Boats, Engines & Equipment Reviews

href="http://www.customline-yacht.com" target="_blank">Custom Line …Read More

href="http://www.derecktor.com" target="_blank">Derecktor Shipyards …Read More

Ethanol, in the form of E10 gasoline, is considered by many (me included) to be the scourge of boating. The fuel company Valvtect claims to have a solution in the form of its Ethanol Gasoline Treatment. The company did some tests, and claims its product helps with the three main issues: storage stability, corrosion, and [...] …Read More

target="_blank" href="http://www.sterlingperformance.org">Sterling Performance. …Read More

Yesterday a federal jury found a boat manufacturer — Brunswick — partially liable in a 2005 prop-injury accident which severed a teenager's leg. The accident occurred on Lake Austin in 2005. According to the American Statesman newspaper, Brunswick was ordered to pay 3.8 million in me …Read More

Ethanol-containing fuels (E-10) have been wreaking havoc on boat and PWC engines. I've experienced the problem firsthand, after a brief storage period left me with a gummed-up carburetor. E-10 can separate into layers — gas up top and ethanol and water below — making engines extremely difficult to start. It can also hasten the development of gum and varnish. Yamaha recently announced a product that can combat the problem — Yamalube® Fuel Stabilizer & Conditioner Plus. …Read More

href="http://www.chammyz.com">www.chammyz.com …Read More

href="http://megayachtnews.org/content/yachts/41-motoryachts/1515-aquos-yachts-big-fish.html" target="_blank">Big Fish story from November …Read More

The curse of the small-boat owner who stands at the helm all day is an aching back. All that up and down impact over the course of a season, and over the years, takes its toll on your spine. Since I like to operate center consoles in the 20-24′ range, I fall right into back pain [...] …Read More

Before you start launching nasty emails at me for using the word “Disintegration” anywhere near “Powerboat P1,” please let me explain. I am not saying that Powerboat P1, which announced last week that it is bailing on its Super Sport and Evolution offshore racing classes for 2010—at least—is disintegrating. I am not saying that at all, although Powerboat P1’s new “business plan” based on Aquabike, SuperStock and Rigid Inflatable Boat racing may well take care of that. (OK, now you can start launching nasty emails at me.) What I’m saying is that the demise of the Super Sport and Evolution classes just isn’t that big of a deal. First, it’s not as if offshore racing lost the keys to economic viability. Not even close. Despite tight competition and decently sized fleets in both classes, as well as extravagant events in exotic locales, the entire Powerboat P1 circuit existed because one guy—Asif Rangoonwalla—continually pumped silly amounts of money into it. Sure, the racing was great, the venues were cool and the bars in the hospitality suites were well-stocked. But don’t kid yourself. Powerboat P1’s events existed because Mr. Rangoonwalla wrote big checks—lots of them—for seven years. So while the Evolution and Super Sport classes do present excellent, in my view, competition models based on power-to-weight ratios, they clearly were not offshore racing’s economic solution. And here’s the thing: I’m not sure that offshore racing has an economic solution beyond the principals—meaning team owners and promoters— footing the bills. The closest I’ve seen the sport come to economic viability was in the first three years of APBA Offshore LLC in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For reasons we can all argue about forever, APBA Offshore was “replaced,” if that’s the right word, with all that led to what we have now, which aside from the Offshore Powerboat Association, is pretty damn weak. So while like most of you I’m saddened that Mr. Rangoonwalla and his team at Powerboat P1 couldn’t make it work, I do not think it spells the end of offshore racing. Again, we did not lose a viable economic model. We did lose a cool circuit, but we gained two equally cool classes that are now in the Union Internationale Motonautique rulebook. Even more positive, the demise of those classes—and I know, I know, they may come back—in Europe has sparked healthy discussions here on what the sport needs to do if it wants to survive and grow. I don’t have the answers. I just know that we didn’t lose two of them. …Read More