Beneteau 40 & 43

For those of you with Zspars masts and roller furling mains:

See below photo for the chafing problem we are having. It seems that the mainsail outhaul line chafes inside the boom. Do you have the same problem or does it look like your outhaul is mounted different?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Franc, we're heading over to do some work on ours. We expect to be launched some time next week. I wrote a note to check on our furler line. Although we've not sailed her much I can still check for potential issues. I'll let you know what I find.
Mike

Franc, we were at the boat tonight as they just launched her this afternoon. We couldn't wait to see her in the water again. I took s couple of pictures of our boom for you. It appears as though your's differs from ours. The spot where the furling line turns back towards the forward part of the boom has the notch cut out where on your's it does not. Looks like somebody goofed on your's.

For any 43 owners contemplating installing a flat screen in the salon. This should work for a 40 as well, other than the point at the iquer cabinet.
Here's how I did it. I installed a cable TV outlet in the hull just below the shore power outlets. Then ran the cable along the Stbd side next to the exisiting cables and hoses. Access was easy once I removed the aft cabin mattress and access covers. It's easy to fish the wire through the cabinet in the head. I finished it off by installing a cable outlet box in the air conditioner compartment.

For the 110AC I ran the wiring from the back of the Air Conditioner breaker panel. I tied the Hot and Neutral wires in on the switched side of the main AC breaker. The Gnd wire was tied into the GNd buss. I then ran the wire along the port hull behind the seat backs, down thru the storage area, into the bilge and into the air conditioner compartment. I used plastic cable clamps in the bilge to hold the wire just below the floor boards. I finished it off with a Ground Fault receptacle and box in the air conditioner compartment.

Next came mounting the TV to the bulkhead. I measured from the base of the cabinet to the height I chose for the TV. Marked where the center was and drilled the first hole for the mounting bracket. Ensured the bracket was level and then inserted the remaining 3/4" hex head stainless steel lag bolts. Next I drilled a 1 1/2" hole for the power cord and cable wire. I located this so the cord would run smoothly from the back of the TV into the hole. I then drilled a hole inside the liquer cabinet as low as I possibly could. Then drilled another hole that leads from the liquer cabinet into the air conditioner compartment. Note that the bulkhead is apx 3/4" thick as is the wall of the liquer cabinet. With no room to work in the liquer cabinet I used a Dremel Tool with a right angle adapter and drilled a series of small holes in a circle large enough to accomodate the power cord. I then used a Dremel bit to cut between the holes making a rough opening. I used a Dremel sanding disc to round and smooth out the edges. Note that this hole should be directly below the hole in the bulkhead. This will make fishing the wires much easier. Fishing the cable wiring proved to be the most time consuming as it wouldn't drop straight down. There's very little room for you to grab the wires or insert a wire fish. Even cursing didn't persuade it :) Once all the cables were run I connected them to the back of the TV and hung the unit on the rack. Then I inserted the plate/rod that locks it into place so it can't bounce off in heavy seas. Note that the mount I used is for household use and therefore has some minor play to it. Beacause of that I'm also going to insert a squishy type sponge out of sight, behind the TV to take up any slack to keep it from bouncing in the mount as we're under way. I tried to take as many pictures as I could but realize I have none of the holes in the liquer cabinet. If anyone is interested I can take and post some this weekend when I return to the boat.

US Spars replaced the end of our boom at no cost to us yesterday (and in the British Virgin Islands!). THANKS, MIKE for helping us solve the mystery!!

Franc, it was my pleasure. Glad to hear they took care of it.

Hey folks
I own a "08" B40 that we got last year. at the end of last season we started to notice the batteries draining quickly. the dealer supposedly took care of this problem a few weeks ago. yesterday we sail from port Jeff NY to Bridgeport CT. this was a 2.5 hr cruise at 6kts. we had the fridge, water pumps and navigation on at the panel. 1 hr back into our sail the battery alarm went off. should we be draining the batteries that quickly? last year we sailed and never had this problem. any info?

Michael, it certainly seems out of the ordinary for the alarm to go off after only 2.5 hrs. You may want to touch base with your dealer again.

it was actually more like 4 hrs. we were better into an hr on the way back from our trip. shouldnt we be able to run for 8 hrs

I agree 4 hrs is too short a time period. We added a 2nd 4D which should give us somewhere in the 370 amp hr range. Unfortunately the boat is an energy hog. Every thing you touch is electric. I just ordered a Victron power monitor from Jamestown Distributers in an effort to help understand our energy usage. I'm also keeping an eye on the fridge and freezer as the fridge compressor seems to run 75% of the time, the single biggest source of drain on the batteries. I bought a thermometer and so far don't seem to be able to get the temp below 40. I'll play with the temp control more this weekend. I want to make sure the unit is capable of reaching the temps we need to keep food fresh without running constantly. I've already checked the fridge door to see if it's leaking air like some do. Our's checks out fine. I think this is going to require a methodical review of all the eletrical systems and then come up with the best long term solution whatever it may be.

the fridge is tricky mike. we load it with frozen food and dont try to freeze anything in the freezer comp. this helps alot with food you may eat in a few days or so.
thanks on he battery sugestions