How-to: Maintenance

Yesterday in part 2 of this series on electrical overload issues you could see that fuses that are continually stressed to near or even above their nominal trip specification will actually begin to generate a significant amount of heat. In the video be... …Read More

Tuesday I told you I'd explain the reasoning behind the fuse holder having a melt down and the fuse not being affected at all. The fuse shown in that photo (see below) had been subjected to a DC load (in amperes) at or near its nominal trip rating for... …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

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

Back in May I received a surprise call from the editor of Soundings magazine, Bill Sisson. For those not in the know, Soundings is a well known East Coast boating publication. He wanted to interview me... Well I was a bit flattered and the whole idea... …Read More

Continuing with the theme I began in yesterday's post lets take a look at sea cocks and valves today. The photo below, again taken at the Mystic Classic Boat rendezvous over the past week end show one of the original sea cock valves used "back in the ... …Read More

This past weekend I had the honor of being one of the judges for the annual Mystic Seaport Classic Yacht rendezvous. This is an event I always look forward to because I get a chance to see some really beautiful boats. Beyond that I also get a chance t... …Read More

Every now and then you hear a story about someone who's autopilot does some strange things when someone else on board uses the head and hits the macerator button or the vacu-flush. Or maybe they are down below washing the dishes and using the pressure ... …Read More