Messing About In Sailboats

News From The Bow - Great Perspective on the Costa Concordia

This month's News From The Bow is a good one including reviews of the NY Boat Showand the Sea Joule solar-powered bilge pump, how to "un-document a vessel", an outlook on this season, last but not least an especially thoughtful article by good mate, Stu Hochron, on the Costa Concordia. Here is an excerpt: Crisis at sea, like most disasters, is the result of not one, but many poor decisions. One or more of these poor decisions in and of themselves, may go unnoticed for years aboard a ship. Unfortunately, once ignored, poor management choices often become standard operating procedures. At the current time, without the benefit of a formal inquiry, we know the following about bridge resource management aboard the Costa Concordia: Prior successful “fly-by’s” in the same waters provided the Captain with a false sense of security No passenger safety briefing took place A proper alert to the... Read more →

Commissioning and Maintaining Your Boat’s Fuel by John Conlan From News From The Bow

Article reposted with permission from News From The Bow. The time for spring commissioning is upon us. You may be thinking about rigging checks, engine tune-ups, water system inspections, and checking heads…but what about your fuel? Just because you put fuel stabilizer in your tank(s) in the fall doesn’t mean you can safely start up your engine(s), and motor away in the spring. _______________________________________________ Maintaining Fresh Diesel Fuel Sailboats If you store diesel fuel on your sailboat, where a lot of it isn’t consumed during the course of a season, then a “biocide” should be routinely added to the tank. Biocide should be an integral part of fall commissioning, and be included with each added tank of fuel during the season. Examples of biocide products include Killed (made by FPPF) and Biobor J F (made by Hammonds). These products prevent fungus and other microbial life from growing in diesel fuel.... Read more →

Check Out The May Issue Of News From The Bow

Article reposted with permission from News From The Bow. Views expressed are those of News From The Bow. Welcome to the May 2011 Issue of News From the Bow Gas prices in the US now average $4 per gallon. Diesel fuel costs even more. America is at war in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and has just deployed drones (and their missiles) to Libia in what is increasingly being described to as a quagmire. Our multi-trillion dollar national debt grows by tens of billions of dollars every day. Standard & Poor’s warned investors last week that, unless congress can come up with a long-term financial fix, the US may soon lose its “AAA” rating and be forced to pay more to finance our debt. CBS News reports that the nation’s mood is at the lowest level in two years. This brings me to the reason for discussing how bad things are. I... Read more →

Discovering Good Old Boat - From News From The Bow

Article reposted with permission from News From The Bow. It is embarrassing for me to admit that I had never read Good Old Boat until meeting its publishers last month. Now I’m a fan and subscriber, and look forward to mining past issues for pearls of wisdom. If the current issue is an example of the quality and character of the previous 76, then I’m in for a treat. According to Karen Larson, the magazine’s Editor, the term Good Old Boat applies to “any cruising boat that requires maintenance”. The magazine’s pages are filled with remarkably high quality articles. The current issue discusses system upgrades, methods to recycle shrink-wrap, experienced (used) boats and much more. Articles offer practical solutions to common problems in an easily readable, entertaining format. Jerry Powlas, Karen Larson & Michael Facius of Good Old Boat Magazine Good Old Boat’s pages include advertising, however its revenue comes... Read more →

Check Out The April Issue Of News From The Bow

Article reposted with permission from News From The Bow. This month's issue of NFTB takes you on a tour of a unique boat show, celebrates spring, reviews a marina restaurant offering fine dining, demystifies bottom paints, helps you find your first or next boat, and introduces you to a lesser-know boating magazine that is worth reading. Below is a brief introduction to this issue. Thanks for joining us! A Boat Show to Remember We have never seen a review of a boat builders show in any boating magazine. Neither did we know that a hybrid manufacturer’s convention and boat show exists. In this issue of NFTB we review a hybrid boat builders convention/boat show, the Maine Boatbuilders Show. This show brings manufacturers, retailers and the boating community together, and deserves a close look (see A Boat Show to Remember). Find Your First or Next Boat If you don’t attended boat... Read more →