Mailport & PS Advisor

I read the September 2015 article about algae control and thought the Clorox Pool and Spa Algae Eliminator would be just the thing to clean an old North Norlam sail (Mylar/polyester laminate) that came with my boat and is very discolored with mold. I used a two-gallon pump sprayer and soaked both sides of the sail with the articles suggested 2-percent solution. I noted that the bottle did not make as much solution as I expected; I determined that the posted dilution was incorrect. It should actually have been 0.2 percent, which PS later confirmed.

In regard to your article on freeing seized hardware (see PS January 2016 online), Ive found Kano Kroil (www.kanolabs.com) to be very effective, and I keep it on the boat. In a Practical Machinist website post (www.practicalmachinist.com) on penetrating oils, Kroil was reportedly the second best solution, after a homebrew mix of automatic transmission fluid (ATF) and acetone. Theres also a good discussion on penetrating oils in the Cruisers Forum (www.cruisersforum.com) titled Penetrating oil for old bolts/studs on exhaust manifold. I recommend readers interested in penetrating oils also check these out.

I want to build a stainless-steel water-lift muffler for my boat. The muffler will have a 2-inch inlet/outlet for a 15-horsepower OMC saildrive. What should the distance be from the bottom inside floor to the bottom of the outlet exhaust pipe?

In response to your December 2015 article on fuel overfill prevention devices: After my own frustrating experiences with fuel spills when using jerry cans at sea and at anchor, I have been using a shaker siphon for several years. However, the handling of the siphon afterwards always resulted in some dripping, and the twistiness of the tubing added to the problem.

Our recent report on synthetic-teak decking options (see PS December 2015) raised a bit of a ruckus among the contenders in what is an extremely competitive market. The main bone of contention was our reported temperatures of the various materials after they were left in the sun. Several manufacturers reported that the temperatures we listed in the table accompanying the article were not consistent with their own findings.

There are VHFs on the market that use Bluetooth to pair with compatible headsets, but we don't know whether they use the same Bluetooth protocol as the Oticon streaming device that you have. A call to Oticon likely would confirm. The only Bluetooth-ready VHFs weve come across are the Standard Horizons fixed-mount Quantum GX5500S (PS Best Choice, October 2009) and its HX760S handheld (PS July 2009), which has been discontinued.

In regard to PSs marine sanitation hose test report (PS April 2012): One of the issues we have run into is winterization. Several hose manufacturers state that their hose is not resistant to glycol-based antifreeze, which is what most winterization fluids use to depress the freezing point. After we ended up with a really bad stink, we read up on the hose manufacturers website and realized that our hose was not compatible with the fluid we had used. (This actually caused me to renew my subscription to Practical Sailor.) It would be good for your next articles Value Guide to include a column on winterization compatibility.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) recently released a safety alert regarding unapproved recreational and commercial vessel navigation lights, and they also issued a reminder that using some decorative lighting onboard (rope lighting, underwater lighting, etc.) may be a violation of the Nautical Rules of the Road.

Mustang Survival recently issued an urgent safety recall of several inflatable PFD models with fluorescent green bladders. In the U.S., those models are the MD3183, MD3184, and MD3188; in Canada, they are the MD3153, MD3154, and MD3157. Note that the recall is only for those models with fluorescent green bladders that were manufactured between September 2014 and September 2015.

I cannot eliminate the smell of diesel fuel from my boat. The previous owner had a fuel leak that soaked the wood under the fuel tank. The tank has since been fixed, but the odor remains. Any advice?