Blog
RADAR
on September 22, 2024
We know all you really want to know about your radar is how to look at that LCD screen and distill what’s a channel marker, what’s another boat, and what’s land. If you are investing in a radar system, (one that overlays), your radar returns on your chartplotter screen, its’ probably a good move. (See photo below.) It eliminates an awful lot of the guesswork, as long as the overlay doesn’t add to the confusion. […]
Floating Your Boat
on September 14, 2024
What Keeps your boat floating? As the storage season approaches for many parts of the East Coast, it’s a good time to review some of the common causes for boats to stop floating. Avoiding sinking Store your stern drive in the down position when out of the water to avoid the bends and creases that stress rubber. Inspect the bellows two or three times a year and replace it annually. Scuppers in the Fall & […]
Boaters Talk
on September 7, 2024
Boaters talk can seem coded or exclusionary, but not knowing it might jeopardize a passenger’s safety. PFD If the captain instructs everyone to “put on a PFD”, so the boat can leave the dock, he’s concerned about safety. PFD stands for personal flotation device and it’s simpler to just tell everyone to wear a life jacket. MOB If the captain or a crew member yells “MOB!” The cry is meant to kick everyone aboard into […]
Labor Day
on August 31, 2024
Labor Day continues to be the most misunderstood of our national holidays, and never seems to get the respect it deserves. Labor Day was always just a long weekend marking the unofficial end of summer. A day we celebrated with family and friends in our backyards, drinking and complaining about how fast the summer had flown by. But a closer look at the origins of Labor Day, and the people who have fought for the […]
Service Contracts
on August 24, 2024
Are service contracts really needed? Do service contracts make sense for you? To help clear some of the confusion, here are some of the facts. Extended Warranties “Extended “warranties” you have to buy aren’t really warranties; they’re service contracts. A true warranty offers broad coverage and has the weight of state and federal warranty laws behind it. Service contracts, on the other hand, are really insurance policies generally underwritten by third parties, not manufacturers, and […]
Hurricane Season
on August 17, 2024
Well, it seems like hurricane season is now in full swing! Being prepared in hurricane season is very, very important. NOAA’s National Hurricane Center has put together a comprehensive preparedness checklist with important link & information here: https://www.noaa.gov/hurricane-prep One thing we’d like to remind you is to keep an eye on the storm surge. Extremely high waters can cause more damage than wind alone. In order to protect the lines on your boat, one site […]
Acrylic Windows
on August 10, 2024
Ever wonder why acrylic windows are used in favor of glass? The Acrylic Advantage Rigid, clear plastic gets is used instead of glass for boat windows because it delivers similar strength at half the weight, it’s much easier to fabricate, and it doesn’t shatter into a million shards. Plastic windshields and port lights are nearly always acrylic (PMMA), known by the brand names Plexiglas or Lucite. Plastic hatches are often made from poly-carbonate (such as […]
Hurricane
on August 3, 2024
Hurricane preparedness is something we all need to be aware of. If you boat anywhere down the East Coast or the along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, it’s not a matter of if you get a hurricane, it’s a matter of when. You’ll have to be ready to deal with some direct or indirect affects associated with a hurricane. Now that the hard reality is out there, there are some things to keep […]
DISTANCE
on July 26, 2024
Distance can be determined with some simple tools. Got a tape measure and a piece of string? You can use them to find out how far away you are from, say, a lighthouse. Measuring distance off by vertical sextant angle is an old navigation technique. It was used for keeping a safe distance from an object of known height, such as a lighthouse, the height of which is shown on a chart. Now, with modern […]
Lightning
on July 20, 2024
Lightning-powerful, dangerous, highly unpredictable. A direct lightning strike that results only in ringing ears and a few toasted electronics is considered lucky. While the odds of a boat being struck by lightning are only about one out of 1,000 boats, the consequences of a lightning strike call for some strategies to avoid disaster: Timing A strategy of boating only on sunny, cloudless days may work well in places like California, but that would mean almost […]