Author: Chuck B
New Bilge Pump Switch/Counter
Today saw a fun project — fun if you’re a nerd like me 🙂 — installing an Aqualarm 20145-02 pump counter with 3 way pump switch, 2 pumps. The project took about five hours. Before and after photos below. Was the existing bilge pump switch broken? No. But this one offers two important benefits: It…
USCG Now Offers 5 Year Renewal for Recreational Vessels
I’m absolutely chuffed to have just learned that USCG Certificates of Documentation can now be renewed for up to five years at a time. This is great news for vessels that go overseas, on extended voyages, or for folks like me who just prefer to spend their time doing things other than paperwork. 🙂 I…
Richardson Bay Rave ✨6
Balmar Smartgauge – Installed!
The Balmar Smartgauge is quite simply the most accurate state of charge meter available for lead acid batteries. There’s nothing I can add that hasn’t already been said by Rod Collins in his incredibly thorough and detailed Balmar Smartgauge Battery Monitoring Unit article. There’s also a ton of interesting and useful technical information at Smartgauge’s web…
⚡️More Juice!
Guess who got a new set of batteries for her house bank? Three Lifeline GPL-31XTs for 375 amp-hours of juicy goodness. These beasts weight a whopping 75 pounds each, and together constitute roughly 1% of the weight of Sparklemuffin! There’s also a fourth battery for the engine. I’m positively charged with excitement!
The Best Emergency Cutters for Standing Rigging
Since reading Rescue in the Pacific by Tony Farrington, I’ve been thinking about how to cut away steel wire rope standing rigging in an emergency situation.
Science’s Hardest Unsolved Mysteries
There are two questions that science has not yet been–and may not ever be–able to answer.
New “Toy”! McMurdo Smartfind G8 AIS EPIRB
Yesterday I finally received my McMurdo Smartfind G8 AIS EPIRB, which I’ve been waiting for for a year and a half! (It took a long time to get required regulatory approvals.) This is the most advanced EPIRB on the planet right now. This EPIRB is designed to transmit its emergency distress signals for a minimum of…