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We're going down the waterway southbound at 8.5 SOG with RPM set for 7.0 knots on a falling tide when we come across a triamaran close to shore with the solo occupant standing in the water pushing on the bow. He starts waving frantically. I pull in as close as I can and yell if he has a radio...

Rather than try to individually correct some misconceptions in the two stability / rolling threads, I’ll offer this explanation: The period of a vessel’s roll is a function of two factors, GM and how weight is distributed out from the center of gravity. Think of a vessel with some lead...

A half day of Googling, emails, and phone calls has failed to turn up any evidence that there is a battering watering system or vent valves available for these 4D batteries. Threaded caps, flush or not, seem to be the issue for all group types. I hope someone here can prove me wrong...

Well, our snowbird migration is not off to a very good start. As we aporoached Kingston NY we were overwhelmed with the desire for a meal at the incredible Old Savannah restaurant. Called and they said they had room. Got there and they only had room for small boats. The museum docks were full...

Resolved but, if you like a mystery.... Our 1975 vintage Cruiseair reverse cycle AC system reached its “Use By” date during the August heat wave. Since we survived, I figure we can kick that can down the road but we need the heat for going south. We prefer to use portable ceramic...

Yikes! This from a CNN story today about a city in New Mexico coping with wildfire ash leaching into its water supply: “It's also a health risk -- when carbon reacts with high levels of chlorine used to treat water, it can become carcinogenic.” I recently bleach shocked our fresh water...

Has anyone heard anything recently about the reliability of the railroad swing bridge in Atlantic City? The tides look good for another NJICW transit from Cape May to Atlantic City. I'd hate to get all the way up there and have to go back as happened to some people a couple years ago...

Does anyone here know of a 40'ish aluminum powerboat designed by Mcurdy and Rhodes and built by Paul Luke starting in the summer of 1969? I worked on her early construction and could tell her owners some interesting stories if they should ever turn up.

Aluminum actually. I put them on myself. I've done lots. Tap with a hammer, get them tight, etc. Our boat is slow enough that I can put them about 3 inches from the struts since our shafts are light and putting them in the middle causes some vibration when they waste a bit. They were just...

A couple of people are still checking it out. I’m not too familiar with the program so further investigation and comments welcome. Navionics seems to have changed the displayed chart soundings so that they are corrected to the state of tide at time of viewing. Convenient maybe for the...

We have a cracked manifold on one of our 1975 Perkins 6.354’s and have probably had a small exhaust leak for a long time. We have never smelled it, probably because the air intake is just over a foot away and it simply gets re-circulated. We have smelled exhaust in the cabin only when...

I finished up writing a set of instructions for any non-nautical guests about what to do if I fall down foaming at the mouth and unconscious (thus the post about channel 70). Reviewing it, I realized I’d forgotten to say anything about the electronic flare and emergency flag in the drawer...

I'm writing up an emergency procedures list for crew members in case I become incapacitated and I want it to work for ones who may not be experienced radio users. Right now I plan to tell them (Paraphrased): 1) Push the red button under the "Distress - Lift Here" flap. Our radio has GPS. 2)...

I’m curious if other people here are increasingly having experiences like this on the ICW. I’ve gotten lots of confirmation from other social media sites. You see a vessel coming towards you, show them a bit of port side to confirm a standard meeting and start edging over to the...

Is there anyone here who has traveled the Saint Lawrence between Sorel-Tracy and Kingston who I could discuss the trip with? We're optimistic that the border will open in July and thinking about a cruise north. I've got to get some cruising guides but would like to get some first hand general...

We have an old and simple trawler with twin engines and minimal 12 volt loads. There is no house bank, just an 8D for each engine and the master switch can draw house loads from either or both. We have a generator so I have always left the switch on “Both” on the theory that I’m cutting...

After four years of no ice cream and getting up to start the generator at 0500 every morning so other frozen stuff doesn’t thaw too much, I’m plotting a dedicated battery bank and inverter for our 110 volt refrigerator and separate freezer. I’m running the numbers but would appreciate some...

I've seen a lot of fuel polishing systems proposed here and elsewhere. I've gotten by without one on our current trawler but, when and if I get around to installing one, it will be like this one which simplifies retrofit issues and a lot of extra piping...

On medical advice, I drink a LOT of water, too much to keep up with bottled stuff. I think (hope) any harmful stuff has leached out of our 1975 FW tank and am getting tired of throwing away our current in line R/V filters. I plan to go to something with better filtration and replaceable...

VC 17M Extra is ubiquitous on the Great Lakes and considered primarily a fresh water paint. However, I have had very good experience with it in 10 years of snow birding on two different boats, one sail and one power. I bought both boats in Detroit and nothing else can be applied over it so...

We have been using our fresh water wash down hose to clean the anchor chain. Good for the anchor chain but, now that we want to reduce our shore contact significantly, it’s time for a salt water wash down system. I’d like to free up a hand so I am thinking of running copper tubing under the...

We just left our Gulf Star 43 on the hard in Norfolk, VA and now it looks like our planned return time will be in the projected virus peak for VA so I think we need to plan for not seeing her until well into the summer. There is a couple inches of water in the keel bilge (sailboat style hull)...

Renewal with no changes filed online August 29. Just received December 16 with December 12 issue date. We lost one month trying to insure that it would arrive while we were home for the holidays instead of entrusting our mail collector to identify it and send it on to us but I'm glad I didn't...

OK, I’ll put on my flameproof suit and start this conversation: On our recent trip south (now interrupted to return home for the holidays), we came upon the Wally Wad of over a dozen boats traveling in company and waiting for a bridge to open that we can easily go under. Narrow channels...

Any Polar Navy users (refugees?) here who would like to start a thread to compare notes? I’m looking at both Aqua Map and OpenCPN. I just installed CPN and, when it asked for a chart directory, pointed it to the one I set up for Polar Navy. Bingo, all the charts showed up in OpenCPN...