How-to

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

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Plastiki, 39 days out of San Francisco and halfway to a final destination in Australia, arrived on Wednesday in the Line Islands. I gather it was none too soon. Arriving at the Line Islands. © Plastiki Co-skipper Jo Royle writes, “We were ready for a stop. Everyone on board has worked hard to keep the smiles [...] …Read More

As part of my informal spring getting ready checklist I'd be remiss if I didn't mention your boat's shore power cord. You need to check to see if it is melting......... What I mean by that is taking a close look at all of the insulation on the length of the cord to ensure that the insulation hasn't been cut or abraded to the point where the individual wires inside the outer insulating jacket are exposed, but also to check for any sign of terminal over-heating at both the boat end and dock box end of the cord. Is there any sign of melting insulation? The photo below shoes what this will look like: Unfortunately the cause for what you see in the photo above may actually be in your dock box. As I've mentioned before and will probably mention again sometime, the primary by-product of electrical resistance is heat. Electrical resistance can be caused by loose electrical connections, in this case your shore power cord. At the dock end, most often the cause is at the receptical in the pedestal. the terminals loosen up after years of a plug being pushed in and out of the socket, resistance develops and heat is generated, causing melting around the actual connecting lugs or pins. At the boat end, the same thing is true and the melting you see above is the net result. Left unattended, these connections can generate enough heat to actually start a fire. Circuit breakers will not trip in this case because the actual amperage flow is being resitricted, and amps are what trip circuit breakers, less amps means no trip! So, what happens is these things just keep getting progressively hotter to a point of ignition someday. Before you launch this year, check that cord, if its starting to melt, you may be able to repair the ends with replacement parts, if the insulating jacket is violated, its time for a new cord. Take a really close look at the reseptical on your dock box, and if you have any suspicions about it, get you marina to inspect it and make any needed repairs. Check yours today and be sure you're safe for the upcoming season! …Read More