420/44 DB Owners Club

Gents - In winterizing my CTA's do i need to clamp the lines going to the dripless shaft seals so the pink makes it all the way through the system?

No you don't have to, but some pink will be wasted if you don't.
Tides seals do not need to be winterized, but if you clamp the line off, after you shut down the engines and remove the clamp, all the pink in the engine from the gear cooler up (gear cooler, crossover hoses and pipe, and heat exchanger) will drain out through the shaft seal(s) anyway. I prefer to clamp.
 
Thx! Your response prompts another concern. If winterizing in the water will seawater travel in reverse through the shaft seals and hoses back up into the engine, thus displacing the antifreeze, if the lines aren't clamped? I'll be winterizing in water then pulled the next day.
 
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Yes, up to the static water line. Winterizing in the water requires removing and plugging the shaft seal lines and fittings
 
On our boats windlass, is there a built in chain stop to use when under anchor? Or do most of you have a separate stop installed somewhere on the bow? Or use a bridle?

Mine never had a stopper. I use bridle all the time.
 
I considered creating the bridal with two separate thimbles on each leg but, decided to use the chafe guard and sew a single thimble in. I may change it in the future but, I think this will hold up pretty well. Plus, if it does fail the chain picks up the load with no safety risk.
If it does fail I think the line will just slide thru the thimble - you will still have the bridle taking the load. No risk to the boat.
 
It has taken me a while to open up my walkway after reading the posts on trapped water. I removed close to 20 Gal of water from my walkway. This is a new to me boat and the previous owner was not one to keep a dry bilge and the water enters through little cracks or voids in the fiberglass tabs used to install the walkway. I discovered this after I repaired all the leaks and got a dry bilge. Every time I ran the boat water would fill the rear sump. I went into the engine room to look for the leak while underway and found water dripping out around the walkway! This will be repaired with some glass cloth in the near future.
Thanks to this site and all the members for putting all of this great info out there.
Wow! makes a strong case to add the hatch and take a look.
 
It has taken me a while to open up my walkway after reading the posts on trapped water. I removed close to 20 Gal of water from my walkway. This is a new to me boat and the previous owner was not one to keep a dry bilge and the water enters through little cracks or voids in the fiberglass tabs used to install the walkway. I discovered this after I repaired all the leaks and got a dry bilge. Every time I ran the boat water would fill the rear sump. I went into the engine room to look for the leak while underway and found water dripping out around the walkway! This will be repaired with some glass cloth in the near future.
Thanks to this site and all the members for putting all of this great info out there.
This will be a project during this winter's to do list. Ill post my findings.
 
It was quite the shocker to me. This picture is what I had after removal of the plug. You can see sawdust floating on the water inside the walk way.
 

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I'm winterizing on Saturday. If I remember I'll take a pic and post it.

Here are the fuel shut off valves locations. They sit on top of the tanks. The rear valves are somewhat hard to get to.

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Here are the fuel shut off valves locations. They sit on top of the tanks. The rear valves are somewhat hard to get to.

View attachment 76753


Thanks for taking the time to take and post these pictures. I’m quite sure those are the valves I turned off. I’ll need to spend a bit more time investigating my tanks.

Thanks again,

Chip
 
Better yet, I've learned a lot of $hit from you guys. Where have you been?

Hey Mich,

I'm still around, just some life events kept pulling me away from my time on the forum. The old technical issue with notifications not working doesn't help either. At least in the past it was working sometimes, now I never get any updates when threads have new posts or I get a PM. Unless I scan the site manually, I'm out of the loop.
 
Well guys, made the plunge. Looks like I'm no longer a 44DB owner, and now a 2017 460 DA owner. (I will post this in both the 460DA and 44DB forum pages, so please forgive the redundancy.)

We loved the 44DB, but we made the move for a couple of reasons:

1. we love the layout of the newer 460. We really wanted two usable staterooms, and the 460 checks that box very well.

2. we love having a salon for entertaining that is separate from sleeping area and the newer 460 has a great salon with excellent flow from the aft deck (44DB has a great salon too).

3. we loved most things about a bridge boat, except having people on 2 levels when entertaining. We also recently got a new lab puppy, and we feared she'd end up falling down the stairs while underway (yes I know you can shut the hatch).

4. I did not like all the canvas and isinglass on the 44. Newer 460 is hard top with real glass with a giant retractable roof to let air in.

5. Everything is 11 years newer. The electronics are much better throughout.

I will miss driving from above, I think the visibility forward is awesome on bridge boats. I will miss the bow thruster coupled with the big wheels - with a little practice the handling on the 44DB is unbelievable and I was constantly amazing friends with how I could drop that big boat into small spaces.

I'm rolling the dice on pods, having read a lot of the negative comments here and elsewhere on early generations of the Zeus Pods. I believe if they are properly maintained they are reliable and efficient. The new boat came with 4 years of warranty remaining, so this helped my comfort level.

Now I've just got to get the boat back from Grand Haven before the lakes turn into a skating rink.

Comment to my 420/44 brethren: Thank you for all the help you've given me over the years, and I wish you all the best.

Here are a couple of pics of the new baby:
View attachment 76143 View attachment 76144 View attachment 76145

Scott
Beautiful boat!! Congrats!!
 
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So the admiral wants underwater lights. I’m a little resistant as I rather not drill more holes in the boat. For now I am entertaining the idea but can’t seem to find the right locations. Any ideas? Per the photo we have a stern thruster and hydraulic platform that eats up most of the transom space.
137D20DE-BDE5-4722-860E-F564525CE0FE.jpeg
 
I have 4 transom lights on mine. My center lights are to the left and right of the platform struts. I have a pod coming out between the struts but it is the same without the pod. It looks like you have room in the same place to between your struts and stern thruster.
The outside lights on the area outside of the trim tabs. Here is what it looks like in the water. I don’t have a great pick of the boat out of the water but here is one that you can see the starboard outside light and the center lights.

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Thanks Jeremy, The ones in the corners seem to be close to the edge. Didn't think they could mount them so close.
 
Thanks Jeremy, The ones in the corners seem to be close to the edge. Didn't think they could mount them so close.
Those were where the factory ones were installed. I changed them from halogen lights to LED. As long as there is access in the bilge then you are fine. Lumitec Seablaze only require a small hole around 1/2” for the wire to go through so you are not cutting away a lot of material in the transom
 
See attached locations of our Underwater lights. These are the factory locations then replaced with LED.



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