Anjo Sterringa recently approached SetSail about writing an article on watermakers. She wrote to us, “I am a cruiser fallen onto land, (Mallorca) where I now service and install watermakers. There is still a lot of mystery and different ideas about pre- and post-filtration of drinking water on board. I have seen a lot of different brands (Sea Recovery, Spectra, Aqua Base/Aquaset, HEM, Idromar, Aquafresh to name a few) in various conditions.” Having time on her hands while recovering from a broken leg, she proposed researching and writing an article for cruisers on watermaker filtration and maintenance. Read the rest »

The question of how to deal with underwater maintenance and/or underwater fun is an interesting one. If you go for the whole package it means a significant amount of space, weight, and costs have to be carried.

When we started cruising seriously in the 1970s, we felt we needed SCUBA gear to clean the bottom and prop, clear fouled anchors, and for fun and games. Compressors were too large and too complex for our 50-footer so we carried four SCUBA bottles. Of course we also had two sets of wetsuits, two regulators, back packs, etc. A lot of space! Throw in the weight belts and things really got heavy.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Modern cruising equipment is amazingly reliable if it is installed properly, and given a bit of preventative maintenance. That’s been a theme of ours for years.

The experience we’ve had on BEOWULF and that of most of our clients is the same. Whereas in the olden days we always joked that cruising was going from one exotic anchorage to another so we could work on our boats, this does not have to be the case.

There are a couple of keys to this success. The first is proper installation. This means keeping the gear dry, feeding it with the proper-sized hoses or wires as required, and minimizing the damage that can be caused by chafe and vibration.

Read the rest »

Over the years we’ve owned a lot of outboards. Most have given us good service-we’ve never actually had one deteriorate to the point where it had to be replaced. Our current outboard is sixteen years old, and still running strong. As a year of outboard life is generally reckoned to be the equivalent of 12 human years, this makes it 192 years old.

Read the rest »

There’s been a scramble for the past eight or 10 years for a replacement for Freon 12 (which is now banned) in refrigeration systems. Many marine suppliers have been using a refrigerant called 134A as a substitute for Freon 12.

The problem is that 134A is significantly less efficient than Freon 12. The technical literature indicates 10-15% less efficient-but our own unscientific estimate is that it is more like 20-25% less efficient in our marine applications.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago when our friend Richard Findlay, a retiree from the heating and air conditioning industry (Richard is currently on the last phase of converting the breakthrough racing yacht EQUATION to a cruiser) sent us some technical info on a Dupont product-MP-39.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

In the cruising grounds close to home you see a lot of boats carrying plastic jugs on deck filled with diesel or fresh water. You can get away with this if conditions remain moderate. But it does not take much of a wave to rip the containers (or the hardware to which they are attached) free and send them down the deck and/or overboard. In addition, all that weight stored so high above the vertical center of gravity reduces stability and in a knockdown, can make it more difficult for the boat to get back onto an even heel.

Needless to say, we prefer to keep the decks cleared.

However, if you do carry jugs on deck, take a look at this photo for a neat way to do it. Those 2 x 6 ” (50 x 150mm) boards, to which the jugs are tied, will double as fender board when tied up alongside pilings.

Read the rest »

We’ve been giving BEOWULF a good cleaning and polish. This includes all of the engine room (even the bundled plumbing and wiring) the dinghy, inside of lockers, and interior hull surfaces. Except for the dinghy, which has stains on the inside from spilled gas/oil mix, and the engine room, which has not had a thorough cleaning in three years, most of the cleaning is a simple wipe down.

But for the dink and engine room, stronger measures are required. As a result we’ve done some scientific testing of various cleaners. Simple Green, Zep Purple, and Nature’s Orange, in concentrated and diluted ratios have been used. The result…(roll of drums)…Zep Purple is by far the best cleaner. Simple Green is second and Nature’s Orange is last.

The Zep Purple is a wonderful material in the engine room. Diluted at 3-3 we spray it on, do a quick brushing to loosen things, and hose off the dirt. We’re not sure about availability, but we picked ours up at Home Depot.

Zep Purple wins Beowulf’s seal of approval.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Any wiring or plumbing attached to equipment that vibrates is subject to chafe. Eventually this chafe leads to leaks, electrical shorts, and all sorts of dire consequences. It is better to find the potential chafe points before they become a problem.

Basically, anytime you have two surfaces touching, where there is movement, some form of chafe protection should be applied.

Read the rest »

BEOWULF spends very little time whilst cruising tied to docks – almost none, in fact. However, now that we are in Southern California, and still looking for a permanent home, we have been doing some dock-hopping.

So far we’ve been on docks with 30 amp 110V service, 50 amp 220V power, and now 20 amp 110V power. Each has a different style plug at the dock end.

Read the rest »

Dr. George Kornreich is a retired physician and a sailor, who volunteers in a medical assistance project in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. The group he works with brings medical care to some of the most remote island villages of that nation, where the only reliable access is by sailboat. He contacted us about an article that had appeared on our web site about malaria in Vanautu. This led to an email exchange with Steve Dashew, who survived a bout of chloroquin-resistant malaria in Port Moresby, New Guinea in the 1970s.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

We’ve had all sorts of experiences on boats – mostly good, a few bad. In the latter category are two bouts with vector-born (i.e., mosquito) diseases – malaria and dengue fever. In the former case, this was of the Falciparum type, often deadly. In our case it hit during the last round of the rock and roll dance contest at the Port Moresby (New Guinea) Yacht Club. It was down to us, the Liggetts, and one other couple for the championship, when I (Steve) collapsed. At the time I thought Al had slipped me a “Mickey” so he could win…

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

by Skip Allan (guest contributor)

Above: Bad safety hook.

Heads up, safety harness wearers. If your harness tether is clipped into a padeye, you may be in for an unscheduled swim due to the possibility of the carabiner or snap hook on the end of the tether unhooking itself from the padeye.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

The NOAA S57 vector chart system promises a revolution for all mariners navigating US waters. With the advent of SetSail-MaxSea V9.2 you now have free access to these charts (in fact 9.2 Yacht is shipping with the complete database as of late April 2002). Wanting to find out more about the process by which NOAA creates these new charts, and the schedule on which the S57 charts are being completed, I called Dave Myers, the Production Manager for Electronic Navigation Charts (called ENCs) at NOAA. After a long and fascinating discussion, I came away very impressed with the process being used.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

It is 2200 hours, and we’re en route between the British Virgin Islands and Panama. Wind is on the quarter, 13 to 15 knots, and BEOWULF is slipping along at a comfortable pace of 11 to 12 knots.

In the pilot house we’re experiencing something new. Our navigation computer also has a DVD drive, and our first movie on watch, Moonstruck, has just finished. It was great fun, and what surprised us the most was how clear the movie image appeared from across the pilot house. The two of us were eight feet away from the computer screen (15.7″) and the image was bright and sharp.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

From time to time we get questions about various forms of satellite communications and how they work. This is a huge subject, one with a lot of trade offs to think about. If one of the hand held systems, like the now defunct Iridium (which may be coming back) or Globalstar makes it, that would be great as it provides a compact and relatively low cost approach.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Here is a list of SSB/Ham nets for the East Coast to the Caribbean, to Central America and Mexico, which a SetSailor sent in. if you have any to add, please send us a note. We’ll try and keep this up to date with postings as they come in.

Read the rest »

Most metal fuel and water tanks occasionally develop small leaks. These usually occur along welded seams and can come from faulty welds, electrolysis, excess flexing of the tank, or acids in diesel fuel.

Most leaks are pin-size, tiny holes, and can be closed with a punch and hammer. Once you find the leak point, take a center punch and/or a “drift” (like a center punch but without the point) and “punch” the leak point. This will smash the soft weld metal into the hole to for a seal (this is the process that builders use to seal small leaks when testing tanks).

Read the rest »

In all our years of cruising, we’re happy to report we’ve never used any of the serious medical stuff we carry aboard. By now, the total of supplies we’ve either thrown or given away amounts to thousands of dollars. Even the rubber and metal products have had to be replaced several times. Yet we still carry this stuff, hoping we’ll never need it.

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »

Read the rest »