2008 Mainship 400 Winter Maintenance List

[mml2112]

Here goes guys! After a season of ownership, I have some winter work on the hard in a heated storage building to address. Your comments are appreciated.

1. How to secure shower door for cruising?

2. Can/should gelcoat cracks on stairs to flybridge be repaired?

3. Window trim on lower helm door comes off when sliding door open. (Is there supposed to be felt weatherstripping on the door frame/cabin opening?)

4. Horns sound different (and quite weak) depending on whether lower or upper helm horn button is pressed. Is there a way to clean/maintain horn?

5. Anyone ever remove and reseat stanchions/thru hulls to mitigate moisture intrusion?

6. Stbd water tank vent seems plugged, tank burps while filling at high flow. How to clear blockage?

7. Holding tank gauge always says Empty. Tried rinsing tank several times during the season.

8. Fuel tank gauge-almost 100 gallons left when it reads empty. Can this be calibrated for better accuracy?

9. Anchor roller. Need to replace. What is best nylon, rubber, stainless?

10. Exhaust-muskrat made a nest in 8" diameter exhaust tube four days in a row! Make removeable foam plug, permanent grate?

11. Any way to connect 50A shore power to storage building 15A circuits to at least get battery charger (thru mail AC distro panel) working during winter storage? Boat has an isolation transformer and 15A male to 50A female adapter doesn't seem to work at all.

Thanks in advance!
Mike

 

[Bacchus]

Mike
I'm not familiar with specifics of the MS 400 but a great resource us the Steve Cyr Stella Blue website.
https://scyr.org/stellablue/index.php

I seem to recall Steve had a specific recommendation for the anchor roller
[EDIT: SEE] https://scyr.org/stellablue/index.php/upgrades/18-anchoring-docking/90-anchor-roller-wheels

Our shower door has a built in catch... a pic of yours might help?

Water vents are std fuel fill vents with screen and not ideal for other tanks, especially waste. I have had some success using a wet/ dry shop vac. If you can remove the vent you may be able to remove the plugged screen.

I had an erratic waste tank gauge this season. I was able to pull the sender by unscrewing the plug on top of holding tank. I was able to clean/flysh the sending unit and replace it.

I frequently connect 15A outlet to my 30A inlet for charging & minimal power while on the hard. I use the 30A version of these thatbshould satisfy your situation. https://marinco.com/en/p/150SPP/Pigtail-Adapter-15A-125V-Male-To-50A

I recall a TF thread on exhaust guards. A search should turn up something.
I sometimes get better results using Google and entering. "SITE:TRAWLERFORUM.COM: search terms desired"

 

[garmstro55]

Here goes guys! After a season of ownership, I have some winter work on the hard in a heated storage building to address. Your comments are appreciated.

1. How to secure shower door for cruising?
-Mine came with a strap and a snap that clicks onto the top of the shower door

2. Can/should gelcoat cracks on stairs to flybridge be repaired?
-Cracks can certainly be repaired, depends on the situation. Cosmetic or structural? Do you have the skills or do you need to hire it out? My 2004 has quite a few cosmetic cracks and I don't plan to repair them at this time.

3. Window trim on lower helm door comes off when sliding door open. (Is there supposed to be felt weatherstripping on the door frame/cabin opening?)
-Can't answer this one, haven't really taken a close look at the door.

4. Horns sound different (and quite weak) depending on whether lower or upper helm horn button is pressed. Is there a way to clean/maintain horn?
-Horns tend to be expendable after a number of years due to exposure. Not sure why the sound is different but if the horn sounds fine when you use one of the switches then I would assume the "weak" switch has a bad connection that needs to be cleaned.

5. Anyone ever remove and reseat stanchions/thru hulls to mitigate moisture intrusion?
-I actually want to attempt this on mine but I don't know how the stanchions are fastened. They have bolts from above but I don't know if there are nuts below or if the bolts are going into a threaded plate. I don't want to unscrew the bolts and have the nuts fall off where I can't reach them. Someone else on the forum suggested they were screwed into a threaded, glassed-in backing plate but I have not been able to verify.

6. Stbd water tank vent seems plugged, tank burps while filling at high flow. How to clear blockage?

7. Holding tank gauge always says Empty. Tried rinsing tank several times during the season.
-Same with mine. I replaced the float by drilling a large hole using a hole saw in the plywood under the stairs. You need to peel back the carpet and eyeball where the hole goes. After replacement it still didn't work but after I replaced the gauge itself in the head it now works. So it could either be the gauge or the float. If I had to do it over I'd replace the gauge first because it's a lot easier and no drilling needed.

8. Fuel tank gauge-almost 100 gallons left when it reads empty. Can this be calibrated for better accuracy?
-Doubtful it can be calibrated and also doubtful there is enough overhead clearance to be able to replace the float. Fuel gauges on boats are notoriously inaccurate so I just mentally adjust.

9. Anchor roller. Need to replace. What is best nylon, rubber, stainless?

10. Exhaust-muskrat made a nest in 8" diameter exhaust tube four days in a row! Make removeable foam plug, permanent grate?

11. Any way to connect 50A shore power to storage building 15A circuits to at least get battery charger (thru mail AC distro panel) working during winter storage? Boat has an isolation transformer and 15A male to 50A female adapter doesn't seem to work at all.
-Not sure why you would want to keep the charger on all winter when the boat is out of the water, but one time I need power temporarily so I made up an extension cord with males on both ends and plugged into AC outlet and the other end into an outlet in the boat. There's probably a hundred reasons why you shouldn't do this but I only needed it for a short time and I was present at the boat the whole time. Otherwise maybe just get a car battery charger and use an extension cord?

Thanks in advance!
Mike

My suggestions...

 

[Comodave]

Here goes guys! After a season of ownership, I have some winter work on the hard in a heated storage building to address. Your comments are appreciated.

1. How to secure shower door for cruising?

2. Can/should gelcoat cracks on stairs to flybridge be repaired?

3. Window trim on lower helm door comes off when sliding door open. (Is there supposed to be felt weatherstripping on the door frame/cabin opening?)

4. Horns sound different (and quite weak) depending on whether lower or upper helm horn button is pressed. Is there a way to clean/maintain horn?

5. Anyone ever remove and reseat stanchions/thru hulls to mitigate moisture intrusion?

6. Stbd water tank vent seems plugged, tank burps while filling at high flow. How to clear blockage?

7. Holding tank gauge always says Empty. Tried rinsing tank several times during the season.

8. Fuel tank gauge-almost 100 gallons left when it reads empty. Can this be calibrated for better accuracy?

9. Anchor roller. Need to replace. What is best nylon, rubber, stainless?

10. Exhaust-muskrat made a nest in 8" diameter exhaust tube four days in a row! Make removeable foam plug, permanent grate?

11. Any way to connect 50A shore power to storage building 15A circuits to at least get battery charger (thru mail AC distro panel) working during winter storage? Boat has an isolation transformer and 15A male to 50A female adapter doesn't seem to work at all.

Thanks in advance!
Mike

2.Cracks in step gel coat. Are they on the tread? If they are an easy fix is SeaDek put on the treads.

4. Check the connections on the weaker side for corrosion or loose connections. If the horn works on one control then the problem isn’t likely to be the horn itself but rather poor power from the weak side.

7. Get a new monitor system that is on the the outside of the tank so it doesn’t get dirty with the tank contents. SCAD makes a very nice system and it works very well. Put one on our boat and love it. Accurate and simple install.

10. Hurley makes a grill that mounts inside the exhaust at the exit. Easy to install and works well.

 

[kthoennes]

Ditto on my Mainship shower doors (both of them). A short white nylon webbing strap with a snap keeps them secured underway. Narrow folding glass doors in aluminum frames I assume.

 

[Dougcole]

Here goes guys! After a season of ownership, I have some winter work on the hard in a heated storage building to address. Your comments are appreciated.

1. How to secure shower door for cruising?

2. Can/should gelcoat cracks on stairs to flybridge be repaired?

3. Window trim on lower helm door comes off when sliding door open. (Is there supposed to be felt weatherstripping on the door frame/cabin opening?)

4. Horns sound different (and quite weak) depending on whether lower or upper helm horn button is pressed. Is there a way to clean/maintain horn?

5. Anyone ever remove and reseat stanchions/thru hulls to mitigate moisture intrusion?


Yes. The stanchions on the rail on the upper deck surrounding the stair access are notorious for causing deck leaks.


6. Stbd water tank vent seems plugged, tank burps while filling at high flow. How to clear blockage?

7. Holding tank gauge always says Empty. Tried rinsing tank several times during the season.


The sensor is stuck. You can add an exterior sensor that goes on the outside of the tank or you can pull the original sensor and clean it then reinstall. I chose to stay with the original, I put a pie plate in under the steps to gain access, it worked out great. You don't see the plate unless you have the stairs lifted up.


8. Fuel tank gauge-almost 100 gallons left when it reads empty. Can this be calibrated for better accuracy?


I just replaced the sender on our 400, stb side. Take the bottom three galley drawers out and cut an access plate through the floor underneath them to gain access to the sender. I was going to install a pie plate, but I ended up just cutting a rectangle and screwing a piece of pvc board over the top when i was done. It's a little tough to get to the wiring so the bigger hole helped. My gauge now works perfectly.


9. Anchor roller. Need to replace. What is best nylon, rubber, stainless?


I went with rubber with a groove. It helps my chain to not twist as much.


10. Exhaust-muskrat made a nest in 8" diameter exhaust tube four days in a row! Make removeable foam plug, permanent grate?

11. Any way to connect 50A shore power to storage building 15A circuits to at least get battery charger (thru mail AC distro panel) working during winter storage? Boat has an isolation transformer and 15A male to 50A female adapter doesn't seem to work at all.

Thanks in advance!
Mike

Hope that helps.


Doug

 

[Jflr]

My weak sounding horn turned out to be spiders nests inside. The back end came off easily and once cleaned it fixed the problem.

 

[TrawlerAJ]

Hey Mike,
Congrats on acquiring - we talked when you were in the buying stages...
I'm getting back to this a bit late, but I'll add my 2 cents to the other suggestions, for what it's worth...


1. How to secure shower door for cruising? Mine has a short strap over the top of the doors with a snap. Could dig up a pic if needed.

2. Can/should gelcoat cracks on stairs to flybridge be repaired? As some others have said, cover it up. Cover it with a faux teak, paint with something like Kiwigrip, or if you're really adventurous, sand non-skid flat and put new Gibco 102 non-skid down.

3. Window trim on lower helm door comes off when sliding door open. (Is there supposed to be felt weatherstripping on the door frame/cabin opening?) Not sure what weather stripping you're referring to, pic?

4. Horns sound different (and quite weak) depending on whether lower or upper helm horn button is pressed. Is there a way to clean/maintain horn? It's the rarely used buttons that get get corrosion on them. Turn off batteries in engine room, push on horn buttons, down and up, a bunch of times, wiggle around while depressed.

5. Anyone ever remove and reseat stanchions/thru hulls to mitigate moisture intrusion? Dealer installed railing, sadly they just drilled through glass into core. Marine How To, Bed-it Tape


6. Stbd water tank vent seems plugged, tank burps while filling at high flow. How to clear blockage? Water and fuel tank vent hoses have low spots in them. If water tank burps when filling, it goes overboard, no problem. Fuel burps when filling aren't as fun. Blowing air from a compressor into the vent sometimes blows fuel back into tank so it doesn't burp. Find low spots in vent hose, make a catch can, or use a paper towel held over the vent.

7. Holding tank gauge always says Empty. Tried rinsing tank several times during the season. I'd prefer the gauge next to the toilet to work, so I lean towards Doug's suggestion. Rinse the tank a few times, it's not as gross a job as you'd imagine. If you want external sensors, Comm Dave's Scad suggestion, but there are others with adhesive sensors.

9. Anchor roller. Need to replace. What is best nylon, rubber, stainless? I tried a few types when mine needed replacing. This Delrin roller has been on there for 6 years and looks new. My amazon invoice says I bought 3" diameter, 3 3/8" width.

10. Exhaust-muskrat made a nest in 8" diameter exhaust tube four days in a row! Make removeable foam plug, permanent grate? Made foam plugs, welded wire bent over it to discourage digging out the foam.

11. Any way to connect 50A shore power to storage building 15A circuits to at least get battery charger (thru mail AC distro panel) working during winter storage? Boat has an isolation transformer and 15A male to 50A female adapter doesn't seem to work at all. The suggested Marinco adapter is handy to have, but probably won't work to fire up your charger, which is likely wired 220. Regardless, you probably don't want to leave your batteries connected during winter, anyway, as there is parasitic draw on the batteries anytime they're connected, even with everything, including the Perko battery switches, turned off (ask me how I know). There's also no need for the wear and tear on the installed battery charger. I top off batteries in fall and leave them till spring, and haven't had any trouble doing so. That said, if I had access to power all winter, and the yard allowed it (mine doesn't, concerns of fire), I'd probably invest in a quality trickle charger on disconnected batteries.


Hoping this helps. There's plenty of knowledge on this forum that far surpasses my own!
Brian