LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SELENE’S MAJESTIC 66
Regarding your excellent article
on the Selene 66 (PMM Jan./Feb.
’ 10), there’s just one thing I’d like
to remind you of. The Selene 6605
still has two Dutch doors in the
pilothouse on both sides (port and
starboard), even with the breakfast
settee and table on the port side.
The starboard-side Dutch door
is located forward, while the port
Dutch door is aft. Placing the doors
in different sections allowed us to
generate the space for the portside
settee and table. This is a key
element of the design.
Howard Chen
CEO, Jet-Tern Marine
I had a great Christmas present, as
my January/February issue arrived by
mail the day before Christmas—with
Escapade on the cover! Thank you,
John, for the exposure of the boat
and the great article you prepared
from your visit. It was well written,
and it was well illustrated by Neil
Rabinowitz’s outstanding photos.
I noted only one discrepancy you
should correct. Howard Chen was
able to include a portside pilothouse
door in his design, which has
worked very well. You may not
recall it, but it is aft of the dinette,
opposite the circuit breaker panel.
I had a great 10-week summer
cruise up the coast of Canada and
into Southeast Alaska. It was a good
test of the boat, although I had
relatively good weather for all of
my ocean exposures. I’m looking
forward to next summer and a better
test of the boat in more challenging
seas. I enjoy reading PMM—the best
resource for the trawler owner.
Bruce Jones
Escapade
Seattle, Washington
Thanks for pointing out the error
in my story, gentlemen. Indeed, it is
obvious from the cover shot that
there is a portside pilothouse door.
Next time, I’ll walk out on deck
through both doors to reinforce
that fact, in my memory and in
my notes.—John Wooldridge
READY TO REPOWER
A few years back you ran an
article about a couple repowering
their Hatteras motoryacht. I am
looking at repowering a 55 Chris-Craft Commander, and I would like
to read the article again. Can you
tell me what issue it was in? I
wonder how they are liking the
smaller engines.
Doug Cruthirds
Biloxi, Mississippi
In the January/February 2004
issue of PMM, we wrote a feature
about repowering and restoring our
55 Hatteras, describing in detail our
switch from 8V71 Detroit Diesels
to four-cylinder, turbocharged John
Deere 4045Ts. (If you don’t have that
issue of the magazine, you can visit
www.passagemaker.com to order it
or to read the text-only version of the
article.) We are still happy with the
repower. The 150hp John Deeres are
quiet and fuel efficient, and routine
maintenance is not difficult.
We’ve had just a few problems, and
they’ve been very minor. With the raw-water pumps, the front seal tends to
leak water if the boat is not operated
during the summer, but replacing the
seal is fairly simple. Installing and
setting up the transmissions was a
snap, but I have a devil of a time
removing the huge nut that contains
the filter screen. Access to one screen
is awkward, and I don’t have the
correct size socket.
The boat is not as fast as she once
was, but that’s fine with us. We cruise
at 8 knots but are capable of 10 knots
without pushing the engines.—Tom
and Judy Blandford, M/V Imagine
A SMARTER CONNECTION
I’d like to comment on Steve
D’Antonio’s “Letters to the Editor”
response to a gentleman asking about
locking rings on the dock side of a
shorepower system (“Dockside Power
Dilemma,” PMM Nov./Dec. ’09).
While it is indeed true that no locking
systems other than the twist-lock
currently exist on the dock side, we
suggest that people find a way to
secure the cord to the pedestal to
limit movement on the connection.
This can be achieved in several
ways and will help absorb much of
the movement put on these critical
electrical connections.
Even though Underwriters
Laboratories does not mandate
an exterior lock for the dockside
connection, this does not mean that
the system is free from failure. In fact,
in the marine environment, where
you have wind, waves, tides, and
other factors, the current-carrying
parts of the connection are forced
to handle all these environmental
stresses and therefore are more
susceptible to failure.
Another factor that limits using a
sealing ring at the dockside pedestal
is the fact that, at times, boaters
fail to remember to unhook their
shorepower before pulling out of
their slip. By having the dockside
connection only twist-lock in place,
it ensures that they do not take the
pedestal with them. Conversely, the
SmartPlug dockside outlet would
have an external locking system that
would release if someone tried to
use their shorepower cord as an
“extra dockline,” so to speak.
As Steve stated in his response,
SmartPlug Systems is trying to utilize
an exterior lock in our dockside
outlet. However, because we are
trying to amend the National Electric
Code, our progress has been slowed.
It seems that because we do
not utilize the old twist-lock
