Salty Podcast #52 | ⛵️ Need a Sailboat Maintenance Check-List? 🔧 Get it here from an expert!

Buying a sailboat opens the door to exciting adventures, but maintaining it is where the real journey begins! This episode features Colin Mack from Mack Yacht Services, who shares invaluable insights from over 50 years in the industry about the commitment to regular maintenance necessary to keep your sailboat in peak condition. We cover everything from the daily checks you should perform to monthly and annual maintenance tasks to ensure your boat is safe, reliable, and ready for the open sea.

Colin emphasizes that simply owning a boat isn't enough; it's the love and effort you put into keeping it maintained that matters. Learn crucial tips about inspecting your engines, cleaning your bilge, and the importance of routine checks on batteries and safety equipment. Hear cautionary tales of avoidable mishaps resulting from maintenance neglect and explore the significance of proper maintenance materials.

Whether you're a seasoned sailor or a first-time boat owner, this episode provides essential insights directly from an expert to guide you on your boat maintenance journey while fostering a sense of community among boat lovers. Don’t miss out on learning how to protect your investment and ensure that each voyage is filled with fun and adventure. Subscribe, share, and get ready to embark on a new chapter of sailing!

Chapters

• 2:29 So you bought a sailboat
• 3:51 Now what?
• 4:27 Buying the boat is the easy part
• 7:53 The real challenge is maintenance
• 10:25 Daily, weekly, monthly upkeep to keep sailing smooth
• 21:18 Simplifying your boat maintenance routine
• 40:25 Expert insights from Colin Mack
• 47:18 Engage with the content
• 6:57:51 Hello from Colin Mack

Transcript

Capn Tinsley: 0:02

So you bought a sailboat. Now what? Let's face it, buying the boat is the easy part. The real challenge is maintenance. I have to now take care of this investment I've just made. What do I need to do daily, weekly, monthly and annually to keep my boat sailing smoothly? That's the question I've been getting a lot lately. So good news tonight we're making it simple. Been getting a lot lately. So good news tonight we're making it simple.

Capn Tinsley: 0:27

My guest is a true expert in the field. Colin Mack of Mack Yacht Services in Stewart Florida Comes from a family that's been in the boating business in Florida for over 50 years, with decades of hands-on experience in sailing, maintaining and refitting sailboats. Colin is here to break it all down and give us a no-nonsense approach to keeping your boat sea-ready and safe. Before we get into this, I want to please, please ask you to engage with the video. You know what to do Like, share, subscribe, comment and drop your questions in the live chat so Colin can respond in real time, and that would on YouTube or or Facebook. So grab a cold drink, get ready to take notes. I'm Captain Tinsley of Sailing Vessels, salty Abandoned, and this is the Salty Podcast, episode 52. Please help me. Welcome Colin Mack, boom, just like that.

Capn Tinsley: 1:23

Hey how's it going, Colin? How are you tonight?

Colin Mack: 1:28

I'm doing great Tinsley. How are you?

Capn Tinsley: 1:30

I'm doing good. I'm glad to see you here. You are all the rage in the Island Packet world. You're all over the Island Packet Facebook page. I love how you see posts on there and you help where you can and I think that's awesome. And I would like to see if there's any more qualifiers you think I should add into that title. I didn't read your whole resume or anything, but I just want to give us just a real quick brief introduction of who you are. Your family's been doing this for over 50 years, right?

Colin Mack: 2:02

Correct. My father actually started in Miami at 68 as a sailmaker and we moved out of Miami in 1988, due to all the crime and drugs that was going on. We moved up to Stewart. Stewart was just a fishing village and we were the. You know. Back then you had regional lofts. You didn't have major you know name brands all over the country. North was in his part of the world and Robbie Doyle was just getting out of the Olympics and started Doyle Loft and you know you had local sailmakers. So it was a different world.

Colin Mack: 2:33

And when we moved to Stewart in 86, we opened in 88 and it was still fairly regional, although North had gotten very big, but a lot of the lofts were just mom and pop lofts and so we reopened in 88 and I came board, helped dad lay the floorboards in the sail loft and we went from there. So I've been doing it since. I've been doing it since I was in diapers, but officially since 88 when we opened the loft, and so we've been at it quite a few years. So there isn't much we haven't run into. I'm always surprised when we do find something unique or different. But it has been an interesting 38 years.

Capn Tinsley: 3:11

Yeah, so your brother now, I guess, broke off and took the sailing part of it and you're doing the yacht services part of it.

Colin Mack: 3:17

Is that right? We do so. When we opened in 88, we did a little rigging. In the early 90s we started doing electronics and a lot more things like that and then about seven years ago I sold my interest in the sail loft in the rigging shop to my brother, um thinking, thinking that you know, sail making, you know, had a limit everyone was going to china. Fortunately, as a lot of those mom and pop shops closed, max Sales actually picked up a lot of those customers who appreciated a little more customer service and made in the USA things like that.

Colin Mack: 3:52

And of course, our first year we pretty much worked on anybody, but we always loved the Island Packet fleet. We love working on boats. It's all I know how to do and, of course, the Island Packet brand and the fleet just kind of meshed together. So it was really lovely to have a great boat that we love to work on. That we know really well. The clients are 99.9% of them are fabulous and love working and we bought and built the boat yard around basically Island Packet yachts and it's been a great success. And we just finished our last 150 feet of seawall and we're going to be getting onto a new building this this summer, so it's exciting stuff.

Capn Tinsley: 4:36

Okay, well, great, yes, and I've been to your, your yard, and you said welcome to what did you say Welcome to Welcome?

Colin Mack: 4:44

to hell.

Capn Tinsley: 4:47

And, like you said, you started off doing everything to pay the bills, servicing all kinds of boats, but you went to Island Package because it's such a well-made boat and you like the type of buyers that you're servicing or this type of owners.

Colin Mack: 5:00

Yeah, the type of owners and, frankly, there's four or five boats that we would probably work on, but you know, to find a boat that you can invest money in and not lose your shirt, and you know it's a well-built boat, it's common sense. It was put together nicely, it's just a pleasure to work on almost all the models. There's a few ones that you know they packed in a little too much here and there, but everybody's guilty of that and fortunately, I think we just finished our 276 chain plate restoration. Um, 277 is in the barn. So you know we've done hundreds of chain plate jobs, among other things.

Colin Mack: 5:37

And, um, I think currently we have 15 island packets in under our care, so we're, uh, between that and the islandpacketpartscom website for all the legacy packets. We have a whole website just for parts that are hard to find or parts that we recommend, because there's three or four different options of things you can buy. And, um, one of them is actually a strainer. We had three island packets sink, or come close to sinking, because of a particular brand of straineriner that was 30 years old, and it was just a. I wouldn't call it a design flaw, because 30 years is plenty of time for something to wear out. But you know we try and make recommendations on things that give me less headaches and therefore my customers less headaches, which is good for all of us.

Colin Mack: 6:22

Right, okay, and I'm glad you mentioned that the the website for the island packet parts, and that is island packet parts, right on packpartscom, yep, and then uh okay, and then macyotservicescom, and then of course I've started doing last few years some brokerage with terry ivins at sale, so we kind of have the whole thing covered in under our group. We've got, you know, great employees and you know my wife, carrie, runs the books and takes care of all the stuff that I leave around. So it is still a family business, a hundred percent family business.

Capn Tinsley: 6:56

Okay, all right. So Mike Wack says I'm leaving in 10 days for a six week 1200 mile sale. Ask Colin about a maintenance checklist, which is exactly what we're going to talk about. I've changed oil, oil filters, new wet exhaust and elbow, new batteries. Yeah, I did that recently too, so why don't we just jump into it? So basically, I did a chat GPT, like I told you, island Packet, Sailboat Maintenance Schedule, boom and it came up with a pretty good list and I sent it to you.

Colin Mack: 7:25

It's a pretty darn good list. Absolutely. I've got it right here on the right. So if I'm looking off screen to the left it's because I've got my thing up here.

Capn Tinsley: 7:32

Okay, Well, we're going to just kind of go through it and you're going to oh, that's even easier, thank you. Yeah, is what chat GPT came up with this prompt and it's not too bad as as uh, as Colin says. So why don't we just start off and tell what you think of that daily list?

Colin Mack: 7:52

Sure, sure. Well, I'm going to preface that with um. You have to understand, we all love the dream, we all love the boat. Our time on the boat, hey, david, should be enjoyable.

Colin Mack: 8:07

But I think what a lot of people don't realize is that everything that is worth doing, everything that is enjoyable, it takes effort. You have to make money to pay for a trip, you have to make money to buy your boat. Well, you want to protect those investments, but you really want to protect your crew and unfortunately, a couple summers ago I came very close to not being crew and going overboard. And that's just one more thing that leads me to kind of the maintenance that we worry about. So take it seriously. Value your investment, value your crew. Life is short and it should be fun, and a little bit of effort up front makes for such more of an enjoyable trip, and it's. It's hard because boating in general is not an inexpensive sport, but if you keep up with it, I assure you it is less expensive to maintain it than it is to let it go awry and end up like let the oil run out, and then you have to buy a new engine, exactly exactly that's never happened to me.

Colin Mack: 9:07

Unfortunately, misguided enthusiasm too. There's a lot of information out there. There's a lot of people that have a lot of history that may or may not know what they're talking about. It's good to get a couple different opinions. I tell people all the time look, this is my experience over the last 40 years. If you don't like it, listen to it. If you don't like it, throw it out. It's like politics and religion there's something for everybody. But sift through the mishmash and where you find three or four answers that are the same, you'll generally find that that's probably the correct answer and the one or two outliers well, it's just somebody's opinion and they're entitled to it, but it may not make it right for you.

Capn Tinsley: 9:46

Sure yeah, Everybody's got an opinion, Even the warriors that are that never leave the dock right.

Colin Mack: 9:58

They don't want to chime in. We got some experts on in the watching though we got.

Capn Tinsley: 10:00

we got so they might be checking what you say, so be careful. So they might be checking what you say, so be careful, they're experts.

Colin Mack: 10:08

I got my cup Aiden.

Capn Tinsley: 10:09

So I'm always glad when they're on here. Okay, so let's start with the list and see what you think is good and what you'd do better.

Colin Mack: 10:18

Absolutely. So generally, don't be in a hurry. You know, I think checking your engine and oil coolant levels is always important. I thoroughly believe in a clean bilge and a fresh. You know we call them diapers or the oil pads, because and I spent a lot of time around sport fish boats and mega yachts and the engine rooms are always white and clean and they spend all this time with the crew cleaning. Now we're the crew on our boats.

Colin Mack: 10:48

But I asked a guy once when I was much younger, like why is it ego, what is it? And I said no, if something leaks or, you know, starts spewing, you're going to find it 10 times quicker because everything is clean. So you know something shows up on the diaper pad, you have a problem. If there's oil on the insulation panels on the side, you've got a problem. If everything is clean, it's so much easier to identify. So you know, anytime I hop on my boat, I check the oil, I check the transmission fluid, I check the diaper.

Colin Mack: 11:18

Um, you know, I make sure that the strainer is clean. Um, I check the bilge pump constantly. Um, one thing that wasn't on the list is to inspect check the bilge pump constantly. One thing that wasn't on the list is to inspect the bilge pump operation, but check the manual and also check the float switch, which means reaching down there. I have a yardstick in my boat with a nail on the end of it. It's highly technical, but that way I can lift up the float switch and make sure it's working and there isn't something stuck under it like a piece of debris or a piece of oil rag or you know something that one of the kids dropped in the bilge? Um.

Capn Tinsley: 11:50

So I always like to test both functions, um, you know actually the second one on the list inspect, inspect bilge and bilge pump operations.

Colin Mack: 11:59

So many people just flip the manual switch and they don't check the automatic switch, um, and and we see that a lot like we had a boat a couple weeks ago that had water up to almost the bottom of the strainer on an island packet um, and it fortunately was fresh water.

Colin Mack: 12:16

There was a leak in the fresh water system, um, but his automatic bilge pump didn't go off, and yeah you know, it was just dumb luck that the boat was in the yard and we were taking care of it. So, um, always check the float switch and make sure all your connections are are tight and heat shrinked. Um, you know, navigation lights is huge, um, for me, um, I like to go around and do the waltz when I check my rigging, because that was a one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, and every turnbuckle on your boat has three cotter pins. You've got one at the clevis pin and you've got two at the turnbuckle, at the bottle screw. And so I literally go around the boat every time I'm on a boat that's leaving or I'm taking out, and I check one, two, three pins every singlebuckle and just make sure that they're bent back, they're in place. Back in the day we used to use bronze cotter pins. We joke about Chinese-ium, chinese stainless. We've seen cotter pins that look like stainless and they were mild steel because they've been electropolished or something. So we lose about a rig a year due to a bad cotter pin.

Colin Mack: 13:29

Um, I was on a, on a four, 20 in the yard and there was some new owners, very friendly people, um, and they were kind of overwhelmed by all the work that we'd done and and kind of making sure that our work was right and they didn't have a lot of basis for the opinions. So there was a lot of questions that were a little frustrating, um, but I said, look, you know, this is your life like. Her life is in your hands. Your life is in his hands. You guys need to be responsible, just like if you're climbing, rock climbing, you check your rope and all your cams, you check your harness, you check everything every time you go on diving.

Capn Tinsley: 14:01

If you're going diving, you're checking everything Exactly.

Colin Mack: 14:04

So you know cotter pins from your lifelines, this boat in particular. The pin was halfway out of the toggle fork at the turnbuckle and it was jammed in and the cotter pin was missing. And I was telling them a story about how a lady fell over the Bahamas in the middle of the bank because a lifeline gate came unscrewed. So you have to lay eyes on every little connection and it doesn't have to be an investigation, but you walk by and you check your pins and you make sure that everything's tight. You just have to go around.

Capn Tinsley: 14:38

I'm sure if you're about to make a big passage, you'd be really zoning in on this stuff, absolutely so.

Colin Mack: 14:45

I actually fell out of a bosun's chair when I was 14 because I relied on one of those little cotter rings or whiz wheels at the end of the block and the rope grabbed it and stripped it out and I fell about 15 feet, hit the deck and started rolling overboard. And if I'd been much higher than 15 feet I might not be here today. So those are, you know, and it might sound like fear mongering or I'm being overly dramatic, but it happens all the time. Um, we lose about three people a year in the sport. Some are professional, some are not, but, um, you know paying attention to um.

Colin Mack: 15:22

You know we got caught in 70 knots for 11 hours two summers ago and we just changed the rigging, the chain plates were good, we knew the engine was getting tired, but it was the bahamas for a few weeks how bad could it be? And we had a beautiful sail back from west end, 11 and a half hours under a sail only, and the last 11 hours was 70 knots, confused, confused sea state. And we broke topping lifts, we broke outhauls, we broke mainsheet travelers, we broke all kinds of shackles that we took for granted because they'd been there and we hadn't had a problem before and I almost went overboard going out to wrestle the mainsail and ended up injuring my neck. For about a year and a half I had a horrible you know cervical injury that is finally healed. But so, yeah, take a look at shackles and pins and turnbuckles and everything that has a connection Hose clamps.

Colin Mack: 16:18

You know you just need to kind of go around your boat when you're not in a hurry and and grab a rum or beer or whatever it is you like and start looking around and just checking all the things. Like the next one on your list is to check your pins and shackles and, um, I was on a boat yesterday and the furling line block was the shackle was very loose and the guy always stood up to pull back against it. Well, if that shackle came loose he'd be in the drink. Yeah, and people don't think about that stuff, but it is. It is good to do and a lot of the shackles self-lock, a lot of them don't.

Capn Tinsley: 16:52

Um, I don't particularly like when I I um, I will get an inspection done a couple times a year, but especially if I'm right to go I'm about to go on a long, you know trip and crossing the gulf or something. I'll just because I want everything up the mast also inspected, if I'm right to go. I'm about to go on a long trip and crossing the Gulf or something, I'll just because I want everything up the mast also inspected. I'm doing something like that, yeah.

Colin Mack: 17:11

Yeah Well, most riggers are going to charge you probably 250 to 400 bucks to do a rigging inspection and check everything aloft and they can replace things if they see it right then, and I just I just think it's a good idea.

Capn Tinsley: 17:24

And they can replace things if they see it right then, and I just think it's a good idea. And you know, some people do this themselves. But as long as you're doing it right, yeah, and you know what you're looking for.

Colin Mack: 17:32

Well, it's really good to know your boat, right, and the biggest thing is to look for stuff that's different, that was different than it was last time you looked at it, right, you know to that's, that's the difference.

Capn Tinsley: 17:53

you know, why does that look slightly different? Why is that shackle cocked or that rope chafed, or you know things like that. So, um, I think that and it's good to do that with the engine too, like before I go out, go ahead, get the, uncover the engine, you know, take that and then start it, and if I'm looking at it every time, I'm going to notice something spewing or something steaming, or if something looks differently, like you're saying, yeah absolutely Something blowing up.

Colin Mack: 18:14

Absolutely. Yeah, we see an awful lot of.

Capn Tinsley: 18:16

Do I always do that no?

Colin Mack: 18:19

None of us do yeah, but we can do better.

Capn Tinsley: 18:22

That's what we're supposed to do, yeah, okay, so weekly. So this chat gbt came up, wash deck and top size, check battery voltage and charging system, um inspect anchor windlass and ground tackle test. Build pump manually, flush head with fresh water, okay. So what do you think of those things on a weekly basis?

Colin Mack: 18:41

well, I like to wash my boat every couple of weeks Maintenance. It's funny because growing up in the Bahamas, you know fresh water was 50 cents a gallon in the seventies. Well, fresh water is still 50 cents a gallon, you know, 40 years later. And someone asked me once. They said why do you, why do all those sport fishermen put all that water over all those aluminum towers and whole boat? They spend hours and hours washing the boat. Well, they're protecting their investment. When you pay $150,000 for a tuna tower, you're going to spend a couple hundred bucks worth of water making sure that that doesn't pit and corrode your island packet or whatever boat you have.

Colin Mack: 19:19

It isn't any different. The more salt you can keep off, the longer your stainless will last. The you know, the more wax you keep on it, the better the gel coat will stay. Fortunately, island Packet spent a ton of money on their gel coat compared to most vendors, so we end up wet sanding and three stepping them and they look brand new. Hayden can probably attest as long with a bunch of other people. What a great job actually getting that oxidation off and putting proper wax on and just saving that investment. You know, the salt is like diamond powder. People don't realize how aggressive salt really is, so I like to wash it every couple of weeks and I also interesting, fun fact spend the extra money to get a boat wash because the your detergents like Dawn and Tide and Joy, they actually eat stainless steel for lunch.

Capn Tinsley: 20:15

What I didn't know, that and it strips the wax.

Colin Mack: 20:20

When I was a kid my first boat was a Morgan 22 and and I had been cleaning the boat and we always had joy Like we bathed with it. As kids in the Bahamas, I mean, you use joy for everything. And I left the bottle in the sink after washing the boat and I went to Canada for four or five weeks with my brother to go racing and enjoy summer and when I came back the bottle of joy was in the bilge under the sink and that was in, I think, 1992. And I asked my dad he's like yeah, no, it's pretty corrosive. And so that was kind of the beginning of my my entry into metallurgy. Um, I don't have a degree, but I've studied it my whole life and basically those detergents eat stainless steel just like they eat grease, and so those detergents are really bad for your stainless steel. So spend a little extra money and get the boat wash with maybe a little Teflon or something.

Capn Tinsley: 21:13

OK, tell me what the name of it is. Is it called boat wash?

Colin Mack: 21:17

You can get the stuff at West Marine. You can buy all wash which is by all grip, which is probably a better product. Buy all wash which is by all grip, which is probably a better product, um, but you know, basically trying to stay away from the, the heavy detergents that you would use for, like your laundry or your, you know, your house, because it's convenient, um, and it just strips the surfaces and the finishes and it eats the passivation off the stainless. It just in general I've seen boat guys.

Capn Tinsley: 21:42

you know that work on boats. Oh, okay, you use Saltway.

Colin Mack: 21:47

Saltway is great.

Capn Tinsley: 21:49

They use Dawn to clean up the engine. Yeah, no.

Colin Mack: 21:53

Well.

Capn Tinsley: 21:53

What if you make sure it's all rinsed and everything which I'm?

Colin Mack: 21:56

sure, well, it's okay on an engine, but it will strip away all the finish, like the whole point. Squeak clean. You know you talk about squeak clean dishes. Well, you've stripped away the wax, um, and so like. So my, my, my go-to is frankly the west marine, like you know, with uh teflon in it and it's uh it just it keeps my auger finish looking good on one of my boats and um so salt away, so it melts the salt.

Colin Mack: 22:26

But you know, when you get that that dirty, greasy, exhaust stuff like that, you know, yeah, that's a good salt away is but um and star bright for the.

Colin Mack: 22:36

For the bright, I mean for the, uh, stainless yeah, there's also a great product that we talk about a lot, um, and everybody should go buy one, and I don't get anything for it. But there's a product called Spotless Stainless on Amazon and it is a. It kind of is like navel jelly that we all grew up with, but you paint it on with a paintbrush late in the day on threads or screws or anything stainless steel and as soon as that goes on, in about 15 or 20 minutes you need to rinse it off thoroughly because you don't want it to dry. But that spotless stainless will give your stainless about a year's worth of protection and passivation and polish and it gets into the places that you can't really get without a toothbrush, like the threads on your lifeline turnbuckles. You know, no one's going to get all that out.

Capn Tinsley: 23:25

Um yeah, hey, I was going to say I think you recommended that to me one time. I'm sure I did.

Colin Mack: 23:30

I recommended to everybody so um spotless and uh and just you know, all washer, probably two of my favorite products. Um, just keeping the boat looking good and protecting that investment.

Capn Tinsley: 23:41

We've got some activity here in the comments, so that's good. Keep them coming. Okay, so this weekly list.

Colin Mack: 23:49

Yeah, let's put that back up and we'll take a peek and see what they got.

Capn Tinsley: 23:54

Doing that test of the bilge pump again.

Colin Mack: 23:56

Yeah, bilge pump. I check my bilge pump every time I'm on the boat.

Capn Tinsley: 24:01

Okay, I'll make a commitment to doing that.

Colin Mack: 24:05

Battery voltage is something funny. We had one today actually that a broker called me about Terry Ivins, yeah, and the alternator was running really hot and they were having some other issues running some electric winches, some other issues run in some electric winches, and basically determine that even though your meter said you had, you know, 12.9 volts, um, it was really just kind of a float across the top of the batteries in terms of power. Um, the old saying they don't make it like they used to is completely true. Um, and the new or batteries, you know, you go to West Marine, you buy a local West Marine battery for 200 bucks or you buy an Odyssey Extreme for 500. Well, there's a reason that one costs 500 and you can feel it in the weight of the battery as well. As a lot of the batteries are using recycled lead versus virgin lead, and so the recycled lead doesn't hold as big of a charge necessarily as, say, a virgin lead that might have, you know, less contaminants in it. Thicker plates, thicker wires, what?

Capn Tinsley: 25:09

about? What about the ones of us, the many, growing number of us, that has the lithium batteries?

Colin Mack: 25:16

I'm still skeptical. I've been on the.

Capn Tinsley: 25:18

Lithionics. I got that Rolls Royce gun. It is there's, there's a lot.

Colin Mack: 25:22

There's actually a lot of good ones. Yeah, I think in the next couple of years that I will be a convert, but honestly, the reason I'm hesitant to sign off on it or to promote it is that a lot of people believe that you can just swap out the batteries and a couple other things and go lithium and we've seen boats catch fire all the time, seen people have problems with them. Most lithium batteries I know Epoch makes a cranking battery in lithium. Most of the lithium batteries that we see are multipurpose. But you know you really need to be invested in with newer, updated chargers, newer wiring, newer alternators with the right controllers, making sure that all your bonding system is done Like. It's so much more than just switching to lithium batteries.

Capn Tinsley: 26:14

Yeah, my stuff's all Victron. Is that right Victron?

Colin Mack: 26:17

Yeah, and they make great products.

Capn Tinsley: 26:19

So that was all installed at the same time, where you know it was all professionally. Yeah, not my job, I didn't do it.

Colin Mack: 26:29

No, and it's great if it's done right. You know I've seen quite a few 380s that have done a phenomenal job, but they've spent $20,000 on their battery bank, you know, on their chargers and their wiring and their controllers and getting everything networked.

Capn Tinsley: 26:42

And that's not for everybody. All that is not for everybody, yeah.

Colin Mack: 26:50

No, I've seen people do it for 10, but that's still a lot of money. So definitely get someone who's done a lot of them and is good at it and make sure that you're up for the investment, because it's not just going out and buying some new batteries.

Capn Tinsley: 26:59

So definitely load. Take care of them and not bring them all the way down every time you know bring them to zero or anything so.

Colin Mack: 27:10

Okay, well, Well, an average of about five years on a regular battery. Um, and after about five years they start to lose their depth or their you know, their, their deep cycle or their cranking amps. They'll lose that ability to get that deep, deep, deep charge. And so, while stuff will run, it will burn up your compressors because they're going to run on the wrong voltage or amperage coming in. When the volts are low, the amps go up, the heat goes up, it burns up chips, it burns up brushes, it burns up motors. So how?

Capn Tinsley: 27:42

do you know when your batteries are getting to that point?

Colin Mack: 27:47

Well, typically about five years, If the biggest talent talent I saw, david Hickey on here. Hi, david, if you're running your thruster and it only lasts for about 20 or 30 seconds and then turns off, that is representative of potentially long term and also short term issues related to heat. So if the battery.

Capn Tinsley: 28:09

Shouldn't be using it that long anyway.

Colin Mack: 28:12

Oh, I can stand on them for 30, 40 seconds, maybe a minute.

Capn Tinsley: 28:14

I don't have one.

Colin Mack: 28:16

I love mine. I just put one in. It's totally cheating but I love it. But if your bow thruster craps out or your windlass craps out and has to cool off-.

Capn Tinsley: 28:28

Okay, yeah, the windlass.

Colin Mack: 28:32

Your batteries are on their way out and you may have done some damage to the brushes or the motors or the solenoids on your windlass or your bow thruster.

Capn Tinsley: 28:38

Those are the two biggest telltale signs that we see weekly that's terrible, okay, so you've got to be really paying attention because you don't want to burn anything up.

Colin Mack: 28:47

Nope, okay, nope, all right.

Capn Tinsley: 28:52

All right, so monthly.

Colin Mack: 28:53

So the list has check and clean raw water strainer, that last one, to flush the head with fresh water. Old school, the mega yachts love white vinegar. It's cheap, you get it at Publix or Hannaford or whatever your grocery store is. Most of the mega yachts don't use industrial cleaners, they use mostly vinegar. It doesn't leave streaks, it doesn't strip too much. And in my head and I'm sure different opinions and not for everybody but I always throw in a quarter cup of white vinegar into the head because it kills the bacteria that's going to create that brown slime ring and it keeps it from growing bacteria and it keeps the sulfur down and it may eat at some of the seals over time but they're going to go anyway and it just keeps everything.

Capn Tinsley: 29:41

It's a natural disinfectant.

Colin Mack: 29:42

It's great. So we use white vinegar everywhere. We throw it down the drains, we throw it down the scuppers, we throw it in the toilets, we throw it down the drains, we throw it down the scuppers, we throw it in the toilets.

Capn Tinsley: 29:53

Now, what if you have a waste filtration system the PureSan? I've got that. Will that react with the bleach? Tablets I use fresh water anyway.

Colin Mack: 30:04

I just use it from the shower. Yeah, use the fresh water, you're fine.

Capn Tinsley: 30:06

Yeah, mostly yeah.

Colin Mack: 30:08

I wouldn't think the vinegar, I mean ammoniagar and bleach, don't care, ammonia and bleach obviously are deadly, but I wouldn't be too worried about vinegar here and there.

Capn Tinsley: 30:18

Okay, all right. I wasn't sure. Okay, All right, so we've got.

Colin Mack: 30:24

I'm not sure that myself.

Capn Tinsley: 30:26

Okay, all right, Checking okay. So for this is also going to be on the audio side of the podcast, so I want to read this. Check and clean raw water strainer. Inspect fuel lines and fittings for leaks. Lubricate winches and moving deck hardware. Test and cycle seacocks. Inspect belts and hoses for wear. Verify steering system operation. Clean and inspect solar panels.

Colin Mack: 30:51

Oh, that's a good one. That's a pretty good list. Raw water strainers I think should be more than monthly, especially if you're running your air conditioning, and this will probably be a topic for debate and I'm okay with that. But I use bromine tablets from the pool store in my strainers.

Capn Tinsley: 31:10

Say it again you kind of, you kind of went out a little bit Bromine.

Colin Mack: 31:15

Bromine, bromine. So bromine is a tablet that you throw in your sauna or your pool and what it does is it keeps your strainer clean, keeps your air conditioners clean, keeps all your pipes clean. Um, so really helpful for that. I also have a separate strainer for my air conditioner than my main engine, which I think is valuable, and most island packets unfortunately don't. Um, but the bromine good. Um, the bromine is really good for keeping everything clean and the. Some of the experts may say well, you know, it's going to eat the copper in the coils of the air conditioner. But if you have your air conditioner service to keep it running efficiently and keep the oxidation off of the inside of the pipes, they're using acid for that as well. So I haven't really determined a difference, a noticeable difference, between having your air conditioner acid washed every couple of years and just keeping bromine tablets in there. Once a month you throw in another size tablet.

Capn Tinsley: 32:13

What about Barnacle Buster?

Colin Mack: 32:17

That's the acid that they use to clean the air conditioners. So if you just drop a bromine tablet in your strainer, when it goes away, throw another one in. It's going to keep all your pipes clean. It's going to keep your strainer clean from growth Like nothing grows in it. It just absolutely kills all the, all the algae, all the barnacles, all the seaweed, everything that would grow in your strainer, especially in South Florida. Um, my strainer looks like I just put it in yesterday because I keep those.

Capn Tinsley: 32:46

Are you talking about the engine and the air conditioner, or just the air conditioner and air conditioner? Well, you can do both, okay. And then so the main strainer. And please forgive me, because I know how to sail, but the maintenance is not my first anyway. So you got the one that's in the engine, the little one yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 33:07

I got the 3g 30 F, then you got the bigger one down by the bilge pumps I'm in a 320, by the way, yeah, and then I have the one for you, have one for the toilet also and then one for the air conditioner.

Colin Mack: 33:22

Right. Well, most Island packets that we've been on might have one or two Okay, a lot of the Island packets had the main strainer right down at the bottom of the landing. It was a Perco with four big bolts that came up to a top with a wing nut on it and usually you would see three or four or five connections teed off of that main strainer. So a lot of people were pulling air conditioning or toilets off of that main engine strainer, which isn't a big deal because you're not running the air conditioner at the same time as the engine.

Colin Mack: 33:54

Probably you might flush a toilet, but the water demand isn't that great. But I personally think you ought to have one for the engine dedicated and one for everything else. If you've got two air conditioners, you might want two strainers because you've got two pumps, but I still like the bromine tablets in there to keep everything clean. You know, if you got two air conditioners, you might want two strainers because you got two pumps, but I still like the bromine tablets in there to keep everything clean and that's a good tip that's a good tip and it's cheap.

Colin Mack: 34:18

Home Depot has it, pool stores have it. I love it. It cuts down on my maintenance and my aggravation okay, so I do have this one question.

Capn Tinsley: 34:28

okay, this is Mike, he's from Orange Beach, he has an Island Packet 29. Batteries Plus sells a dual-purpose AGM battery, all virgin lead, 1080 CCA. That costs about $500, but just repowered with them, very good. Replace Lifeline batteries that lasted six years.

Colin Mack: 34:47

Yep, yep. And Lifeline is. You know Lifeline is a great one. Odyssey Extreme is probably my favorite. You know there's there's three or four really good batteries, but that's definitely. You know. Anytime you can get a battery that's proven. And the warranty too. A lot of these have like a prorated warranty. One of the reasons I like Odyssey is they have a three-year. Last time I checked it was a three-year non prorated warranty. One of the reasons I like Odyssey is they have a three-year. Last time I checked it was a three-year non-prorated full replacement warranty. So at the end of three years if something went bad, they gave you a brand new battery, which to me was phenomenal. And so you know, if you have something that you like and it works for you and it fits your budget, that's great. Just know what you're getting.

Capn Tinsley: 35:31

Okay, so, um, we just read the monthly list, didn't we? Yeah?

Colin Mack: 35:38

So um, I'm amazed. Even on my own boat, um, I keep a ton of hose clamps. We really like the Scanvic um clamps cause they don't have the little holes in them or the serrations in them. It's a solid clamp. It's a thicker gauge of stainless, it lasts longer, they're just like them in general and they're more expensive. But for us it's about keeping you having fun, not keeping you coming back. You're going to be back anyway. We just want to get you to have some fun, so you want to come back. You're going to be back anyway. We just want to get you to have some fun, so you want to come back.

Colin Mack: 36:12

So I think I replaced something like 22 hose clamps on my boat last summer. Wow, they were the obscure hose clamps that you know. They weren't under a lot of pressure. You didn't think a big deal about them. They're in kind of corners of the boat and I thought you know what I haven't done hose clamps in a while. I should just really just go bring a whole box back from the boat yard. All the different sizes and it was amazing how many of them you know. On the holding tank. Um, you know there was two clamps. Well, one of them I put the wrench on and it snapped right off in my hand because it was an old, serrated one and people just they look at it, okay, it's there, it hasn't broken. But until you actually tighten up on that screw, that's when they break. You know, if you've got a clog in the head or something, that pressure is going to build in the hose, it's going to break a hose clamp and then you got a shitty mess in your bilge, which you don't want um.

Capn Tinsley: 37:04

So as a rule of thumb, like, how often do you recommend? Every couple years, just go ahead and change them all out?

Colin Mack: 37:12

I would say every 10 years you should change all your clamps, no matter what. Yeah, but I think you should inspect them every big trip, like I feel like most people will sail maybe once. I mean, well, the northeast is in the Midwest is a little different because they have such a short season, but down here in Florida, chesapeake, caribbean, you know we sail maybe once a month, maybe twice a month, and then we try and go out for a long cruise somewhere for two or three or four weeks if we're lucky enough to get the time to go off. And so before every big trip you know I try and do that, you know, just big annual checks and checking hose clamps, and then you know if it's got rust on it. Well, rust is kind of like, um, your precursor to a failure.

Colin Mack: 38:00

Uh, I tell people all the time that rust is cancer it is rust, is the iron leaking out of the stainless, and the iron is the lifeblood of your stainless steel. So if you see rust, it's coming out of the stainless. Um the um, this is a new.

Capn Tinsley: 38:18

Yes, yeah, this is a new ip owner in key west. They sold everything in ohio and moved to qs on a boat on a beautiful one night. 2021 380 is Is that right? I'm sorry, mike, I forgot. Yeah, how much of your business related to he's new to the whole Island Packet thing.

Colin Mack: 38:37

So Nope, all good. So we have two full-time employees that don't do anything but chain plates. They're doing chain plates all day. You know weeks a year, that's all they do. We have another guy who does chain plates kind of part-time or helps fill in with stuff, and those guys just do chain plates. Like we have a cleaning crew and a prep crew so that those guys can do 99 of just the work that they do. The electricians come in and help out with things like removing hot water heaters or electronics that might be in the way of the chain plates. So we really I would say chain plates probably makes up 20% of our business that we do in the yard.

Capn Tinsley: 39:22

We always have two. So let's throw some numbers out there, just kind of general numbers. Sure, On an Island, Packet 320,. What would it cost to replace Mine's 1998, so after 1998, they were better Still, at some point I'm going to have to do it right, yes, I'll start with.

Colin Mack: 39:45

unfortunately, it's about 140 to 160 hours worth of work, depending on the boat. The unfortunate part is it's harder to do an island pack at 27 than it is an island pack at 40. The 27, it's harder.

Capn Tinsley: 40:02

I used to have one of those, yeah, okay.

Colin Mack: 40:05

Access. We just finished a 27 recently that had external chain plates and the guy realized it wasn't a great way to go. Some of the bolts weren't even through, like they were into nothing, um, so the guy was sailing around completely unaware that his boat was unsafe. It was really not done well at all. Some of the external plates have been done okay, but not my favorite. Um but um the um, I forgot where we're going. I'm sorry on that one is it like 20 grand?

Colin Mack: 40:34

it is. It starts out it's a 19.5 for the smaller boats, um, like the 27, the 31, the 32, the 35. Um, the bigger boats, you're into the 24 to 25 range for, like the 420 and the 440. Uh, the 485, I think, is up to 26,000. Um, and then the three digit boats, um, they're a little bit more expensive because of the headstay fitting is significantly more complicated. Um, but the crazy thing is, you know, you'd mentioned, you know, three, 20 versus like a 32,.

Colin Mack: 41:09

Um, in 1998, 99, they started switching over to 316L. It still suffers the same failure and death that 304 suffers. The biggest difference is that there's more nickel and tin and chromium in 316 than there is, where the 304 is heavily invested in carbon for strength. So the newer plates are thicker by design to make up for the lack of strength. Less carbon, less strength, also less rust. The nickel and tin and chromium really are just there to encapsulate the iron, to keep it shiny. Basically in very basic layman terms. But 316 chain plates still fail. We always tell people okay, you know, pre-99 vote you're looking at, you know 20 to 25 years of usable life expectancy. Beyond that 25, you're driving around with bald tires waiting for it to rain, and we've seen lots of 25, listen driving around with bald tires waiting for it to rain, and we've seen lots of 25.

Capn Tinsley: 42:13

Listen, mine is what is mine? 98? I need to think about it, don't I?

Colin Mack: 42:19

And we actually had two boats come in last summer that lost chain plates coming down from the Chesapeake and they were being proactive, down from the Chesapeake, you know, and they were being proactive, and the one lady said that every day the chain plate came out of the boat a little further and a little further every day, and you know. So they ducked in and came down the ditch for the rest of the run. And then the 316 we figure about 28 to 30 years as a limit, I think by 25, you really should be heavily invested in in budgeting and getting on a list to have them done.

Capn Tinsley: 42:59

Actually about 20 grand, 20 grand.

Colin Mack: 43:02

And we just did a four 20 yesterday and we did another one. Do you have a?

Capn Tinsley: 43:06

payment plan one. You have a payment plan mass carterby's, uh, but we've done interest. Yeah, we've done three. Probably do a lot of business doing that.

Colin Mack: 43:18

But, um, but amazingly, a lot of the 420s and the 380s, um, and it's really easy to check. I wish I had a graphic. But on the headstay fitting where the three bolts come in through the front of the boat into the anchor locker, we've seen three or four in the last couple months that had huge cracks on the headstay fitting at the first bolt. So really easy for a customer to inspect if they're at the dock and they're looking at the boat, look underneath. I'll post some pictures on our facebook page and I'll send you a couple.

Colin Mack: 43:47

Um, but you know, and that's 316, stainless, like that should be great, but these were all 2001, 2002. So these boats are 2223 years old and that by rights should be the strongest chain plate on the boat because it's thicker and it's exposed. But the best we can tell is all that salt spray coming up and it's under the bow sprit so it's not getting rained on, it may not be getting washed very often. It's probably not getting polished because it's tucked up under the bow sprit. And so I'm amazed how many 420s we've done or 380s, even terry ivan's 380. We did the chain plates for the previous owner and terry bought the boat we weren't doing the head stay fitting because we knew it was outside and it was bigger and Terry hauled out for some work and we're walking through the boat yard and you can see the crack from 30 feet away.

Capn Tinsley: 44:37

Oh, wow.

Colin Mack: 44:38

Big scab of rust and I tell people all the time I've got a scab on my arm because I hurt myself every day. If you have a scab of rust, that is your stainless dying it's wound it's leaking iron.

Colin Mack: 44:55

So if you see a scab of rust, polish it with 220 grit sandpaper and you'll see underneath that. If there's a little jagged hairline crack that looks like a lightning bolt, that's a crack. If it goes away, it wasn't a crack, it was something on the surface. So stainless, not stain proof, and um, again in the 20 to $26,000 range, um, and it takes about four to six weeks.

Capn Tinsley: 45:24

Okay, so, um, so I could probably bring the 320 down there, and there's there's not a a boat yard fee or anything, it's just 20 grand.

Colin Mack: 45:35

It's just 20 grand. So we do, having looked at what other yards we're trying to do, um, and knowing you know what makes, if it's easy for you, then it's good for us. Um, so you come into the yard, your dockage is included, your electricity is included. We have a bottom guy that comes by and scrubs every boat in the yard once a month. I like it.

Capn Tinsley: 45:50

We have trailers.

Colin Mack: 45:52

So every boat gets its own trailer to unload everything. We give them 15 totes to help them pack the boat.

Capn Tinsley: 45:57

That's right, I remember seeing that.

Colin Mack: 46:01

Put it over on the storage side of the yard. And then you know, we check boats daily for bilge pumps and batteries to make sure that everything's topped off and the boat isn't sinking in the yard. And then the cleaning you know, the prep crew comes in, they lay cardboard, we put plastic bags over all the fans.

Capn Tinsley: 46:19

Yeah, so if people don't know, with the island packet it's embedded into the fiberglass so you have to take things out, like sometimes the take things out, like sometimes the, the cabinets and stuff right.

Colin Mack: 46:31

Every time, yeah, Every time we. We spend about two guys three days breaking down the interior of the boat.

Capn Tinsley: 46:38

Right, and that's why you have to get your stuff off.

Colin Mack: 46:41

Yep, Yep and I. The funniest thing is, people ask us all the time Well, can we leave anything? And I tell them all the time imagine I took a 10 pound bag of flour and an M80 and I set it off in your boat, because it is going to look like that in the middle of the work and we clean up every day, but it is.

Capn Tinsley: 47:01

I just posted a video a couple of days ago, the dust is insidious. Basically, you got to break into the fiberglass, take out the old chain plates, put in the new and then glass it over and then put everything back together and get all the dust out.

Colin Mack: 47:16

Make it look like we weren't there.

Capn Tinsley: 47:18

Hence the $20,000.

Colin Mack: 47:20

Yeah, 160 hours goes really quickly.

Capn Tinsley: 47:23

That's a lot of hours.

Colin Mack: 47:24

Yeah, absolutely Okay.

Capn Tinsley: 47:26

So Hayden says this is the way to do it. Fantastic job. Yeah, I know he's not a fan of the external, which I had done on my first one, but I know that's not cool. It's not cool in the island packet world.

Colin Mack: 47:40

It devalues, in my opinion and again, you know what they say about opinions but it devalues the brand. So if you don't care about the value of the boat as much, or maybe the boat isn't, you know, worth the extra investment, I can see going external from that standpoint or DIY, like, obviously our time is expensive. You know, we have people to feed, insurance, overhead taxes, we have tons and tons of expenses and nothing's free. But if it's your time, it's easy to do. I'm going to have to check out the yeah Is there someone standing there or something.

Colin Mack: 48:19

Yeah Well, we had one where the guy was flicking off the Google truck.

Capn Tinsley: 48:24

I think they took that one down, but yeah. I guess you can complain and have. I can't yeah, no good grief, lost my train of thought again all right, so let's go back to that list, okay, so, um, so we did we cover all this inspect bills and and belts and hoses for wear, verify.

Colin Mack: 48:46

So we went through all that I completely disagree with item three lubricate winches and deck hardware monthly yeah, monthly that seems a lot well, the other problem people don't realize, and those of you out there who know me know what's coming next oh yeah, what is it? Huh I can't say enough hot water hot water hot water on your boat, get a kettle going.

Colin Mack: 49:13

Once kettle's hot boil, another pot of water, get them going back to back. Yeah, salt sticks to everything. Salt loves grease. Salt loves wd-40, it loves all the different greases and lubricants that we've been trained as kids to put something on something that squeaks or to get it moving sooner. But what you don't realize is that lubricant is attracting salt and dirt and seagull crap I mean all the crap on your boat and that gets into the blocks and the bearings. And then you throw some grease on it. You just have this nasty, messy paste that is eventually going to put the brakes on everything on your boat.

Capn Tinsley: 49:51

So you know the you're saying go ahead and pour hot water over your winches. What about the teak and all that? It's not going to hurt it.

Colin Mack: 49:58

Nope, okay.

Capn Tinsley: 49:59

Nope, okay.

Colin Mack: 49:59

Pour it on your deck blocks, pour it on you know you don't necessarily need to pour it on your winches, but your rope clutches is probably the biggest one.

Colin Mack: 50:11

Open up the handles, take out the ropes, pour it in on the cams and exercise those cams back and forth. You'd be amazed at how much stuff bleeds out of those rope clutches and your deck blocks and your harken furlers. 90 of the boats in the island packet world have harken furlers with open torlon balls. They do not want grease and they sure as heck don't want super lube or something else like that for the longterm, because they'll attract salt and dirt and you'll actually wear those bearings down even though they're Torlon. I saw one yesterday and the ball bearing had been kind of scraped on one edge Um, and it's because the previous owner had been using um super lube instead of one drop from harken um and it wrecked the torlon ball. Fortunately we're going to replace them anyway because the car came apart. Wasn't a big deal, but it was a great history lesson of why you should just pour your fur.

Capn Tinsley: 51:00

What about the? What about the autopilot? The one that come with the wheel, like um? I've had it before where it got real squeaky, and I know I don't know if I'd put boiling water on soft plastic okay, all right but fresh water from the hose fresh water. Okay, all right that's it. Take care of it um and now is this just water? How do you safely clean solar panels? What cleaner seems like just water and maybe a sponge or something.

Colin Mack: 51:30

Just water and a deck brush, a soft brussel dick brush, yeah, okay just get salt up there and right just well.

Colin Mack: 51:38

So we just spent, if you can imagine, we spent four thousand dollars detailing the decks and house of a 420. The boat looks brand new, half the repairs that were there that were kind of half baked, you know, we got through to the original gel coat and everything looked good. But it was amazing because my detailer constantly he's like, please, for the love of God, like, wash your boat earlier, late in the day, when the sun isn't hard, you know, and put the water on there. You see all these things on Facebook about these guys with these big foam dispensing things for your car. They spray the foam all over the car. Have you seen those?

Colin Mack: 52:18

No, I haven't seen that Well, it sounds intriguing though, and basically they're foaming, kind of like flocking your Christmas tree without white spray. They're spraying their trucks with this foam and they let it sit for a couple of minutes, and the reason they do that is it allows the detergent, or frequently just water.

Capn Tinsley: 52:38

Is that good for the paint?

Colin Mack: 52:39

Well, it's not bad for the paint because they're specially made. But what it does is it gives the opportunity for the dust and the dirt and the salt, the pollen. It gives it a chance to get loosened up and get off the surface. So when you run that deck brush over the deck, you're not actually sanding or scouring your teak and your deck because everything's gotten loose. So I always rinse my boat a couple minutes before I grab the deck brush. You know, get it. Yeah, go get my materials, come back. Everything's loose, everything cleans easier. It didn't really make a lot of sense to me but having paid my detailer to keep care of my boat for years and years, you definitely notice a difference in longevity of all grip and gel coat. If you take a few steps like just pre-rinsing your dishes and you pre-rinse your boat, everything comes out a lot cleaner and easier.

Capn Tinsley: 53:31

Pollen. I don't know, salt pollen and poop is what he said for sure, I don't know about um sap, that's, that's a different story.

Colin Mack: 53:40

Uh, yeah, but uh, but definitely okay, so let's go to.

Capn Tinsley: 53:45

Let's go to the what's the next one? Quarterly every three months.

Colin Mack: 53:52

Sure, I don't know about the three months on the engine. I change my fuel filters and water separators and everything. I do it at least annually because the filters do come apart.

Colin Mack: 54:07

You know you like to change the O-ring in the water separator, which nobody generally does. But you should change out the little red o-ring, sometimes the the stainless bb and the ray core, definitely the filters. The air filters generally don't need too much but it's good to check and make sure they're not coming apart. But you know, at least every hundred hours on your fuel filters and your oil changes and your oil filters, I would say every two. Least every hundred hours on your fuel filters and your oil changes and your oil filters, I would say every two to three hundred hours on your transmission fluid is a good way to go. And when we get to the lubricating turnbuckles and furling systems, I completely disagree because that lubricant is going to attract dirt. So hot water, fresh water, cold water, just flood them.

Capn Tinsley: 54:52

Let's just take that word out of there. Yeah rinse, yeah rinse, that's good, yeah, rinse.

Colin Mack: 55:02

Yeah, which is particularly easy if you're in the US. But I tell people all the time, like my dad used to make canvas buckets with a ring in the top and our job was to slush the boat every day with a bucket with salt water so that we could get the salt spray off the stainless, we get the salt off the decks, we get the salt off the furlers. Even though we were putting salt water on, we were getting all that salt spray off. So, as long as you're working in the right direction, you know that's, you know you're making good strides.

Capn Tinsley: 55:35

So Augustus, that's Augie. No, what Gus? Do you have a nickname? Tell me what it is. What does a repower cost? I'm not sure what that means, but Well, we just did a 350 actually. And Is he asking about batteries?

Colin Mack: 55:55

what does he say? Well, I don't know if he's talking about a repower of a main engine or if he's talking about a um, about batteries, um, but I'm gonna look up real quick what we did for the 350, because we just finished one a couple weeks ago and we used a beta engine, which I like over the Yanmar because it's it's a simple.

Capn Tinsley: 56:15

That's his nickname, Goose.

Colin Mack: 56:16

Goose. I don't think I know him yet, but maybe we'll get to meet each other.

Capn Tinsley: 56:21

You know, talk to me Goose.

Colin Mack: 56:22

you know from the movie Absolutely OK, perfect, I'm just pulling it up. Spare with me folks, I'm sorry. Okay, perfect, I'm just pulling it up. Bear with me folks, I'm sorry. So we did this gentleman, we did a Beta 35 and that was right under 20 grand delivered. We spent about 10,000 in materials and labor.

Capn Tinsley: 56:47

What did you say? The cost was.

Colin Mack: 56:51

The cost on that engine was right at 20,000 by the time it landed. It was actually 19,975 for the beta 35 with a transmission. I always get a new transmission because it's not worth adapting, it's not worth looking over your shoulder. And then we always do, you know, we do shifter cables, we do. You know water shifter cables, we do uh, you know water hoses, we do the exhaust hose. We frequently do a new muffler. We do um, you know we have to adjust the engine beds and the heights.

Colin Mack: 57:19

We always check the prop shaft and the cutlass bearing and the stern tube. Like, if you're going to have your boat repowered, do not do it in the water because you can't check the shaft or half of the other part that's really important to your boat if you're doing it in the water. And so you know that was about a $30,000 to $35,000 project by the time we were done. The Yanmar is going to be a couple thousand dollars cheaper. But the reason that we like the Beta is it's a tractor motor. You find them in all the Bobcats. It's a Kubota block. It's heavier. It's heavier, it's efficient. It doesn't have a lot of electronics on it to go bad when you start getting into the bigger Yanmar engines like the 75s and hundreds. Everything's electronically controlled.

Capn Tinsley: 58:04

Oh, this is going to be a big job here. Okay, engine and chain plates. We want to pay attention to goose here.

Colin Mack: 58:11

yes, you're looking about 50 grand goose um, but you know there's so much that goes into it, um, and we always, you know if we're going to put our name on it we want to be right. So you know, we, we pull the prop shaft and nine times out of ten we replace the prop shaft because it's original to the boat. We replace the cutlass bearing, we replace the packing gland on this last 350 we upgraded the shifter to something a little more appropriate for a nice boat than the black kind of rubber thing that comes from island packet. So there's a lot that goes into a repower um, and you can save a few grand.

Colin Mack: 58:46

Like my dad bought a, an off-brand motor because the beta was two grand more back in the day. Money's hard to come by, I get it. He raised three kids, um, you know, and he kicked himself because he's like you know, for the two grand and the amount of effort I went to make the engine the way I wanted it, I just should have bought the beta and it's funny because I know hayden likes beta yeah, and four or five years ago not many people knew about beta.

Colin Mack: 59:11

One guy asked he goes why the hell is Colin always selling beta Like what's his deal? And I like it. I just put one in my boat because I don't have to worry about it. So the 30 grand when it's time to replace the engine.

Capn Tinsley: 59:26

Yeah, when it's time to replace the engine, then you've got a decision to make.

Colin Mack: 59:30

Well, we've replaced in 35s, 350s, 38s, 40s, 440s, 420s. We've done betas in every single one of those models.

Colin Mack: 59:45

Okay, so inspect sail stitching, reefinging points and furling mechanisms yeah, you should look at those when you're going out for sale. But those should go into the sale loft every year in the downtime and, uh, an average resaw of a genoa cover might run you a couple hundred bucks. But if it comes off because the stitching went bad, you go go from like $200 to $800 to $1,200 to replace the cover. So much easier to get it done ahead of time. And most good lofts are going to use Gore-Tex thread, which cares less about UV than your typical polyester thread. So you know, make sure they're using solar thread or Gore-Tex thread or one of those kind of aramid fibers solar thread or Gore-Tex thread or one of those kind of aramid fibers. And right now, gus, our first opening for chain plates, I think, is May 1st, and I think that also applies for chain plates, chain plates and motors is May 1st, and we do have projects scheduled out into September of this year.

Capn Tinsley: 1:00:48

But there's a lot of slots open between that Basically, we have about nine to four minutes of time, so give us a ring. Let me put up the info here. Boom so at Mack Yacht Services on all the social media and then, the website MackYachtServicescom.

Colin Mack: 1:01:05

Yeah, and you can always remember that you can always email us info at Mack Yacht Services.

Capn Tinsley: 1:01:10

And this is the man right here, this is Colin Mack. So he's the man we try, okay, so we got test and clean bilge pumps again. We got flush and inspect water maker if applicable, and clean propeller and shaft.

Colin Mack: 1:01:27

Yep. So zinc is an interesting one on there. A lot of people think more zincs is better. You really only need one zinc on the prop shaft. If you've got a max prop you're going to want a zinc on the back of the prop. The zinc on the weed shoe doesn't really seem to have any marginal noticeable effect that we can see. Obviously, your bow thruster if you have one, you know is huge. But if you put too many zincs on the electrolysis will actually attack something else on the boat. So don't over zinc. Don't put two zincs on the prop shaft, just put one.

Capn Tinsley: 1:02:04

Okay, I didn't even know that was a thing, yeah.

Colin Mack: 1:02:07

We've seen it yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 1:02:08

Yeah, really Okay. So can you share about the four 39, four 39 refit. Is that, is that right, or is it four 30?

Colin Mack: 1:02:16

Uh, no, we, we did a four 39. Uh, the um the gentleman had some issues with the boat and um, we had to replace the water tank because it wasn't um properly cured. Um, we'll just leave it at that. So we actually took the entire floor out, we removed the old uh fiberglass tanks that were built and um replaced them with two FDA-approved poly tanks that are made down in Florida by DuraWeld and then had to put all the stringers and the floor and the bracing and a whole new floor back, and then we also did a repower on that. The guy had some water on the head of the engine and didn't want to go around the world with an engine that had. Potentially, when you do get salt water on the head, you can lose things like valve springs and seats and the corrosion sets in and it kind of etches the cylinder walls and so you know if you had an older engine that was of a high quality, that was good metal.

Colin Mack: 1:03:22

You know you would hot batch the fuel and put like a couple quarts of two-stroke motor oil and five gallons of diesel. And you would hot batch the fuel and put like a couple of quarts of two stroke motor oil and five gallons of diesel and you would run it through the engine and kind of treat it and you would change the oil four or five times until you got the salt levels in the oil down to a manageable number. But if you've got a brand new motor where it isn't quite as nicely built as those older Yanmars that were heavy duty and you just spent all this money on the boat million dollars on the boat by the time he outfitted it, you know the guy decided that he just wanted to replace the motor so he didn't have to worry about it. And now life has changed and so we actually have that boat for sale for, I think, in the high nines, at advantage at triat sales, and you know it's going to be in the market.

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:06

There you go. We just got a new engine.

Colin Mack: 1:04:09

Yeah, new water tanks. Okay, it's a beautiful boat.

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:16

Okay. So Kelly Regal says SB Peregrina 43914 regarding detailing. A detailer was pushing ceramic coating. Is it worth the cost?

Colin Mack: 1:04:28

Well, I guess that depends on the cost. But the ceramic coating I think is I've seen people do it it definitely makes a difference if everything is in excellent condition. If you've got an older boat, you know there's a lot of gimmick and a lot of flash about ceramic coating. You know there's a lot of gimmick and a lot of flash about ceramic coating. Most of the ceramic coatings aren't worth the cost that you buy in the. You know AutoZone things like that.

Colin Mack: 1:04:57

So if you've got brand new gel coat or if you have just had the boat professionally detailed and you're happy with all the gel coat and you don't have dings or things in it, then ceramic coating might be worth the. You know two to four thousand dollars that they're going to charge you to do that. Honestly, I would much rather see people spend the effort of wet sanding with up to twelve hundred grit sandpaper, get all that oxidation off and then do 3M's three step process. It's three bottles one, two, three. It finishes with like a finesse polish and that will give you the shine and the protection you need, as long as you stay away from those harsh cleaners.

Capn Tinsley: 1:05:32

It's all about the cleaners, um. And so yeah, no dawn. So, um, why do you think this this detailer was pushing it? Is it easier for the detailer, or what is? Or just trying to make some money?

Colin Mack: 1:05:42

it's generally pretty expensive. Um, from what we've seen, good ceramic coating and we have done a couple of really nice boats down in jupiter island um, really nicely done. It is very tedious work, it's high dollar work. Um, you have to have special lights and special products um, and so there is a lot of money in it and not everybody's doing it. Um, you generally go to a good class where they could teach you how to do it. So, um, on a 439, that's new, probably worth it.

Colin Mack: 1:06:11

Um, depending on what they're getting and what products they're using um, you know. But again, if you just wash and wax your boat regularly and use a high quality polish, not necessarily wax, because you get that wax build up, so, um, I don't know that I would necessarily, uh, necessarily, do the ceramic coating myself. I think there's a little more gimmick in it than there is just kind of common sense, but I'm sure there's a lot of different opinions on that. I don't think I'd spend my money on that. I think I would be putting it into things that were a little more fun and just wash my boat a little more regularly.

Capn Tinsley: 1:06:43

Okay, all right. And then I'm not sure what this person's pretty sure I have blow by on my three J, h, three E. And what is that? A beta, or is that?

Colin Mack: 1:06:53

a Yanmar Um. And so the best way to tell that a couple of things is if you um open the oil cap, you're going to get some back pressure in the top of the engine and it's hard to tell if you haven't checked it before, if you don't do it regularly. But you'll always get a little puff, puff, puff, puff, puff coming out of the oil cap, from all the valves and springs and everything going on there, crankcase pressure. But if you open it up and it kind of spews at you or you're getting a lot of oil back into through the breather tube that comes back in, then you have blow by. You can also see it in your exhaust, like if you have a particularly filthy transom. That is a good indicator of an engine that's just wearing out. So you definitely would want to probably pull the injectors and do a compression test and a leak down test and that would tell you kind of the condition of the cylinder walls and the rings and the pistons and kind of what you have there to worry about. Um, and pretty much every old engine's got some blow by um. It's just you know things wear out Um. So it wouldn't be too much worried about blow by unless it starts getting a really filthy transom, and then that might be indicative of other things wearing out.

Colin Mack: 1:08:09

But it is amazing what some of these older things that we grew up with, like seafoam, additive for your diesel, nap and pour can in the in the fuel. I do that every time I fuel up. I a thing of sea foam or even marvel mystery oil in your diesel. It really just keeps everything nice and clean and happy. Because all of our new diesels have so low sulfur and so many chemicals in them that we need to get back to putting some of that old school common sense stuff back in. Um the one that always amused me, though, I did have a couple customers that poured their old motor oil into the tank instead of recycling it, and then, of course, you're putting all that dirt and soot and crap that's in the oil into your fuel system. So that never made any sense to me at all why would they do that?

Capn Tinsley: 1:08:59

I think they were just thrifty wow, didn't want to pour it out. Why change it then? What's the point?

Colin Mack: 1:09:08

I don't honestly know, but a little can of oil or seafoam in your diesel is always great.

Capn Tinsley: 1:09:15

Okay.

Colin Mack: 1:09:16

Mike, two-year-old PSS. Don't do anything to it other than keep an eye on it. The black bellows that most of us have with a PSS is rated to six or seven years. Um, mine was almost 20 years old before I finally changed it. Do not follow my advice, I was being lazy. Um, I also own a boat yard so I can afford to fix stuff. Um, but six to seven on the black bellows. And they've now come out with a pro model, which is a black siliconized hose, like the blue hose you see at the stores is the silicone hose and those I think they're saying is like eight to 10 year service life on the PSS. But just make sure, just make sure that you know everything is nice and tight. And, david, no, no external teak on on the 439s that I've seen. I bet you could order it, but it's all composite, composite rails.

Capn Tinsley: 1:10:10

Oh, that's a good question. Any thoughts on best wax for non-skid?

Colin Mack: 1:10:15

Best wax for non-skid. I'm going to go back to the boat wash with the Teflon or the, you know, the PTFE or any of those kinds of chemicals, because the wax is counterproductive to the non-skid or anti-slip or whatever you want to call it. But on the island packets, in particular for some of you guys, if you have those spots that are like dark brown and somewhat in the gel coat, that's actually the acid rain and the chemicals that you've been washing your boat with. It sits in the little divots of those triangles or those pyramids and it actually is eating the gel coat away and so that brown, reddish look that you're seeing is actually the, the natural polyester resin of the deck.

Capn Tinsley: 1:11:00

So I left some uh d-stain and I didn't rinse it.

Colin Mack: 1:11:05

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 1:11:05

It left a couple of uh, I don't know what, if it's just it, faded it or what, but there's a couple of spots on my boat that I and I don't know if I can get it fixed. How do? You fix something like that, if it.

Colin Mack: 1:11:18

Gel coat. If you are going to use a wax on non-skid, richard, I probably my favorite wax is isolator wax. Um the um, it's clear. You, you know, wipe it on, wipe it off with a microfiber rag, just know that it's going to be slippery for a couple days. So that's generally why I don't wax the non-skids we. We generally just go over them with a cleaner with some of that teflon built in.

Capn Tinsley: 1:11:46

Leak from breather tube to valve cover.

Colin Mack: 1:11:48

Yep, that's the one Yep. So you've got a lot of pressure there. Any mechanic can come do a leak down and a compression test for you for a few hundred bucks. It's well worth it to get an idea of what the engine looks like.

Capn Tinsley: 1:12:06

Chain plates. What would be the most important thing for a new boat owner without much experience? But he's in a 2021 boat, so he didn't have to worry about chain plates right now. I've seen, I've been on that boat. It's like perfect.

Colin Mack: 1:12:22

In the words of my father practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. I don't care if it's the race course or the golf course or cruising, you really have to. And actually a great story. I had an old Irwin years ago and I had a Perkins 4108 in it and I asked my dad because he had a 4108 in his boat. And I asked my dad because he had a 4108 in his boat. I said you know, what should I look for? What do I need to know? What do I? And he's like you know what I'm not going to tell you. He goes because you're going to listen to me and it's going to go out the air. He goes. You need to snuggle up to that engine and you need to whisper to it. Just got to get to know it.

Colin Mack: 1:13:08

And, and the biggest thing, is docking like. I see so many people where we have to bring the boat in. I don't fault them for that. They're not familiar with their boat or they're not comfortable. Their boat enough, um. But practice isn't when you need to do something. Practice is when you have nothing better to do and go out and use your boat like, like. What a great excuse to use.

Capn Tinsley: 1:13:25

Have you left doc yet? That's what I want to know. He hadn't the last time I talked to him. Yeah. Just this beautiful boat and it's like well get a couple of friends and some fenders and just go have fun with the boat and back up the people down there to do it. He's got, he's got his girlfriend on the boat and he's got Vanessa Linsley right across. She's down there. She's the one that sold it to him.

Colin Mack: 1:13:50

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 1:13:50

So, yeah, he needs to just get off the dock.

Colin Mack: 1:13:59

Well, and I tell people all the time, back up in the middle of the ocean, back up in the middle of the river, when no one's around, back up in the middle of the fairway of your marina, when no one's looking, god don't do it at 5 o'clock, because everybody's looking. Do maneuvers when you don't need to, because then you can see how your boat backs up or does it back to port, does it back to starboard, does it back up at all?

Capn Tinsley: 1:14:18

Learn how to turn when you put it in reverse and then turn the wheel. What's that called? You can make the boat, I can make the boat pivot, so that takes practice yeah and I kind of discovered it by accident.

Colin Mack: 1:14:32

It's like, oh wow well, these boats really need a lot of quick bursts of power to jockey them around. And and a couple people have commented like oh, colin's too confident with a full keel boat like you need a lot of power to get that boat to pivot, you need a lot of power to stop it. You need a lot of power to turn it.

Capn Tinsley: 1:14:54

You can't slow down to where you lose the bow.

Colin Mack: 1:14:57

Yeah, you got to have enough power.

Capn Tinsley: 1:15:00

Sometimes you got to come in like you mean it, and people are like what are you doing? Well, this is the way it's done absolutely okay, what do you wax?

Colin Mack: 1:15:12

yep, I love what he waxed. That's an old one too.

Capn Tinsley: 1:15:15

Thank you, hayden yeah, and then mike says how do you calibrate the flux capacitors? I?

Colin Mack: 1:15:24

don't know about that, dr. Dr Marty will know that. One thing on that list of the annual that I'm going to jump to fuel polishing is highly underrated. Bad fuel will ruin your day, it'll ruin your cruise, it'll wreck your engine. The best thing, the easiest thing that we can do is we can keep our fuel tanks full because the change in temperature and the condensation creates the moisture, the moisture algae. But worse than algae, it eats your, your fuel tank. So when we replace fuel tanks on island pack, it's nine times out of ten the welds have let go because the water is sitting in the bottom corner or the forward corner of the tank at the weld and the. The nature of that water and the, the stainless steel and the weldment, it eats the welds. It just rusts the welds out and they start to drip. So keep those tanks full.

Colin Mack: 1:16:23

Buy good fuel. Don't buy road diesel. Buy marine diesel because it's got additives in it. If you see at the marinas they've got a black sticker with a yellow prop on it. That's a great fuel additive. That means you'll pay another nickel a gallon more, but it's got fuel additives to keep your engine running better and longer. So it's totally worth it. And then if you polish your fuel every year, every two years, every three years, you're getting that moisture out of the bottom of the tank, you're keeping everything clean, you're everything's just going to last longer, um, and give you less headache. You know, there's nothing worse than shutting down in the middle of the uh gulf stream because you've got bad fuel and I've got a great quick one I'll throw in here.

Colin Mack: 1:17:03

Mine's got a garlington 49 um beautiful sport fishing machine. Um, he was taught to put the fuel tip through one of those white diapers, almost like it was a collar or a neck, you know. So it went through it. Um, he's wrapping it around it. He would push it through. It made a great seal laid out on the deck. It Well, his Ray core shut down because a little bit of that white fiber from that diaper ended up in the Ray core BB and shut down. A twin engine, 50 foot sport fish in the middle of the Gulf stream in like three to five. So he's broadside two in the Gulf stream at three to five dishes.

Capn Tinsley: 1:17:43

To get himself out of anything, everywhere.

Colin Mack: 1:17:47

Everything's everywhere.

Capn Tinsley: 1:17:48

What happened?

Colin Mack: 1:17:49

He had to change the rate course.

Capn Tinsley: 1:17:52

Right there in the five to six. Oh my gosh yeah three to five.

Colin Mack: 1:17:56

You know, broadside too, I like the rags, but please don't stick your fuel fill through them, just wrap it around it.

Capn Tinsley: 1:18:04

Hayden says learn your fuel system, take it apart, clean it and get it running again. Fuel, fuel, fuel.

Colin Mack: 1:18:10

Always. I need lessons in that.

Capn Tinsley: 1:18:13

Mike did take the boat out and they're still learning Doc. Everything's pretty intuitive, except that. It will be If you leave on that boat and go up the coast and stop at every marina. By the end of that trip you'll have. You can manage anything.

Colin Mack: 1:18:30

Yep.

Capn Tinsley: 1:18:30

Absolutely All right, all right.

Colin Mack: 1:18:33

You can fix almost everything. Just don't stick your leg out between the dock and the boat. That's what your your rub rails are for. And um, the other one I find interesting too.

Capn Tinsley: 1:18:46

You got to listen. Sometimes I don't want to know, but I got to make myself listen. Yeah, yeah, absolutely Just saw a trawler and inlet loose both motors because of fouled filter. What a nightmare. That's horrible.

Colin Mack: 1:19:02

Well, and one thing I will say about those common rail motors too. I think Blaine Parks was on a boat coming into Charleston and the battery bank started to take a dive. And Blaine and I agree on a lot of things. This is one of them. I never go in an inlet without sails up. The boat is in the water deeper, so it's going to be more comfortable. The wind is in the boat down into the water deeper, so it's going to be more comfortable.

Capn Tinsley: 1:19:31

The wind is pushing the boat down into the water.

Colin Mack: 1:19:32

That's great advice. That's great advice and God forbid you have a fuel issue.

Capn Tinsley: 1:19:37

You've got sails. You heard it here on the Salty podcast these newer engines.

Colin Mack: 1:19:42

if you lose power, your diesel stops running.

Capn Tinsley: 1:19:45

Yeah.

Colin Mack: 1:19:46

If you get hit by lightning, your diesel stops running. Yeah, if you get hit by lightning, your diesel stops running. If you get a power surge, your diesel stops running. I'm of the generation where diesels could run underwater. If they had fuel and they had a clean air supply, they could run underwater. They didn't care. I mean, you see all these trucks with the snorkels on them because they go underwater. You know they're off-road mutters, but that's what they're doing. So to me, to have these newer engines with all these controls and things on them, you really have to be a little more careful with them. So never go out inlet without sails up. That's my thought. Bow thrusters I love bow thrusters because it has really allowed a lot of people to get into boating and be more safe. I still think you should practice, maybe without a bow thruster.

Capn Tinsley: 1:20:29

Don't lean on them, though, I mean in the marina. I'm just like, ah, it's like, come on now.

Colin Mack: 1:20:35

Well, I've seen people with four thrusters and they still couldn't dock their boat.

Capn Tinsley: 1:20:39

I know, I don't know. I mean I have a 320, so I can manage that. Okay, so Mike says great advice and podcast for the Island Packet community. So just for the folks that are listening, I want to make sure I cover everything because there is a biannual here. Biannually, every six months, change engine oil and filter service winches. I mean, I thought some of this was covered already.

Colin Mack: 1:21:06

Yeah, it was a little redundant in places.

Capn Tinsley: 1:21:11

Oh, replace impeller on raw water. Now, you should do that just when you change the oil and the Well, I do my impeller annually.

Colin Mack: 1:21:23

Yeah, I don't really do it more than annually, but I also don't put five or 600 hours a year on my engine. Okay, so it totally depends on you know stuff like that, the you know the stuffing box and stuff. You should always check the hose clamps. That's the big one. If you over tighten your packing nut you will wear it down. We we had one we took out yesterday out of a 320 and it was turned down about 50 thousandths from the packing nut being too tight. The wax had literally worn away the stainless steel to the point where it was a noticeably smaller shaft at the packing nut. So tightening that nut to stop a drip is not always the best thing you really should.

Capn Tinsley: 1:22:08

So somebody was a little obsessed.

Colin Mack: 1:22:11

But we see it all the time. You know it drips so they tighten it up, not thinking that it's just compressing. Because it's supposed to drip a little bit right About once every 11 seconds when you're running and maybe once a minute when you're at the dock. But a lot of people like a completely dry bilge and I find that somewhat unrealistic. But they get away with it and I'm glad that they do Until they don't. Until they don't, but I like a drip in the bilge.

Capn Tinsley: 1:22:38

Okay, thank you both, and I'll come hang out while I'm at Chapman's Very cool. Is that down there?

Colin Mack: 1:22:47

That's right across the town, yep.

Capn Tinsley: 1:22:49

Okay, so annually. Haul out for bottom inspection anti-fouling paint if needed and this I guess it depends on where if you're about to head out to the Caribbean or something, all this stuff would be even more important. Replace zinc modes on prop shaft and haul. Inspect and lubricate steering cables. Test and service fire extinguishers. Inspect and replace standing rigging Every 10 years or as needed.

Colin Mack: 1:23:13

That might just every 10 years so the insurance companies have really stepped up, yeah, and rightly so. I don't blame them. I think 10 years is maybe a little premature. We always said 10 to 12, with a limit of 15. In a salty environment. You know, up north, in the Great Lakes or brackish water, where the season is limited, they generally do better because they're missing the salt component of age.

Capn Tinsley: 1:23:40

That's completely different, isn't it? Yeah?

Colin Mack: 1:23:42

So age, stress, environment, material, you take the salt away. You end up with, you know, a little more lifespan and boats in the in the freshwater. You know they do about 20 to 30 percent better. But the insurance companies are starting to push that 10 year range. Because it's inside of Boston, yeah, but we've. We've seen boats lose rigging at seven years old. The man 40 was notorious for losing rigging at seven because it was under rigged. The Island packets are pretty well rigged, so it's it's less of an issue. But you know you get hit by lightning. Definitely send your rigger up because the lightning and the heat can actually change the makeup of the stainless and it will start breaking down at a much accelerated rate okay, reseal deck hardware to prevent leaks.

Capn Tinsley: 1:24:31

Check rudder bearings and keel bolts. Replace or service lifelines and safety gear. Flush engine cooling system, heat exchanger if needed. Inspect and clean fuel tanks you had talked about that so here's an important one Flushing engine coolant systems.

Colin Mack: 1:24:49

One of the manufacturers of the strainers makes a replacement fitting that you can put a garden hose onto.

Capn Tinsley: 1:24:57

Yeah.

Colin Mack: 1:24:58

And if you're doing that on the main engine strainer, you can put water on the head of the engine in no time and then you'll bend a rod, you'll break a a rod and you can break all kinds of things in your boat. We have repowered boats because of this and so if you're using that adapter with the garden hose on it, make sure that that is not attached to the engine in any way, shape or form, because the water is going to take the path the least resistance and it's going to go in every direction and it's going to go right onto the head of the engine. Um, and it cost this guy about forty thousand dollars, um to fix the fact that he was trying to do some maintenance on his boat and they sold it at west marine and he didn't know what he didn't know. Um, and it was a very expensive. You know education there. So you know, definitely empty your coolant every year or two and swap that out, change your oil regularly.

Colin Mack: 1:25:54

But when it comes to, you know, pushing water through things, you need to be really careful. And the other one we see all the time. You know, if you're bleeding your engine because you've changed your filters, please close the seacock to the main engine. I'm sure a lot of people know it, but just in case, every time that engine is turning over the impeller is mechanical so it's pumping water into the engine and therefore the exhaust as it's cranking over. As you're trying to bleed the engine or if you're just having trouble starting the engine you don't know what it is close the seacock.

Colin Mack: 1:26:27

It's much cheaper to replace an impeller than to have water on the head and then, once you get it running, quick open the seacock so you can get water to the engine. But as soon as you fill up that muffler that water is going to come back on the head. If the engine hasn't started, it doesn't have enough pressure to blow all that water out of the muffler. So much rather see you replace an impeller than put water on the head of the engine because you've been cranking and cranking and cranking. You can also potentially burn up your starter or some of the battery cables. But if you have to bleed your engine, close your through-haul before you get it running and then have someone quick open it while it's running.

Capn Tinsley: 1:27:07

Okay, now let let me uh say one thing about tonight's sponsor, which is me. Um, my name is Tinsley Myrick. I'm looking for that picture to put up here. Um, I'm Tinsley Myrick with Remax of orange beach and I sell Gulffront condos and Gulffront homes and even some non-waterfront and Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, also licensed in Florida for Perdido Key. You guys need anything but doing it 22 years. So I know what I'm doing and I'm good at it. So give me a call. There we go. Thank you for allowing me to do that, absolutely, and so we want to put up your information again. So you're on Facebook, you're on Instagram and you've got the website and they've got a really cool place down there. I went and toured it and these guys know what they're doing at Mack Yacht Services and if you want sales, it's Mack Sales.

Colin Mack: 1:28:04

Mack Sales, my brother MackSalescom Yep sales, uh, all kinds of good stuff well, thank you for coming on.

Capn Tinsley: 1:28:11

We've been on here an hour and a half, so it's really cool. Um, appreciate it and uh, here's how people can find you and if somebody wants that list, we'll have to perfect it a little bit, we'll have to redo it a little bit to make it where you like. Then email me at salty abandon at Gmail, and I'll try to get that to the fixed one as soon as I can.

Colin Mack: 1:28:37

As soon as Colin gets it to me, we'll get that out tomorrow sometime and and keep everybody safe and and we're happy to you know, we don't do any print ads anymore. We Word of mouth Solely on word of mouth and social media. And yeah, we have a few people that don't like us, but you know I joke all the time. If you haven't pissed somebody off, you haven't done enough work.

Colin Mack: 1:29:00

But I will tell you, we are tenacious, so when we have a bad day, we will do everything we can to make it right. If you, let us do it. If you don't, that's, you know, unfortunate. But, um, you know, we love the fleet. I actually have two Island packets. I just bought a 27 to take to Maine and I've got my 40 down here. That's in a major refit and so, um, we just, we love the boats, we love the group. Um, as a whole, it's wonderful and we certainly appreciate the continued support of the fleet. It means a lot, all right. Well, thanks for everybody with your comments and suggestions and questions, and with that I'm going to say Salty, abandon out, thank you.