Boat Maintenance

I have taken courses (most recently with Jeff Isaac, organized by Ocean Navigator) on offshore emergency medical issues, and there are many who believe that suturing on board is generally not wise. Its much better to butterfly bandage or some other less zip-locked method of repair. The thinking appears to be that it is impossible to have a sterile environment on a vessel, so the bad stuff is likely to get locked into the wound, where it will cause infection. So, its much better to have a more open repair.

Reader Fred Jensen and his wife, Barbara, of Sandusky, Ohio, pointed out an error in our illustration in the August 2015 issue of Practical Sailor. The photo-illustration depicted a bow-roller and headstay, and lines indicated wire stays with turnbuckles that were required to counter the headstay loads when the boat is under sail. It was the published answer to a puzzle that rigger Brion Toss posted in the May 2015 issue of Practical Sailor in his photo-essay The Hidden Causes of Rig Failure. The corrected illustration appears at right.

Spend some time around sailmakers who specialize in building sails for offshore sailors, and youll hear a familiar lament: If you do your job right, you might not ever see your customers again. This is particularly true if their clientele are sailors who are bound on oceanic loops, circumnavigations, or open-ended cruises.

Practical Sailor has made its mark by diving deep into the boat owners rite of bottom painting. Over the years, we have slaved away, painting fiberglass samples with a multitude of formulations and placing them in harms way in various locations to gauge their performance. Weve come away with some strong ideas about what works and what doesn't for the do-it-yourselfer-and that includes the myriad ways boat owners can remove layers of bottom paint so they can start afresh.

Practical Sailor has been conducting antifouling paint trials for years, but our focus almost exclusively has been on those paints that can be bought off-the-shelf at U.S retailers or are widely available in U.S. boatyards. Nevertheless, we often receive email questions from sailors abroad regarding antifouling paints sold in other countries. A number of readers have also have asked us about certain paints that are generally used only on commercial ships. These commercial paints can sometimes be procured at shipyards in major ports both in the U.S. and abroad.

On the recommendation of Practical Sailors water filter test (see PS June 2015), I bought a two pack of Camcos RV Taste Pure water filters through Amazon after finding sediment in my water tank. One of the filters dumped 1/8-cup of the carbon/KDF granuals all over when I took the protective cover off the filter, and it continued to shed the media when I shook the filter. If I had connected the filter to my water supply, it would have contaminated my water system and probably ruined my water pump. Only one of the two filters is dumping carbon/KDF material, so I assumed that this is a product defect.

Weve tested Bebi Electronics lights in the past (PS May 2010) and recently mentioned the companys photo-sensitive Beka anchor light in our report on do-it-yourself onboard security projects (PS August 2015). However, we recently learned that the Fiji-based, sailor-owned and -operated business has closed its doors. According to Bebis website, www.bebi-electronics.com, the company reluctantly went out of business because of mounting political problems in Fiji that put the owners safety at risk.

The tiller on Tosca was a rough-hewn piece of sawn ash-tough and springy. Where it fit in your hand, it was about as big around as a teacup. Tosca, our William Atkin ketch, was built in 1937, and I liked to believe that the tiller was the last piece of timber the builder had shaped, a piece of wood carefully selected from a tree he had known as a boy, endowed with hidden magic.

Each fall, Practical Sailor editors sort through the best test products of the past year to pick those deserving of a spot on our PS Editors Choice roster. To be named to the list, products must earn the Best Choice rating among their respective peers and clearly stand out above others in their field.

Our Editors Choice roster would not be complete without the top performers in our semiannual bottom paints tests (PS October 2014 and April 2015). The most recent test looked at 55 different paints from Blue Water Paints, Interlux, Epaint, Pettit, and Sea Hawk. This years hard paint standouts were Interluxs Micron Extra with Biolux and West Marines Bottomshield. Made by Pettit, the West Marine-branded PCA Gold was the top ablative paint. Micron Extra and PCA Gold tied for best performance of the bunch.