Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2015 i Boating

THE DAY BEFORE COMPOSING this editorial, I was fishing with my daughters and in the company of several other boats, one of which brought back memories of boating in decades past. Ahh … the halcyon time known as “back in the day.” The boat in question was a 1990s vintage walkaround cuddy that, as it happens, I originally tested for this magazine when the boat was new. As we drifted along, boating a few fish, rebaiting hooks and munching pretzels, I had the chance to reflect on this boat. I came to the conclusion that the design had withstood the test of time, since it would compare pretty favorably to the brand-new 2016 model year walkarounds that Boating is testing now. My mind then drifted off to boating adventures I…

For many boaters, November means the end of the season, but it’s also time for the annual Super Boat International Offshore powerboat racing world championships in Key West, Florida. This year is the 35th anniversary of the event, which will take place Nov. 8-15. Let’s see what you know about the fastest boats in the sport. 1 How many races comprise the World Championship? A. One B. Two C. Three D. Four 2 In last year’s event, a team that finished poorly on Wednesday and Friday but won on Sunday took the overall championship for its class. How could that happen? A. Sunday is double points B. Sunday is triple points C. Wednesday and Friday are qualifying races D. All the other boats in the class broke down 3 What…

U.S. Coast Guard (@uscg) Stunning shots of rescue helicopters in action, landscape shots or boats on patrol, all taken by active servicemen and women on behalf of the Coast Guard. The Swimming Pigs (@theswimming pigs) Daily photos of the famous swimming pigs of the Exumas in the Out Islands of the Bahamas. You’ll see countless pictures of the iconic pigs swimming in cobaltblue water amongst beautiful boats and beautiful women. Ocearch (@ocearch) Three words: Great. White. Sharks. Follow the photo journal of the famed ocean research group that catches, tags and releases great white sharks around the globe in the name of science and research. Discover Boating (@discoverboating) The boating initiative group piloted by the National Marine Manufacturers Association posts pictures that remind us life is more fun on a…

collin. harrington It’s not easy to fit into Collin Harrington’s lifestyle. Between wakeboarding, surfing, bungee jumping and skydiving, the average piece of equipment just can’t cut it. Bottom line is, if you want to play with the big boys in these sports, you’re going to take some hits; enter G-Shock’s new G-Steel line of watches. Between all his sports and his social life, Harrington doesn’t have time to mess with things like changing a watch battery, which is why his G-Steel watch is solar powered so he never has to worry about it. Water resistant to 200 meters, Harrington’s G-Steel watch can free-dive way farther than he can, and it’s good for any wakeboard fall because it’s shock resistant. And it has style for days. The most versatile watches in…

You probably love your boat, but remember it’s the engine that makes possible all those cool boating adventures (“docktail cruisers” and nonauxiliary sailboats excluded). A clean engine makes visual inspections more effective. And the process of detailing your engine will make you more familiar with and force you to examine every inch of your engine. So treat your engine right by caring for it this fall with these maintenance tips. Clean Use paper towels to remove big globs of grease. Then apply a solution of soap and water with a rag or sponge; Dawn dish detergent is an effective and inexpensive degreasing soap. Rinse thoroughly with a light spray of water. Allow to air-dry. Paint Color-matched engine paint is available from your dealer or the engine-maker’s website. This includes paint…

LOCK SNAP Quickest and easiest to use, but it can open under stressunder stress. COASTLOCK SNAP The hooked wire makes it harder to use, but it is more reliable when under pressure. TOURNAMENT SNAP You might need pliers to change lures, but we’ve yet to see one of these snaps fail. WHAT’S IN A NAME? Some anglers say “crop-ee.” Others pronounce the word “crap-ee.” We prefer to simply say “delicious!”…

Natasha graced our magazine’s cover in January aboard the MasterCraft X46. Here’s what she had to say about being voted our top cover model by our Facebook fans. iCOM PRESENTS BOATING COVER GIRL SCAN HERE TO VIEW ALL OUR COVER GIRL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS How does it feel to be selected as the Icom Cover Model of the Year? It feels great. It was such a nice surprise! What did you think of the MasterCraft X46? It was a beautiful boat and super fast, which I loved. You could tell it’s great for water sports. Do you like being on boats in general? Yes, it’s always a great day if I can spend it lounging on a boat. What do you like best about being on the water? Cruising around…

Things have changed since you last had to buy your boating family members some gifts. Wakesurfing has exploded in popularity, thanks to wave-sculpting advancements in the inboard and V-drive towboat realm, and also Volvo Penta’s new Forward Drive that brings surfing to the runabout crowd. Even with that, who doesn’t have a member of the crew that loves to wakeboard, wakeskate, water ski or just have a blast trying to hang on to a tube? The good news for you is we’ve got you covered. Our 2016 Water-Sports Gear Guide details some of the best water-sports gear that you can buy. So head on over to boatingmag.com/watersports-gear (or go to boatingmag.com/gear) and see if there’s a monster tube or slalom ski out there with your name on it.…

ASK THE MASSES Go to boatingmag.com/forums to ask fellow boaters your questions, or to answer theirs. Light Duty [ Q ] Dear Boat Doctor, attached is a picture of a light fixture in the galley of our 2003 Sea Ray 360 Sundancer. The fixture requires an xelogen 12v 10w bi-prong bulb as a replacement bulb. My problem is I can’t open the fixture to replace the bulb. The silver bezel part of the fixture doesn’t want to rotate. The gold ring with the glass will move to shine the light in a particular direction. We then tried to pull the fixture down, hoping it was held by bowed wires. The most I could get it to come was about a quarter of an inch (with tremendous effort). I am afraid…

WHEN YOU GLIDE INTO THE MARINA WITH YOUR TWIN INTERNAL-COMBUSTION POWER plants growling oh so sweetly and softly, are you greeted by placard-bearing tree huggers looking to put you on their bad-boy list? Not to worry. Just pull out a few of your carbonoffsetting, solar-powered goodies and show them you care. Don’t have any? Here is a baker’s dozen solar marine accessories you should check out. They rank among the growing array of products designed to make boating more “correct” and compatible with the long-term goal of reducing carbon emissions — come to think of it, not a bad goal. Shrink-Wrap Vents Solar vents by Dr. Shrink provide an effective way to vent seasonally shrink-wrapped vessels. A single solar cell powers two fans to move 150-plus cubic feet at 80…

Being boaters ourselves, we know that selecting gifts for boaters can prove frustrating. There are subtle, but significant, diff erences between products that might look the same to the uninitiated. Yes, we boaters are a picky lot. This collection of gifts is designed to minimize post-holiday returns or an ignominious gift death at the bottom of a dock box. We have used many of these gifts ourselves. Those we haven’t used have been inspected and approved by us. You can count on our gift guide. Enjoy! Bass Pro Shops BIG BOBBER FLOATING COOLER The boater on your list will be the coolest person at the cove with the Bass Pro Shops The Big Bobber floating cooler. It keeps 12 cans ice cold for hours while fitting right in out on…

There’s a reason gasoline trapped in your bilge is so dangerous. “It’s not the liquid that burns, it’s the vapors,” explains Bill Burket, who oversees emergency operations for Virginia Port Authority and is a boater himself. He says that when gasoline freely evaporates into the air, it’s less dangerous than when fumes are trapped and collect. What do you do if it happens? “Open whatever hatches you can, get off the boat and call 911,” Burket says. Turn off automatic bilge pumps and main battery switches only if it’s safe. “If they’re in the bilge area or in the cabin and it smells like gas there, don’t mess with them,” he adds. For gas in the bilge while underway, turn off engines and generators, open hatches and don’t use anything…

Q How do I connect my GPS to my VHF radio to make the Digital Selective Calling (DSC) distress button work? A To activate your radio’s DSC function, you need to connect your GPS or GPS/chart plotter to your VHF radio. This involves connecting the positive (+) and negative (-) data out wires from your GPS or chart plotter to the positive (+) and negative (-) data in wires to your VHF radio. Your manuals will provide you with a wire-color-to-wire-color reference to simplify connections. (Manuals can be downloaded from manufacturers’ websites.) You also need to apply for a Mobile Maritime Service Identification (MMSI) number that identifies your boat. This can be done for free at boatus.com or usps.org. Lastly, enter your ninedigit MMSI number into your VHF. You will…

MOST OF YOU DON’T CARRY PAPER CHARTS AND depend solely on electronics. I think that’s dumb, but we all choose to withdraw from reality in our own way. So good on you, mate. However, even with a chart plotter you can still get lost, or at least disoriented. You press the zoom-in button and lose the big picture, or you zoom-out and lose the details of what’s around you. No matter how high-tech things get, you still need a sense of direction — and that can be a real problem. While I’d love to tell you that hidden down deep within us we have an innate ability to find our way, it is not so. There was a glimmer of hope back in 1905 when Emile Jarvis studied how blind…

Leatherman Wave THE SHARP: Does everyone call their multitool a Leatherman? The most popular brand on the market has 17 tools, including locking blades that deploy with one hand. The spring-action scissors are a highlight and it has large and small-bit drivers plus a can and bottle opener. Knife blades are formed out of 420 HC (for “high carbon”) stainless steel that is heattreated for extra strength. Closed length is 4 inches. THE DULL: Some people gripe about the weight (8.5 ounces) of the Wave when compared to other multitools, such as those with plastic or composite grips. PRICE: $89.95 to $99.95; leatherman.com Gerber MP1 THE SHARP: Gerber takes a keep-it-simple approach with the new MP1 that features 12 tools, including pliers, three blades, three screwdrivers and a pry bar/bottle…

A boatbuilder friend of mine talks about going to IBEX (the International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition and Conference) like it’s his favorite candy store. Every year, IBEX products and seminars show him new ways to improve. My favorite feature is the annual Innovation Awards program. Here are a few products that received this year’s awards. Boatbuilding Methods and Materials Xtreme Tower Products/Marine Accessories Corp., Mixed Media Parallel Hinge Tower — An ingenious tower with a Bimini that can lower to the windshield for trailering and storage or rise for a serious day on the water. Deck Equipment and Hardware Dowco, Easy-Lift — A deceptively simple latch and airshock system that makes raising and lowering a pontoon boat’s top quick, easy and safe. Furnishings and Interior Parts Syntec Industries LLC, Elage — A…

THE WIND HAD UNEXPECTEDLY KICKED UP TO 20 KNOTS, churning up a fierce chop across the bay. We could handle that well enough by adjusting our speed and attitude – the real challenge came back at the marina. We had to pull into a slip defi ned by a finger pier on one side and by another boat on the other side. The wind was howling unabated across the slip so that it was impossible to line up our boat without getting quickly blown into the other boat. Thankfully, we had a plan B: tying a dock line to the midship cleat and springing the boat in via the line. Using ropes to work in and out of a difficult slip is a tried-and-true technique called warping or springing. The…

The machine screw securing this boarding-door latch (pictured) is too long. It protrudes a quarter inch beyond the nut that secures it. Located at the access to the transom platform, it is in a location that features a lot of barelegged traffic as crew come and go from swimming, water sports and wading ashore. Someone could receive quite a gash from this protruding screw. The cure for this nautical no-no can be achieved in several ways. First, a screw of the correct length can be selected. Second, the protruding stud could also be cut off, but doing so invariably leaves a sharp burr that needs to be filed smooth. Third, locking pliers can be clamped over the protruding threads, the nose of the pliers abutting the nut. With a gentle…

BEFORE YOU DIG INTO THE DETAIL OF WINTERIZATION ON YOUR boat, but after your boat is hauled out, give your propulsion system a thorough inspection. If you spot anything awry, you’ll have plenty of time to replace parts or make any needed repairs over the winter, saving you the hassle next spring when you’re anxious to get on the water. Here are some key areas that warrant inspection on the boat’s drivetrain, be it an inboard, outboard or sterndrive power system. 1 SPARK PLUGS Remove the engine spark plugs and clean and re-gap them. Replace them if your owner’s manual says it’s time. 2 GEAR CASES On outboards and sterndrives, remove the propellers and check the lowerunit seal for damage or leaks. Check for cracks in the case itself. Look…