Índex per May - June 2016 a PassageMaker

Late last October, I boarded my Duffy 37, Gizmo, only to find a dead ship. Not even a modest LED light on the panel voltmeter would power up, and her dual Deka 8D house bank measured 5V at the studs. Although I later figured out that only one member of the bank had suffered a catastrophic malfunction, I’d already sensed that these AGM batteries were living on borrowed time. When I bought Gizmo early in 2009, the batteries had been on the boat at least a season and were occasionally mistreated since. But the real issue is what to do next. A favorite saying these days goes, “old age is a high price to pay for maturity,” and in fact my understanding of electrical power aboard boats may have increased…

When we spoke by phone to arrange a visit, Eric advised me to take the scenic route to his property. After punching the address into my GPS, I set off north, driving past snow-dusted farms and roving livestock. It is early December, and another Colorado winter is well on its way. The most surprising part of my 45 minute drive from Boulder is the terrain. When the Rockies’ spiked peaks smooth out and disappear into the eastern plains, the effect is dramatic, giving Colorado the impression of an all-or-nothing proposition: shred powder at Winter Park one minute, set a land-speed record on a motorcycle the next. Since there’s no navigable water anywhere in sight, this is certainly not a place one expects to stumble upon a vintage motoryacht. But that…

LEHR LP5.0 OUTBOARD ENGINE Fueled by propane, Lehr’s 5-horsepower, 4-stroke engine comes with all the bells and whistles of a top-notch outboard, including a shallow-water drive, electric start, and forward-neutral-reverse transmission. Unlike gasoline, propane is a not a marine pollutant and emits zero evaporative emissions when burned. Propane can also store indefinitely as it does not degrade over time. Consuming just .22 gallons per hour at 3000 rpm, the engines offer awesome flexibility as they can be fueled from as little as a 16-ounce camp-stove canister for up to 90 minutes at cruising speed (Lehr does offer regular-size tank options). The outboard tips the scales just shy of 50 pounds, making it both efficient and remarkably light for its power class. Compact, clean, eco-friendly power. $1,700; Visit: www.golehr.com JEFFERSON’S OCEAN:…

It’s a simple problem, though not an easy one to solve: How do you allow a 2-inch-diameter propeller shaft to penetrate through the bottom of your hull, give it enough freedom to spin over 1,000 times a minute, yet not allow water to pass through the hole? Stuffing boxes, face seals, and lip seals are the three basic ways to keep water from pouring into the bilge via the stern tube. All of these consist of two main components. First, there is a short length of specialized hose that fits over the stern tube where it enters the bilge and, second, there is a seal that fits around the shaft and attaches to the hose. STUFFING BOXES The conventional marine stuffing box has been around for more than half a…

IMTRA IS-SERIES LED LIGHTS Thanks to Imtra’s new low-profile LED lighting solutions, saving electricity no longer means going dark. Designed to replace traditional filament lighting typically found in engine and utility rooms, Imtra’s IS-Series can be fully submerged or even hosed down, is impact resistant, non-corrosive, and UV-protected so the LEDs will not change color over time. Fixtures are also ignition-proof, making them safe around gasoline and other combustible solutions. The surface-mount design frees up overhead space and its flush-mount transparent housing disappears into the overhead when not illuminated. Backed by Imtra’s 2-year warranty, the IS-Series is available in lengths of 8, 14, 24, and 44 inches. Starts at $195; visit www.imtra.com AIGEAN NETWORKS LINK The Link from Aigean—available in two versions (2.4 and 5GHz)— works to boost the signal…

As a kid moving from dinghies into ocean racers, my first foul weather gear came from an Army-Navy surplus store: green rubberized cotton fabric that was heavy and hot, leaked like a sieve, and then, in a final touch of humiliation, peeled into green sheets all over the boat (and my closet). Today, boaters have an array of great foul weather gear choices which, unfortunately, can also be very confusing. There are two basic rules to heed. Rule Number One: Your foul weather jacket is not to keep you warm. It is only to keep you dry. You can use it as a windbreaker, but it’s the layers underneath the foulie jacket that will keep you warm (or not). Don’t ever forget this rule! Rule Number Two: Buy foul weather…

With gin-clear water, white sand, empty beaches, and a worldclass blue hole, the Berry Islands in the Bahamas are a cruiser’s dream. On this day, however, something unique was added to the mix: a stranded mystery boat. We had run our dinghies 20 miles from Great Harbour Cay to Hoffman Cay with plans to film and jump into the legendary Hoffman blue hole. Stories abound of Jacques Cousteau and his underwater explorers diving this wide, inland saltwater pool, mapping it to a depth of over 600 feet. The Cousteau Society seems less sure of that history, but no matter. Even without the Calypso diving legend, this blue hole is worth the trip. For the adventurous, there is a walk through the jungle into the hills, a 20-foot jump from rocky…

The bow pitched upward as we passed through a ferry wake at 16 knots on our way from Anacortes, Washington, to Friday Harbor. I subconsciously braced for impact, but it never came. “This is the only boat on the market with a built-in suspension system,” explained Larry Graf, who founded Aspen Power Catamarans in 2008. Cruising through a confused chop of 2 to 3 feet, the Aspen C120 didn’t pound, pitch, or roll. In fact, her ride was eerily smooth and quiet. The C120’s ride is the result of Aspen’s proa hull design. Though she seems symmetrical to the naked eye, the starboard hull, which houses the single Volvo D6 diesel, is 35 percent larger than the port hull, and the deckhouse is offset slightly to port. It sounds unbalanced,…

More than a decade ago, I came upon a recipe for an unusual but tempting pastry. It was the combination of ingredients that intrigued me: spinach, onions, raisins, and cinnamon—a slightly sweet but definitely savory combination that I thought would make a tasty appetizer. The only problem was that the original recipe required a made-fromscratch pastry dough. Making pie crust is never my favorite activity and it was not something I wanted to tackle while cruising. Then, a few weeks later, luck was on my side. I wandered into a recently opened supermarket just outside of Dubrovnik, Croatia, and discovered an amazingly wide range of products, including large stacks of packaged flour tortillas. It was an “aha” moment. That was my first introduction to the world of what I have…

This single-engine trawler exhibits a number of best practices. The stern bearing housing, a bronze alloy, retains a golden hue, indicating the metal has not been compromised by corrosion. Bronze consists of copper, zinc, and other metals in varying combinations. The gold color indicates that the composition has not changed significantly. If galvanic or stray current corrosion takes place, the zinc is sacrificed and pink patches will appear. Without zinc the alloy becomes porous and weak. The set screws on the sides of the bearing housing properly secure the bearing in place. The distance between the forward face of the propeller hub and the after end of the stern bearing should not exceed a unit of measure greater than the shaft’s diameter. This one appears to be within that standard,…