How-to

href="http://www.panbo.com/assets_c/2010/05/Azek_electronics_panels_cPanbo-2145.html"> …Read More

Okay, so it’s not quite as memorable (yet?) as “Riders on the Storm,” the 1971 hit by The Doors, but a new blog by writers Christine Kling and Mike Jastrzebski  called Write on the Water, is a place to talk about the intersection of writing and living and working on the water. I was the guest [...] …Read More

By way of introducing this new video series, let me re-state what will become obvious to you:  I am a writer. And writers may have great ideas for video but viewers will likely suffer a bit while the writer learns to be a filmmaker. And with that ugly excuse for the quality of our first [...] …Read More

Beyond the terrible environmental impact, Gulf boaters have a more personal concern: what effect the oil spill will have on their fiberglass, dacron, and teak. …Read More

href="http://www.chemical-supermarket.com">www.chemical-supermarket.com …Read More

href="http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2010/05/the-gulf-oil-spill-will-it-destroy-your-boat/" title="http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2010/05/the-gulf-oil-spill-will-it-destroy-your-boat/">http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2010/05/the-gulf-oil-spill-will-it-destroy-your-boat/ …Read More

These investments will make your motor more reliable and more efficient. …Read More

And for someone, it is the perfect yacht. Hats off to someone at Coyote Point for a classy Cal 20. …Read More

Several months ago I posted a multi-part series here entitled "Keep Your Drive Alive". Why? Because there have been quite a few issues with saildrives corroding away. We know why, and I discussed all of the issues during that series. Apparently the issue has become prevalent enough that Yanmar America is responding with a very detailed service bulletin that not only describes the problem, but offers up the same information I had provided here. If you have a Yanmar saildrive, I strongly suggest you take heed and look this over carefully. Since the bulletin is also intended for end users, I'm placing it here in it's entirety.       …Read More

All right, I know that these things come with the installation kits on a lot of marine electrical and electronic components. Wire nuts that is. In case you don't know what a wire nut is, the photo below is showing them, yes, on a boat as the yellow connectors for the cabin fan in the photo. So why not use them, especially since they came free with the unit you just bought? Simple, the vendors that include these in their kits really don't understand industry Standards (ABYC) for electrical installations. Part 1- We require the use of multi-strand wire to mitigate issues related to vibration on boats. Part 2- Wire nuts are engineered for use on single strand conductors such as you have in your house. They work well for that purpose. Part 3- When used with multi-strand conductors, the more you try to tighten the wire nut on to the connection you are trying to make, the more small strands of wire you destroy, and the weaker the connection actually becomes. NEVER use wire nuts in marine applications. Use a proper crimp type butt connector instead. …Read More