Soundings magazine and Active Interest Media are launching the first in a series of online boating education courses. Beginning in July, Boaters University will launch its first course “Maintaining and Troubleshooting Marine Diesel Engines.” Early-bird registration is ...read more
Is your fuel gauge inaccurate? Is it no longer working at all? This is a common problem on older boats, but is easy to fix. The first step is to determine whether the problem is with the gauge or the sending unit. The test for this is straightforward. First, check that the gauge ...read more
Dinner Key in Coconut Grove, Florida, is sometimes referred to as “The Hotel California”—a place where many cruisers check out but never leave. After almost two months, my wife, Tara, and I started to feel like regulars. We planned on spending the holidays there and had some ...read more
It’s essentially true that if you give a marine diesel engine clean oil, clean air and clean fuel, it will run, if not forever, then certainly for longer than you are likely to own your boat. Using good-quality diesel oil and changing out the oil and oil filter at the ...read more
The fuel/oil filtration system installed aboard Brick House, our Valiant 40, is very easy to maintain. Part of the reason is that the boat was well sailed by several prior owners, with each one upgrading the systems. That meant there was not all that much for me to do. It also ...read more
Servicing fuel injectors on a diesel engine is something most any boat owner can accomplish with a few basic tools. The job is especially easy because it really just involves getting the injectors out and sending them to a diesel shop. Actually testing and rebuilding injectors ...read more
This photograph is one of my all-time favorites. I surveyed the boat in question immediately after an electrician—and I use the term advisedly—had installed a battery charger. After checking the rest of the boat, I got to the battery compartment and was faced with the snake’s ...read more
Isotemp’s new line of SPA water heaters are a cost-effective way to upgrade to the sensuous pleasures of hot and cold running water. Inside, they’re identical to the company’s Slim and Basic water heaters, but instead of the 304 stainless steel outer jacket of the other ranges, ...read more
Fifteen years of sailing around the English Channel, North Sea, Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean taught me many things, not the least of which was the importance of good ground tackle and a means to handle it. All of which left me somewhat surprised at the rudimentary ...read more
Elmore was built in Astoria, Oregon, in 1890. She saw duty in the Alaska gold rush and was converted to a tugboat in 1902. More recently, she has been lovingly restored by Dee and Sara Meek. She is 78 feet on deck and weighs 150 tons. Her current engine, a massive Atlas ...read more
Of all the things that scare boat owners the most, sinking is probably at the top of the list. But fire is no less of a threat. Indeed, a fire, even if you manage to put it out, can easily lead to a sinking. The first line of defense when it comes to preventing a fire on board ...read more
Servicing fuel injectors on a diesel engine is something most any boat owner can accomplish with a few basic tools. The job is especially easy because it really just involves getting the injectors out and sending them to a diesel shop. Actually testing and rebuilding injectors ...read more
A raw-water cooled engine is cooled by water drawn from outside the boat and circulated through its engine block and cylinder head. On a fresh-water cooled engine, the “raw” water is pumped through a heat exchanger, where it draws the heat from the fresh water/antifreeze mix ...read more
When your antifouling paint arrives in plain-labelled cans marked “Experimental,” you’re going to get some suspicious looks from your boatyard neighbors. When I painted our 34ft project boat’s bottom with Interlux’s Pacifica Plus copper-free antifouling last spring, the product ...read more
I'll never forget the time I epoxied my wristwatch to my arm and shirt cuff. Oh, how I laughed—not. Then there was the time I neglected to clean resin off my hands before it kicked, and spent the next week walking around with flakes of it peeling off my skin like something out ...read more
When replacing the pressure water system on our project boat, we thought it would be fun to install a water heater. But where to put it? Like most early ’70s boats, our Norlin 34 lacks interior volume compared to modern boats. The need for the heater to be mounted below the ...read more
Before I laid the boat up, I had to replace a bilge pump that had mysteriously stopped working. This was a secondary pump, serving to keep the water out of a poorly drained part of the hull forward of the mast step. It was a good opportunity for a quick photo tutorial on ...read more
Despite all the progress in sailing gear and equipment certain aspects of life at sea never change. Keeping water out, maintaining good boatspeed, preserving and conserving food stores, and carrying adequate spares for the inevitable failures that occur are all perennial ...read more
The resulting inch-thick piece of PVC was machined to create a luff-slot and entry aperture with a rebate for welding on its inside edge. PVC can be welded, much as steel is welded, albeit at lower temperatures. A 45 degree rebate allows the welding to be effective and produces ...read more
The twin-lever engine control on our Norlin 34, Ostara, had been annoying me for as long as we’d had the boat. The detent was so worn that it was sometimes not possible to tell if you were in neutral or reverse gear. More than once I had been alerted by yells from the ...read more
The ‘Throughput’ Cost Let’s put all these numbers together, assuming a 100 amp-hour, 12-volt battery. The lead-acid battery can be cycled through 30 percent of its capacity 1,000 times (this is being generous). At each cycle it delivers 30 amp-hours x 12 volts = 360 watt-hours ...read more
