Belowdecks & Amenities

We compared four popular, portable coffee-making methods in search of the best java-brewing method for the galley. The test evaluated French presses, percolators, drip-cone coffeemakers, and various instant coffees. Testers tried out a handful of products using each method, including the BonJour, Nissan Thermos, and Bodum French presses, as well as the Aerobie AeroPress, the Melitta Perfect Brew, the Clever Dripper, Bialetti Moka Express, and the Farberware Yosemite and Medelco stovetop percolators.

Through lab tests and years of field testing, weve found that silica-gel vent filters reduce tank corrosion and improve gasoline stability. But is the same true for diesel fuel and tanks? Thats what this test sought to find out. Testers put two silica-gel diesel tank vent filters through their paces: Pindell Engineerings AVD2 (for tanks up to 60 gallons) and AVD3 (for tanks up to 200 gallons). The results were compared to setups with a free vent and those with a sealed tank.

The Coast Guard and the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) have worked together to develop general installation guidelines for the carbon canisters required under the EPA's evaporative emission regulations. While the standards (AYBC H-24) don't specifically apply to the H2Out AVD unit when installed in diesel fuel systems, they represent good basic commonsense and should be followed with any fuel tank vent adsorbent product. We have added a few tips and precautions learned during our testing.

Dont look to tank vent filters and fuel additives to solve real fuel-system problems. They are only ancillaries to regular fuel system-management and maintenance, improving reliability even further. Here are some fuel-system management best practices that we recommend.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Yacht and Boat Council (AYBC) are requiring devices that prevent foam and splash during fueling and operation from reaching the carbon canister. If sea water did reach the fuel filter, it could destroy filter effectiveness and compromise venting capacity.

Do aftermarket smart controls really improve your fridge compressors efficiency? In this update to our marine refrigeration tests (PS, April and June 2009), we review Isotherms new automatic Smart Energy Controller (SEC) and take a look at trends in marine refrigeration.

Gross-tasting water is too often a sad fact of life aboard many sailboats. Even after correcting issues such as algae-filled, blackened hoses, daysailors and weekend cruisers simply don't have the water tank turnover that full-time cruisers do, and the result is often stale, gnarly tasting water. One simple way to help transform the Hells broth of foul H2O spewing from your faucet into the maritime equivalent of a pure mountain stream is by adding a water filter or purifier to your freshwater system.

We filled our water tanks (40 and 72 gallons) in May, and now the water is brackish, brown. Have you done a study on purifying water or tanks? Bleach is one remedy, but I wondered whether PS has ever done an article on this subject?

I remember where and when we gave up. Eleuthera. Summer. A day of vision-blurring, morale-melting heat. Toscas crew hid under a slice of shade in the cockpit. Puddles of sweat at our feet. No one wanted to move, but the last cube in the ice box had turned to water. Something needed to be done. I set out in the dinghy for the nearest store, one mile up a dusty road.

A photographer friend stumbled upon this photo of my wife, Theresa, from our cruising days. It was taken in Fiji around 1995. She doesn't usually look this serious; it probably had something to do with having two guests on board a cramped 32-foot Atkin ketch for a couple of weeks. I thought the image illustrated well something that Ive been thinking about lately: the value of resourcefulness while cruising. This notion of the self-sufficient sailor came to mind most recently while watching the movie trailer for All is Lost, in which a single-handed sailor (played by Robert Redford) tries to keep his beloved Cal 29 afloat.