Mailport & PS Advisor

As a (long term and digital) subscriber I find your articles extremely valuable, but most of all the bottom paint evaluations. I live in Punta Gorda, 50 miles to your south and have to do a bottom job in the next two months. Any recent observations/suggestions on a good ablative that for the coast of Southwest Florida?

Im a marine installer and weve come across another boat with a radio-frequency (RF) issue coming from a Frigoboat refrigeration system. The boat started with two Danfoss compressors and when one was replaced recently, the SSB whines when the new compressor is running. Weve run though the normal RF isolation procedures, but havent had too much luck yet. It seems like RF leakage might be a good topic to explore. What really works to solve it? What installation procedures are necessary?

I am in the process of having my boatyard install 250 feet of anchor chain and new anchor shackles. Seeing a top star rating on the Peerless Peer-lift blue pin shackles. I told my boatyard to order and install two of them only to read in the December issue that you had just finished testing the Peerless Peer-lift shackles and no longer recommend them. Whats up?

As I was doing research, I was looking at potentially installing a household Honeywell dehumidifier in a 58-foot wooden boat (vented from outside) while connected to shore power, for use in New England where temps this weekend dropped into the 20s F. The water outside obviously is colder than the inside air and the outside air is freezing. However, the boat is well designed with good ventilation and two stoves to keep the cabin warm. The builder, a wise sea captain, told me he would not install a dehumidifier in a wooden boat. In a fiberglass boat, yes, because they sweat and start to smell of unpleasant things. This is a wooden boat, but Im not sure ventilation alone will be effective. My concern that the dehumidifier would dry the oak planks out and possibly open up the seams. If the boat was in San Francisco Bay, I would not be so concerned, but the cold New England temperatures are a worry.

I am a relative novice to sailing, and my new-ish boyfriend is thinking about bringing his boat to Lake Superior, Mich. Hes one of those sailors who needs the best of everything, and he hopes to race, with me as crew. He asked me to inquire with the local racers what bottom paint they used, but there seemed to be no real agreement. Some use no paint at all. Does he even need any bottom paint?

In regard to your December 2016 review of the Vesper AIS products: Weve used the Vesper XB-8000 for some time now with exceptional results. Be aware, though, that if you are using a masthead antenna with LED navigation lights, such as a masthead tricolor, it can create electrical noise that can reduce the effectiveness of the AIS send/receive capabilities. We had this happen using an Imtra LED masthead light. When we switched back to a standard incandescent bulb, the problem disappeared. Vespers technical support was extremely helpful in diagnosing this, and the XB-8000 even has a built-in display showing signal noise to verify this.

Choosing a properly sized, high-quality shackle is important, but its also essential to be familiar with proper use. The typical anchor shackle is a galvanized bow shackle, with the bow (not the pin) passing through the oversized slot in the anchor shank. In some cases, a D shackle is used, but only when there is no slot in the shank. Examples of slot-less anchors include the CQR, Guardian, and the Manson Ray.

In regard to your article on mold release agents in the September 2016 issue: We often have small epoxy repairs that require mold release, and weve found that box tape works well to help release the molds. For example, the interior wood surrounding our Perko ports became wet and rotted, so we removed the wood and created clear box-tape molds/release surfaces to replace the removed wood. Box tape, neither the shiny or adhesive surface, does not stick to epoxy. Once cured, the tape is easily removed, leaving a smooth surface. Sometimes, the clear tape alone creates an adequate mold. In other situations where the tape deflects, it is easy to back up the box tape with clamped wood to prevent deflection. The box tape has not been tested with radical cure systems, though they are usually less adhesive than epoxy.

Have you done any research on the best means of cleaning an aluminum mast? Im having other work done to mine and thought it would be a good time for a cleaning.

Harkens shackles are not intended for securing to any part of an anchor rode or to an anchor. We are adamant that stainless-steel shackles are not to be used for this purpose and ask that you do not include the Harken name in anchor-shackle articles.