How-to

Our "affordable upgrades" series continues with some "zing" and "bling" you can add on the cheap. …Read More

Island Pilot is super-sizing its IPS-powered 435 into a new 531/2-foot model. New molds for the 535 have been built at the company’s yard in Zhuhai City, China, and Island Pilot reports that it has two firm orders already for the new yacht. If you really liked the 435 but wished it had a little [...] …Read More

From the Indian Ocean, approaching Australia after a six-month, nonstop circumnavigation, Sydney to Sydney: “Despite the fact that today started with a knockdown, a wet bunk, a headache and some pretty huge seas, I’ve had a great day. I know the words knockdown and great don’t belong in the same sentence, but right now I’m feeling [...] …Read More

The first in our series of affordable improvements that will help make your boat better. …Read More

Editor’s Note — Victoria Allman is the chef aboard a 143-foot megayacht and the author of the recently released “Sea Fare:  A Chef’s Journey Across the Ocean.”  This is the fourth in a series of periodic columns here on OceanLines featuring her irresistible recipes. Best of all for OceanLines readers, who are travelers of the [...] …Read More

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard announced the winners of its “People’s Choice” photo contest, which we covered here. This month we have the winners of the in-house photo contest from the Coasties. These are great photos and although we’ve all seen similar photos before, we can’t seem to get enough of them. When you [...] …Read More

The video you see here was taken while departing the Fort Pierce, Florida, inlet, Friday, April 16. The tide was running out strongly and the wind and seas were running in just as strongly. The resulting washing-machine ride was rather sporty, although our Krogen 58′ handled it well.  At one point, we realize we’ve forgotten [...] …Read More

For some years now the Algae-X diesel fuel cleaner has troubled me. These units are extremely popular among the diesel engine crowd and are widely used on a lot of diesel engines. I even recall that Yanmar offered them as an accessory item at one point, and may still, not sure. Well this week, as I mentioned the other day, I've been here in Portland, Oregon conducting an engine certification class for the ABYC and the topic of the Algae-X came up during our session yet again. The question was, what did I think about the effectiveness of this popular device? The photo below shows the unit I'm referring to in case you are not familiar with these nifty little units and where it integrates into a typical diesel fuel system: I've taken more than a few of these units apart over the years and basically the fuel runs through the unit and gets exposed to some reasonably powerful permanent magnets, that's it. There is really nothing exotic about their design beyond that. I've been told by Algae-X sales people that the magnets essentailly neuter the microbes and stops them from proliferating. I've questioned the name of the product. Algae requires sunlight to proliferate. If you are getting sunlight into your diesel fuel tank, you have bigger problems than the Algae-X can deal with. OK, so the stuff is not actually algae, but it is in fact microbial growth. These microbes are indeed living organisms, albeit microscopic. So, my next question is, how much magnetism does it take to have an impact on microbes? I went to the science on this and discovered an interesting white paper discussing this in a medical context. Excerpts from the white paper relevant to this topic follow: “Electro-therapies utilize low voltage electric micro-currents in the blood and body tissues to disable a wide variety of microbes, including fungi, bacteria and parasites. With this, they have been shown to be remarkably effective with all kinds of diseases and conditions. In addition, very short bursts of a strong magnetic field are used to treat infected lymph glands, tumors and other parts of the body that may contain pockets of pathogenic microbes or cancer cells.” “ An oscillating magnetic field between 1 and 100 Tesla in strength has been used with similar good results to kill microbes in food samples or living tissue. When treating humans and animals the field strength commonly ranged from 2 to 5 Tesla. One Tesla is equivalent to 10,000 Gauss or 10 K Gauss. In an experiment with mammary cancer tumors in rats after 6 days of treatment 15 out of 18 showed tumor shrinkage while the remaining 3 had a growth interruption.” So, could the Algae-X folks please respond to this post with some information on how many Tesla of magnetic field strength their relatively small magnets actually deliver? I'm not buying their premise and suggest that the product is one of the most successful marketing gimmicks I've ever seen. I'm not a micro-biologist, but I need somebody to explain the true science behind the Algae-X to me, and provide me with specific data to support the long standing premise that these devices actually have an impact on the microbes that can grow in diesel fuel. My position is based on the above two paragraphs, and the fact that I'm certain the magnets inside an Algae-X device will not generate anywhere near even 1 Tesla of magnetic field strength. Get back to me people, I need help on this.   …Read More

Imagine a boat show that is not a “boatshow” put on by the industry but a grassroots effort by people with something in common to roll up their sleeves, get some boats together, take people for rides, and share the love. I have a friend who likes to end a conversation with the words, “Now [...] …Read More

Anglers are usually the ones boating on the margins of bad weather, and most of them don’t wear the most basic of protection. Don’t want it to get in the way, is the common refrain against wearing life jackets. Just get an inflatable, man, and be done with it. Lenny Rudow has always advocated inflatable PFDs [...] …Read More