Hurricane
Katrina Update
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Several of our members keep their boats in the Gulf Coast area
affected by Hurricane Katrina. While I've not heard
directly from them, I understand that most of the boats survived
the storm without major damage.
One of our members, Bob Kennedy keeps his boat in Lake Pontchantrain,
on the north shore. We have not heard directly from Bob,
but understand that his boat was undamaged, but he could not use
it because of all the debris in the water. If you have
pictures or stories of the recent hurricane, send them to me.
One final note about this. A member contacted me to
remind me that the Salvation Army accepts ANY form of gifts -
money, clothing, toiletries, other goods for disaster
relief. This member went on to tell me that it's the
Salvation Army that provides toiletry kits to wounded soldiers
when they arrive at military hospitals. 100% of your
donation to the Salvation Army goes to the designated
disaster.
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Owners
Club Members in Iraq
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| I
received an email from a new member with an address that looked
suspiciously like a military email address. We have
several members in the military and it's not uncommon to have
that type of email address. On further investigation, I
discovered that this particular member is stationed in Iraq
until next January. We now have more members in Iraq than
in Mississippi, Arizona, and Montana combined.
The
club deeply appreciates the sacrifices that our members make
while serving in the war zones. However, we do not plan
any recreational activities in Iraq in the foreseeable future.
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Personal
Note
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In August, Patsy and I sold our house in Pennsylvania and moved
to our boat. This was and is an interesting
transition. We are taking the boat to Florida in early
November for the winter. That doesn't mean that we'll
spend the winter in Florida, but the boat will and, hopefully,
we'll spend as much time as possible there.
A couple of questions seem to come up with everyone.
No, we are not retired. We are actually expanding our
business. We are not moving to Florida. We are
taking the boat to Florida and we hope to cruise around Florida
as we have time. We do not have a marina in mind in
Florida. We have a couple of offers, but expect to keep
moving around. We hope that having a boat in Florida will
help us have more club activities in Florida.
We hope to see as many of you as possible during our trips
down, back, and while we are there. |
Cleon's
Cleaning Tips
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Cleon Arnold used to run a car wash business before he
retired. When you need to know something about getting
something clean, he's the guy to go to. We'll try to get
Cleon to tell us how to clean better from time to time.
Here's his tip this month.
If you need to clean deeply soiled vinyl surfaces on your
boat, start with a warm, sudsy solution of Murphy's Oil
Soap. Apply with a wheel brush or other medium stiff
bristle brush and let it soak for a few minutes. Then,
clean it with Spray Nine and the medium bristle
brush. Spray Nine used to have a reputation for
leaving vinyl yellowish after repeated uses, but its new
formulation keeps that from happening. Then, rinse
well. To keep the vinyl clean and supple, treat with 2001,
a conditioner. The results were vinyl seats that
looked new.
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Dave's
Silly Tip of the Month
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| I casually mentioned to someone that I pour a little bit of Raritan CP
down the shower drains whenever I leave the boat for awhile. The CP
seems to kill the sludge that develops over time in the sump box, no
matter how much you flush it.
Do you have any tips you'd like to share? If so, send them along. |
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Upcoming
Events
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Saturday
Night Out – Scott
Gundaker is planning a Saturday Night Out for February 25 at Peppercorns in Oxford, PA.
It will start early, around 3 pm. Mark your calendars - we'll
send invitations out early next year.
Our thanks
to Scott for being a host.
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New
Member Feedback
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We surveyed the Club's new members last month, asking them how
well the Club and it's web site met their expectations.
The response we got back was excellent - about 70% of the new
members responded.
Several comments were from Trojan boat owners who asked that
they have a separate forum in Boat Talk for Trojan topics.
We'll add that forum later this month. We also found out
about an active 444 or 44MY group that host their own get
togethers. They emphasized that they like hearing about
what to expect from older owners of that model. That is a
great idea for everyone. Other comments were related to
the long time it takes to get a response on Boat Talk. It
does take awhile to get responses, many times because someone is
doing research or the question cannot be answered. One
famous posting that flamed us was a question related to how one
could safely tow a jet ski (there isn't a safe way to tow
anything from a cruiser).
Here are some other comments from members:
Thanks for your note. We joined to learn as much about our
boat as we can. We purchased our Californian in Detroit
and took it on its bottom to Stillwater, MN, last year, where we
keep her. It was a 1,750 mile journey that took a month. It was
a wonderful trip. She is a 52' cockpit boat with twin 3208 Cats.
Our fuel consumption was 1 1/3 gal. per mile which we thought
was quite reasonable. We have, on occasion, wondered what the
maximum number of passengers is for a boat of her size. Would
anyone in your group know? I would be happy to comment on your
web site but perhaps after we become more familiar with it.
Also, the members list also provided their email address, if
they approved it being made public to members, and another
member could send an email directly to another member. There is
a west coast member who is at the same marina as we are, but
there is no email address for them. I guess I can go to the
office and scan the list to find them, but having the email from
this site would make it much easier. (MY NOTE: We clearly
state that we do NOT release a membership list. When we've
polled the membership in the past, the overwhelming majority
said NO.)
I am looking for advice and opinions on
various problems I have and expect to have with this boat. This
is a much larger and more complex boat than my previous boat. To
date I am must say I have found very little. I did post a
question on the 28 foot forum September 7th, the Montego 300 is
actually a 27 feet without swim platform and pulpit, no postings
to date.
Thank you very much for your comments and insight. We
hope to keep getting better.
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This
month's featured Boat For Sale
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Dave Wright, Sr. is offering his 2000 406 Aft Cabin, Voyager IV
for sale. For more information, click here. |
Ouch
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| One of our members developed a problem with his
engines and, then, discovered the cause. To see this sad
tale, go to the link below.
http://www.carverownersclub.com/clubNews/story.php?item=11 |
| Safe Boating
Dave Bishop, aka webdude@carverownersclub.com
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