The DIY newsletter (free subscription) helps you make sure your AC will work once the summer starts...
"Spring weather in many regions may not require the use of your boat's air conditioning unit but by mid-summer you'll be glad you have this amenity. An hour spent maintaining the AC now will ensure it pumps out cold air when needed. Check your service manual and follow the procedures below."
Looking for a better way to detect stray electrical currents, and therefore prevent injuring swimmers or damaging underwater metals? Have a look at ESC's DockTester, a winner of the the 2003 NMMA Innovation Award.
"Before DockTester, onboard electrical problems could only be detected by an impractical, time-consuming visual inspection of every wire and connection. DockTester easily identifies the existence and magnitude of stray electrical currents on vessels and in the surrounding water. The portable in-line tester connects between a boat's shore power cord and the dock's AC receptacle."
LEDs have been discussed many times before on this weblog, and here is an another example of the advances in this area. Orca Green Marine's TriAnchor is the first to achieve compliance to the USCG standard with a LED-based Tricolor and Anchor combination light.
"For example, a typical bicolor filament light for sailboats up to 65 feet will draw 25 Watts of power. That's 2.1 Amps at 12 Volts. Much of that power is wasted in heat production. OGM's LED lights use only 1.2 Watts, or 0.1 amps at 12 VDC. At this low power draw, a boat will be able to run his navigational lights for over a month without the need to recharge to boat's battery bank. Also, very little energy is wasted in heat, which means your lights will run cooler and more efficiently. The LEDs used in OGM lights produce only the color required to meet 72 COLREGS requirements. So no colored filters are required, which have a tendency to darken,crack and cloud with age."
Spending lots of time on board, don't know what to do with your waste? If you've got the space, Uson Marine might have the solution (free subscription required). The UKP-6060 Refrigerated Sack Compactor, especially suited as a waste solution for the yacht market. At least, that's what they claim.
"The compaction normally gives an approximate 80%, and up to 95% volume reduction thanks to a silent heavy-duty electromechanical drive. In addition, the waste is compacted in durable plastic bags, and the unique built-in refrigeration system keeps the waste at a hygienic 4�C, ensuring the elimination of odors and bacterial growth."
A couple of weeks ago I had a post on a company called MarineLED that keeps sending out these press releases through which they promote their new 'wireless lightning technology.' It sounded a bit like, as reader Dave stated it, a bad PR spin. I received an email from the company in which they try to clarify the whole thing.
Good Morning,
An associate happened across your post dated April 26 on the following site:
https://www.panbo.com/yae/archives/cat_general.html
In reading this I am glad you posted the question, as in looking now at our press releases, we see that the "wireless" part was not explained very well, if at all. This was clearly a bad move on our part, and we have updated the press release to make it more explanatory (partially copied below).
It's critique like this from the other boaters and readers of our material out there that help us grow and get it right, and we thank you for your feedback on this press release - it has been an invaluable lesson in how we explain ourselves. Please have a look at the revised text below and let us know if this helps the explanation.
Thanks again, and have a great day
-Frank-
- The MarineLED Team -
[email protected]
http://www.marineled.com
-Your 'wireless' marine lighting experts-
Boat security seems to be a hot topic today... Further to my earlier post on this new boat security system, the Yachtwatcher, Motor Boat & Yachting has a special feature on this topic to be published in their June 2004 issue.
"A boat is an expensive bit of kit to leave in the open air unattended for long periods. But is boat theft as rife as is supposed? We talk to some of those involved in chasing lost boats and discover what type of security products are just the job to give you peace of mind."
Muir has launched several new electronic anchor controllers. Top of the range is the Auto Anchor 500RCX model which will dock the anchor automatically, by remote control, ideal for vessels where it is difficult to see the windlass or anchor rode from the helm. Not sure if this isn't really a relaunch, since this product has been around for a while I believe.
"The 500RCX also incorporates motor overload protection and automatic cut out to stop the anchoring operation if the windlass jams. It is operable with all chain or rope/chain combination rodes and it replaces the solenoids with solid state switching."
Not a first of its kind, but German firm NAVCOS has launched Yachtwatcher YW 5000, which sends a text message to a yacht owner's mobile phone in the vent that it is broken into or it should leave its moorings. Besides that, you can even send individual control commands via your mobile phone and turn on or off the refrigerator or the bilge pump for example.
"After activating the Yachtwatcher YW 5000, on board sensors are used to monitor the status a yacht, and GPS measurements are taken at regular intervals. The same system can also be used to activate equipment on board the yacht, such as a bilge pump, or a refrigerator. The YW 5000 features a 12 channel GPS receiver, integrated dual band GSM modem, power management system for lower power consumption, and can store 32,000 positions, which can be accessed and analysed to determine the route taken by a boat should it be stolen."
I'm sure this is an issue that many of you are fully aware of. "Your helm area looks a little hodge-podge. A bracket-mounted fish finder here; a flush-mounted radio that has been shoe-horned in over there. What seemed like a good spot for the GPS a few years ago now looks odd." Go Boating Magazine has a column on how to do something about this...
"When it comes to updating your helm control area, you don't have to engage in a major reconstruction effort. If there is enough structure remaining to tie into, a plexiglass cover plate will provide a new surface to mount all the new goodies and whatever you decide to keep. An added benefit is that you can basically start all over again and arrange your gear in a logical, orderly layout."
Practical Boat Owner has published its water resistant digital camera test online. Check it out if you are in the market for such a device, but be aware of the fact that there are many more options out there. These, the Pentax Optio 22WR, Casio GV-20, Sony Cybershot DSC-U60, and the Ricoh Capillo 300G, are low-end cameras as Gizmodo correctly notes.
"As it's awkward getting a fair representation on to the printed page, we have also put the jpegs on this page for you to download and compare. All the images were taken in a basic automatic mode, at their finest setting, but to show you how they could look, the last image has been tweaked slightly in Photoshop."
