Christmas is over, but it’s never too late to give presents. Here are a few for your boat.
Buying stuff for your boat is almost as enjoyable as using your boat, and what better time to buy more stuff than now, Spring, a time of new beginnings, when you’re fitting out for summer adventures? The boating season will be more fun with more gear, more gadgets and more toys to play with, so go ahead, add a few bucks to your credit-card balance and buy your boat, and yourself, some gifts.
See In the Dark
Night navigation is safer when you know what’s ahead, but not all obstructions are lighted: Buoys, small fishing boats, sailing dinghies, rowboats, kayakers, flotsam and jetsam might all be out there in the dark. You could blast away with a searchlight, but that’ll ruin your night vision—and maybe infuriate folks on other boats, too. I prefer the clandestine approach, using a night-vision (NV) optic to see in the dark.
NV optics used to cost a bundle, and top-notch thermal and infrared scopes still do. Infrared optics are generally more affordable than thermal, although an analog IR optic with the latest technology will still cost you into the four-figure range. Analog and digital infrared NV use different technologies: Analog intensifies the ambient light, creating an image even in near-total darkness. Digital optics massage available light by adjusting brightness and contrast to create the image. They use basically the same technology and sensors as digital cameras. Having no intensifier, digital NV optics require more ambient light than analog, but moonlight or starlight will suffice. For pitch-black nights, digital scopes incorporate an IR illuminator, or have provisions to attach one. The effective range of the optic depends on the power of the illuminator.
Digital IR scopes are much less expensive. But if you’re a hunter stalking game at night, a Navy SEAL or a spy, you want analog. Analog NV optics produce superior images to digital, can take more of a beating and still keep working, have fewer electronics and get longer life from a set of batteries—important if you’re in the deep woods hunting wild boar or Bigfoot, not so important aboard your boat where it’s easy to carry spares.
Two hundred bucks will buy you a digital NV scope with an IR illuminator that will work fine for picking out hazards that are within 500 or 600 feet. (You can find models for under $100, although I wouldn’t go that cheap.) An inexpensive night scope can be made more effective by adding IR illumination. For example, Bushnell claims its Equinox X650 Digital Night Vision monocular ($170) has a range of 650 feet in total darkness, but reviewers say its built-in IR illuminator is a bit weak, and you’ll get a much improved image by using a separate IR source. The Equinox has a picatinny rail (a standardized mount used for attaching flashlights and other accessories to firearms) for just that purpose; IR flashlights that fit the rail start at $50 or so.
If Bushnell’s doesn’t float your boat, Night Owl Optics also builds affordable NV monoculars. Their NOXM50-DG ($200) has three levels of IR illumination, which let you use just what you need and extend battery life; it runs on two CR123A cells that Night Owl says will last for up to 150 minutes. There’s a 6X digital zoom, and you can record still images and video to a MicroSD card. (The Bushnell Equinox also has this feature.) For finding unlighted buoys and small boats night-fishing in mid-channel, either of these monoculars should be all you need, and at a price that makes it a lot less painful if it goes overboard in the dark. Spending a few minutes online will give you more info on these and other affordable NV optics.
Stay Connected
If you absolutely, positively must stay in contact with the rest of the world 24/7/365, think about treating yourself to Starlink. Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is satellite-based Internet designed to provide a high-speed connection even in remote areas far from cellular coverage—like the open ocean. The company says it’ll work anywhere with a clear view of the sky; there’s currently a network of more than 5,000 satellites in orbit waiting to help you log onto the Internet while you’re cruising.
Starlink is convenient, but it can be expensive, especially for offshore use—$1,000/month for a fast connection and 1TB of data transfer. For bluewater sailors, the cost is acceptable given the benefits of maintaining web and email connections from mid-ocean. Coastwise boaters can pay less: Starlink Roam Unlimited includes inland and coastal coverage, up to about 12 miles offshore, for $165/month. It’s month-to-month, so you can stay signed up for just the times when you need the service. (Starlink says they’ll introduce Direct to Cell, a satellite-to-phone service, by 2025. It will let subscribers make phone calls via the company’s satellites, using standard phones.)
Keep in mind that you’ll need hardware. A Starlink Standard installation kit, including a V4 antenna, a Gen 3 router, power supply and all cables, costs $349. That’ll do for coastal boating up to 12 miles offshore. You’ll just have to add a mount for the antenna—figure another $75 or so. For serious marine use, including bluewater cruising, Starlink recommends the Flat High Performance Kit, which has a wider field of view than the Standard kit, can connect to more satellites, and is “designed for mobility applications and challenging environments.” It costs $2,500, and includes a wedge mount that can be bolted onto a flat surface with a clear view of the sky, but doesn’t include a router. (Who said boating was cheap?) If your boat doesn’t have an unobstructed surface on which to mount the dish, you’ll need a pipe adapter ($120) or another means to raise the dish above obstructions. Each installation will differ, and Starlink will sell you whatever you need. Now hear this: With Starlink, you won’t be able to use “I was offline” as an excuse any more.
Keep Your Hoses Clear
Most cruising boats have at least one system, besides the engines, that depends on seawater for cooling—air conditioning, for example. As long as the water flows freely, everybody’s happy, but when barnacles, algae, salt deposits and other gunk accumulate in the plumbing, the cooling stops, the machinery gets hot—and so does the skipper. The preventative measure for this is regular cleaning of the intake plumbing by flushing it with fresh water and a descaling medium, such as Barnacle Buster or something similar. This is a time-consuming, inconvenient and expensive maintenance procedure that many boaters overlook until it’s too late. Typically, costly repairs ensue.
Spend a few bucks now to save money down the road by installing an ElectroStrainer Sport electrochlorination system from ElectroSea. It will kill barnacles, algae and other biofouling nuisances before they can take up residence in your seawater cooling hoses. The ElectroStrainer Sport is a simpler but equally effective version of ElectroSea’s ElectroStrainer Pro system that’s included as standard equipment aboard many top-quality yachts; the Pro model is intended for professional installation, but the Sport is less expensive and designed for doing-it-yourself. It has the same core functionality as the ElectroStrainer Pro, according to ElectroSea, but in a cost-effective package.
ElectroSea technology uses a combination of electrodes and low-level current to decompose some of the saltwater (it works only in saltwater) passing through the seawater cooling system and recombine it into chlorine. The chlorine kills the organic invaders, then decomposes again and re-forms into saltwater, so only a minimal amount of chlorine is discharged from the cooling system. Installed on a clean system, an ElectroStrainer means never having to descale the plumbing again. Maintenance is minimal: Clean the strainer as needed and replace the electrodes every few years (depending on usage), and that’s about it.
The ElectroStrainer Sport comprises a glass fiber-reinforced canister with a strainer basket that replaces the existing sea strainer on the seawater intake hose; a ClearVis Flow Sensor to measure the flow of cooling water; and an integrated, water-resistant control head. It’s the brains of the Sport, displaying the flow rate, warning when the strainer needs cleaning or alerting you if there’s a problem with the system. OK, you have to look into the bilge to check the display, but on the other hand, there’s no remote control to install at the helm (although one is available) and no wires to fish—just provide 12- or 24-volt DC power. Installing the Sport is basically plumbing: Remove the existing seawater strainer and connect the Sport in its place; the only extra is adding a T-fitting and a return line to divert some of the chlorinated water back to the Sport’s canister to pump up its toxicity to invasive critters.
There are two ElectroStrainer Sport models. The ES-100 ($4,000) has a 1-inch inlet/outlet diameter, the ES-125 ($5,000) a 1.25-inch diameter. Match the diameter to the fittings on your existing sea strainer. (If you need bigger, you’ll have to upgrade to an ElectroStrainer Pro model, which is intended for dealer installation.) Buy the ElectroStrainer Sport through the ElectroSea website, and say goodbye to cooling-water problems.
Invest in one of these boat gifts, and the upcoming season on the water should be lots more fun, or at least less troublesome. Don’t let me catch you looking in my backyard on some dark summer night, though!
Finagling With Fenders
Fenders: We love them when we need them, but they’re troublesome when we don’t. Usually only a couple, maybe three, fenders are necessary to keep your boat off the finger dock in the marina—but when cruising, sometimes you’ll need more, and maybe a fender board, too. Only thing is, finding a place to stow rarely used fenders is a pain. The answer? Buy heavy-duty inflatable fenders, and store the extras deflated to save space, rather than shoehorn them into a locker or lazarette, and blow them up when you go cruising and might need them. A bicycle pump does the job, but a 12-volt electric air pump is faster and easier. Carry at least four fenders, six if you frequently raft up with other boats so you can protect yourself both port and starboard; who knows if the folks coming alongside have decent fenders? Usually they don’t.
What size fenders should you buy? If you’re stowing them deflated, you can buy them big. “Experts” recommend one inch of diameter for every five feet of boat length; that’s for cylindrical fenders, the shape most folks use. Double that, and maybe a bit more, for round fenders, the kind often seen on commercial boats. Use these rules as a minimum—I’d go one size bigger, especially if your boat has flare in the sides: You want a fender big enough around to make contact with whatever you’re alongside before the rubrail does. When the wind and waves are banging your boat against something hard, fatter fenders will be your friends.
Should you buy fenders with the line—it’s called a fender whip or lanyard—running through the fender, or ones with eyes on either end? Both types work fine, as long as they’re big enough. The former style requires a longer lanyard, for the times you want to hang the fender horizontally: You need sufficient lanyard at each end to reach whatever you’re tying it to on deck and still position the fender as low on the topsides as necessary. I use fenders with eyes, with a lanyard in only one eye so the unused lanyard doesn’t get in the way when hanging the fender vertically. I keep spare lanyards on hand and use a bowline to bend one into the second eye when I need to hang the fender horizontally. It takes only a few seconds.
If you’re keeping your boat off a piling, a horizontal fender is rarely much use; it slips off the piling in no time. Instead, hang two fenders vertically, one forward, one aft of the piling, and span them with a fender board—just a piece of stout wood with a lanyard at both ends. Let the board touch the piling and ride against the fenders, leaving six inches overhang at either end so the boat’s fore and aft motion doesn’t roll a fender out from under the board.
Making a quick and dirty fender board is easy: Buy a 4-foot knot-free 2×6 at Home Depot. Drill a hole in each end and tie on a lanyard. Round off the edges of the holes so the lanyard doesn’t chafe. If you want to get fancy, round off the corners of the board, too. Or you can go yacht-y and buy a fender board made of varnished mahogany with bronze chafe strips; it’ll cost you a few hundred bucks and not do the job any better.
