The Ballad Exchange

I'm still really dumb about diesels, so humor me here....;) Is it possible (or not?) to put your electric fuel pump on the other side of your CAV primary filter? Seems like negative pressure (suction) is the enemy of any fluid transfer system. Low static pressures reduce flow rates, and each O-ring,...

Just a heads-up: three other dimensions that can matter are track thickness, stand-off height from deck, and hole diameter. I've bought track and cars from separate manufacturers and they did not play well. Not sure if SAE/metric problem, or just a different idea of what 1/4" is. :? So it's hel...

Scant 1" on our Ballad.

Hi Mark, IIRC, there are two bolts going through the bottom "shoe" to slide it off the shaft. The "shoe" contains the bottom bushing. There are also bushings at the hull bottom and at the top where the tiller is attached. Then it's just a matter of removing the tiller fitting on...

Jan (#323): Your truss looks very clean, like Mads'. I have no idea why some appear impervious to rust and others are mere lacework-iron, but you seem to be in the good luck camp. I'd check your keel for any sign of splitting, then go sailing. :) Welcome to the forum, BTW. Jan ( Sanlen ): Happy news...

:lol: Composting head for us, moved to the nav station. :D We've now filled all thru hulls except the speed transducer (next to keel, port side) and the garboard drain plug. This summer, we need to poke holes in the boat again. Sigh. I think we can get away with four: Speed/depth/temp transducer; ga...

Ah -- that makes sense. No problems with sucking air on a starboard tack? Our raw water intake is also in the bilge -- and yes, it did snap off under light hand pressure! -- but we haven't decided yet where to put it back. Have glassed over the old location. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/81975...

Question about your seacock arrangement, Peter. I've seen those two together in that location under the sink on several Ballads: are they sink outlet and galley seawater footpump inlet? If so, do you ever find your seawater pump 'recycling' potato peels, etc? I epoxied down a two-seacock mounting ba...

Quality varies on those no-name rolls of LED. I've had some good luck, some not-so-good. But they are cheap enuf to not fret, esp. if they are just accent lighting rather than critical task or navigation lamps. The 'waterproof' strips are epoxy potted & probably die from heat. The other thing th...

Is a Selden mast & identical to ours (1972). Our top sheaves are also questionable. Will replace them with new; have to choose between ball bearing (for smoothness) or solid bushing (for strength & simplicity). And those axle bolts should be solid body, not all-thread! Are you going with wir...