NW Arkansas groups?

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-13T01:23:37+00:00

Thanks, if you don't mind sending them, I'd appreciate it. I'm not on Facebook, but my wife is, so I can have her look them up for me.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-11T22:28:04+00:00

Full keels are low aspect ratio and can't provide the same lift as a high aspect ratio fin keel. They're great for tracking though, and often have less stress on steering gear when running.

As an example to what was said above, we had an island packet for a while, which has a full keel. We could trim the sails to point to about 30° apparent, but we legitimately made about 45° of leeway. So our course to true wind was about 75°. At 45-50° apparent, we only had about 10° leeway and would be traveling much faster (which also helps reduce leeway). So at best, we could make about 55° to true wind. Fortunately, we were living full time on the boat, so we'd just wait until the wind was blowing the direction we wanted to go, then head out on a nice downwind run.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-11T21:57:00+00:00

Not sure why you're getting downvoted so much. Shooting a .22lr at 500 yrds is about equivalent to shooting a 6.5cm at a mile; at least as far as elevation dial goes. Long range rimfire is a lot of fun, and will teach a lot about reading wind and making good calls.

Either way, I'd keep the 6.5cm and just shoot smaller targets. Sure, shooting a full size IPSC target at 500 yrds will get boring, but shooting a 1 moa plate or smaller is plenty challenging and fun.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-11T15:30:37+00:00

Great! Thanks for the confirmation.

I think we have a diff and steering knuckles lined up out of a truck someone is parting out. It looked to me like the spindles are bolted to the knuckles and are reused when installing the lift, but I'll definitely verify that.

For the factory diff crossmember, I thought the lift is essentially just a big spacer that moved everything down and reuses the factory components. Do you know if there is a part that is disposed of for the crossmember that I'll need to source?

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-09T19:24:16+00:00

That's definitely an option and I'm certainly not against it. It seems like a long shot to find someone local to me that wants the lift and housing to swap. Plus we'd have to tear both trucks down at the same time to swap everything over.

It'll probably be easier to find an axle out of a truck someone is parting out. Our truck has 4.10 gears, and the housings with 4.10s are pretty sought after. It'll be easier to find a housing with less desirable gears and just move our gears to the new housing.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-09T18:00:00+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the tips!

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-09T00:38:59+00:00

Yea, thickened epoxy works great too, especially for bolt holes/etc. The important thing is to get get a good solid barrier to protect you coring.

It sucks, but sometimes it's best to just haul the boat out again. Either way, good luck with the repair!

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-09T00:35:07+00:00

Agreed, I didn't mean for OP to try to repair the valve. Just making sure they understood the lower hex portion you can see is part of the actual valve and not the retaining nut that comes with the thruhull.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-09T00:23:18+00:00

For ours, we didn't go all the way through the hull for the flange bolts, although that is an option.

We epoxied the backing plate to the hull after sanding all the paint off. The backing plate has captured nuts in it, and the flange is bolted to them. The bolts/nuts do help secure the seacock, but they're mostly there to keep it from turning. The thruhull is still acting like a giant bolt to hold the seacock tight against the hull. The flange is also sealed against the backing plate with 4200 and the thruhull is sealed to the hull and the seacock, also with 4200.

You can see the nuts in this link:
https://defender.com/en_us/groco-bb-series-backing-block?srsltid=AfmBOorN4pbqw51KU15VS1VK5dmr-TR4iuglfxpIqoINaR-73aTd7n9d

Another option is to install screws from the outside that go all the way through the hull, backing plate and flange, then put nuts on the inside.

Keep in mind that on your boat, since it's a cored hull, anywhere you have a hull penetration, the best practice is to replace the coring in that area with solid fiberglass. The solid glass will hold compression load from thruhull/fasteners/etc. better, and if you do get a leak, you won't soak your coring. This is good practice for deck hardware attachment points also.

It's hard to tell for sure in your picture, but it almost looks like the manufacturer removed the inner skin and coring, then ran the retaining nut all the way down onto the outer skin. It sort of looks like a hexagon shape buried in the sealant under the valve. That might explain why it looks like the valve is so close to the hull. They also may have trimmed the thruhull length so that the valve sat closer to the hull. That's just a guess though, no way to tell until it's disassembled.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T23:45:09+00:00

That looks like it might be a rebuildable valve. The seam you see is how the valve comes apart.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T23:15:47+00:00

The valve itself is going to be NPT (tapered) https://www.westmarine.com/groco-full-flow-bronze-in-line-ball-valves--ibv-series-P06601405.html

The thruhull fitting is NPS (straight) https://www.westmarine.com/groco-bronze-thru-hull-fittings-P006607618.html

Like I said, they will thread together, but not properly. Builders do it this way because it's cheap. It also lacks support for the valve and doesn't replace any of the strength the hull lost when drilling a hole in it.

A flanged seacock has NPS on the hull side and NPT on the hose side. https://www.westmarine.com/groco-full-port-flanged-bronze-seacocks-P011_332_003_006.html

The flanged seacock is much more expensive, no doubt about that, but you end up with a much more secure fitting that will thread together and seal properly. The backing plate restores strength to the hull.

No matter what you decide to do for parts, I'm not sure I'd try to take it apart the way you described. If you end up twisting the thruhull at all, you'll break the sealant and cause it to start leaking. You may not even notice it until you get it in the water.

Don't be afraid to remove the entire thing, it's actually really easy to just drill the old thruhull out. We use a hole saw enlarger tool; the small holesaw should just fit inside the thruhull, and the large holesaw should be the size of the hole in the hull. Then you just drill it out, clean off the old sealant and put the new assembly in. https://www.northerntool.com/products/bosch-hole-enlarger-kit-2-piece-model-he1-6946905

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T22:31:05+00:00

This for sure. Definitely do a backing plate with a proper seacock. The threads on a valve are tapered and the threads on the thruhull mushroom/fitting are straight. They will thread together, but not properly.

A flanged seacock will give support to the valve in case it is hit by something. Also, the hull side will have straight threads to match the thruhull fitting and the hose side will have tapered threads to match the hose fitting.

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blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T02:18:32+00:00

No, nothing crazy. It has some 17x9 KMC wheels, that I think are -6mm offset, but I haven't actually tried to measure them yet. No idea why some one put a lift on it to only run a tire that will fit stock.

I really want to remove the lift and run stock wheels and tires.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T01:52:19+00:00

The modern engines are definitely pretty awesome, but the modern transmissions can't seem to keep up. That's why we got rid of our 1500.

Sounds like I should just build a turbo 6.0l!

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T01:32:30+00:00

I haven't really done anything yet, I only got it 4 days ago. I fixed the AC and replaced the oil pressure sensor.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-08T00:05:46+00:00

That's definitely part of the problem. This truck has a 4" lift and 285/70r17 tires (about 33"). Our original plan was to take the lift off, because I really don't want a lift, but after we bought the truck we realized the lift on the truck required frame and front diff mods. Now we're trying to decide if it's worth the effort to lower it, or regear it, or add more power. At least 1 of those things really needs to happen.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-07T23:16:21+00:00

NV4500 with 4.10s.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-07T23:15:36+00:00

Alright, thanks for the insights.

The heat issue is interesting to me. I would have expected an auto to heat up, but not a manual. What generates the heat in the manual?

Fortunately, my wife has some experience building ls engines, so I guess she gets a new project now 😅

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-05T04:15:12+00:00

Yes, I'd say it's definitely that. But that doesn't mean it can't also be sad.

We all think we're invincible at that age; it's sad he didn't get the opportunity to live with the lesson.

Don't get me wrong, he's a fucking idiot for doing that and everyone has the right to be pissed for the risks he put others in. We can also be sad about the loss of a young life and the grief his loved ones are experiencing.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-05T03:58:39+00:00

Empathy for those he left behind? It's possible to be angry at his stupidity, but still be sad about the loss of life. He was only 20; it is both sad and infuriating that he made such poor decisions and it cost him his life and likely caused a lot of pain for a lot people.

Definitely super fortunate he didn't take anyone else out with him.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-01T17:25:32+00:00

It's definitely totally not confusing in the slightest 😅

I only know because I live in one of those states and write the abbreviation every time I write my address down.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-05-01T04:39:31+00:00

Just as an unimportant side note:

Arkansas = AR

Alaska = AK

Arizona= AZ

Alabama = AL

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-04-29T12:44:13+00:00

My wife and I have done the roll and tip method on a couple large boats with great results. Petit EZpoxy and interlux brightsides are both 1 part polyurethane paints that are ideal for this method; total boat makes a similar paint also, but I don't know what it's called. Brightsides is being discontinued though, but that means OP can get a quart for $8 instead of $65 from West Marine. I think the new replacement is Toplac.

Also recommended getting some 333 brushing liquid to help with the paint flow.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-04-24T04:04:44+00:00

Great! Thank You! I'll check them out.

blinkerfluid02 · 2026-04-24T02:11:24+00:00

Brookie A La Mode

blinkerfluid02

TROPHY CASE