Maintenance Tips

This is a great place to accumulate and share the notes of resources and maintenance techniques that keep your boat in great condition. If you have information to contribute, send a message to the [email protected] to have it included on this page. Include the maintenance tip, category, name, email, phone, and vessel name and model. You'll always know where to find it and other Baba owners will thank you!

Listed below is a collection of maintenance tips that Baba owners might find helpful. Select an area of interest at the top of this page or scroll through the page to see the entire collection. Use Back to top on this page to return to the top of this page.

Boarding Ladders

A highly recommended boarding ladder is manufactured and sold by Mystic Stainless and Aluminum LLC
Back to top

Communications & electronics

Deck

Procedure for replacing deck plugs in teak deck by Brad Gislason
Back to top

Electrical, Lights & batteries

Loss of running lights can be caused by a short in the wiring when runs through the bow pulpit. The problem appear to be most common at the base of the pulpit where wires are pinched or become bare due to an adjacent washer. Also, be aware that there is apparently a splice inside the pulpit where both running lights are tied together and are fed by a single feed from the electrical panel.

Photo AC Panel installation by Carl Poulin.
Back to top
Engine, drive train
and fuel systems

If your engine fails to start within 30-45 seconds, close your sea water intake. Failure to do this is likely to overfill the water-lift muffler, causing water to enter the cylinders, creating a water lock condition. When your engine starts, don't forget to open the sea water intake.

Apply CRC Industries Heavy Duty Marine Corrosion Inhibitor once a year to prevent corrosion.

Install a zinc inside (yes, inside) on the shaft to prevent the shaft from departing the boat or jamming the rudder if it parts from the transmission.

Are you concern about the life of you diesel? Visit this page to learn what causes your diesel to fail early and how to make it last longer.

Is your Yanmar 3GMF diesel engine overheating? Checkout this procedure for isolating the cause.

Is your throttle cable sticking or difficult to move? Before replacing it, check it end-to-end if possible to make sure it isn't being pinched.

Procedure for repairing BABA 35 Fuel Tank by Stan & Cathy Hunter

Photos of a Panda 40 stainless steel fuel tank conversion by Keegan Harper.

Photo of a Vetus 33 hp diesel by Carl Poulin.

Photo of new diesel controls by David Gluek..

Fuel tank replacement project on a Baba 40 (Yohelah) by Rob Sicade
Back to top

Galley Sink

Photos of a galley sink project by Carl Poulin.
Back to top

General Information

Hull Identification Number - Have you ever wondered how to determine your hull number from your boat's Hull Identification Number (HIN)? Here are two sites that will answer the question. Nautical Know How, Inc. answers the question "What's a HIN?" and explains how to decipher HINs as they evolved through the years. The U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center provides a search engine for the Manufacture's Identification Code (MIC) Database where you can determine the builder of any U.S., Canadian, and U.S. importers of recreational boats by looking at the first three charters of the HIN. (The MIC for Babas is TSQ)

Tashing Yacht Building Company, Ltd. built the Baba sailboats. This site contains their mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and E-mail address.
Back to top

Hardware

Head

When the joker valve fails at the worst possible moment, use a tennis ball as follows to empty the bowl and hoses. Push the tennis ball into the bowl exit port during the pump out stroke, let it float during the suck-into-the-pump stroke.
Back to top

Hull

Use a hair dryer (or heat gun on low) to soften vinyl lettering for removal. For masking tape that has been left on too long for easy removal, apply mayonnaise and allow to sit until soft.
Back to top

Ports, hatches & skylights

Replacement portlight rubber, black, 5/16" square, is available in 50 ft cartons. Cost is approx. $2.12/ft. Part #SAL PL-56B. Glue is not required to hold it in place. Be sure the ends join at the top of the port. Can be ordered from:
Fawcett Boat Supplies Inc.
Annapolis MD.
(800) 456-9151

Thanks to Joe Brant for this maintenance tip.

Here's Joe's ''Quick-and-Dirty'' method of installing noseeum screens on the ports. No fuss, no muss, (well maybe a little). Use Campmor screen as it is most similar to the screens used in the hatches. Visit Campmor's web site, look under Tents, then Repair Parts and Materials, then Mosquito Netting-Yard Goods. You want the Tight Weave No-See-Um Screen. Then follow these seven steps.
1. Remove a screen from the port.
2. Clean up all the crud that dropped on whatever is below the port.
3. Clean around the stainless screen.
4. Lay the screen down on the noseeum screen.
5. Draw an oval several inches bigger than the ''factory'' screen and cut it out.
6. Put the noseeum over the outside of the screen and press it back in place.
7. The pressure around the edges as you press it back in place will stretch the noseeum taut and there will be no wrinkles.

Thanks to Joe Brant for this maintenance tip.

Procedure for repairing dorade base-plates by Stan & Cathy Hunter

Procedure for replacing dorade base-plates by Dennis VandeLaare

Procedure for replacing BABA 35 portlight glass by Stan & Cathy Hunter.

Procedure for skylight hatch repair by Rick Beddoe.

Photos of bimini, dodger, vee-berth lift, reefer, skylight canvas & helm seat by David Glueck.

Photo of a hard dodger by Carl Poulin
Back to top

Refrigeration & heating

Photos of an ice box-to-refrigeration project by Carl Poulin.
Back to top

Sails & fabrics

Solar & wind generating

Photos of a wind generator project by Carl Poulin.
Back to top

Spars & rigging

Reduce corrosion of your turnbuckles when operating in saltwater by packing them with lanolin.

Forespar manufactured the aluminum spars for most of the west coast Babas. If you are refurbishing your aluminum spars, Forespar used monel rivets to attach the fittings with a Lanacote barrier around the rivets. Bill Hanna at Forespar is a great resource regarding questions about the spars.
Back to top

Steering

Don't forget to grease the the rudder bearings.

A light coat of Vasaline on the steering cables once a year will prevent corrosion and keep the steering operating smoothly.

If your steering is a bit sloppy it may not be loose cables. We found the key ways on the rudder shaft and quadrants to be different sizes. We had to machine a key to fit both the shaft and the quadrants. No more slop! (Patrick Horvat)

Instructions from Tashing for removing the rudder shoe:
   1. Drill the visible pins out. Be sure to aim at the center of pin and keep the drill straight.
   2. Heat the fuse of the Sealant inside of shoe , then remove the shoe from rudder.
To re-install shoe:
   1. Put Sealant inside of shoe, then put shoe into rudder
   2. Use proper length silicon bronze rod through the drill hole. Hamper the both ends of silicon bronze rod (pin) until head forms on both ends of pin , and fully filled into countersink of shoe.
Back to top

Teak care & repair

Always wash your teak decks across the grain (not with the grain) with a soft sponge to reduce the removal of wood between the wood grain. The more wood that is removed between the grain, the more it will hold water, causing deterioration of the horizontal surface.

Remove spills on teak by covering the area with dish detergent (Joy or Dawn) as soon as possible after spill. Leave detergent on the spill about an hour or so. Just before it dries, rinse it off.

Having trouble matching stain to the interior teak color? Try mixing 2 parts Provincial and 3 parts Cherry Min-Wax Wood Finish oil stain.
Back to top