Do-it-yourself Electrical System Survey and Inspection
So, you’ve finally purchased that new (or new-to-you) boat of your dreams. As with any budding relationship, put this honeymoon period to good use...
Estimating Total Capacity in an Old Battery
Volt meters, ammeters, and bank monitors can all give you part of the story, but only a draw-down test, performed over 6-24 hours will...
Solar Power and Battery Checkup
Batteries and solar panels can be a black box. We can’t see or hear or feel what is going on inside. They’re not complicated...
Mailport: Carl Alberg, Tinned Wire, Fiberglass Durability
HIGH PRAISE FOR CARL ALBERG
Regarding your report “Small-boat Dreams and Carl Alberg’s Classic Daysailers,” my first sailboat, 25 years ago, was a Pearson Electra....
Ensuring Safe Shorepower
Power pedestals are handy and safe when they match the power requirements of the boat. Thirty amps for a 30-amp boat. Fifty amps for...
Reliable Three-way Wire Connections
Connecting two wires is simple; a crimp butt connector using a ratchet crimper, and adhesive lined heat shrink in damp locations, where there is...
Ensuring a Safe Space for Batteries
When charging, lead acid batteries generate hydrogen from the electrolysis of water, and some acid gases, the amount of which vary with the battery...
Extra Anchor Lighting
When summer comes, a dozen or more sparkling white lights will adorn every popular anchorage. Visible from miles away, they promise to provide good...
Watertight Connector Test
Oh, for a good standardized 12- volt electrical connector. I’ve never had a boat without multiple connector failures, and most of them involved proprietary...
Preventing Electric Shock at the Dock
The human body runs on electricity and if you overload the nervous system with an external field, everything goes haywire. Every year several people...
The Great Loop – The Basics
Join us this week as we discuss taking a sailboat around North America's great boating adventure - The Great Loop. We discuss advice from...
