The Nonsuch Community Forum

Hi Bill, We installed 330W of solar and 400W of wind power on our NS30 a few years ago, and both have served us well. Although I agree with the premise that adding anything to the aft end should be scrutinized, we haven’t had any real issues. Our rule is “chicken” gybes only, but when an occasional “normal” gybe does occur, we haven’t snagged anything yet. Maybe just some good luck! With that said, we installed the panels on our existing davits. These were raised approximately 2 feet, which provides the needed headroom when using the stern ladder and, as an added benefit, keeps the dinghy above the stern light. To extend them, we cut the vertical davit posts near the base and slid a long, solid stainless steel rod into the two ends to bridge the gap. We slid a piece of tubing—matching the original davit tubing size—over the exposed solid rod, and then sleeved a larger-diameter, heavy gage SS tube over the entire connection, extending both upward and downward over the existing tubing. A digital caliper was essential to ensure all the rods and tubing fit snugly. Because I like to engineer things with redundancy, I also added a Dyneema tether on each side, running from the top of the davit to a new deck fitting. The panels were then fastened to aluminum Unisrtut channel, attached to the top of the davits. Chip & Barbara Ott NS30, Ardent Westbrook CT

Assuming it’s a place where you have a large enough hole to work with, you can always feed the soft shackle through appropriately sized polyester tubular webbing to provide chafe protection. The tube needs to be just wide enough to let the eye end slide through, and just long enough to leave room for the eye to be opened and slide over the stop knot or dog-bone. The mast collar eyes have enough room. The aft boom fitting probably doesn’t, unless you’re deft enough to make soft shackles out of really small-diameter line. My fat fingers can handle 3/16ths given enough time and expletives. -- Bob

Another alternative to consider if the primary goal is have a place for panels might be a hard dodger with solar panels on top. I think some people have also mounted solar panels on horizontal rails added between stanchions amidships. That lets the panels be angled as needed when moored for maximum sun, and rotated vertically back in line with the stanchions so as not to interfere with movement along the side decks. As for dinghy towing vs. davits vs. inflating and deflating vs. …, it very much depends on how you like to use your boat. -- Bob

I have been using soft shackles for a few years now. All the reef lines at the mast collar are soft shackles with a low friction ring. Mast tack and clew are as well but so far I can’t bring myself to change out the big heavy shackle at the sail halyard. Carefully filing and sanding the aluminum castings smooth is required or else the soft shackle wont last very long. I haven’t had one break yet. Tom

Thanks Rob, We had A&H 2000 davits on Bonheur (NS30) and they were good. We are on a mooring and like to cruise so solar would be a major help. As far as davits go, it is less clear: on our last cruise we towed the dinghy for two weeks and ended up using it only once! Anyway, I will keep thinking…. Bill

What a great idea- thank you. We live in Ottawa, Canada which is a little far..Any chance there can be a virtual component for others like me? James Lacey Nonsuch 26, Tomcat

While backing up my computer (which I do manually - I am old school), I noted that I have a 63 page pdf manual for the Hurst 150 v-drive tranny if anyone is interested. Let me know off list and I will put it in a Google Drive folder to share with you. I also have similar for at least the W27A engine I could share - a tech manual of 110 pgs, an owners manual of 45, and a parts list of 183. They cover more than one engine.

Thanks. for posting, Bob, because I had the same thought on knots when I saw the beginning of the thread. According to Evans, it is the ONLY stopper knot that is completely secure (won’t slip) with Dynema.

My transmission also leaks, has for years and has had 3 or 4 rebuilds. I have agreed with the yard and tranmission shop that additional rebuilds are unlikely to solve the problem. I just live with the leak and feed it a quart of ATF a year. We motored 41 hours to/from the Rendezvous and checked the tranny daily, switching out the diaper after a full day. Just is one of the things needed to keep it all working. I have changed the shifter seal ages ago (pre-rebuilds) and it was no big deal. There is no gasket or such for the dipstick - there should be a metal washer at the top that should be in place when you set the dipstick in to measure the fluid level. When I pull my dipstick, the washer normally stays behind and is not noticed unless you are looking for it. Good luck with any rebuild. Get a guarantee from the guy who says he can stop the leak . . .

Full to the mark it takes.5 of a litre But you’ll not get it all out due to the angle if you have a shaft drive so v gg. C it’s measure the amount drained Synthetic ATF like Mobile is worth the extra cost Leaks at the shifter are common and the shaft seal can be easily replaced without draining the oil. Looks there first

I have the same transmission in my boat and I also have a small leak that requires regular inspection. I found that the leak is from the seal on the forward end of the unit. There is no sealing ring on the dipstick nor is one listed in the parts manual. In the ships papers I found a quote for a new transmission from 2002 as well as some documents from that time mentioning a leak. I guess this has been going on for quite some time. As a matter of interest a new transmission was quoted to me @ 6600 USD with stock in Seattle. I will be having the transmission pulled and rebuilt next spring. One marine transmission shop said that they all leak in varying degrees and a rebuild will not help and another said that he can fix it. I guess that I will see next spring.

Brian, You are correct. Soave is missing the sealing ring. I don’t see any leakage in that area but it’s something I will address. Thanks, Rob…