Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Boating

A movie some years back depicted the horror of some boaters who went swimming in calm water from their boat. Expert swimmers all, they dived in without deploying a ladder. They soon discovered that their boat had no provision to climb back aboard, and, despite their youth and athleticism, they drown one by one. Should the skipper of the boat in this picture fall overboard while alone, he or she would find no way to get back aboard. The freeboard is too high to reach the gunwale, and, being an inboard, there is nothing protruding to serve as a makeshift step. The American Boat and Yacht Council Standard H41: Reboarding Means: Ladders, Handholds, Rails and Lifelines, mandates a means of solo reboarding. Compliance is most often made by installing a…

HELP ME! Mayday comes from the French term mÕaidez, which translates to “help me.” Cool and Calm The distress call takes priority over all radio transmissions, and you don’t need to address it to a particular U.S. Coast Guard station. Tune your VHF radio to Channel 16, key the microphone, and slowly and clearly say, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is vessel Editorial License,” three times in succession. Let go of the mic button and wait for a reply. The Right Stuff The Coast Guard will require the following information, so be prepared to give it. ► Vessel call sign and/or name ► Your position, preferably in latitude/longitude. If that is not available, use a range and bearing (for example, “6 miles SSE of Ludington Lighthouse”). ► What is wrong (state…

NOTEWORTHY A built-in ladder on the hardtop stanchion and a hatch in the hardtop itself make it easy to go aloft should you decide to add a tower with a second station. OLD-SCHOOL ANGLERS MIGHT BEMOAN THE addition of creature comforts in today’s center console fishing machines, but we welcome the trend. A boat with features such as comfortable seating — and plenty of it — keeps the crew rested so they’re ready and able when it comes time to fish. That’s part of the idea behind Boston Whaler’s new 330 Outrage, the successor to the popular 320 Outrage. Boston Whaler has redesigned the interior with features that render this one of the most advanced models in its category. Compared to its predecessor, the 330 Outrage also features a foot…

WE SAY This new iteration of Yellowfin’s 39 Open features lightweight, super-strong carbon-fiber construction, saving approximately 2,400 pounds, or roughly 18.5 percent of the original dry weight. The twin-stepped hull takes full advantage of the quad Mercury Verado 350 outboards, reaching a top speed of 74 mph. Our tester featured threeacross helm seats with flip-up bolsters, a clear acrylic windshield, and a full complement of electronics accessible via two Simrad multifunction displays. There are three livewells — an 80-gallon tank with a viewing window in the transom, a 50-gallon well under the aft cockpit sole, and a 19-gallon livewell under the seat abaft the helm seating — as well as four tuna tubes integrated into the transom and stern quarters. An optional pod lounge tilts upward at the push of…

Even the name is horrific. It’s literal overkill. If electrocution doesn’t stop the heart outright, instantaneous muscle paralysis drowns even the strongest swimmers, often kids, when they float into this indiscriminate trap. Last June, a 21-year-old man died in Missouri. The year before, a 13-year-old girl died while a 17-year-old girl narrowly escaped in Louisiana. In 2013, a man in Kentucky pushed his 2-year-old son to safety before being overcome himself. This stealthy assassin was unknown prior to 1999, but the clarity of hindsight shows that electric shock drowning (ESD) has been claiming lives in freshwater marinas for decades. The good news — if I can call it The good news — if I can call it that while looking at the case facts of six-dozen waterborne electrocutions reaching back…

The Ocean Signal MOB1 ($259.95, thegpsstore.com), for example, communicates two ways. Designed to integrate with an inflatable life jacket, the 7-inch-tall MOB1 activates upon inflation and transmits an alert with its GPS position to AIS receivers and plotters in range (4 to 5 miles, depending on conditions) for 24 hours. It also sends a DSC distress signal with the location to DSC-equipped VHF radios. Another example is the McMurdo Smartfind S20 AIS MOB ($239.76, pbsboatstore.com) that also clips to an inflatable life jacket. The standard model requires manual arming and activation. Its AIS function broadcasts the GPS position of the MOB for 24 hours to AIS receivers and plotters within range. The S20 does not feature a DSC distress alert function. To be effective, boaters should configure AIS MOB devices…

1 NET SIZE Most recreational cast nets are offered in radius sizes from 3 to 10 feet. A 6-foot-radius net will open to 12 feet in diameter if you throw it right. Commercial nets can range to 15 feet in radius, but maximum sizes vary by state, and in some states cast nets are prohibited. A 7-foot net is only marginally larger than a 5-footer but offers over twice the coverage, which allows you to catch more fresh bait with less effort. 2 BAIT SIZE The optimum size of the net’s mesh is based on your targeted baitfish. The mesh size that you select should be small enough to avoid “gilling” baitfish, which hastens their demise in the livewell. The chart below serves as a good guideline. 3 LEAD SIZE…

To raise awareness about military families who have lost a loved one, ex-Navy SEAL Chris Ring of the nonprofit group Legacies Alive had an idea: swim the entire length of the Mississippi River. So in June 2015, Ring started swimming. He swam for six months, finishing in the Gulf of Mexico. We asked him about his goal to help military families. MORE ONLINE! To read the full interview online, go to boatingmag.com/chris-ring. What is Legacies Alive? Legacies Alive (legaciesalive.com) is a nonprofit group that honors our fallen heroes and the families left behind. We raise national awareness about Gold Star families, which are families that have lost a loved one in war. We do this by doing an extreme challenge — a mental and physical endeavor that the average person…

May is our safety-awareness month in which we take the time to instill safety skills in new boaters and refresh experienced boaters on important safety measures. To that end, 1 we encourage you to visit the boating-safety section of our website that we produce in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard (boatingmag.com/boating-safety). 2 Also, be sure to see our archive of Seamanship columns at boatingmag.com/how-to/seamanship to brush up on your on-water skills and 3 read our original article on electric shock drowning at boatingmag.com/how-to/electric-shock-drowning-prevention to better understand the phenomenon that we cover in this issue (page 68).…

Fire Types and Extinguishing Agents CLASS A fires include ordinary combustibles such as wood, paper, cloth, trash, etc. The best extinguishing agents for an A fire are water or chemical foam. CLASS B fires involve flammable or combustible liquids. The best extinguishing agents for a B fire are carbon dioxide, dry chemical or aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). CLASS C fires involve electrical equipment. The preferred extinguishing agent is carbon dioxide. Dry chemical can be used. CLASS D fires involve combustible metals, like magnesium. The best extinguishing agent is a dry powder suitable for the metal involved. This class of fire is not likely to occur on a fishing vessel. What You Need Fire extinguishers are classified by a letter and a Roman numeral. The letter indicates the type of fire…

EXTRA POINT Marker One kept the ML4 to an 8-foot-6-inch beam to keep it trailerable without a permit in all states. THE MARKER ONE ML4 IS THE LATEST edition of the Platform Series concept from the makers of Cobalt Boats. Yes, it’s a Platform Series boat, not a pontoon, even though it runs atop three aluminum hulls. What’s the difference? In a word, fiberglass. The ML4 has a fiberglass deck attached to those aluminum hulls, which means its seat bases and all components are molded fiberglass parts. It’s really a hybrid boat with the space and utility of a pontoon-boat layout. The ML4 features a new strake design for its hulls, which act like reverse chines on a fiberglass V-hull to provide more lift when climbing out of the hole…

WE SAY Trade in your engine for exercise with an Apex Marine Paddle Qwest 616 Sport Cruise. One of six Paddle Qwest models, the 616 is a hybrid manual/electric model. We tested this 18-foot (length overall) pontoon with a crew of two. During testing, we documented manual power speeds at WOP (wide-open pedal) approaching 4 mph. How long that pace can be sustained is a matter of fitness, stamina and pride, as well as wind speed, because the Paddle Qwest 616 Sport Cruise presents a classic boxy pontoon profile. Features include a helm console with a stainless-steel wheel, Teleflex by Sea Star Solutions steering, a fullwidth bench-style seat facing two pedal stations, a pair of half-bench seats forward and two pedestal seats on the bow. Overhead is a Bimini top…

PERSONAL WATERCRAFT HAVE LONG SUFFERED FROM LESS CONTROL THAN THEIR MAINSTREAM BOATING COUNTERPARTS. Chalk it up to the nature of jet propulsion. While their thrust was constant, early models were always in forward motion, making low-speed maneuvers — like docking — somewhat dicey. Though the introduction of reverse buckets in 1990 changed things dramatically, jet-powered craft still lacked the precision offered by a prop-propelled boat’s gearshift. That all changed in late 2008 with the introduction of Sea-Doo’s Intelligent Brake and Reverse system (iBR). The company’s iBR revolutionized the industry by doing two things. First, it allowed a PWC to finally have that true feeling of forward, neutral and reverse. Suddenly a Sea-Doo remained stationary when started at the dock or launch ramp and easily shifted into the appropriate motion. Second,…

I POSSESS A 50-TON U.S. COAST GUARD CAPTAIN’S LICENSE, AND at age 77, I have plenty of experience under my skipper’s cap. But a recent event reminded me that boating is a continuing education, and I can still learn a few things. Not long ago, two friends and I took a trip in my 30-foot Sea Ray Sedan Bridge, Dream Catcher, from Buffalo to Dunkirk, New York. It was a beautiful summer day — a great time to enjoy Lake Erie and have lunch at one of my favorite waterfront hangouts. Weatherwise, it was a fairly typical summer day, except for one thing: There was an unusual easterly breeze. It gave a light following sea, making for an easy, comfortable outbound cruise. However, when I attempted to tie up at…

Stuffing life jackets deep into a dank locker, tossing them inside a head compartment, jamming them under cushions in the cabin, or stowing them in any area that’s tough to reach in the harrowing moments of a dire situation is one of the worst things a boater can do. Overhead storage bags resolve this dilemma. They stow life jackets out of the way, yet with just a pull of a zipper, the jackets are immediately accessible. Many new boats feature overhead canvas stowage for life jackets, but if you have an older boat with a hardtop, fabric T-top or Bimini top, you can add overhead storage. Both the C.E. Smith T-top/Bimini storage bag and Kwik Tek PFD-T4 T-Bag hold four Type II life jackets. The Kwik Tek PFD-T6 T-Bag stows…

NOTEWORTHY A small, hinged compartment in the headliner above the helm can be fitted as a “captain’s locker” or used as an auxiliary gauge panel. IF SOMEONE SAYS “SOFT DRINK,” MOST PEOPLE respond “Coke.” If someone says “sport yacht,” most boaters respond “Sea Ray Sundancers, such as the 470 Sundancer presented here for your consideration, have epitomized luxury, performance and innovation on waters around the world for decades. This is the 23rd Sundancer I’ve personally tested for Boating. Read on to learn what I discovered during my day at the helm of this one. In my book, a boat has to run right or it isn’t worth a damn. A Sundancer isn’t intended for folks who bash around offshore as a matter of habit. But if my test boat is…

EXTRA POINT The no-splinters fiberglass under the hatches and decks combined with the cleanas-a-whistle rigging makes adding accessories and troubleshooting easier. SCOUT’S 231 XS IS DESIGNED TO DELIVER. Our tester featured a sleek black hull with cream topsides and richly appointed, leatherlike tan vinyl seating and cushioning. The “10-foot away” look is high quality, and close inspection of the fit and finish confirmed that appearance. The robust custom black paint job of the Yamaha F300 outboard matched the hull and provided a coordinated but sleek and stealthy appearance. Topside, our test boat was fitted with the optional curved-cushion highperformance leaning post, which made our at-speed testing more secure and comfortable. Behind the optional long-shaft trolling motor mounted on the bow, the casting area is expansive — perfect for all-day angling.…

IT WAS AN EERIE FEELING. SEAKEEPER STAFF CAPTAIN PETE Nolan laid the company’s 35-foot Contender broadside to a 3-foot powerboat wake outside Annapolis, Maryland, and unlocked the Seakeeper 3DC gyroscope installed under the leaning post. We felt only a mild wiggle as the waves slid beneath us. Then he ran the triple-engine boat back to the plodding cabin cruiser and laid us broadside to its trailing seas again. This time, he locked the gyro first, and as expected, the Contender rocked hard ... until he unlocked the 3DC again, and the boat calmed down instantly. “It’s magic, isn’t it?” Nolan observed with a grin. In hard numbers, the Seakeeper reduces roll by up to 95 percent, and aboard this Contender specifically, it eliminated 96 percent of roll. We were also…

Boat fires are ridiculously rare. You’re much, much more likely to actually perish from a car accident, plane crash or even a cataclysmic storm than you are to even be injured from a boat fire. Out of the nearly 12 million registered recreational boats in the U.S., owners of only about 250 are likely to experience and report some kind of fire this year. You might as well rest easy and presume you won’t be in that tiny 0.002 percent of boat owners destined to burn, right? Sure, that’s one strategy. But when it comes to protecting you, your family, your friends and your property — and even your fellow boaters — from fire, there are a number of surprisingly simple steps you can take to virtually guarantee you don’t…