Prior to any departure, we have an informal checklist, (that I would like to convert into an official checklist) of systems that we inspect before departing the dock. We check the bilge pumps, batteries, engine room, shower sump box, refrigeration/compressors, the dinghy, the outboard, the oil and T-fluid levels, engine belts, the air filter, the raw water intake, all the seacocks, the prop shaft, bearing and the prop among other things.
When we left North Carolina in December of 2014, I dove our prop and hull to clean and inspect everything. Aside from a minor wipe down and some minor cleaning of the intakes, everything looked great, the zinc, bottom and prop were clean and ready to go. I have become a big fan of the Petit Ultimate SR-60 bottom paint I applied in December of 2013.
After spending six months in the Indian and Banana Rivers in Florida we were preparing to depart Florida when I began our pre-departure checklist of items. Our hull and bottom paint still looked good. Our prop, however, looked like a marine archaeological artifact. I had planned to “bag” the prop with a heavy duty plastic lawn bag but life got in the way and I forgot to do it before we left to return home to help with our ill relative. This was not a condition that we could travel under. We don’t currently own a prop puller (high on the list of items to acquire) but I was fortunate enough to get a referral to Randall, the owner of Bottoms Up Hull Cleaning in Cocoa Beach (321-458-7323). Randall is a great guy and showed up the next day to pull the prop. I spent that evening cleaning, sanding and painting the prop. Randall reinstalled the prop, a new cotter pin and a new zinc the following day. He also wiped down the hull and cleaned all the intakes.
We had a trouble free passage north and it seemed like our fuel consumption was even lower than normal…..although I haven’t had time to do an official calculation of that yet…..
When we encounter something on our boat, I realize that we generally aren’t reinventing the wheel here. I mean, there here are certain axioms in any field that have stood the test of time and been proven over and over again. One of these, in the field electronics is “Always check your ground first” ….ok, that might not be the literal way it is stated but you get my point. Most electrical (and I think especially 12 volt systems can be pretty straight forward.
Let’s say you have a 12V source and a device that needs 12V power. For this example, let’s say your device is a Chartplotter….now, this Chartplotter has worked flawlessly for about 12 months….but suddenly on the day you are scheduled to leave for a ten or twelve day trip, and it won’t turn on…..ugh
Here’s the thing about boat electronics, there is generally a fair amount of moisture in the air and that moisture can lead to corrosion on even the best protected (heat shrink wrapped, electrical taped and wire nutted) connections you can make. When it does you will experience a failure that may leave you baffled.
In this instance, you begin troubleshooting and find that the device is indeed receiving well above the prescribed 12V (which is common in a 12V system as 12v is a nominal voltage for functionality). I commonly see 12.7 to 13.0 in some of our circuits. After a short period of testing a retesting the power, you try the device….it turns on and you feel like a genius….seconds later it flickers and dies….now is the time for that saying….check your ground. The easiest way is to provide a direct link to the device from a known solid power source….and a very solid ground….a close battery or even a substitute 12V source. I keep a cigarette style power plug in my 12V electrical kit that has the wire end cut off that I can direct wire to any device to test functionality. That easily eliminates or confirms that the device is functioning as it should. You may even see a steady current using an electrical or “fluke” meter. Don’t be fooled by that into thinking your ground is solid. Meters can be much more forgiving than a device that uses power. you may even get a good “continuity” signal from the meter. Many boats have had many owners and some of these owners may not have been the best or most strict when it came to their wiring techniques. A lot of people assume if it works once it will always work which is generally not the case. Since our Chartplotter is such an important piece of gear (we get tide info, currents, calculate arrival times, read charts, obtain general information about any spot you can click on the touch screen and you can add information as you go along) it really becomes very, very useful.
The fastest and most reliable way to remedy this is to establish a new power and grounding bus bar ( In electrical power distribution, a busbar (also spelled bus bar, or sometimes as buss bar or bussbar, with the term bus being a contraction of the Latin omnibus, “for all”) is a metallic strip or bar (typically copper, brass or aluminium) that conducts electricity within a switchboard, distribution board, substation, battery bank, or other electrical apparatus. Its main purpose is to conduct a substantial current of electricity, and not to function as a structural member.) for the device. Our grounding system needs a good cleaning and some minor rewiring but since we were on a tight timetable I opted for the new bus. We wired the bus directly to one of our house battery banks and put a fuse on the positive line between the batteries and the bus bar in the event of a battery failure. There was also a fuse between the bus and the Chartplotter. If your bus bar is in an area where things are crowded (and where on a boat aren’t things close) it’s probably a good idea to put a plastic or other non conductive cover across the connection points to avoid a short. This condition could cause a fire if it happens. Even a 12v circuit can generate a tremendous amount of heat if the wires become damaged or another item capable of conducting the power comes in contact with both side simultaneously for long enough. The best example of this is a screw that accidentally pierces both sides of a wire after being driven through a bulkhead and through a concealed wire.
It helps sometimes to envision the device as a pass through for the current. The power not only needs to get in but it also needs to get out and back to the battery for the device to work as it should. If all the power that goes in can’t get back out through a solid, consistent ground you will have an issue like we did.
Once we had a solid ground, the Chartplotter worked as it always has and we were ready to depart……I hope you will also be ready if you encounter this circumstance…..check the ground !!
This is a partial list of some of the boats that we really liked, but for one reason or another (design, features, price) they didn’t make the final cut…these are not necessarily in any particular order….
I recently came a cross a product that holds a lot of promise for boats plagued by birds (and their little gifts they leave behind). Bird-X, a sticky, non drying caulk that can be applied with a standard caulking gun in thin strips to your windex, mast top plate or any other surface where you have the unwelcome visitors..It stays tacky and apparently birds hate that sensation on their feet…This product is available at Home Depot or www.bird-x.com it retails for around $36. I suppose the ultimate test will be time, since as it gets coated with dust or other airborne material, will it lose its “tackiness” and become less effective or will the birds making contact with it ablate the surface exposing new sticky material?
I recently applied some to our Windex and I will continue to monitor it but so far, so good.
Bird-X also makes a sonic and a laser repeller but we don’t have either one of those to test…..yet
While recently performing some interior teak refinishing (which not as bad as everyone says it is) a friend of mine was on deck doing a little fishing for our dinner when he saw a large dolphin chasing fish all the way into the shallows (About 18″ of water) near the mangroves and directly under the boat. This is not a behavior we normally see in this area. The fish are very plentiful and the dolphin normally hunt in groups of three or four. Once the dolphin finished and was moving away, we saw the reason for the unusual behavior….
We guessed that the baby was being taught how to pursue fish, thus the more obvious behavior in shallower water……All together now “AWWWWW”
I recently learned something interesting about CO detectors which has prompted me to post this…..
I didn’t realize that newer CO detectors (made in the last decade) have a built in timer, powered by a small lithium battery that counts down the service life of the detector. This service life was recently shortened to five years due to UL standards. This timer starts at the factory when the unit is assembled. A detector I purchased about 18 months ago, that I installed, began malfunctioning and I sent it to the manufacturer for testing. As it turns out it was manufactured over seven years ago and had reached its “timeout time”. I wish I could recall where I purchased it so I could avoid buying from that place again since they are obviously selling units way past their shelf life with very little service life left. I didn’t realize how pricey those things have become ….MSRP of $166 ….ouch…if you buy one be sure to check the circuit board for the manufacture date before you leave the store or install it. Fireboy/Xintex did offer me a unit for $120 but fortunately I can buy one at West Marine for $119 minus the holiday discounts so that’s not much of a deal. Hope this helps someone else avoid this issue….
It seems that a great many aspiring sailors are hesitant to go and do things that might result in a potentially embarrassing but otherwise harmless bump with another marine object. It saps their enjoyment of otherwise glorious experiences. I am here to tell you that it happens, is happening as I type this, has happened and will happen to everyone who spends a significant time on a vessel of any significant size (over 25′) and in any significant wind or current…(sometimes even not so significant). While there are techniques to minimize these occurrences…..it happens and is inevitable so don’t stress over it…please. Is it fun? No….Would you prefer it didn’t happen? Of course….Does it diminish your experience and value as a part of the sailing and boating community? Absolutely not. Do you think that guy or gal doing 30kph in the no wake zone stays awake at night worrying about when he will do that again? Haha…they certainly don’t seem don’t stress about it (or even notice) and neither should you. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t continually strive to improve your skills…that will always generate a sense of pride in your accomplishments……just realize that you weren’t (as one of my close friends pointed out after a particularly grueling docking maneuver) “born with a rudder hanging out your rear end, were you?”
Where does this obsession come from and how do you deal with it?
I continually find myself obsessing over when my next “collision” will take place. My nightmares are filled with images of me crashing into a variety of fixed and mobile obstacles, pilings, shoals, freighters, mermaids…some at speeds our boat could never dream to attain…..doesn’t really matter what it is, I do it in my daydreams, regular dreams and in my visions of landfalls and docking maneuvers. I’m not really sure what the particular psychology is behind this haunting condition but it is apparently rampant in the sailing and boating community. I have seen enough forum posts about getting in and out of slips, around marinas and down fairways to fill a fleet of dump trucks if they were all printed out. I have read about others obsessing over the embarrassment of rebounding from a piling in a marina basin or while leaving a slip with a crowd watching. Then there’s always that “one guy” (in real life or a forum) who has done it all, seen it all, docked every boat in hurricane force winds and never made contact with anything….anyone know this guy? I am coming to the conclusion that this “guy” and his unidentified cohorts will stand around in a marina relishing their schadenfreude while denying ever having done the same exact thing are the ones responsible for this anxiety. There are simply some people incapable of admitting their faults or mistakes, who feel the need to bolster themselves by bringing others down just to shore up their own self image. Don’t listen to, or even worry about, these folks.
By whom is it are we worried about being judged? Is there anyone out there who hasn’t hit something ? The short answer is NO. If anyone claims that I’d have to seriously consider that they are either dishonest, inexperienced or just have a boat that never leaves the marina. I’ve seen sailing instructors with decades of experience bounce off a piling in a slip that is in a marina and on a boat they use EVERY DAY. I recently saw a video of an 20+ year owner of a sailing magazine with several licensed Captains on board hit a dock with ZERO fenders out. It is a part of the risk you accept when you venture out onto an ever changing, sometimes unpredictable liquid surface and inject an object that is designed to be moved by the wind and currents with limited means of propulsion or resistance to those forces.
I have certainly been a victim of this particular neurosis. I originally believed that once I experienced a few bumps and jolts that the contemporaneous and lasting feelings of stress and despair would dissipate…..I was wrong, but I am recovering.
My first experience was in Charleston, SC. I had enjoyed almost a week of (mostly) very successful docking and un-docking maneuvers, mooring ball arrivals and general navigational successes. We had purchased our boat about 6 months prior and were attempting our first long distance (460nm) trip to our home slip in North Carolina. I may have become a little cocky. We had spent the night and were planning to take on some diesel prior to our departure. The fuel dock was about 400′ down a fairway (some call it the fuel alley) lined with powerboats, …(cue the ominous music). I pulled away from the transient dock and made a large turn in the channel so I could be centered as I entered the fairway. It was necessary to move slightly to starboard in order to make the turn and come alongside the fuel dock. There was only about 60′ open to get our 44′ boat into…I was worried. I was using the pilings as points of reference for my course. About halfway down the fairway I began to drift to starboard in preparation for the turn to port. Just as I was starting my turn to port I heard the dock hand call out “watch your stern”. My heart sank as our dinghy transom caught the bow pulpit of a power boat that was hanging about 5′ beyond the line of the pilings and out of the slip where they were docked. I had been focusing on the pilings hadn’t noticed how far this particular boat extended into the fairway. There was quite a clang….the dinghy swung violently as I eased the helm to center and then back to port once we cleared the pulpit. The remainder of the docking was uneventful. The dock hand went over and inspected the power boat for damage and thankfully reported none. The woman who owned the boat was on board with her mother and her daughter. They were very, very nice and understanding. She also told me it was the fifth time their boat had been struck!!! She had asked to be moved out of the fuel alley due to the length of their boat and that hopefully this incident would make that move a reality. She was the polar opposite of what I would have expected from someone jolted awake by a loud clang that wasn’t her fault. Fortunately, “that guy” wasn’t around.
How do we address this and reduce our stress?
1. Have a plan for each docking and un-docking, discuss it.
2. be familiar with the “pivot point” of your particular boat.
3. We have found that communications is essential so we currently use Motorola waterproof handheld FRS radios with voice activated headsets. They have been fantastic. We are considering upgrading to some even nicer ones, these take a second or two to activate the microphone but have proven to be very valuable.
4. Have backup hand signals.
5. Put out too many fenders….put some on the non dock side as well…just in case you have to change your docking plans from port to starboard or vice verse.
6. Control your speed…just enough to maintain steerage will reduce any damage in the event of a collision. About 1kt is all we need. Also, try and stop just after entering any area (basin,marina) to see how the wind and current is affecting your boat in that environment.
7. Have a “roving fender” or boat hook equipped crew member on deck to fend off.
8. Have predetermined and thoroughly understood throttle/rudder descriptions for the amount, direction and duration of their use.
9. Have a “bailout” plan if things go wrong, the wind or current changes, increases or some other unforeseen incident takes place…(boats always seem to arrive and depart unexpectedly when we dock)
This is a great seminar I like to watch regularly as a refresher….(credit to the Maryland School of Sailing)
As always comments, feedback and personal stories are welcome….Don’t forget to follow us!!! Thanks
Many people don’t realize the value of USCG documentation for recreational vessels that travel internationally.
There are many advantages to documenting a pleasure boat, but this has come about mostly because of the Ships Mortgage Act. Marine lenders will now typically insist on vessel documentation in order to have a preferred vessel mortgage which gives them an optimal security interest. Boats used for non-skippered bareboat charter are considered as recreational for documentation purposes. It is especially important to have documentation for offshore cruising as this offers evidence of nationality and certain protections under the U.S. flag. State registrations are not recognized internationally, where USCG Documented vessels have international recognition. The further you are from the US, the more important being USCG documented becomes. Being USCG documented also means that the boat is US flagged and provides you with some legal rights and protections that a state registered boat would not receive when in foreign waters. Finally, USCG documented vessels are entitled to aid from the US Consulate when in foreign waters, which is not the case with state-registered vessels.
Coast Guard documentation is required when a vessel is used for commercial purposes or a marine lender wishes to record a ship’s mortgage. In order to become documented however, a vessel must measure more than approximately 24′ in length and its owner must be a U.S. Citizen. The vessel must have also been built in the United States to qualify for certain commercial endorsements. Coast Guard documentation is also considered to be the most conclusive form of vessel ownership. When applying for documentation, applicants must show convincing evidence that they are in fact the rightful owners. This is not always the case with state agencies where such requirements are sometimes quite relaxed. Documentation is further enhanced by an abstract of title which shows a chronological history of prior ownership. Such an extensive background history is not available in most state jurisdictions.
Recreational vessels, charter vessels or vessels for hire that remain outside the waters of the United States for extended periods must still renew their documentation. The current yearly renewal fee is $26. This new fee went into effect in 2014 and was created by legislation (Section 10401 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-508, Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1388), codified at 46 U.S.C. 2110) requiring that such operations be budget neutral. It seems that the USCG documentation program was not fully considered when this legislation was enacted. Currently the USCG is accepting comments about the creation a multi-year documentation. I, for one, think this is a great idea. Imagine being in a foreign port when your documentation comes due and you have to depend on what may be a less than reliable postal service to deliver this essential document. A lot of cruisers spend years away from the U.S. and this extension would be a relief for those on a multi-year cruise. I have always wondered why the documentation must be renewed in the first place. Perhaps it would be better and more efficient to allow the documentation to remain in force unless a change in ownership, removal from documentation or other change in the vessel’s status occurs?
Here’s a link to the comment and proposed rule page….the comment period is open until June 1, 2015….
During our fifteen plus years of touring, inspecting, researching and eventually selecting our boat we cherry picked a list of design characteristics and features from various boats that we liked. Once we had our list of preferred details, we were always concerned we might not find a boat with even half of our desired attributes and would have to settle for a boat with the essential basics and then upgrade the rest of the features ourselves, increasing our cost and extending our timeline. We looked at a LOT of boats. We seriously considered a couple of very very nice, upgraded, older sailboats. One (A Gulfstar 50′) had about 75% of what we were looking for but we felt that the overly open design of the interior made it unsuitable for any rough weather crossings and therefore didn’t make the cut.
Here’s the final list that we used to evaluate the boats we looked at…..
40′ to 47′ LOA
6′ or less of draft due to slip depth
ICW suitable mast height
Solid glass hull w full filleted, bulkhead and hull tabbing
Skeg hung rudder
Keel stepped mast
wide side decks uncluttered no lines or tracks in way
Generous engine and/or genset access
Limited, Accessible, all bronze hull bolted through hulls
Center cockpit preferred but not mandatory
Sloop or cutter rigged w furling
Encapsulated lead cutaway keel
Sta-Lok rigging…no rod rigging
Baffled* Plastic/Poly/ Monel water tanks in bilge
Aluminum fuel tank(s) in bilge
Two cabins w convertible settee
Two heads maximum w fresh water flush* and overboard discharge option (Lectrasan or composting heads a plus, We added a Lectrasan)
Separate shower stall in at least one head
Encloseable cockpit and dodger
Large cockpit drains
Anchor windlass
Genset w suitable sound insulation*
Swim platform or transom steps
Transom Deck shower and anchor wash down
Watermaker
Aft arch w solar panels / antenna / radar
Wind generator(s)
S/S framed / Lexan opening ports
Some solar powered vent hatches
Reverse cycle AC/heat*
Solid lifeline rails*
Bow thruster?? Prob only for >45’*
2 or more HP per 1,000lbs of displacement
500 mile cruising range under power alone
NO teak decks
We ended up with all but five of our listed features in Kitty Hawk….the five she didn’t have weren’t crucial items….
*indicates a feature that our boat did not have when we purchased her.
Don’t forget to check out our front page for a list of items with which we can assist you during your search for your new floating home……
