Boat Maintenance

Ive had a bunch of friends troubleshooting battery issues lately. It would be really nice to have a chart that shows the battery voltage at rest and charging voltages for bulk/acceptance/float for lead/acid (flooded cells), gel cells, and AGMs.

Replacing the roller-furling control line is an easy do-it-yourself job for the boat owner. Inexpensive, double-braid Dacron is a fine choice for furling lines on most boats shorter than 40 feet. On longer boats, you can opt for a furling-line material of more esoteric double-braids with less stretch. However, any line smaller than 3/8-inch diameter is too difficult to grip.

In the quest for speed, sailors endlessly debate sail trim, the best cloth, the hottest cut, and which folding prop will do everything. In reality, nothing slows you down more than a dirty bottom, the primary motivation behind Practical Sailors trademark bottom paint trials.

Weve sewn our fair share of eyes in nylon webbing, but heres an easy no-sew alternative for creating a webbing strap with a buckle (shackle) that can be used for easily lashing down the dinghy, a battery, or even holding up your pants in a pinch. It is based on stuff a sailor has on hand-webbing, a chain link, and a shackle-and is as strong as professionally sewn ends, plus it can be untied after loading. It has tested at greater than 85-percent breaking strength and 100 percent of minimum rate strength, and it works on both nylon and ultra-high strength materials like Vectran webbing.

A bottom-paint job is unpleasant from start to finish, and wiping down the hull with acetone plays a role in that unpleasantness. So when a Cinnaminson, N.J., company sent us an acetone alternative called Bio-Solv, we were more than keen to test it. Bio-Solv is a non-toxic, non-flammable cleaner that works better and is safer than acetone, lacquer thinner, or Xylene, according to Anthony Severino of MAS Epoxies, which began selling Bio-Solv last year. The company buys it from a proprietary manufacturer.

I want to be able to tell how discharged my batteries are in order to maintain them properly (not let them discharge below 50 percent of their capacity). Im dealing with deep-discharge batteries ("house" and for trolling motors). Relying on sources such as Nigel Calders books, Im told that the approximate voltages corresponding to 100 percent, 75 percent, 50 percent, 25 percent, and 0 percent of a batterys capacity are 12.65 volts, 12.45 volts, 12.25 volts, 12.1 volts, and 11.9 volts, respectively. However, contradicting those figures, the standard for measuring ampere-hours (Ah) is based on how long it takes a battery, providing a standard flow of current, to drop to 10.5 volts. This would mean that the battery is 1.4 volts lower than when its considered discharged to 0 percent (according to Calder). Whats the difference in meaning between the 11.9 and 10.5 volts?

How do you manage major sail repairs in remote locations? By using whatever you have onboard to get you home—or beyond. After an easy three-day...

Contrary to the popular belief of Floridians, summer in New England does last longer than two weeks. At least two months, sometimes three, which...

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.

Each fall when our test boat Viva is hauled for winter storage, I make a list of things to do before the spring launch....