KNOW HOW TO USE A COMPASS

on August 29, 2018

Round & Round We Go Studies have shown that when cut off from sensory input, such as in a small boat in heavy fog, most people tend to circle clockwise. A working compass is invaluable in keeping you on a straight heading. If yours is out of order, try trailing a line astern as a reference point. You’ll still tend to bear off to starboard, but knowing that you aren’t really traveling in a straight […]

WHAT’S A RIP?

on August 22, 2018

Get Ripped Wait a sec — what exactly is a rip? In its most basic form, a rip is simply an area where the water is disturbed. Usually, though not always, the cause lies beneath the surface: some form of structure interrupts the flow of the water and causes turbulence, which creates small standing waves or ripples. You know those little waves that form on either side of bridge pilings, when the current is moving […]

SURVEY TIPS

on August 15, 2018

Make Sure The Boat Is Prepared If you are asking a surveyor to come to your boat to perform an insurance survey, make sure that the surveyor has access. Don’t expect him or her to empty out lockers of heavy anchors, bags of sails, and boxes of spare parts. The surveyor needs to look at the mechanical parts of the boat, and it causes delays to have to move tons of stuff out of the […]

AVOIDING THE FRIES

on August 8, 2018

Based on article from Boat US Marine Insurance To the untrained eye, there’s not much wrong with this alternator connection. You might notice that there’s too much conductor showing between the connection lug and the insulation, but that’s about it. Looking closer, though, things start to get complicated. Instead of using properly crimped connections between the lug and the conductor (blue arrow), whoever made up the cable used a soldered connection. It looks like the […]

BATTERY BASICS

on August 1, 2018

Marine Battery Maintenance Based on an a article by Mark Corke According to TowBoatUS, one in 10 calls for help is due to a dead battery or other electrical issues. Look after your battery, and it will serve you when you need it. If a boat’s wiring is the lifeblood of your boat’s DC electrical system, then the battery is its heart, and your boat needs a healthy heart. But unlike the battery in your […]