Marine Tech Notes
Scrubbing water from diesel fuel
Dec 16, 2011 12:00 amWhat causes diesel fuel to go bad? Look at any diesel fuel that has been sitting unused and you will likely see nasty bits of organic growth. Supporting that growth is something very simple: water. Water in fuel causes problems. Remove water from the fuel and many of these problems are reduced or go away altogether. There are a few ways to get the water out. One new product called H2Out from Pindell Engineering (www.h2out.com) uses a chemical that attracts the water and bonds with it, removing water from the fuel.
Fresh electric shock danger
Oct 21, 2011 12:00 amOn Aug. 15, an 18-year-old boy died in a marina in Traverse City, Mich. The cause of the drowning was from an electrical fault in dock wiring at the city-owned facility. A friend of the victim who swam at the marina luckily escaped injury. The case highlights the dangers of waterborne stray current and its potential to cause fatal accidents. Since 1986 more than 50 people have been killed in stray current incidents. The biggest lesson from these accidents is a simple one: don’t swim in marinas.
Calming noisy waters
Sep 22, 2011 12:00 amSailing voyagers interested in the health of the oceans are likely to think they should sail more and use their engine less. The obvious reasons for this approach (other than sailing being fun, of course) are to use less carbon-based fuel and to limit air pollution. Another reason however, might not be so obvious since it takes place beneath the waves.
Will marine diesels go serpentine?
Aug 30, 2011 12:00 amConsidering the much larger installed base of automobiles compared to voyaging boats, it is not surprising that engine developments often occur first with cars and then make their way to the marine engine world. One piece of automobile technology that for the most part has not fully transitioned to the marine diesel is the approach for taking power off the engine and running alternators and other auxiliary devices. Marine diesels still largely use V-belts, while the automotive world moved to serpentine belts some years ago.
Synthetic line for moorings?
Jun 22, 2011 12:00 amThe time-honored way to attach a boat to a mooring anchor is with chain. The primary advantages to chain, of course, are strength and abrasion resistance. The major downside to chain is also well-known: as a metal, it corrodes and must be replaced. What about using a length of high-strength line? That is the approach that Yale Cordage is suggesting via a product called Uniline.
Anonymous distress messages hamstring Coast Guard
Apr 04, 2011 12:00 amWhen the VHF DSC radio system was first developed, the idea of automated distress calls seemed an idea with only upside. What could be better than a system that ensured a call for help got sent and received, even if you were too busy trying to save your boat to do more than push a button? Unfortunately, the law of unintended consequences has kicked in. Many of the automated distress calls the Coast Guard is receiving have no lat/long position or Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number associated with them.
Keeping your boat inside a geofence
Feb 28, 2011 12:00 amRecently, a sailor, freelance writer and contributor to this magazine, Alan Saunders, had his C&C 38, Trinka, stolen from its mooring in North Carolina. The boat, missing for some days was eventually found in South Carolina. Now Saunders is dealing with the repairs necessary to get the boat back in some semblance of shape (the belowdecks suffered considerable damage when thieves tore out electronics and other gear) so he can return it to its mooring in North Carolina.
Electric and hybrid drives become an option
Dec 21, 2010 12:00 amAs electric and hybrid cars gain wider acceptance on the road, electric and hybrid drives are also gaining a foothold in the boating world. At the recent Annapolis Sailboat Show this past October, for example, Hunter Marine introduced an all-electric auxiliary sailboat, the Hunter 27e, while Beta Marine displayed a diesel-electric hybrid engine designed to be plug compatible with a standard small diesel. These are just two examples of what seems to be an increasing acceptance of electric and hybrid power systems.
Thermal cameras enhance man-overboard safety
Oct 19, 2010 12:00 amWhen it comes to the subject of man overboard, the best safety measure is to stay on the boat. When the unthinkable does happen, however, voyagers need luck and some good gear to find and recover their lost crewmember. Man-overboard gear ranges from simple throwable buoys to poles to electronic direction finding systems. One particularly useful piece of man-overboard recovery gear that has become available in recent years is the thermal imaging camera. A thermal camera can clearly show the victim in the water even on the darkest night.
Avoiding an AIS traffic jam
Sep 15, 2010 12:00 amSometimes a new technology can become a victim of its own success. The automobile was a great invention — but think of how often you find yourself in a traffic jam because there are so many cars on the road. A marine invention like the automatic identification system (AIS) is a fantastic way to avoid collisions at sea. But will this safety tool’s fast acceptance by mariners create an electronic traffic jam on users’ displays?
Another way to gauge electrical status
Aug 06, 2010 12:00 amSometimes you need to tear everything down to see things from a new perspective. That’s what happened to electrical engineer George Sotiriou when he decided to rebuild the electrical system on his 1986 Tayana 42, Mustard Seed. Ripping out the boat’s wiring harness not only gave an opportunity to redesign the system to his liking, he also got an idea for a new and improved way to indicate the status of electrical devices on board.
Loss of wind satellite to affect marine forecasts
Mar 03, 2010 12:00 am
A few days before Thanksgiving, the antenna on a satellite 500 miles above the earth slowly ground to a halt &mdash worn out from 10 years of continuous use. When the antenna stopped, winds on vast areas of the world's oceans became more of a mystery to forecasters.
Handheld log keeping
Jan 12, 2010 12:00 am
In the pre-GPS days of navigation, log keeping was a central element of good navigational practice. A log of dead reckoning (DR) information like course steered, wind direction, sea state, barometer reading, etc., recorded every half hour or hour provided a baseline DR position for plotting on a chart. A log book also was a great tool for reliving memorable passages. The advent of GPS and electronic charts has made such log keeping almost seem redundant.
Search and rescue refinements
Dec 11, 2009 12:00 amWith the introduction of the 406 Mhz emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) standard in the 1990s, the benefits of satellite rescue took a tremendous leap forward. The 406 standard required that EPIRB transmitters adhere to tight frequency stability rules. The result is faster and more accurate position determination for the mariner in distress.
Science under sail
Oct 08, 2009 12:00 am
At a time when oceanographic research is usually conducted by large, diesel-drivens ships, the idea of doing ocean research using a 64-foot sailboat like Ocean Watch, currently circumnavigating the Americas, may seem odd. But gathering scientific data under sail harkens back to the beginnings of ocean research &mdash sailing vessels such as Capt.
Twenty-five years of carbon fiber
Oct 01, 2009 12:00 amFew sailors think of carbon fiber masts and spars as cutting edge gear. Parts made from this stippled black cloth can be found in nearly every anchorage these days.
Register your beacon
Aug 11, 2009 12:00 am
It's an odd situation when high tech search and rescue technology can be foiled by something as simple as not filling out a form or a miskeyed registration number. Yet that unpleasant situation could occur should your emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) be improperly registered in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database.
Fighting bio invasion
Jun 01, 2009 12:00 am
Wider use of electronic-controlled air conditioning systems on voyaging boats in warmer climates has given rise to an insidious, unseen invasion: Barnacles and other marine growth that set up shop in the piping and heat exchangers of marine air conditioning units. If left unchecked these invaders can create an expensive mess.
