Mailport & PS Advisor

I was pleased to read the Hunter 30 review in the June 2016 issue. Its been nearly 43 years since this boat was introduced, and its still an abiding favorite of mine and of many other Hunter aficionados.

I have an engine sound insulation question. My boat has a 70-horsepower, four-cylinder Westerbeke that is loud. The engine compartment is a small room under the cockpit that is big enough to sit up in. It contains the water heater, autopilot, battery boxes, and shelve, and the bulkheads are covered with filters, pumps, hoses, and wires galore, so its not possible to insulate the walls of the compartment.

I recently inspected our Lifesling MOB rescue device. The webbing beckets that attached the polypropylene float line to the horseshoe float had deteriorated. These straps tore free from the float with only about 40 pounds of pressure. The Lifesling came with our boat, so I don't know how old it is or how it had been stored previously, although I do know it was stored in a translucent, polyethylene hard case for a while. This safety issue deserves a recall, in my opinion, and highlights the need to periodically inspect safety equipment.

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.

The SmartPlug shore-power cord and inlet have been improved since we last tested the system. Upgrades include an enhanced wire-restraint system that uses setscrews and a new mechanical-arm clamp on the connector.

I have read several articles about life-raft inspections, but no article has stated how long a raft should be inflated to check for leaks during inspection. Do you have any idea?

In response to your Mailport article (May 2016) on re-designing the Value Guide tables to be more friendly to color-vision deficient readers: I am red/green color deficient. Color-blind is a misleading term as most of us are not blind to red or green, just deficient in detecting shades of these colors in certain situations. Be aware that there are other colors to which some people are insensitive; red/green is just the most common.

The state of Virginia is requiring that all operators of vessels and personal watercraft that have 10 horsepower or more complete a boating safety education course. Compliance is mandatory for operators of all ages, and will be required after July 1.

Kannad Marine (www.kannadmarine.com), owned by Oriola Limited, has issued a voluntary, global recall of all of its Safelink EPIRBs due to a possible defect that could result in the beacon not operating in emergency situations. The Coast Guard strongly recommends that all owners and users of the Kannad Safelink EPIRBs (manual and automatic models) seek replacement devices as soon as possible and not use the Safelink EPIRB as a primary search-and-rescue beacon.

In your November 2015 article on the best overall gasoline and diesel treatments for storage, you gave recommendations for treating diesel fuel tanks. After reading your article, I am inclined to buy Star Tron Diesel (www.starbrite.com) and add it with the Biobor JF (www.biobor.com) that I already have on hand. But I also have a product made by Power Research Inc. (www.priproducts.com), Pri-D Complete Diesel Treatment, which I got when I had my fuel tanks cleaned at a boatyard. On the Pri-D label, it claims to be a stabilizer, cuts smoke, removes algae and slime, lubricity for ULSD. This was not one of the products PS evaluated. Are you aware of it? Is it any good?