks, not pump issues.

                  It is worth checking your transom shower. I keep meaning to permanently disconnect mine (little need for it in Fleetwood); check the tap is off and that there is nothing coming out of the shower head.

                  in reply to: Fresh Water Pump/Aft Tank Overpressure & leaking (B36 2003) #15291
                  JonathanMaddox
                  Participant

                    The curious thing here (your very detailed report is most helpful) is the expansion of the FW tank and the rush of air when the filler cap is opened. This sounds to me like a breather issue. There must be a breather to let air into the tank when water is pumped out. Is yours blocked or even removed.
                    I have a 2003 B32, not 36, and I have to note that I am not sure where the breather is. There must be one though.
                    You probably have the same pump as me. They are noisy. When I had fresh water in the bilge there were 2 issues: minor leaking from the pump itself (cured by stripping down and refitting with gasket sealer) and leaks from one of the pipe junctions near the pump.
                    The pump has a strainer which can be unscrewed and cleaned out. Mine was clear after 18 years’ use.

                    Hope this helps.

                    Jonathan (www.yachtbubble.com)

                    in reply to: Companionway Stay #15152
                    JonathanMaddox
                    Participant

                      This seems to be the place to start: https://www.gasspringsshop.co.uk/gas-spring-calculator/

                      I have not ordered from them myself but will do when the inevitable happens to my existing strut!

                      Very good idea to do the saloon berths too; not having struts on mine drives me mad when trying to get at my tools, batteries etc.

                      in reply to: Prop Size #15124
                      JonathanMaddox
                      Participant

                        I have a Bruntons Varifold 2-bladed folding prop and it is superb in forward but much less so in reverse. Bruntons give a good service and will certainly take the trouble to specify correctly if you ask them. If I were buying again I’d have gone for the Autoprop instead of the Varifold. The Autoprop is more expensive but, unlike folding props, it is identical in reverse as in forward. For a yacht with a sugar-scoop stern which is usually berthed stern-to, manoeuvring in a marina would, I suspect, be much easier with such a prop. With mine (in a B32), getting the boat to get going in reverse is a bit of a struggle especially given that the boat is light and has high topsides, so is very quickly affected by the wind. If I recall, the Autoprop was about 50% more expensive than the Varifold and was more complicated to service, but I wish I had one.

                        If your Volvo prop is the correct spec then I am sure it will be OK in forward, but all folding props are less effective in reverse than fixed props or Autoprops. I changed to the Varifold from the original fixed 2-blade prop and immediately noticed the lack of bite in reverse. Frankly if you want the best performance under power in both forward and reverse then keep the original fixed prop, but obviously a folding/feathering prop greatly reduces drag etc when sailing.

                        in reply to: Heat Duct Routing #15112
                        JonathanMaddox
                        Participant

                          Mine is a B32 2007 so probably not quite the same layout.

                          The Eberspacher unit is right at the back of the cockpit locker venting out on the starboard side. I have to check that a fender isn’t in the way but otherwise it is fine.

                          There are three outlets:

                          (1) the aft cabin, which has controllable vanes – this  cabin gets very warm quite quickly.

                          (2) the main saloon – has a larger outlet without controllable vanes. It gets the large main saloon reasonably warm after 10-15 minutes. The outlet is on the port side, in the middle of the vertical ply under the port settee.

                          (3) the front cabin – same outlet as (1). Very little heat reaches this far from the stern. Is it worth having the outlet? Marginally, perhaps.

                          There is no outlet in the Heads, which I regret when cruising but if there were an outlet there then there would be even less heat to go round.

                          I have wrapped insulation around all the pipes from the aft cabin onwards but can’t detect much difference. It is particularly important, of course, to insulate well where the heat pipe runs under the fridge compartment!

                          Mine is not perfect solution to the heating issue but it works well enough and it totally transforms the experience of being aboard in the cold.

                          Be careful if you drill the fuel tank to fit the draw-off pipe. Avoid at all costs (though this is difficult to achieve) getting swarf in the tank.

                          in reply to: Fitting liferaft & removal of hatch cover roof B32. #15072
                          JonathanMaddox
                          Participant

                            Mine is a 2003 B32 and I spent a very long time trying to decide where to put a liferaft. I was reluctant to put it on the garage panel because it would restrict the forward view, most probably get in the way of the mainsheet when tacking/gybing and it would mean a lot of disturbance of fittings, as you are finding. Also, imagine the situation of a total emergency at sea, perhaps in the dark. How easy would it be to get to a garage-mounted liferaft. I toyed with having a s/s structure made to support the liferaft on the stern (I found one precedent on a boat which was for sale overseas). In the end I bought a valise version and put it in the front of the cockpit locker, in the narrower part between the holding tank and the inner face of the cockpit. I reckon that in an emergency, a frightened helm could have it out and deployed in seconds.

                            in reply to: B32 2003 Main Halyard #14949
                            JonathanMaddox
                            Participant

                              Exactly the same on my 2003 B32 which has a Selden furling mast. I worry about it but it seems to be fine.

                              At some point I should really change the halyards as they are permanently squashed where they are gripped in the clutches. A job for the future … probably for when the steel-to-nylon splice fails!

                              in reply to: Parts suppliers for Bavaria spares #14877
                              JonathanMaddox
                              Participant

                                The place for Volvo parts is Keypart. They can supply any VP part. I’ve been buying my VP spares from them for over a decade. If you want something that isn’t on the website then call or email them and they will get it for you very quickly.

                                in reply to: Forum issues #14865
                                JonathanMaddox
                                Participant

                                  As a regular user of the site I have had endless problems since the new website was introduced a few years ago. It is such a crying shame; some members may well just give up if their primary reason for membership is access to the forums. I have made my views known and have had friendly, polite and concerned responses, to be fair, but I am not optimistic when the responses talk about sending the concerns onto the firm that supplied the website. I suspect that their chief concern is the cheque, and that has most probably cleared by now.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 36 total)