Safety & Seamanship

Aqua Signal Corp. (www.aquasignal.info) recently recalled a small number of its popular Series 40 bi-color navigation lights. The recalled lights, manufactured between November 2010 and February 2011, were made with the colored lenses reversed—with the red lens on the starboard side and the green lens on the port side.

Practical Sailor tested a prototype of Greatland Laser's Green Rescue Laser a few years ago, and we took the opportunity to check out a production model for this report on the visual distress signals. The Green Rescue Laser flare looks like a mini-Maglite with anodized aluminum bodies, measuring less than 5 inches long and 7/8 inches in diameter, and weighing 3.3 ounces. In tests, the green laser's exceptionally brilliant light proved to be visible from greater distances than red laser flares, flashlights, and strobe lights; its signaling capability lasts hours rather than the minutes of pyrotechnic flares; and its green light is easier to spot against a cityscape than a white flashlight. Waterproof to 80 feet, the Rescue Laser is compact and can be reused, doesn’t expire, and can be carried through airport security. While it would be a good addition to a ditch bag or foul-weather gear, it's not a replacement for aerial flares, in our opinion, and its $250 price tag is a hard pill to swallow.

Every two years, some 150 offshore sailboats line up in Newport, RI, to race roughly 650 miles to Bermuda, a semi-tropical island in the western Atlantic, almost due east of Charleston, SC. While this is a relatively short ocean passage, it is not always an easy one. Boats have met serious gale conditions and dodged hurricanes during past editions of this race.

Sometimes, it seems that safety is a dirty word in the boat-building industry. A favorite marketing catchword is “blue water cruiser.” We assume this means a boat capable of going to sea, rather than a boat designed to tiptoe along the shore.

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.

Of course, everything on a boat is a compromise, and so it is with propane. It has two nasty traits that must be dealt with: Propane is heavier than air, which allows the gas to collect in the bilge in the event of a leak; and propane is explosive when it collects in such places.

Every year, a surprising number of boats are struck by lightning. Almost invariably, there is some damage to the boat or its equipment. The damage can range from minor electrical problems to serious hull damage.

For the boat owner customizing his boat, the choice of wood to use in a project can be as interesting as the design or execution of the job. Because of the overwhelming use of teak and mahogany in boatbuilding today, this opportunity to select a different wood is often overlooked.

Installing a lightning protection system is not a particularly simple task, however. ABYC standard E-4 gives four pages of instructions on the installation of lightning protection. Even with the Dynarod kit, you have to provide all the connections to create a short, direct path to ground. You must also, by the ABYC standard, tie all major metal masses in the boat - engine, tanks, stoves, for example - to the lightning protection system.

Avon is offering a new 10-year warranty on their line of inflatable boats. “We’ve had less than 1% return on our former warranty for defects and deterioration of material” states Avon West’s General Manager, Dave Geoffrey, “that’s why we feel confident in extending the warranty to 10 years.”