Boat Maintenance

There are simply too many white lights in and around a municipal anchorage. A required white anchor light must have 360-degree visibility. But a white light at the tip of a mast can get lost in the stars or a background of city lights, making it a poor marker for a sailboat 60 feet below. Also, a light in the sky is not in the normal plane of view of other small vessels maneuvering in an anchorage. An additional white light on a stern arch is a better marker, but it also can become camouflaged by city lights onshore and will be obscured, by a small degree, by the mast. But Inland and International Rules state in part no other lights shall be exhibited, except such lights as cannot be mistaken for the lights specified in the Rules, which makes the growing use of LED flashing blue or white lights and non-flashing red, green, and pink lights illegal to use as anchor or on-deck lights. Such lights are easily confused for lighted buoys, channel markers, lighthouses, or police boats.

While new finishes-paint, epoxy, or varnish-may be beautiful to look at, they are also as slick as can be when a little seawater hits the surface. You can cover your handiwork with nonskid tape; slather on a coat of bland nonskid paint; try one of the nonskid paint additives like crushed walnut shells (favored by PS Technical Editor Ralph Naranjo); or you can try an easy, age-old method that PS tester Drew Frye favors: salted varnish (or paint).

Over the years, weve stressed the importance of keeping a close eye on stainless-steel sailboat hardware and why pitting, crevice-corrosion, and galvanic action are the enemies. But we may have downplayed the need to be aware of how plain old ferrous-metal oxidation comes into the picture. Mild steel and high-carbon steel are even more prone to corrosion, and despite the fact that the oxidation is far easier to spot on these metals, this ticking timebomb somehow gets ignored.

January is the high season for armchair sailing, and Practical Sailor editors have selected 10 books to help you navigate the winter storms of time.

Mustang Survival recently issued an urgent safety recall of several inflatable PFD models with fluorescent green bladders. In the U.S., those models are the MD3183, MD3184, and MD3188; in Canada, they are the MD3153, MD3154, and MD3157. Note that the recall is only for those models with fluorescent green bladders that were manufactured between September 2014 and September 2015.

Teak offers many advantages that make it a great decking choice. Compared to other woods, metal, and fiberglass, teak is a good non-slip surface and is very durable thanks to its resistance to rust, rot, mildew, and UV damage. Its also fairly low maintenance; if left to turn silver, a regular rinse with clean seawater is all it needs as the salt and minerals help hold in moisture.

For this comparison of synthetic teak options, our first concern was ease of installation. The manufacturer typically carries out the hardest part-welding the panels together to achieve the correct dimensions. The ease of gluing our test panels to a simulated fiberglass deck was similar for all five test products. The difficulty of your own project will depend on how much work the manufacturer does in terms of measuring, assembling, and fitting the panels.

The holidays are upon us, and for those who are still working on a holiday gift list, here are a few ideas for fun, practical, and nautical stocking stuffers.

I cannot eliminate the smell of diesel fuel from my boat. The previous owner had a fuel leak that soaked the wood under the fuel tank. The tank has since been fixed, but the odor remains. Any advice?

Vanderbilt University is offering a free online course in celestial navigation fundamentals. The course-developed in collaboration with PS Technical Editor Ralph Naranjo, made possible by the Blended & Online Learning Design (BOLD) Fellows Program, and hosted by Vanderbilt-covers the basics for completing a sight reduction form to obtain a line of position (LOP). Using videos and an online worksheet, the course includes an overview of celestial navigation (astronav) concepts, the mechanics of plotting an LOP, and examples of using a sight reduction forms to obtain values to plot the LOP of a celestial body. According to Vanderbilt, this course serves to address the lack of widely available instruction in celestial navigation.