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April 2010 
What is the Best Backup for a 406 EPIRB?Maritime search and rescue missions prompted by distress alerts from emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) have topped 6,000, and that number continues to grow. Although Practical Sailor recommends having a GPS-equipped 406-MHz EPIRB (GPIRB) on board, two means of satellite signaling for help is definitely better than one, and a few hundred dollars invested in a secondary tracker or beacon is worth it. In this article, we examine supplemental emergency signaling and tracking devices, including government-supported systems such as the ACR AquaLink Personal Locator Beacon, and private-network systems such as SAT phones and The Spot Messenger. Keep Birds Away from Your Boat and Dock Practical Sailor tested a bevy of bird repellents to determine which are the most effective in keeping the pelicans, pigeons, cormorants, gulls, and other fowl from fouling your boat. Bird repellents fit into four basic categories: acoustical repellents, visual repellents, biochemical repellents, and those that use physical exclusion. Sailboats most commonly use visual devices, which are the easiest and most economical to use and install on boats. We installed a sampling of the various types and monitored them for six months. The test products included: Bird Barrier’s Scare Eye, Bird-X’s Terror Eyes, Bird X’s Prowler Owl, Bird-X’s Irri-Tape, Bird Barrier’s Polly-Spike, Bird Barrier’s Bird-Flight, Fly Bye’s Stainless Steel Wide Spike, Fly Bye’s Bird Umbrella, Bird Barrier’s Daddi Long Legs, Bird-B-Gone’s Bird Spider, Birdoff’s Bird Off, WhirlyBird Repeller, Gull Sweep, and Bird-B-Gone’s Bird Deterrent. The Top 4 Drink Holders for Your Boat We’ve spilled our share of drinks on board, and while it’s a shame to see a fresh drink go to waste, some beverages can stain cushions and decks. Drink holders can help minimize onboard spills, but there are a million types marketed to boat owners—from basic lifeline-mounted wire baskets to expensive Starboard or teak binnacle boxes. To find out which is most effective, Practical Sailor field-tested a sampling from several manufacturers. Three of the 10 test products were of the old-style, gimbaled wire-basket variety that hang from a lifeline: the Sail-Buoy, the Sail-a-long, and one from Snap-It. From Edson and Snap-It, we evaluated rail- or pulpit-mountable holders made of stainless and Starboard (high-density polyethylene) and three binnacle-mounted products that can accommodate multiple drinks. The two products we tested designed to mount on vertical surfaces like a bulkhead were the Sea-Fit and the Bar-buoy. Testing Navigation Applications for the iPhone After testing navigation applications for Windows-based smartphones and PDAs, Practical Sailor focuses on three apps available for the iPhone. iNavx, Memory-Map, and Navionics can each be downloaded for a reasonable price and used as backup to primary navigational aids such as a chartplotter or handheld GPS. Cellphone-based programs are not recommended as a standalone approach to navigation, but the iPhone apps are a great way to investigate, plan routes, and set and send waypoints at a very low cost for cartography. Details Distinguish the Best Wi-Fi Antenna for a Sailboat Practical Sailor looked at three Wi-Fi antennas suggested by readers: the Bad Boy Xtreme from Bitstorm, Rogue Wave’s Wave Wi-Fi from GeoSat Solutions, and The Wirie, developed by cruising couple Mark Kilty and Liesbet Collaert. All three are marketed specifically to boaters, and they represent the two principal types of devices that users will find: USB-type units that plug into computer or laptop USB ports and Power over Ethernet (PoE) “bridges” that network via your computer’s Ethernet port to provide a pathway to the Internet. Weather Radar for Windows Phones We know the drill now. If we feature a Mac product, we have to appease the PC crowd, and vice versa. Otherwise, the earth spins off its axis and our inbox starts smoking. So while the iPhone crowd gets their fill with our review of navigation apps (page 24), here’s a morsel for readers using Windows Mobile devices. After testing several navigation programs for Windows Mobile handhelds in December 2009, we had the opportunity to evaluate Memory-Map’s Weather Radar for Windows Mobile cellphones. K2r Works on Canvas, Carpet, and Teak As all boatowners know, spills and stains are inevitable, particularly when you count children among your crew. Our heavily trafficked teak cabin soles and fabric-covered settees have seen their fair share of misfortune, so we keep our ears open for any recommended stain removers. A recent hunt for a product to clean stains from teak led us to K2r SpotLifter, which came highly recommended by Teak Decking Systems’ Jeff Scott. TruPlug is a Handy Emergency-kit Tool Spring is here, and that means it’s time for systems and safety checks. Among the items that should be on your to-do list are checking your seacocks and making sure essential safety gear is on board. For us, that has always included keeping an inventory of soft wood thru-hull plugs for plumbing emergencies, but this year, we decided to also add a few of Forespar’s new closed-cell foam TruPlugs. Trailer Helper The concept behind Quality Mark Inc.’s Launch Alert is simple: A 12-volt DC wireless receiver/alarm plugs into a cigarette lighter outlet in the towing vehicle, and a waterproof, battery-operated transmitter/sensor mounts on the trailer. To install, you attach the transmitter (using a very sticky peel-and-stick backing) to the trailer frame so that its sensors are at your desired "waterline." When the contacts are immersed, the receiver in the vehicle beeps loudly. |
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