A few questions for R29 owners

[Mystical]

We took delivery of our new to us 2012 R29 about four weeks ago. I just wanted to pick your brains a bit if you are a current owner of one. We do love the boat very much, but are perplexed by a few small details.
We have two tvs installed in the boat. They work ok with the antenna, but there are just not that many channels to chose from. Is there some hidden special place not visable to anyone to hook up shore cable?
We also have the Fusion radio installed. the antenna for the radio is mounted at the helm. If we are slipped facing north, the signal is not so great. Has anyone moved the antenna, to say the roof?
What do you all do as far as a trash can? I can not seem to find any decent place to put one other than the basement.
And lastly, we have developed a bit of a bad odor from the bilge. I was poking around a bit and noticed that in the very after section of the engine room, there are two "wells". One is right where the stern thruster is and the other is behind the the exhaust hose after the muffler. I will try to take some pictures. Both of these areas were full of stinky warter. there are no pumps or drains in these areas. I am not sure where the water is coming from, but may have an idea. I was poking around and noticed that the cupholder drains in the transom dont have any hoses on them. It just drains into the area under them. I also noticed that the fish well drain has no nut on the back side of it and is just held in with sealant. I am going to fix both of these things. I also notice that there is no seal around the edges of the fish well. Water from rain or washing can just go under it into the area in the transom. I am hoping that fixing these things, will fix the water issue in the bilge.
Has anyone else noticed a water build up in there/ Again, I will try to post some pictures as soon as I get down there again.
Thanks for reading and any input would be appreciated
Brain

 

[knotflying]

Congrats on your new R-29. We are a stones throw from you in Charlestown RI. We have an R-27 so I am not that familiar with the 29. As far as the TV reception goes, it can go from fair to bad unless you are very close to a metroplitan area with TV transmitters. What I have done for cable reception is to disconnect the antenna and then hook the cable to the wire coming out from the roof. Depending on the end of your cable you may need to get a double female cable joiner. We don't use the radio much since we use the ipod for music, but on those occasions when we wanted better radio reception I pulled the antenna wire out of the glove box and screwed the sucker through one of the window frame screw. The frame makes a great antenna!

 

[Mystical]

Congrats on your new R-29. We are a stones throw from you in Charlestown RI. We have an R-27 so I am not that familiar with the 29. As far as the TV reception goes, it can go from fair to bad unless you are very close to a metroplitan area with TV transmitters. What I have done for cable reception is to disconnect the antenna and then hook the cable to the wire coming out from the roof. Depending on the end of your cable you may need to get a double female cable joiner. We don't use the radio much since we use the ipod for music, but on those occasions when we wanted better radio reception I pulled the antenna wire out of the glove box and screwed the sucker through one of the window frame screw. The frame makes a great antenna!

Thanks.
I have thought about doing that, but I dont really feel like having to climb to the roof everytime we come and go. I will probably just install a plug near the shore power connectors and run the wire to the box behind the helm. I guess I was just more shocked that with two tvs on board, there is not already a shore hookup.

 

[CanuckBoater]

New to this forum, as I was looking at an R25.

I recall my Power Squadron instructor telling me that a basic radio is good for weather, especially in turbulant areas. We seem to have migrated to MP3's, but many miss that important weather statement. Good for you in seeking a permanent solution.

(the instructor - in the early 2000's - also mentioned that he kept a cheap radar detector (i.e. for cars - now illegal in most states) to 'ping' radar. His theory was that if there was something big enough to be sending radar signals, he wanted to know about it in the fog. Never tried it, but his McIver ideas have always resonated)

 

[walldog]

(the instructor - in the early 2000's - also mentioned that he kept a cheap radar detector (i.e. for cars - now illegal in most states) to 'ping' radar. His theory was that if there was something big enough to be sending radar signals, he wanted to know about it in the fog. Never tried it, but his McIver ideas have always resonated)

I would imagine that your own radar would keep that detector so busy that you would not be able to hear approaching radar equipped boats....and I would not want to turn mine off in the fog to listen for them. Now if we did not have onboard radar that may work. :lol:

 

[CanuckBoater]

Oh, he didn't have a radar detector on that boat. Out in Lake Ontario on a small fishing boat.

Don't want to side-track this thread. Hopefully there's a response to the water accumulation issue.

 

[Stella Maris]

You have correctly identified all of the issues but one. The weep holes are drilled too high thus not allowing the water to drain.

 

[Mystical]

You have correctly identified all of the issues but one. The weep holes are drilled too high thus not allowing the water to drain.

Which weep holes

 

[Stella Maris]

In the forward section of these wells, there should be a weep hole. Ours sat about an inch above the bottom thus allowing water to sit in them.

If you have used the cooler/fish well to store food, food particles may have made their way from the cooler into one of these wells via the drain hose. If that is the case, this certainly could be the cause of your odor.

I used rubber weather caulking to seal our fish well/cooler as we had to be able to remove it to get to the propane locker. If your new R-29 has the propane on the swim step, you could use silicone to seal this in. In the event you should have to remove it, a sharp knife to cut the silicone would be all that would be needed.

As for your TV's, you may not be aware that you need to use the "search for channel" functions on the TV each time you move. We used to go from Seattle to Blake Island, eight miles as the crow flies, and had to search for new channels. While we still got many of the original channels, we always picked up or lost a few. The ironic thing is, you can see Seattle from Blake. It is eight miles of open water!

 

[Mystical]

In the forward section of these wells, there should be a weep hole. Ours sat about an inch above the bottom thus allowing water to sit in them.

If you have used the cooler/fish well to store food, food particles may have made their way from the cooler into one of these wells via the drain hose. If that is the case, this certainly could be the cause of your odor.

I used rubber weather caulking to seal our fish well/cooler as we had to be able to remove it to get to the propane locker. If your new R-29 has the propane on the swim step, you could use silicone to seal this in. In the event you should have to remove it, a sharp knife to cut the silicone would be all that would be needed.

As for your TV's, you may not be aware that you need to use the "search for channel" functions on the TV each time you move. We used to go from Seattle to Blake Island, eight miles as the crow flies, and had to search for new channels. While we still got many of the original channels, we always picked up or lost a few. The ironic thing is, you can see Seattle from Blake. It is eight miles of open water!

I thought that drain hose went overboard. I am going to seal up the cooler with a flexable rubber seal. we have the propane locker in the transom. We did then channel search and only get three at our marina. We dont watch a lot of tv, but when its kinda crappy out or in the morning we like to watch the news. I dont even get any of the major local channels. I guess I was just shoked more that there was no cable inlet. We have sat tv at the marina and it works well. I would like to use it if I can. I will just add the plug in the transom and run the wire to the box in the closet. I really hope I can stop the water in the bilge though. That will get old really fast

 

[Levitation]

Pour a shot of bleach into the trapped water to kill the smell for now...
Get a hand operated pump to pump the wells dry... I got mine at (where else?) West Marine...
Borrow a right angle drill motor from someone (or rent) and drill a weep hole closer to the bottom of the wells... (caution: I am going by my wells in the R25.. Use a mirror, etc. to make sure an R29 can do this without hitting something vital, before drilling)
When you wash down the boat, open the hatch and give the wells a squirt to keep them clean...

Lastly, if you continue to have some pooled water in the wells, consider trying one of the stick-on toilet bowl cleaner gel products... Stick it to the side of the well so that any standing water will contact the bottom edge of the gel hockey puck...
Afterthought: Is the old Ty-D-Bol still on the market? Drop one in the well and be done...

I have noticed that there are no TV jacks installed on any tug I have seen so far... We run the marina cable thru an overhead hatch (pure laziness on my part)
The radio will work better if you do 'something' with the antenna wire (another laziness issue - I don't seem to accomplish much when we are on the boat)

 

[jroyle]

We had water trapped under the main fuel tank due to a blocked weep hole. You can view the compartment by removing the approx 2ft x 2ft hatch in the "basement" and look directly down. I ran a snake (thankyou Howard, Andrew, and Bob) approx 6 ft up the stern tube opening located under the transmission and it quickly emptied and no more smell of standing water. How the water got there is a different story.

 

[GulfSailor]

Re the radio antenna; we have the Fusion radio and when I looked into why it would only pick up a couple of stations I found that the antenna lead wasn't connected to anything!

I don't know what TV antenna you have, but ours is a UFO amplified model. If you have the same you'll see that next to where the TV cable is plugged into the amplifier outlet, there is a second identical outlet connnector which you can connect the radio to. The difference it made to our reception was almost miraculous!

To make the connection you'll need a coax cable with a 'Motorola' plug on one end for the Fusion, and an 'F' connector (just like the TV one) on the other end.
I made ours (you can get the Motorola plug for a couple of bucks from RadioShack), but I'm sure you can buy one ready made from somewhere.

 

[Mystical]

Re the radio antenna; we have the Fusion radio and when I looked into why it would only pick up a couple of stations I found that the antenna lead wasn't connected to anything!

I don't know what TV antenna you have, but ours is a UFO amplified model. If you have the same you'll see that next to where the TV cable is plugged into the amplifier outlet, there is a second identical outlet connnector which you can connect the radio to. The difference it made to our reception was almost miraculous!

To make the connection you'll need a coax cable with a 'Motorola' plug on one end for the Fusion, and an 'F' connector (just like the TV one) on the other end.
I made ours (you can get the Motorola plug for a couple of bucks from RadioShack), but I'm sure you can buy one ready made from somewhere.

I meant to say it is the sat radio antenna that has the problem. They mount it right at the helm. If there is any obstruction, the signal is lost. I think I will just move it to the roof