Systems & Propulsion

Practical Sailor offers the annual selection of Editors Choice products for the Gear of the Year 2010 lineup. We hope the list will guide you through the dizzying array of gear at the fall boat shows, or at least help you whittle down your wishlist for Santa. The roster covers a broad spectrum of products-from gadgets for measuring speed to a performance multihull built for speed-that have bested their peers in our tests. The lineup includes gear from Spinlock, Brion Toss, Lopolight, Selden Mast, DuBarry, Keen, Standard Horizon, and Mastervolt. It covers LED navigation lights, bosun chairs, footwear for sailors, and marine electronics. Boat maintenance products from Polymarine and Interlux also made the list.

Letters to Practical Sailor from our readers. September 2010's topics include barnacles, teak finish, knots for a bosun chair and LEDs.

Yamaha recently updated two of its portable outboard engines, the F-series four-horsepower outboard and 6-horsepower engine. We reviewed the original F4 and F6 in 2003. Both updated designs use an 8.5-cubic-inch engine block and both weigh 60 pounds, which marks a weight loss for the F6 but an increase for the F4. Both also have improved stowage capacity and demonstrated solid performance. The report compares the new outboards to the 55-pound Suzuki DF4, the top contender in Practical Sailors 2003 Outboard Engine test.

Originally designed for pumping operations on land, the Fast Flow engine-driven pump has a tremendous pumping capacity, with the ability to move nearly 5,000 gallons of water per hour (at 800 rpm). Thats nearly five times the amount of the average electric bilge pump. The Fast Flow Pump comes in a variety of sizes, but a close look at installation and fittings is necessary to determine if the pump will fit on a particular boat.

In our search for the Holy Grail of prop paints, Practical Sailor testers delved into specialized multi-part coating systems. In the spring of this year, we had Matrix Engineering Concepts Mussel Buster Prop Coating applied to the propeller of our Union 36 test boat. Prior to that, the prop had been the test platform for Oceanmaxs Propspeed, which we featured in the November 2006 issue. In this report, we take a look at the newer product, Mussel Buster, and its application, and will weigh its pros and cons against other prop coatings, including Propspeed, Interlux Trilux Prop & Drive, and Pettits Alumacoat SR.

According to multiple reports, most AC electrical fires occur at the boats shorepower inlet. To address this and other shortcomings of the standard twist-type boatside connection, SmartPlug Systems developed a new AC shorepower system that the company hopes will become the new marine standard. Loose and corroded connections are most often the culprits when overheating occurs. Corrosion typically results when moisture gets in at the plug-inlet connection, while arcing-which in turn leads to pitting, scorching, and heat build-up-is partially due to the shape and small contact area of the connector pins.

When we last dropped in on the realm of interior lighting (Practical Sailor January 2009), we looked at light emitting diode (LED) replacements for incandescent bulbs in a traditional bulkhead-mounted reading light. The test revealed some significant advances in LED technology, and those advances continue today at a lightning pace. Responding to the call for energy efficiency, LED makers are packing more and more luminosity output into smaller and smaller packages. As our reading light test showed, LED technology has developed to a point where finding LED "bulbs" that can provide enough illumination for reading is no longer an issue. Results from that comparison prompted PS to consider whether another key light on our boat-the galley light-could soon go the way of the incandescent reading light. Unlike reading lights, a galley light needs to cast a very wide beam angle to illuminate a large area, something LEDs alone are not very good at.

Practical Sailor looked at three Wi-Fi antennas suggested by readers: the Bad Boy Xtreme from Bitstorm, Rogue Waves Wave Wi-Fi from GeoSat Solutions, and The Wirie, developed by cruising couple Mark Kilty and Liesbet Collaert. All three are marketed specifically to boaters, and they represent the two principal types of devices that users will find: USB-type units that plug into computer or laptop USB ports and Power over Ethernet (PoE) bridges that network via your computers Ethernet port to provide a pathway to the Internet.

The Practical Sailor February 2010 issue launched our test of marine inverter-chargers with a look at the inverter capabilities of units from six manufacturers. This report compares the battery charger functions of the inverter-chargers from Charles Industries, Magnum Energy, Mastervolt, ProMariner, Tripp Lite, and Xantrex. Our recommendations differ based on an owners needs. One unit is excellent for sailboat owners with larger AGM or gel-cell batteries who plan to expand their systems down the road, while another is better suited for those who have no expansion plans, offering a combination of lower price, features, and sophistication.

Unlike aluminum or steel propane tanks, clear composite tanks allow users to see how much fuel remains, a nice feature in an LPG tank.Following our year-long evaluation of Ragasco’s 9-kilogram one-piece blow-molded tank, Practical Sailor tested the American-made Lite Cylinder, a two-piece composite tank. The two tanks have nearly identical dimensions, and may be a challenge to fit in a standard propane locker designed for metal tanks. In fire tests, composite tanks melt rather than “explode” like metal tanks, giving them a slight edge in safety, and the non-metal tanks resist rusting, a common problem of aluminum LPG tanks.