Essential boat work balanced with fun adventures.
Author: Chuck B
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
This article has moved here.
Bottoms up! ✨5
Guess who gets their bottom painted?
Bilge Pump System Overhaul Project
Recently the outlet pipe of the lone 24 year old bilge pump aboard Sparklemuffin broke completely off. Better at the dock than halfway to Hawaii, eh? ‘Cuz “if anything is gonna happen, it’s gonna happen out there” as they say. The bilge pump system is super critical for any boat. One of a sailor’s (many) worst…
How to Change Your Boat’s Name With the Coast Guard: Step by Step
This article has moved: How to Change Your Boat’s Name With the Coast Guard: Step by Step.
How To Change Fuel Filters and Bleed Yanmar 3JH2E Marine Diesel
Change Primary Filter These instructions are appropriate for the Parker Racor 500 series primary filter system as installed on my vessel. The details may differ for your situation, but the general principles apply. 1. Primary filter is Parker Racor 2010SM-OR 2 micron. 2. Wear rubber gloves. Prepare a plastic bag in which to discard items….