posted 01-06-2001 03:02 PM ET (US)         

Don't see a problem with the cleats mounted on the inside with hawse pipes. What seems to be the problem?
We have them mounted that way on our 27 and haven't experienced any difficulty --

Shore power for what? Battery charger, AC/DC inverter or combination? Need a little more information on usage.

Sounds like you have a pretty slick Whaler with those 150hp Opti's and it does have a fine layout with a nice little cuddy.

posted 01-06-2001 04:32 PM ET (US)         

As for the cleats, I use sinkers in my mooring and I prefer to use them on both sides aft so that the boat faces the any bad weather rather than have it hit the aft side. I'd rather have the sinker rope with loops so that I could quickly put them on. Having them under gunnel requires to push the knot through the gunnel oval shaped opening. The muddy rope gets the boat dirty, the rope keeps "shaving" the rear corners rarher than going straight into the water without touching the boat, let alone the barnicals on the rope...

The shore power is for charging the battery. I wouldn't want to come one day and see that the bilge pump drained the battery and water kept on coming in... I also spend some time doing things on the boat while in the marina and need light, music, etc.

Otherwise the boat is great and doesn't lack power with both engines on. It does not go on the plane with a single engine running though. I would certainly prefer the new Conquest 26, it has a far more practical cabin be it for use on lengthy trips or simply as a comfortable storage space.

Thanks.

posted 01-06-2001 05:37 PM ET (US)            

I'm trying to picture the mooring conditions you have described, and I think I understand it, but I'm not absolutely sure, so forgive me if I make a false assumption.

Do you tie your bow off to a mooring float? If so, assuming you have the room to do so, just let the boat swing freely, only tied to the mooring at the bow, and your boat will naturally face the wind all the time. If you don't tie off to a mooring float but instead rely only on anchors (sinkers?) to moor your boat, the same thing applies: only anchor the bow (make sure your anchor is heavy enough, is well set into the bottom, and that you have enough rode - the length of your anchor line between your anchor and your boat should be at least 5 times the depth of the water; ten times is even better). You would only use a second anchor at the stern to keep the boat from swinging if you are in a position to quickly change your boats direction if the wind changes direction. It is not a good idea to use that secondary stern anchor if you are not close enough to make necessary changes when the wind changes direction.

If your total mooring consists of an anchor on each side at the stern, cleated through the hawser pipes on the gunwale, you are guaranteeing that your boat will face the stern into the wind, not the bow. I'm sure that's not what you want.

Or maybe I misunderstood what you meant by "sinkers" and "sinker line"?

posted 01-07-2001 07:20 AM ET (US)         

Well I guess you will easily get a handle on the tabs with just some more experience.

You and the Kingfish can discuss the mooring situation because I am also a little confused.

You'll need a water tight power inlet, main 30 amp AC circuit breaker and of course the charger of your choice. Then a 30 amp marine grade power cord, usually come in 25 or 50 footers. I am not familiar with the electrical layout on the Conquest so can't offer specific recommendations on location of inlet, charger, and battery connections. Unless your electrically inclined might suggest for this relatively straight forward installation to use a marine electrician to do the job, maybe a day's work at the most, this way everything will be done according to code, a nice clean installation easy to operate and fitting with the boat's layout.

Yes, nice to know you can get them up on one engine and plane out --- our 27 does it easily on just one of the 200hp Yamaha's ---

The 26 and the 28 are really awesome boats more like a 28 and a 30 footer respectably than their name sakes suggest ---

posted 01-07-2001 03:02 PM ET (US)         

My mooring is set in a way that I have the key in front of my bow, a boat to my left and a narrow key to my right. If I attach the boat at the bow with two ropes to the key and one more line to the key on my right I would be safe but the fenders will continuesly rub against my boat. Using the sinker lines aft (a couple of lines that are attached to mooring on the botom and hold the boat a couple of feet away from the key on my right and several feet away from the key in front of my bow and still away from the boat to my left. The wind will change very often but storms would ususally hit my bow which is fine. The aft lines simply run from the gunnel down to the aft chafing the boat, that's the problem. If I add a couple of cleats on the aft, as far back as the outboards, the line would not chafe the boat the angle would make the line go straight into the water.

Tom, you were right about the flaps. I took her out today for a short spin and it felt better. I guess its just getting used to how she handles.

I am however not too impressed with the noise level of the twin Mercs, even at 8-10 knots its hard to have a conversation or hear the VHF at full volume...

I didn't name her yet. Perhaps the first catch will give me some inspiration.

posted 01-07-2001 04:21 PM ET (US)            

When you say, "key", are you referring to what I would call a "dock" (floating or permanent walkway, made out of wood or some other material)?

posted 01-07-2001 04:33 PM ET (US)         

I mean dock, sorry. Its a cement dock with some wooden protection on which I would probably add some dock bumpers or some fenders. I simply want to avoid leaving this nice boat to lean on fenders for days and sometimes weeks.

posted 01-07-2001 05:45 PM ET (US)            

OK, I think I've got the picture - I would also be trying to avoid adding any more cleats. Does your boat have any towing or lifting eyes on the transom? If it does, I wonder if you could tie off to the dock on the right (starboard) side running the line through the hawser pipe to the cleat on the starboard side, then tie off the sinker line on the left (port) side to the towing or lifting eye on the port side of the transom. If you don't have any eyes back there, it would seem one possibility would be to have your marina install a couple of of them. If it were me, I'd prefer eyes over cleats.

Or, you could drape some kind of protective material over the gunwale so the port side sinker line doesn't chafe the boat as it passes over the gunwale. Either way, I'd tie off to the dock on the starboard side if possible. Worst case is using some fenders or bumpers, if they are well placed, between the dock and the boat on the starboard side. A lot of people tie off a lot of boats that way when it is not possible to suspend the boat as you would prefer.

The answer to the problem of passing the knot in the line through the hawser pipe, by the way, is to tie or splice a big enough loop in the line that the knot never has to pass through the hawser pipe. Pass the end of the loop through, then pass it through the center opening in the cleat, and wrap it back around the two ends of the cleat and pull the line tight, snubbing it off.

Good luck, and keep us posted-

posted 01-08-2001 02:43 PM ET (US)         

I don't use the tabs for planing her up and out no need to --- just put the pedal to the metal, yell for everyone to hold on and she takes off and planes out faster than you can say jack robertson --- Then slack off to a nice 3200 rpm, she stays planed out there pretty as can be --- may play around with the motor trim a bit just depends on how she is performing

I will use the tabs if they're working (need to be replaced and are temperamental) for wind and sea conditions.

posted 01-09-2001 09:14 AM ET (US)         

We back down into the slip grabbing the lines and tying off from the two outer pilings to the bow (V set up) then ease her back to the first port side dock side piling or starboard open piling which separates us from the other boat slip (grab a line) depends on the tide which line we loosely secure, on the starboard there is an no dock --- then stern is secured to the main dock running parallel to the stern from port and starboard cleats in the transom well The gunwale hawser pipe cleats aren't used for the stern lines these on both sides along with the topside forward gunwale cleats are set up with spring lines on the port attached to the dock and dock piling to starboard the pilings. This way with a little tweaking the boat is suspended in the slip -- we do put out fenders just in case a line loosens as a precaution and to use when loading the boat so we can bring her right up next to the dock---

We are slipped on a river with a very swift tide change runs on average 6 ft in addition to a bit of wind most days, channeled up the river from the bay --- Tide can be running like gang busters one way and a strong wind can be blowing the other way makes for some interesting backing down docking experiences ---

posted 01-09-2001 11:59 PM ET (US)            

QUAY (kee) -- a landing place, especially one of solid masonry constructed along the edge of a body of water; wharf.

Or maybe he meant "cay".

CAY (kee) --a small low island; key.

QUAY , CAY, and KEY are all pronounced the same.

No wonder people have trouble learning English!