How-to

The phone rang at 0511 and what followed was a truncated conversation with a strong-sounding Ronnie Simpson who was “inside the Gate” and—he’s now ashore—safe, after his borrowed 30-footer dropped its keel 800 miles off the coast on the return from the Singlehanded Transpac. Warrior’s Wish was returning from Hawaii to San Francisco Bay, a distance [...] …Read More

For several years now I and some of my colleagues have been raising questions about how we have traditionally prescribed applications for fuses and circuit breakers used on boats. The reasoning behind our questions is based on observations we’ve made... …Read More

You need help with a fiberglass repair, epoxy mixes, resin formulations, or other similar questions? Who wouldn’t? When I became involved in my first substantial fiberglass project years and years ago (building and mounting a new center console for my fishboat) I learned purely by trial and error. I turned my shed into a fiberglass [...] …Read More

Are you buying electronics features you might never use? …Read More

by Christine Kling   (Editor’s Note — Chris Kling is a sailor with with more than 30 years of experience on the oceans of the world. She’s also an English professor at Broward College, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the published author of the Seychelle Sullivan series of mysteries, including SURFACE TENSION (2002), CROSS CURRENT [...] …Read More

If you could have the perfect outboard for your dinghy or tender, what would it be?  A diesel perhaps, because you’re already carrying hundreds or thousands of gallons of that fuel and because looking for and storing gasoline is such a pain in the neck, not to mention dangerous? I’ve long thought, for example, that [...] …Read More

Continuing with some of my findings in the San Juans, this one falls into the great idea category for marina operators. Another first for me. A life jacket loaner station:   The life jacket loaner station works just like a book lending library. Ac... …Read More

In my last post I promised some video of things burning up. I have the video, but need to spend some time on the exact nature of what's going on. Since I'm still on vacation, I'm going to hold off until next week for those. Not a problem though. In th... …Read More

Actually, it brings ultrasonic weather data to your helm. Are we straight with that now?  Okay. The basic ultrasonic instrument has been around for several years — the most recent version, still available, is the PB150, a NMEA 0183-compatible unit –  but the WS200 is a significant upgrade, both in sensors and networking. It’s also a little [...] …Read More

P.A.E. today confirmed that hull #1 of the new Nordhavn 63 is in final preparation for shipment from the factory in China to Florida, where it will be commissioned and available for inspection. The N63 is a development of the N55/N60 series, with new deck and engine room molds. With its beam narrower than the [...] …Read More