ed’s boat tips

One of our readers, Rick, sent in an interesting query regarding last week’s post on The Appetite for Amps Goes Down. To quote Rick: “Good article Ed. One thing I’d like to know about these units too is the start-up current they draw. I’m likely to be using a Honda EU2000i portable generator and would like to size the AC accordingly. I do believe there are “soft start” gadgets to get these types of loads up and running without tripping the breaker on the genny”. Well to Rick’s question …

Cruisair units like this actually use less power today than ten years ago, in effect they are greener units, not just because of the new refrigerants used, but also because they use less electricity  For some years now I’ve written that it seems like the average boat owner’s appetite for amps is insatiable. I’m referring to all of the electrical and electronic toys and gadgets that we seemingly can’t live without. But, after thinking about it for a bit, I began to question myself on this …

Well she’s come and gone. In general I think the damage here in RI was minimal compared to some of our neighboring states, but we certainly did not get out of this one totally unscathed. I saw one boat on the beach this morning in my hometown of Wickford, RI and the poor fellow that owns this sailboat at Brewer’s Cowesett Marina, where my office is located, had to face this little mess this morning….

Rapid Anode Consumption, Bottom Paint Blistering and More! Yikes! This series of problems was brought to us from one of our readers last week. We need to share this one because there is a lot going on here, and power or sail, some of the tips here can help you along the way if some of these symptoms crop up.

First, sorry to all for my absence during the last two weeks. I’ve been totally engrossed in several of my favorite things, IBEX, the premier industry show here in the US for all things boats, and the Annapolis Boat Show, and my involvement with the Cruising World Magazine Boat of The Year program. I got to sail 24 different boats as a part of that little gig, but perhaps more important to you all are the hundreds of photos that I took of the “innards” of these boats. These as …

Last week while I was traveling Leo wrote in with a good question about his boat’s battery. His query came from a statement I made some ten years ago when I wrote the updated edition of the book shown here: By the way, you can get your own copy of this book or any of my books by clicking on the Amazon.com link at the lower left side of this page. Once at the Amazon site, click on Minor Brotherton’s name to get this book. Ok, so now that I’ve made the shameless plug to try and sell some more …

Received a question from a reader the other day regarding wiring connections found in the bilge area of their new boat. Simple question, how do I minimize the risk of the wiring connections shown in the photo I sent in to you from getting all corroded over time? The stud you see is a keel bolt on my boat, so the wiring is sitting in the bilge. Bilge wiring such as you see here is vulnerable to corrosion This is a good question and one we receive fairly often. I’ve tried a lot of products …

Typical hull potential test set-up We received an interesting comment regarding our earlier post, “To Bond or not to Bond”. It’s worth sharing so that people will understand some of the dynamics involved with that case. So, here is the comment: Ed- “The comment I have on this situation is that given the original installation was done poorly, what is to guarantee the addition of a bonding cable would have been done any better? Regardless of how it was installed (bonding or no bonding), for …

Every now and then the topic of bonding a boat’s underwater metal comes up. Sometimes pretty heated discussions can get going among the marine systems geeks that get interested in this topic. In any event, its worth sharing some insight into this topic with all, especially in light of my post last week that discussed the poor fellow’s new boat that sank due to an issue with electrolytic corrosion. When we talk about a bonding system on a boat we are discussing a system, usually made up of …

Today’s installment is a sad one. Its the story of a brand new boat, the buyer’s dreamboat if you will, that sank in its slip about 1 month after he took delivery. The photo below shows the hole in the boat that caused the sinking. Hole where under water light fixture was fitted The white ring you can see around the perimeter of the hole is where the flange for the fixture was fitted. The white stuff is the 3-M 5200 used to seal the fitting. So the question is, where’s the flange and the …

Xantrex has been busy. I just received one of their newest inverter chargers and Freedom Sequence units to check out and I’m totally impressed. This is a cool system. The inverter charger is shown here:                   OK, so I know some of you that are regulars here are sitting back saying Ed’s losing it…..what’s so exciting about an inverter charger? Listen up, I’m not losing it. This thing is really part of a nicely designed system that has some functionality we just don’t see all …