Tabla de contenidos para July/August 2022 en PassageMaker

Diesel engines need an uninterrupted, air- and water-free supply of clean fuel to run. However, a long list of gremlins can prevent the fuel supply in the tank from reaching your engine in purest form. Let’s talk about the fuel system and some of the problems that can occur from attrition and error. The Fuel Supply Your boat’s fuel supply system can be installed from the top or bottom of the tank. From the top, the fuel leaves the tank via a pickup tube that extends to within a half-inch of the bottom. Some manufacturers put a screen on the bottom of the tube to keep things out of the fuel system; that screen can become plugged from debris or from the emulsion that forms when water and fuel mix…

Nostalgia is as powerful a force as any tempest on the seas. For many of us, boats and boating are the triggers, conjuring a sudden, wistful feeling and a flood of memories. For Rick and Merrie Fricke, Tonina was a bit player with an irregular but significant role in their early lives. They both were raised in waterborne Los Angeles families that berthed their vessels at Newmarks Yacht Centre. “My parents had boats, as did my wife’s. We both grew up in boats,” Rick says. He first saw Tonina’s bold, workman lines as child, and then, later, would see her at the marina near his in-laws’ boat. “I always saw the boat, and I always liked it.” Kismet led them back to Tonina in 1988 when she was put up…

The Surf Scoter 26 gets its name from a bird that favors the winter waters around the Pacific Northwest’s Puget Sound. A strange little diver duck, the surf scoter spends a great deal of its time feeding underwater, and seems to frequent rougher waters that other, more noble ducks shun. I think one could do far worse than to name a boat design after a sea duck that likes rough water. The Surf Scoter 26 is a trailerable cruiser that can be easily towed from one destination to another. With a beam that’s just under 8 feet, 6 inches, the Scoter is legal for all-hours trailering in the United States. And, she’s easily stowed: Sitting on a trailer, her height will allow her to fit into most barns or storage…

Adventure cruising doesn’t have to involve crossing an ocean. With more than 95,000 miles of coastline in the United States, you can do a lot of exploring without ever leaving sight of land. Heading out for a coastal journey does, however, require leaving the security of inland waters. Entering the ocean from inland water is not the same every-where. For example, boaters leaving Newport through Rhode Island Sound wouldn’t necessarily know they are in ocean waters. The swells might increase a little and be spaced a little farther apart, but other than that, the sound and ocean waters feel pretty much the same. Likewise, when heading out through large bays like the Delaware or Chesapeake, the water may take on a different color, the temperature may drop a bit, the…

‟Everything you put on your boat should have at least three uses,” we were advised when we bought our 31-foot Camano trawler Sweet Day to embark on the Great Loop. We carried unopened pasta flour for 8,000 miles, so we can’t say we fully agree with the advice. But we were committed to exploring as much as we could on our year-long cruise. We invested in a dinghy so we could travel waters that Sweet Day couldn’t, and having bikes on board was a must. They are an excellent mode of transportation, method of exercise and tool to see places that broaden your perspective, clearly passing the three-use test. One gold burgee from the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association later, we couldn’t imagine cruising without them. Why We Love Having…

It was the mid-1960s, I’d been shaving for a year, and I had cut myself both times. was enamored of Playboy magazine, not for the centerfold (really!) but for the interviews and highbrow advice to young men like myself: “What to do if your date wants to bring her mother?” I was most intrigued to find out that Hugh Hefner spent long days (and nights, presumably) on a round bed atop which he sorted images of models and edited interviews with everyone from Miles Davis to Hunter Thompson. Two things recently caused me to reflect on that round bed (which also rotated, I recall). First, I’m still recovering from three big boat shows where I plodded through an endless number of boats. Second, a friend just took delivery on a…

The cruising appeal comes in part from the boat’s warped hull design. Boatbuilders often say performance is solely related to horsepower and weight, but Mark Richards’ decades-long sailboat-racing career taught him that a winning design relied on the boat’s wetted surface, which reduced the energy needed to move the boat through the water and its running attitude. Like the Grand Banks 60 that made its debut in 2017, the new Grand Banks 85 is a groundbreaking design. It’s also the new flagship model for the brand under the tutelage of CEO Mark Richards, whose charge after taking the reins in 2014 was to bring the 65-year-old builder to a new level in appearance, performance and construction. The GB 85 premiered at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in March with…

You’ve bought the boat. You have the float plan. But unless you’re planning to overnight in a marina every night of your cruise, you’d be wise to give some serious attention to how you’re going to get from that postcard anchorage to the deserted beach you’ve dreamed about for years. Choosing the right conveyance to get you to and from your boat can induce clinical-grade anxiety. With a bewildering variety of tender types and brands on the market, the decision you make today can spell the difference between a dream cruise and a major nightmare. Where do you start? As with your primary boat, first you need to consider where and how you want to use the tender. You also need to consider how many people, and how much gear…