Boat Maintenance

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.

We recently purchased a Webasto Airtop 3900 do-it-yourself (DIY) kit from Defender Industries. The instructions were very comprehensive, and the installation and product work exactly as they should, which typically would lead me to recommend this as a great DIY product. The issue, however, came when we tried to register the product for warranty.

Just wanted to give a big two thumbs-up to Taylor Made Products (www.taylormadeproducts.com). I had purchased a large-diameter buoy online, and the vendor twice sent me one with a small hole. After the second attempt, I was told I could only get a refund. After a quick call to Taylor Made and a pleasant conversation with Amanda in their customer service department, a replacement was at my house quicker than the original order had been delivered. What had become a frustrating ordeal (large buoys not that easy to repack and return) became one of those increasingly rare moments of satisfaction from a company that really wants to build and sell a great product. Quality is worth the price.

Fueling a boat has never been as easy as fueling a car. Spills-exacerbated by poorly designed fill pipes and vents-are common. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has updated the fill and vent requirements on boats to prevent these spills, but they only apply to new gasoline-powered boats. New jerry cans designed to prevent spills and comply with new emission standards arent making things easier. Most are hard to control and slow during filling, spill prone, and break after limited use.

Looking for gift ideas for the sailors on your holiday gift list (or to add to your wishlist)? Here are some that will please a variety of budgets and sailors.

[IMGCAP(1)] If you have a sailing-photography enthusiast on your holiday gift list-or are like us, and simply enjoy the pleasure of poring over beautiful photographs of the sailing life-then check out these stunning coffee-table books that recently came across our desks. Yachting: A Visual Celebration of Sailing Past and Present (Adlard Coles, 2015, $23), written by Olivier Le Carrer, and Nic Comptons The Anatomy of Sail: The Yacht Dissected and Explained (Adlard Coles, 2015, $39, $20 Kindle)…

Weve noticed an odor and a buildup of caked-on solids in the holding tank. My thought is to fill the holding tank with fresh water and the right additive, then let that slosh around underway, and then pump it out. What do you suggest for an additive?

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.