How-to

Jeffrey Siegel said this week that the ActiveCaptain “X” beta website, under development for the past year, is now fully launched and live, providing everything from a new user interface to NOAA charts and Microsoft Virtual Earth cartography.  The website benefits greatly from having been available in beta form for the last several months and [...] …Read More

If you've read any of my earlier posts you may be getting the idea that I'm kind of a nut for details. I am, and details can make the difference between trouble-free boating or a never ending string of "surprises". Its your choice as to which way you prefer to go. Relative to battery installations I see several common mistakes being made today that will definately contribute to the surprise factor, and often when you least expect it. In the photo below you see a fairly typical example of a brand new boat with at least three things wrong with the battery installation. First, the green and red wing nuts that secure the positive and negative battery cables to their posts are no longer compliant with ABYC's E-10 battery standard. The Standard now states that cables 6 AWG and larger shall not be attached with wing nuts. The obvious question is why? This has been common practice for years. Its also caused some problems for years. The cables you see are probably 2 AWG in size, which is much larger than 6 AWG. This means they are intended to carry large amounts of current (amperage) to facilitate engine cranking, maybe to supply an inverter, or perhaps both. The issue is that these terminations may get a bit warm from time to time and repeated heating and cooling cycles will eventually cause the wing nuts to get loose, further exasperating the problem of heat generation. Remember the primary by-product of electrical resistance is heat, the primary causes of electrical resistance on boats are loose or corroded connections, or wire too small for the task at hand. In any event, when these wing nuts get loose enough, arcing can occur at the terminal and if the batteries happen to be connected to a charging source and gassing a bit, the batteries could explode. Or, in a more mundane situation, the engine won't start or electrical equipment could simply just start blinking out. These terminals should be secured with conventional hex nuts and lock washers and tightened with a socket or wrench! Wing nuts be gone! Unfortunately my eye also sees several other matters of concern with the installation above. If you look carefully at the terminal clamps you'll see some light green grease smeared over the terminals. This is to help prevent corrosion from building up and again, some people have been using grease for this purpose for years. Its a bad choice. Remember these terminals will get warm from time to time and the grease will melt and turn to an oily fluid. It will act like penetrating oil and seep between the clamp and the post on the batteries. This in itself will cause electrical resistance and heat, which in turn will cause the thin film of grease to get hot enough to actually dry out, leaving a terrific insulating barrier between the clamp and the post on the battery, which in turn creates even more electrical resistance. Don't use grease for this purpose! I use a product that's readily available at most marine supply stores, Boeshield T-9. As the name implies it was actually invented by Boeing Aircraft. It's a great corrosion inhibitor and it dries to an almost clear film that will not break down with the typical heat associated with battery terminals. Next, as I look at the photo above I see that the batteries are sitting in a wooden enclosure. Standards dictate that battery enclosures be made of materials that will not be affected by exposure to battery electrolyte. Wood will be dramatically damaged by exposure to electrolyte. The easiest fix here is to remove the batteries and paint the inside of the area with some West System epoxy. The epoxy will not be affected by exposure to any electrolyte spill. Now if you are using AGM or gel batteries I would not worry too much about this as electrolyte spills are a non issue. Finally, as I look at the photo, I can't tell for sure, but it appears the only thing holding the batteries in place in the vertical plane is gravity. Not good! Here's what I tell technicians I train. Ask yourself this question, if the boat does a 360 degree roll-over will the batteries be in the same place they were before the event?  Yes / No . If you circled yes, the installation is good to go.   …Read More

Last night I spent a little time looking over my latest book Advanced Marine Electrics and Electronics Troubleshooting and one of the photos reminded me of a funny time I had on a sailing trip near Annapolis, Maryland. We were cruising down the bay when suddenly all of our instruments that were linked to the GPS decided they weren't going to tell us anything. Blank, caput, nada. So, as is my nature, I immediately began thinking about why. We had a strong signal with lots of satellite coverage when we started, only about 30 minutes prior to this moment. It had to be something stupid that had caused this. Well it surely was, and it could happen to you if your electronics installer was thinking like the person who had done the install on the boat we were sailing. My first reaction was to look for the GPS antenna, you know they like a clear view of the sky above. I didn't see the antenna on this boat. Why? Because one of our crew members was sitting on it. I don't blame the crew member for this, I blame the installer of the GPS for not thinking about the ergonomics of the cockpit on this boat, something I've written about before in earlier posts on this site. The picture below tells the whole story here. The picture above is from a different boat, but it tells the story just fine. That circular disk to the left of the winch is the GPS antenna. Its definately located in an area where someone might just drop their butt from time to time. Or maybe smack it inadvertently with a winch handle, or perhaps get the jib sheet wrapped around it on a fast tack when releasing the sheet. At least in that case the sheet might tear the antenna off the deck and get it out of the way as the sheet runs......... Electronics installers of the world...stop putting these antennas where they are vulnerable to the day to day activity on the boat, and if you have any questions about what actually happens when a boat is underway, you know how to reach me. …Read More

I was relieved to come away from visiting Plastiki with the sense that, yeah, this can come out OK. It might even be important. Photo by Kimball Livingston Most people have heard something of Plastiki by now. Being heir to a name like Rothschild confers an automatic celebrity and resources, and it’s not just any old [...] …Read More

One of the tasks I've enjoyed over the last few years is my role as a judge for Cruising World Magazine's Boat Of The Year contest. A lot of folks not familiar with how CW conducts this contest think that its just a bunch of us going out sailing for the week and deciding which boat we liked the best. Well it is that, but a lot more. We actually dig into the boats that enter the contest, I mean really dig. My role as a systems and Standards compliance specialist gets me right into the guts of the boats that enter, every nook and cranny. What am I looking for you might ask? Details, details, thats my job. I thought I'd share with you one of my pet peeves today so you can check your boat closely this spring, before it bites you................ In the photo below you will see someting that is unfortunately turning into a bit of a trend with some builders, and my hope here is that someone will point out my disdain for this technique with a builder of their choice. What you are looking at in the center of the photo are the back side of the boat's shore power inlet receptacles. What are they held into the boat with? Self-tapping screws and I would add, self-tapping screws that are way too long for the job at hand. First of all, self-tapping screws are a lousy choice for this job. A properly sized threaded machine screw with a flat washer, lock washer and nut would be the proper way to secure these inlet receptacles. But hey, that would take more time and add cost to the boat right? Exactly, which is why this trend to self-tappers, they're quick and easy and will indeed hold things in place, at least until the warranty on the boat runs out...... But lets move beyond the mere quality side of this issue into the safety side. In the photo above I didn't actually crawl too deeply into the boat. These sharply pointed screws where just sitting there in a cockpit locker just waiting for you to reach in to grab a dock line and bite the back of your hand, sure to draw blood. Depending on the boat, I find these exposed screws all over the place just waiting to bite you or leave a nice tear in that new spinnaker you just spent a gazzillion dollars on. You've got two choices here. The easy way around this is to acquire some plastic or rubber tubing that will fit snuggly over the screw and cut a length just a little bit longer than the exposed screw threads. Slide it over the screw leaving the excess length of tubing to protect the point of the screw from coming in contact with your body or your new sail. This I must emphasize, is NOT my recommendation for a proper repair, but at least you will have prevented your boat from biting you while you're still making payments on it. The best bet is a bit labor intensive. Carefully inspect all the nooks and crannies of your boat and one by one, replace these self-tappers with properly sized machine screws, washers and your choice of nylock nuts or lock washers and regular nuts. In all cases, if the screw is too long for the job, resize it so you don't have all of the excess as shown in the photo above. Don't let your boat bite you! …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 second 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

I'm still poring over all of the new information I received while attending the Miami Boat Show several weeks ago. One thing that caught my eye on the electronics end is Fusion's new MS-RA200 marine stereo radio. It caught my attention because unlike many stereo radios installed on boats, this one has some truly marine useful features. The face of the unit is shown here: What makes this radio so much better than most others? Well it takes care of multiple boat related issues. First of all it is IP rated to IP65, which means it'll withstand a direct hit with the hose when you're washing down the boat and it's impervious to dust. Beyond that, its got a high output with four channel 50W capability that'll keep the tunes coming over engine noise. Perhaps more important though is that the radio can also receive marine VHF and weather broadcasts, so again, you can listen for important VHF broadcasts over the noise of the boat, a common complaint with a lot of us (not being able to hear important broadcasts while underway). The unit is SIRIUS satellite ready and is completely compatible with MP 3 tracks stored on a jump drive via its USB port. Its APPLE ready and can play all your iPod tunes via an optional MS-IPDock that is also waterproof. Even better, if you have an iPhone, the radio will automatically mute audio and play the phone's ring tone when you get an incoming call. It'll automatically go back to the tunes when you complete your call. Does it have a CD player? Nope, and who needs one anyway now that MP-3 and iPods have taken over the world of music. The unit sells for $169.95 and will be available next month according to Fusion. I want one for my center console. This radio was made with my boat in mind!       …Read More

Yesterday’s news of the new Kadey-Krogen 52′ — which was made sort of under the public radar — at last month’s Trawler Fest in Fort Lauderdale, reminded me of just one more benefit of these events. If you’ve never been to a Trawler Fest, which are owned and operated by Passagemaker Magazine, and you’re thinking [...] …Read More

I'm not talking about foul weather boots or your car being illegally parked, or your computer running here, I'm talking about some very important electrical terminals on your engine. In the photo above we see a classic and potentially dangerous situation. The white, high output alternator positive terminal in the center of the photo has no protective rubber boot on it. Even worse, and a little harder to see is the starter motor positive terminal shown to the right of it (partially obscured by the black rubber hose) with no boot on it.  Most boaters don't realize that the starter motor on their boat is the ONLY electrical circuit on their boat that is not required by the ABYC to have an over-current protection device (fuse or circuit breaker) installed in it. Most alternators won't have one anywhere near the device either. We've had cases where underway in rough seas a tool box has inadvertently opened up and allowed a wrench or screw driver to bounce around in the engine space on the boat. If one of these or any metal object comes in contact with one of these unbooted terminals and also comes in contact with any other part of the engine sparks are going to fly! I'm talking about what we call a dead short circuit here, one where a heavy current will flow that can easily start a fire on board. In the case of the alternator, a fuse will probably blow shutting the short circuit off. But, in the case of the starter motor circuit, you'll have to wait until the heavy cable supplying the starter motor burns up before you can count on the circuit shutting down. Odds are it'll burn long enough to ignite something else in the area of the cable. As part of your spring check-ups get these terminals booted! The boots are available at the electrical department of West Marine or any good ships store and are really cheap insurance. …Read More

Kadey-Krogen Yachts today, in a monthly newsletter to clients and interested followers, casually mentions that it is offering an entirely new model, the Krogen 52′. As you can see from the profile rendering above, the new trawler is definitely a Kadey-Krogen, with the tall, ship-like bow, classic pilothouse amidships, and rectangular portholes in the hull. [...] …Read More