PassageMakerMarch 2024的目錄

Recently, during a night passage between Hawaii and Guam, a boat’s steering failed. Moments later, the engine stopped. A quick check of the bilges proved there was no water coming in, so the crew shined spotlights off the stern. They saw the prop and rudder fouled in a polypropylene fishing net. Fortunately, a variety of cutting tools were aboard, as well as diving equipment. Once the sun came up, the net was cleared, allowing the boat to resume its course safely. There are three boating fundamentals: The seawater must be kept on the outside, the boat must have a method of propulsion, and the boat must have the ability to be steered. Today, we’ll concentrate on the steerage equipment that lets us choose our path on the sea. AND A…

It started with a daydream: take my boat, SeaHag, a 1996 Rosborough RF246 LSV, to the southern shore of Newfoundland. I was only three years into boating, and my experience was limited to the region around my home port of Cape Vincent, New York, where Lake Ontario spills into the St. Lawrence River. The southern shore of Newfoundland is much different. It’s wild and remote. The region is dotted with tiny fishing outports, many of them abandoned since the cod fisheries have died. Better to visit them now, while they are still there. I also wanted to explore the many fjords that abound along this craggy shoreline. There would be no services, so cruising there would have to be a completely self-sufficient adventure. An opportunity came when my Rosborough Association…

I was reading through some books that belonged to my grandfather when a 40-foot vessel caught my eye. Her workboat styling merged clean lines and a sense of simplicity for a no-nonsense look that I really liked. The boat dates back to the early 1940s, born as a purpose-built steed to serve the Australian and British navies. Designed by Melbourne-based shipwrights Botterill and Fraser to support the Allied Pacific theater operations north of the Australian mainland, the boats were used for a variety of functions: as crew, ammunition and cargo transport, to ferry injured soldiers to the mainland, and even as refrigerated boats to supply fighting ships. Crew loved the versatility, and production quickly ramped up at several shipyards in Australia. At the top of the production peak, it…

I have a confession to make. It’s an issue that has been bothering I’m a helm hog. Now that I’ve said it, I’m also ready to do something about it. And, whether you know it or not, you likely should be joining me. Like many cruising couples, my wife, Dori, and I spend hours or sometimes days underway. During these long runs, I spend considerably more time at the helm than she does. It’s a situation that, if I’m honest about it, isn’t good for either of us. Both of us enjoy our cruising life aboard, but it’s pretty evident that I enjoy the act of operating the boat more than Dori does. Not that she’s unwilling to take her turn; she happily takes the helm when I need to…

AMERICAN TUG MARKS ITS SILVER ANNIVERSARY WITH A FULL ORDER BOOK FROM BOATERS WHO WANT TO EXPLORE. La Conner, Wash., sits about an hour north of Seattle, nestled amid Fidalgo Island’s tulip fields and across the Swinomish Channel from the Swinomish Reservation. This boatbuilding hub with stunning views of Mount Baker has been home to American Tug for a quarter century. Even after a recent expansion, the builder’s order book runneth over. Seven boats were finished in 2023, with another 10 poised to launch this year. The yard has around 33 employees with aspirations for 45 to 48 skilled workers. “This is a good old-fashioned American success story,” says American Tug General Manager Troy Olason. “There’s something very simple and wonderful about that.” President and co-founder Kurt Dilworth says the…

The Dutch yard Van der Valk describes its latest launch as a “pocket explorer.” At 77 feet, Felis is smaller than the builder’s typical displacement designs, but it has all the bona fides of a long-range cruising yacht: a steel hull and aluminum superstructure; a full-displacement, round-bilge, bulbous-bow hull design; and substantial fuel and water capacity. With commercially rated 500-hp MAN diesels, Felis has transatlantic capability at 8 knots. For regular cruising, any speed up to 11 knots will be economical on this waterline length. At 10 knots, she burns 15.8 gallons of fuel an hour for a range of around 2,000 nautical miles. She maxes out at 13 knots. She is built to go places somewhat less hospitable than Cannes, France, where I got on board during the autumn…

In comparison to the topsides, where everything is visible, thebilges can be a mystical world chock-full of equipment, hoses, wiring and other ancillary items. Boat owners who rarely inspect the bilge areas are often surprised when they need to go below to do a repair. The bilge is among the more important areas aboard any boat. It’s worthy of regular inspections and routine care. Here’s a list to make sure every visit below is time well spent. Let’s start with offensive smells. Stubborn odors that invade the cabin are often rooted to sour water that’s outboard of the engine and hull stringers in the bilge. If you can’t see everything outboard, tape a small mirror to a scrub brush handle for a better look. Many times, puddles originate from spray…

To say that Bob Giles enjoys cruising is an understatement. Ask him where he’s cruised aboard his Nordhavn 96, VivieRae, and he’ll list countries and islands representing nearly every letter of the alphabet. There’s Australia, the Bahamas, Bali, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Fiji, the Maldives, Panama, Tahiti, Thailand, Vanuatu and of course the United States—for starters. Amid the familiar names are unusual places like Mexico’s Revillagigedo Islands, which have the greatest concentration of tropical marine megafauna (think manta rays, hammerhead sharks and whale sharks) in North America. Considering that Giles took delivery of VivieRae in 2017, the breadth of cruising is astounding. More astounding is that the yacht covered 21,000 nautical miles in just her first year. From being the guest of remote villagers at kava ceremonies to diving famous battleship…

Several things conspired, like a perfect storm, to set me off. The first seemed innocuous enough: I rented a car at a far-away airport. No problem, except I couldn’t start it. “The key’s in the car,” the rental staffer said, pointing me to stall D-14. All I found was a circular clicker-ish gadget with more buttons than my TV remote. I then tried to depart in a cockpit with more switches and dials than a supersonic Concorde—a far cry from my big, black, 20-year-old SUV. I flagged down one of the rental people, and it was clear I wasn’t the first to ask. “Put the clicker near the dash, put your foot on the brake, and push that button on the dash,” he said. Va-room. Next, I considered all the…