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ed’s boat tips

Spring Check Up, Engine Water Pump

Wayne wrote in last week describing what can only be described as a scary situation (I know its happened to me.)  It seems the water pump on his nearly 30 year old Universal diesel finally had a bearing failure. What happens when this occurs is that the impeller inside the pump housing begins to scrape on the inside of the pump housing and depending upon the design clearances, maybe even the front of your engine block. Wayne wrote in I think because he probably remembers that I’ve talked …

Is Anti-Fouling Paint OK On My Transducer?

Yesterday I went down to the boatyard to check some things on my own boat, Hooked UP and I got queried immediately about something I always forget to write about. The question is, should you apply anti-fouling bottom paint to the transducer for your depth sounder? My answer was sure, it won’t hurt anything. I’ve been painting my transducers with anti-fouling paint for well over 20 years and I’ve never had any problems with my transducers or the accuracy of my depth sounders.   I’ll bet the …

Is Anti-Fouling Paint OK On My Transducer?

Yesterday I went down to the boatyard to check some things on my own boat, Hooked UP and I got queried immediately about something I always forget to write about. The question is, should you apply anti-fouling bottom paint to the transducer for your depth sounder? My answer was sure, it won’t hurt anything. I’ve been painting my transducers with anti-fouling paint for well over 20 years and I’ve never had any problems with my transducers or the accuracy of my depth sounders.   I’ll bet the …

Bow Thruster and Storage Space

There may be a lot of storage space surrounding your bow thruster, but beware! In keeping with my theme as promised last week, we are still considering and looking at spring “make ready” issues. In the case above a reader has recently discovered that under the v-berth in his forward cabin is a cavernous space surrounding his bow thruster that he can use for additional storage for things that aren’t used on a daily basis. He’s certainly right about that, but beware, potential horrors are …

Bow Thruster and Storage Space

There may be a lot of storage space surrounding your bow thruster, but beware! In keeping with my theme as promised last week, we are still considering and looking at spring “make ready” issues. In the case above a reader has recently discovered that under the v-berth in his forward cabin is a cavernous space surrounding his bow thruster that he can use for additional storage for things that aren’t used on a daily basis. He’s certainly right about that, but beware, potential horrors are …

Getting Your Electrical System Ready ..

It’s spring, its in the low 50′s here in RI and that means its time to start getting the boat ready for the summer. The whole getting the boat ready thing has very different meaning to a lot of people. To one friend of mine Spring get ready means getting into every nook and cranny on the boat with a tooth brush to clean. To others it means pulling the cover off, slopping some anti-fouling bottom paint on and getting it launched. For me, it means a careful inspection of all systems to make …

Does a Shaft Brush Help Prevent Corrosion?

Brass Shaft Brush Connected to Metal Hull Does this Really Work? We received a good query from reader Gerry this week that is worth sharing a bit of discussion on. The photo he sent in is on his aluminum hulled sailboat. What you see in the photo is a flat brass bar that someone applied some solder to (the grey stuff at the end and rubbing against the prop shaft). The other end of the brass bar is simply screwed to the aluminum cross piece you see running under the shaft. The brass bar gets …

Does a Shaft Brush Help Prevent Corrosion?

Brass Shaft Brush Connected to Metal Hull Does this Really Work? We received a good query from reader Gerry this week that is worth sharing a bit of discussion on. The photo he sent in is on his aluminum hulled sailboat. What you see in the photo is a flat brass bar that someone applied some solder to (the grey stuff at the end and rubbing against the prop shaft). The other end of the brass bar is simply screwed to the aluminum cross piece you see running under the shaft. The brass bar …

ELCI Devices, What’s Available?

Typical Use of European RCD Devices on US Boat     Blue Sea ELCI Set Up, Easily Retrofitted   North Shore Safety Unit Available through Marinco, 30 and 50 AMP Service     Our recent entry discussing ELCI devices got a new query on the topic from Jim. Here it is: “Ed,I’m trying to make sense out of the ELCI/RCD stuff. Very difficult. n the marine marketplace, what’s actually available? Blue Sea Systems seems to have units available now. The Hubbell/North Shore/Airpax-Sensata/Techsol …

Voltage Drop- How Do I Check?

Using your multimeter (DVOM or digital volt ohm meter) to scope out excessive voltage drop. Diagram from one of the author’s books, Advanced Marine Electrics and Electronics Troubleshooting We received a question from a reader the other day asking about how they might go about checking for excessive voltage drop on their boat. Good question that needs a bit of explanation. First of all, what is voltage drop and why do you need to care? All of the electrical equipment on your boat is …

Spring Check Up, Engine Water Pump

Wayne wrote in last week describing what can only be described as a scary situation (I know its happened to me.)  It seems the water pump on his nearly 30 year old Universal diesel finally had a bearing failure. What happens when this occurs is that the impeller inside the pump housing begins to scrape on the inside of the pump housing and depending upon the design clearances, maybe even the front of your engine block. Wayne wrote in I think because he probably remembers that I’ve talked …

Is Anti-Fouling Paint OK On My Transducer?

Yesterday I went down to the boatyard to check some things on my own boat, Hooked UP and I got queried immediately about something I always forget to write about. The question is, should you apply anti-fouling bottom paint to the transducer for your depth sounder? My answer was sure, it won’t hurt anything. I’ve been painting my transducers with anti-fouling paint for well over 20 years and I’ve never had any problems with my transducers or the accuracy of my depth sounders.   I’ll bet the …

Is Anti-Fouling Paint OK On My Transducer?

Yesterday I went down to the boatyard to check some things on my own boat, Hooked UP and I got queried immediately about something I always forget to write about. The question is, should you apply anti-fouling bottom paint to the transducer for your depth sounder? My answer was sure, it won’t hurt anything. I’ve been painting my transducers with anti-fouling paint for well over 20 years and I’ve never had any problems with my transducers or the accuracy of my depth sounders.   I’ll bet the …

Bow Thruster and Storage Space

There may be a lot of storage space surrounding your bow thruster, but beware! In keeping with my theme as promised last week, we are still considering and looking at spring “make ready” issues. In the case above a reader has recently discovered that under the v-berth in his forward cabin is a cavernous space surrounding his bow thruster that he can use for additional storage for things that aren’t used on a daily basis. He’s certainly right about that, but beware, potential horrors are …

Bow Thruster and Storage Space

There may be a lot of storage space surrounding your bow thruster, but beware! In keeping with my theme as promised last week, we are still considering and looking at spring “make ready” issues. In the case above a reader has recently discovered that under the v-berth in his forward cabin is a cavernous space surrounding his bow thruster that he can use for additional storage for things that aren’t used on a daily basis. He’s certainly right about that, but beware, potential horrors are …

Getting Your Electrical System Ready ..

It’s spring, its in the low 50′s here in RI and that means its time to start getting the boat ready for the summer. The whole getting the boat ready thing has very different meaning to a lot of people. To one friend of mine Spring get ready means getting into every nook and cranny on the boat with a tooth brush to clean. To others it means pulling the cover off, slopping some anti-fouling bottom paint on and getting it launched. For me, it means a careful inspection of all systems to make …

Does a Shaft Brush Help Prevent Corrosion?

Brass Shaft Brush Connected to Metal Hull Does this Really Work? We received a good query from reader Gerry this week that is worth sharing a bit of discussion on. The photo he sent in is on his aluminum hulled sailboat. What you see in the photo is a flat brass bar that someone applied some solder to (the grey stuff at the end and rubbing against the prop shaft). The other end of the brass bar is simply screwed to the aluminum cross piece you see running under the shaft. The brass bar gets …

Does a Shaft Brush Help Prevent Corrosion?

Brass Shaft Brush Connected to Metal Hull Does this Really Work? We received a good query from reader Gerry this week that is worth sharing a bit of discussion on. The photo he sent in is on his aluminum hulled sailboat. What you see in the photo is a flat brass bar that someone applied some solder to (the grey stuff at the end and rubbing against the prop shaft). The other end of the brass bar is simply screwed to the aluminum cross piece you see running under the shaft. The brass bar …

ELCI Devices, What’s Available?

Typical Use of European RCD Devices on US Boat     Blue Sea ELCI Set Up, Easily Retrofitted   North Shore Safety Unit Available through Marinco, 30 and 50 AMP Service     Our recent entry discussing ELCI devices got a new query on the topic from Jim. Here it is: “Ed,I’m trying to make sense out of the ELCI/RCD stuff. Very difficult. n the marine marketplace, what’s actually available? Blue Sea Systems seems to have units available now. The Hubbell/North Shore/Airpax-Sensata/Techsol …

Voltage Drop- How Do I Check?

Using your multimeter (DVOM or digital volt ohm meter) to scope out excessive voltage drop. Diagram from one of the author’s books, Advanced Marine Electrics and Electronics Troubleshooting We received a question from a reader the other day asking about how they might go about checking for excessive voltage drop on their boat. Good question that needs a bit of explanation. First of all, what is voltage drop and why do you need to care? All of the electrical equipment on your boat is …

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