Boat Maintenance

Beyond the text and photos contained in a sailboat manufacturing company’s brochures, and the words of a dealer or salesperson, and absent an understanding of yacht design, discerning the actual capabilities of today’s production boats is a major task. Gone are the days of Herreschoff et. al., when the conventional wisdom held that a long, deep keel was the best method of producing good tracking, displacement produced a seakindly ride, and performance (straightforward speed) was a simple matter of adding sail area. Prior to the age of fiberglass, most yachts used similar raw materials (wood and metal), and construction methods, so those variables were not generally a consideration.

Fender boards are practically a necessity when lying along side pilings. They are designed to ride outboard of two fenders, protecting a larger section of the topsides than the two fenders could provide alone.

On my 40’ wood boat Daybreak I had a stuffing box problem. The gland leaked worse and worse, especially when motoring. It is very inaccessible, and could not be further tightened. The stuffing box needed to be repacked, but this couldn’t be done without major effort because of insufficient space between the gland and the shaft coupling at the transmission. The Lasdrop shaft seal looked like it might solve several problems at the same time.

On most trailerable boats, when the mast is stowed for travel it is lashed to the bow pulpit and stern rail with no support at all in the middle.

While permeation of waste gases through flexible sanitation hose is a major source of odors in the head, it is not the only one. This article looks at the possible sources one by one.

Winterizing an inboard engine installation means a lot more than filling the cooling system with antifreeze and stuffing a rag in the exhaust outlet. It means taking care of the exhaust system, the fuel system, the engine controls, and other components of the drive train, such as the shaft and prop. If you want to do these things yourself none of them is difficult, only time consuming plan on a long day of work, or perhaps a leisurely weekend.

The largest fasteners in any sailboat with outside ballast are likely to be the bolts holding the ballast keel to the hull. As a rule, designers specify keelbolts by a tremendous factor, on the order of ten to one or more. Nevertheless, this safety margin does not guarantee eternal life for keelbolts. Corrosion takes its toll, sometimes more quickly than you might think.

For the last decade or so, the majority of all production boats built in the U.S. have been trimmed above and belowdecks with teak. Teak makes abundant sense on deck. With resistance to weathering as its primary virtue, however, teak makes less sense for use as trim below.

Due to the litigious environment in today’s society, I feel compelled to advise that fuel tanks used in boats-especially those used to store gasoline or alcohol-based fuels-be built by persons or firms specializing in the manufacture of marine tanks.

Alot of water has gone over the dam since the days when boats were caulked with cotton, and storm windows were snugged up with putty.