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Here Comes the Sun
By Mike Smith | Posted December 2008 | Add a CommentIf you're reading this magazine, chances are you're not a tree-hugger: You burn lots of fossil fuel to push your boat at high speed through a relatively unyielding...
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Show Me the Paper!
By Mike Smith | Posted September 2008 | Add a CommentNext time you take your yacht to the yard, look for proof the crew knows what it's doing. When you sign a work order with a yard, how can you be sure the person who'll do the job has the skills? The proof is in the paper: Demand to see certification from a recognized marine-industry...
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You or the Yard?
By Mike SmithPhotos by Billy... | Posted September 2008 | Add a CommentWhen I was a kid, most boat owners I knew handled fitting-out and laying-up jobs themselves. Caulking and painting bottoms (boats were built of wood back then), winterizing engines and tuning them up in the spring, laying on a glassy coat of topsides paint—all were do-it-yourself jobs. Owners who hired yards to do such tasks were either deficient in manliness or too wealthy for their own
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Put a Lid on It
By Mike Smith | Posted September 2008 | Add a CommentThey used to say a man wasn't well-dressed without a hat, and maybe that's true of boats, too. A hardtop provides a place to mount the radar and antennas and keeps the sun off your hatless head. It provides better shade than a bimini, lasts a heck of a lot longer than canvas, doesn't thrash around in choppy weather nor billow like a parachute when the wind gets
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Water, Water Everywhere...
By Mike Smith | Posted August 2008 | Add a CommentHeading south for the winter? Life's great under the swaying palms—until you get thirsty. Too often the drinking water in tropical paradises tastes funky. (Maybe that's why so many folks in the Caribbean drink Mount Gay rum for breakfast.) Protect yourself by turning bad water into something you'll actually enjoy swallowing with an onboard water-treatment system.In the United States,
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Watching the River Flow
By Mike Smith | Posted July 2008 | Add a CommentFloScan's TwinScan shows you how much fuel burn is occuring with both engines.Now that fuel is almost as expensive as vintage cognac, it's time to keep closer tabs on how much your boat is using: A fuel-management system is an affordable way to do this and relatively straightforward to install. The simplest systems consist of an
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Twelve-Volt TLC
By Mike Smith | Posted June 2008 | Add a CommentThis cutaway of a conventional wet battery shows individual cells.Most boats alternate between the genset and the yellow cord, so it's easy to overlook the batteries—but lead and acid need love, too. Taking care of your batteries usually demands little more than visual inspection and a quick wipe down with a rag. Ignore your
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The Nose Knows
By Mike Smith | Posted May 2008 | Add a CommentThe weather is getting warmer, and the sweet smell of sewage is wafting through your cabin. Why? Maybe you took a winterizing shortcut last fall and failed to clean the holding tank thoroughly, leaving a sewage/antifreeze mix that became a smelly sludge glued to the tank bottom. Or maybe you've never rinsed your tank after pumping it out. Whatever the reason, your nose knows that this problem
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Oil Be Seeing You
By Mike Smith | Posted April 2008 | Add a CommentYou don't know what quiet means until your diesel goes "clunk" and dies—silence may be golden, but it rarely bodes well. "Clunk" is what a snapping crankshaft sounds like, for example. I once lost a crank halfway across the Gulf Stream, leaving me adrift on a moonless, star-filled night. Mea culpa: If I had included oil analysis in my regular maintenance program, it probably would
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Beat the Heat
By Mike Smith | Posted April 2008 | Add a CommentAfire on land is bad enough; at sea it can be disastrous. Since most fires start in the engine room, if you don't have an automatic fire-extinguishing system, it's time to install one. When fire breaks out, such a system will do the dangerous work for you, without anyone having to enter the compartment until the fire is out. (That's doubly important because opening a hatch introduces fresh air
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