Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2021 i PassageMaker

If total escape is the goal, then this land of blue holes and barrier reefs makes for a rewarding offshore passage. A dichotomy exists when venturing to Belize. While your boat offers many comforts of home, it is often anchored in the lee of a remote cay where the only sign of human life is, well, another human. The southern out-islands of Belize encompass a panorama of jewel-tone water dotted with secluded sandspits, cays and atolls protected by the world’s second-largest barrier reef (first is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef). The water is crystalline, and its local inhabitants range from inquisitive rays and skittish sea turtles to fiery sea fans and colossal coral heads. On the bucket list of dive enthusiasts worldwide is the famous Blue Hole, a mysterious underwater shaft…

Turkish builder Vicem Yachts debuted its allnew Vicem 50 Classic at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in March. The model underscores the yard’s initiative to design and build boats in both cold-molded and fi-berglass construction. “When we introduced the Vicem 50 Classic as a fiberglass model, we realized at Vicem that we could deliver a quicker turnaround time to customers while at the same time we could develop a yacht that exceeds our owners’ high expectations in terms of quality, style and seaworthiness,” said Vicem Production Manager Yigit Akbarlas. The Vicem 50 Classic’s standard configuration includes gyro stabilization and a transom-mounted dinghy lift. Capable of speeds exceeding 25 knots, the 50 Classic has a projected range of 477 nautical miles at around 8.5 knots, according to the builder. A…

Brightwork maintenance is a regular chore that delivers instant gratification. Whether it is a transom, a toerail or half-round molding on the cabin side, a fresh coat of varnish on teak or mahogany restores beauty and adds durability. I prefer single-part varnish because it is foolproof, less expensive than two-part mixtures, and ideal for DIY projects since the workload can be broken down into a schedule that suits you best. But whatever varnishes you use, the single most important rule is surface preparation. Varnish will only be as good as the surface to which it is applied. More coats are not necessarily better, either, because varnish applied too thick can wrinkle, or it can peel off in sheets if the previous layer provides inadequate adhesion. It’s important to recoat before…

Contrary to common belief, the degree of difficulty in docking a boat does not increase with the size of the boat. Handling a larger boat in close quarters is no more difficult than handling a smaller one. The larger boat just requires a different strategy, one that focuses on two particular challenges. Docking our 22-foot C-Dory is a stressless and enjoyable exercise. From the pilothouse steering station, I can see every point on the boat, while my wife, Dori, and I can communicate easily without raising our voices. Docking our 54-foot Ocean Alexander trawler is just as easy, even though I can only see a fraction of the boat from the helm, and Dori and I are frequently out of each other’s range of hearing. Our ease in handling the…

There is a torpor that comes with driving in Southern California, particularly near rush hour. Once settled into a lane on the freeway, the experience becomes the tedium of creep-stop-creep. It’s totally mindless, and most drivers use the time to chat on their cellphones, file their nails, listen to a foreign language tape or simply stare into smog. I was in this situation recently when a sport utility vehicle slid into my lane in front of me. It had a personalized license plate that was a series of numbers: 797.1. For some reason, the series rang a faint bell. For several miles, I puzzled over what the numbers could mean. When issued, the plate had said 7971, but the driver had added a neat little decimal point that probably wouldn’t…

Once upon a time, we used to flow fuel, as they say in boat-testing parlance. That meant disconnecting supply and return fuel lines, splicing in fuel-flow meters, and then running electrical cables from the meters to a computer that would precisely calculate fuel burn. Only one time did I make a bad connection on a hookup and allow air to enter the supply line of an engine—a mistake that promptly airlocked the engine and summarily shut it down. The steps I took to get things going again are fairly universal. This procedure can vary from engine to engine, so consult your operator’s manual for the correct steps to follow. But generally speaking, this is the idea. First, back off the bleed screw on top of the secondary fuel filter—three or…

Single-part varnish formulas have distinct purposes. A high-solid formula is best for top coating, since it usually has good UV protection and is long-lasting. But its drying and recoating time is longer than other formulas. Sunlight is the killer of all varnish jobs, so you want that UV protection to last. Fast-drying varnish formulas allow you to apply more than one coat a day, but for best results, add a top coat with a high-solid formula. Never apply varnish out of the can. The brush will allow dirt and dust to contaminate the varnish inside the can, and you will be disappointed with the dust you see left behind in your work. Pour out what you need through a throwaway strainer into a small container and work from there. Before…

With every sweep of the radar beam, a brightly colored image of the shoreline appears along the edge of the dark screen. It is a reassuring presence, a reminder that only a slight change in heading will take you to the safety of a nearby inlet. A lot of cruisers spend the whole of their boating lives watching that image at the helm, but increasingly, more and more trawler owners are willing to forgo the comfort and instead consider a long-distance itinerary. I don’t mean the daunting task of crossing an ocean, but rather exploring offshore destinations—the type of long-distance cruising my wife, Dori, and I had in mind when we built our 54-foot Ocean Alexander Liberdade. Now, after years aboard, I’m able to share our lessons learned. They go…

NAME Bill Nieman AGE 57 HOME PORT Shilshole Bay Marina, Seattle CURRENT BOAT 1984 42-foot Kadey-Krogen YEARS OWNED 5 Bill Nieman’s passion for boating began in the 1970s at summer camp in northern Minnesota. Later with his wife, Joan, and their two daughters, he enjoyed the Salish Sea for years, starting with crabbing in the family’s very first plywood boat. Now as empty nesters, Bill and Joan have been enjoying their next chapter: living aboard their 42-foot Kadey-Krogen. BEGINNINGS I’ve owned several boats over the years, but the classic design of Kadey-Krogens caught my eye from the beginning. After a couple years as a Kadey-Krogen salesperson, I found the perfect boat within our price range. After a little convincing, Joan signed on. THE BOAT Tippecanoe is a 1984 42-foot Kadey-Krogen…

Oso Blanco 54 LOA: 57ft. 3in. LWL: 53ft. 8in. LOD: 54ft. 3in. Beam 12ft. 10in. Draft: 4ft. 6in. Displacement: 43,000 lbs. Sail area: 770 sq.ft. Propulsion: up to 150-hp diesel inboard I was lucky to take a trip to Greenland almost two years ago. While visiting that amazing island, I found myself dreaming of a vessel that would take me back. It is a long way to get to the North Atlantic for a native of the U.S. West Coast, and I certainly do not want to review options of building closer to the Atlantic, as my shop is in Washington state. Thus, I had three primary options. Option one: Design and build a boat at my shop. If I did this, then I could either ship the boat by…

Dear Editors: We have been living aboard our 69-foot Horizon Expedition trawler full-time now for six months and are still learning every day. We have just ordered a stern anchor to (hopefully) help with the swing that we experience while at anchor, which is 99 percent of the time. Good idea? Any concerns? —K. H., Calgary, Alberta K. H.: Your idea of the stern anchor seems logical, especially when you look at your boat’s track log on the GPS. It appears that your stern is swinging in an arc around your anchor. However, the stern is not the problem. Most boats at rest, and especially our trawlers with a high freeboard-todraft ratio, will turn beam-to the wind. It is this condition that initiates the swinging. The wind causes your boat…

My brother Daniel was as twitchy as a burglar in church. We were approaching Deception Pass on a recent cruise to the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest. It was to be his first transit of the pass as captain and pilot. He was doing so in his 21-foot cuddy cabin sportfisherman, powered with a 140-hp Suzuki outboard. Top speed, maybe 35 knots. I was a bit more at ease. Dan and I have been boating together since Jimmy Carter was president. We tend to move about a boat in a well-understood, often silent, choreographed ballet. Rarely does one of us do anything that surprises the other. I had also transited Deception Pass on many occasions in small, fast boats, and in not-so-small and slow trawlers. In all honesty,…