Boat Maintenance

While repairing a 50-gallon water tank on my 1995 Mason, I broke the Hart Systems Tank Tender penetration tube. Since this is such a small-priced item but does so much to help with monitoring tank contents, I sent an email to Hart Systems (www.hartsystems.com) asking for help in obtaining the very small part.

Your tape test (PS, October 2013) did not include 3M 256, but I thought Id pass on a lesson learned to your readers. Having recently completed painting my deck, for the first time in 37 years, I encountered an unforeseen problem.

The place PS call home is an office building and workshop in Sarasota, Fla., where weve been based since 2005. However, most of our tests take place where our testers live-from Marblehead, Mass., to Sydney, Australia. For this months water heater test, Technical Editor Ralph Naranjos basement in Annapolis, Md., resembled the boiler-strewn lot in Steinbecks Cannery Row. For our sanitation tests, tester Drew Fryes Virginia backyard became the battlefield in a war against boat odors.

Its been 12 months since testers mounted the 12 nonskid test panels on the roof, subjecting them to south Floridas semi-tropical weather around the clock, without any cleaning. The test field included the big names in marine maintenance products-AkzoNobel (Interlux and Awlgrip), Pettit, West Marine, and Epifanes-as well as companies specializing in nonskid paint, Pachena (KiwiGrip) and Durabak, and three that make nonskid mats, SeaDek, Tiflex, and Soft Deck. With the service life of nonskid paints and mats ranging from three years to a decade or more, we didnt expect to see much change in the test panels, but there were a few surprises.

Revamping a nonskid deck is not a project most boat owners look forward to doing. Here are a few tips to help you get more mileage out of those arduous nonskid restorations.

As we've learned from past test, there's no chemistry in a bottle that is going to keep mildew at bay like desiccants or dehumidifiers (PS, June 2013). But there are easy to use products, including two inexpensive home-made formulas, that can help keep a boat as fresh as your home.For this report, we tested 13 liquid sprays, gels, and solids formulated to fight mildew, remove mildew stains, and keep crew noses happy. The test field included the experimental Goldshield GS 5, 3M's Marine Mildew Block, Forespar's tea tree oil spray and gel, Henkle Chemical's Renuzit, Siamons Concrobium, Damp Rid Odor Genie, Pur-A-Fy Air gel, and two homemade concoctions based on Borax and TSP.

Our boat came with an Iota battery charger installed. The cooling fan started squealing three years after we bought the boat, but theres no telling how old the charger was. Iotas website (www.iotaengineering.com) has photos and emails for the company president, vice president, sales, and tech-support people. Thats fantastic compared to other companies in the marine industry where its like pulling teeth to reach anyone. And they sent me a replacement fan-no charge, no shipping cost.

Over the past five years, in our search for the best bottom paints, weve reported on three sets of bottom paint test panels that have been in salt water for two years or more. Most panel sets contained the same roster of 60 to 70 antifouling paints from Blue Water Paints, Epaint, Interlux, Pettit, Sea Hawk, and other makers. In the end, only seven antifouling paints proved capable of combatting barnacles after 24 months. We consider these to be the most reliable bottom paints available for the cruising sailor.

Most sailors have discovered that when it comes to applying marine coatings, the type of masking tape used is as important as the type of paintbrush if you want clean edges. But what is the best tape to use for boat varnish projects, or bottom paint application? Testers compared eight of industry leader 3Ms general masking and specialty tapes to find out.

Practical Sailor editors waded through the dozens and dozens of test products of the previous year to pick the best of the best. Only 17 earned the 2013 Editors Choice designation, a special recognition for products that clearly stood out among their peers during our independent tests as the best in their category and whose performance earned PS editors confidence. This years top gear included a slew of marine electronics, onboard systems, and deck hardware products.