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IMO a boat is only worth what one is willing to pay for it, which is rarely what an owner thinks. Way too many folks let emotions into this business deal. Until you own it, a boat is nothing more or less than an object for sale. Don't second guess yourself or a sale you missed. Lots and lots of...

Folks have been operating single screw vessels for over a hundred years without a bow thruster and amazingly enough, some still do today. It would be a serious mistake to buy a boat with a bow thruster or install one on a boat without ever learning to dock the boat without one, under ANY...

In my five-decade-plus career on boats, I have had the pleasure to work on a few very old vessels. 1896, 1906, 1909 are some of the oldest with Wander Bird 1881, being the oldest. I'm sorry to say that smell is most probably dry rot in wood somewhere in the boat you can't access easily. If you...

I can't count the number of times I've had to have a prop shop tweak (change the pitch) a new prop to get absolutely the best performance out of it. The actual tweaking is usually included in the deal, if necessary, but if you are not a diver that end can get a bit expensive.

Boy, that's almost giving it away for free! And I'm sure you've all heard the old saying, "There's no such thing as a free boat!" First off, if the engines are actually in as good shape as claimed, they's be worth more than 6k each! And if you do need parts, best have very deep pockets for Volvo...

The first thing you should probably do is research insurance policies. It can sometimes be prohibitively expensive to insure older boats, and no one is going to loan you money on an uninsured boat. Sorry.

Every prop manufacturer has a form you can fill out online at no charge which, if you have all the pertinent information, should give you their recommended prop for your boat. Do several and see what the professionals have to say. Your boat or someone with the identical boat could have lots of...

If you have already paid the bill and left, I doubt you will have much luck getting a refund. If the boat is still there, you will need backup support in the form of an email or letter from the refer company's tech support and some acknowledgment from the head mechanic, preferably on paper, that...

First, I might suggest paring down your tool inventory to what you might actually use. There are a great many tools that one would use so rarely that it would be cheaper to hire someone or rent them than carry them aboard. That being said, we do 96% of our own work and carry tools to do that, up...

We are down in the Caribbean and except for a very few exceptions, I would be afraid to ride a bike on the roadsides down here. There are no bike paths or any 'separation' zones for bikes. Just a thought if you are leaving an area where those things are common.

Ha, ha, ha. I'm guessing you've not operated a vessel on a lake, in which case the 'raw water' engine coolant would most likely be fresh water. Of course, there is always the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea, neither place I have operated a vessel upon. But I can most assuredly state that on the...

'Raw water' need not be saltwater, but I did mean 'circulating hot coolant' and probably should have been more exact. However, I do dispute the efficiency of keel cooling designed for northern waters like Frisco to Alaska (I've worked on many a crab and salmon boat) in tropical waters of 80+...

Primarily by commercial operators of small craft like fishing vessels, workboats (mostly on harbors, lakes, and rivers), charter boats, and small harbor tugs. Though they use fuel in quantities that would make pleasure boaters go pale, most I've worked on used Biobor, and more recently the Star...

If you've had fuel 'shutdowns' due to contaminated fuel, your prime goal, unfortunately, is to somehow get inside that tank and remove all the built up and adhering crud that is deposited and is GROWING on the tank walls. Inspection ports 'can' (should be) be added to fuel tanks. That...

Keel coolers require thru-hull fittings and have their own problems. I realize they do not use seawater, but they can get holes in the system and if this goes unnoticed, it can cause corrosion in the engine and lead to engine failure. They also do not function well in warmer waters, so if you...

In the first place, a fuel polishing system is pretty much a waste of money, if you do not start with clean tanks. It cannot clean the tanks, especially if there are multiple baffles in the tanks. Your Racor filter and the secondary on the engine should be sufficient to protect your engine(s) if...

If this is so, how do you cool your engine? Every engine requires a water circulation system, raw water or keel coolers (hot salt water circulating through the engine room), regardless of the exhaust system, for engine cooling.

I have been a professional in this industry for over 5 decades and wouldn't waste my time installing Raymarine equipment, even if it was given to me free. I have had excellent service from Garmin products and tech support since the early '90s. Perhaps they are a bit less customer oriented these...

Actually, the owner had absolutely no problems with my trawler in his marina. He was intrigued by the project. I'm guessing you've never been to Marco Island Florida! It's one of those lovely Florida communities where a city official goes around with a ruler, and if your lawn is a ¼" too long...

\ The state of Florida is about as friendly as a pit viper in a bad mood if your "yacht" ain't worth a couple of million bucks. They continually pass illegal laws regarding moorage and anchoring and if nobody stands up to the state, they get away with it. In one case, I'd purchased a 72' shrimp...

We have electric cooking and we are a charter boat, so our genset runs 2 to 4 hours a day anyway. Therefore, we have 110 vAC fridge, etc. I have lived aboard since 1969, so a watermaker is a huge difference for me. I had to ration water for 40 odd years! Showering in public or marina showers is...

I don't see how you do it. We're a lot farther south and there's no way we can get by on solar and wind alone. We make a good solid 20 amps of 12 volt DC when the sun is strong and more or less overhead, but that isn't all the time nor consistent for days at a time. Quite honestly, without a...

This is hardly the easiest way to find out if the cruising lifestyle is right for someone, in my opinion. In fact, it can be completely devastating! We meet about half a dozen couples each year, here in the Caribbean, who, in 6 months or so, realize they have made a horrible mistake! They...

It's that we don't care, it's that it is pretty easy to find out if an engine is in good condition. It may be costly, but you can remove a head, check a piston or shaft bearing in less than a day. As for engine hour meters, we haven't had functioning ones for the genset or the ME since we bought...