Continuing with some of my findings in the San Juans, this one falls into the great idea category for marina operators. Another first for me. A life jacket loaner station:

The life jacket loaner station works just like a book lending library. Actually at this marina at Friday Harbor, the hut the life jackets are hanging on is a book lending library. I've seen those before at cruising destinations, but never the life jackets. This is a great idea for when your guests show up with little kids and no life jackets. Its important to to remember that life jackets are sized and just tossing a small child an adult sized PFD might make you feel responsible, but might actually be doing more harm than good because it will not fit properly, in an emergency, the child may actually slide out of the oversized PFD.

Hats off to the marina at Friday Harbor! 

In my last post I promised some video of things burning up. I have the video, but need to spend some time on the exact nature of what's going on. Since I'm still on vacation, I'm going to hold off until next week for those.

Not a problem though. In the first leg of my vacation, I've been sailing around the San Juan islands here in Washington State and have managed to gather up several interesting photos of sights seen. Today's installment is of a rather unusual trimaran that we ran into at Friday Harbor. I've never seen one quite like it, and am wondering if any of my readers can identify this beauty.

As you can see, with this gem you can sail, or motor with and economical 2 hp Honda Four-Stroke outboard. Keep in mind that this is a part of the world where many boats are hand built by their owners in really small shops. One-offs are common. This particular boat looked like a manufactured product but again, I haven't seen one before anywhere. So, if anyone out there has any knowledge of this boat email me. Even better, if anyone has actually sailed one of these, let's hear about the experience.

Back in May I received a surprise call from the editor of Soundings magazine, Bill Sisson. For those not in the know, Soundings is a well known East Coast boating publication. He wanted to interview me... Well I was a bit flattered and the whole idea forced me to go back through some of my boating experience and reflect on things past and present. Also, it forced me to go back through a pile of photo albums because the magazine needed some photos of me doing boating things. I had a blast poring over the photos and studying the various stages of my boating life and digitizing the photos finally. Of course I was a bit put back because for some reason or other I don't exactly look like I did 20 years ago. Somehow my hair color has changed a bit and my body mass has increased. So anyhow, for those of you who may be wondering who Ed is, Boats.com has re-published the article and its online now. Follow this link to read the whole article: Ed Sherman Talks Boats  http://features.boats.com/boat-content/2010/08/ed-sherman-talks-boats/

Also, for those following this blog let me give you a little insight into some up and coming events over the next few weeks. I'm officially on vacation but will continue to post when I can get to an area with internet access. Tomorrow, I'm going to be in the lab at Blue Sea systems and we're going to be shooting some video of some high current fuses burning up. Why you ask? My good friend Wayne Kelsoe, who is the chief engineer for Blue Sea Systems and I are trying to study and find some solutions to a vexing problem that many people don't think about, proper over-current protection for increasingly larger and more powerful battery banks on cruising boats, both power and sail.

Few cruisers are aware that if there is a short circuit at or near one of these battery banks, the potential for an on board fire is quite real. Anyhow, expect to see some new video of our tests on my You Tube channel within the next few days. It could be interesting. We may discover that the fuse that's protecting your bow thruster or anchor windlass for example, may not actually function when you need it most.

Thursday I'll be sailing through the San Juan Islands with my wife and taking many photos and video. I'll be on the lookout for some interesting boating events along the way. So stay tuned, we'll see what we come up with.

Continuing with the theme I began in yesterday's post lets take a look at sea cocks and valves today. The photo below, again taken at the Mystic Classic Boat rendezvous over the past week end show one of the original sea cock valves used "back in the day".

Actually I see three gate valves in the photo above. This is a good example of the ABYC learning the hard way over time and adjusting what gets said within a standard as we learn about some of the real world problems that exist. In this case, as you look at the valves can you determine if they are opened or closed? I certainly can't, and that's the rub, and lesson learned. The valves could be opened, closed or somewhere in between, effectively restricting water flow, perhaps to an unacceptable level for the system being supplied with sea water. The valve on the far right side of the photo is the main sea cock supplying cooling water to the engine on this boat. If it's not opened all the way, the engine could suffer from water starvation and overheat, perhaps causing serious damage.

Also, assuming an emergency situation with water gushing into the boat and now it's time to close the valve. How many turns (and how much time) will it take to stop the flow of inrushing water?

So, in the photo below you see a different type of valve, in this case several "ball" valves.

The valves above happen to be installed in a boat's fuel system to control switching of fuel delivery from one fuel tank to another. What's more important here and really the lesson learned, is that the valves function in a 90 degree sweep from fully closed (as shown) to fully open (the handles in line with the piping). Categorically this is the preferred valve type today, and recommended in several ABYC Standards. Whether in a fuel system, or sea water valve, by using this type of valve you can instantly tell whether the valve is opened or closed and when you need to close it in an emergency, it just takes a quick flip of the valve handle to accomplish the task.

So, check your own boat and see what valve types you have installed. Replacement could be a very worthwhile project over the winter if you find gate valves in use.

This past weekend I had the honor of being one of the judges for the annual Mystic Seaport Classic Yacht rendezvous.

This is an event I always look forward to because I get a chance to see some really beautiful boats. Beyond that I also get a chance to see up close and in great detail what efforts have been made in any restoration efforts. Some of the owners are really handy and do a fantastic job with these old gems. I'm jealous of the amount of free time they have to accomplish all that they do.

This year as I looked at the boats in the grouping I was responsible for (power boats under 40') I found myself reflecting on where we have been and where we have come in terms of technology. I also found myself thinking about the ABYC Standards for recreational boats as they exist today, and how they have evolved since 1954, in large part due to lessons learned the hard way over time. My next few installments here are going to graphically illustrate the where we are and where we were, and the why we needed to make changes along the way.

So, to start out I'll begin with something seemingly basic, engine instrumentation. First the old:

What you see above was found on a mid-thirties built boat that had  been re-powered during its lifetime with some Chrysler Crown engines. Understand that from a safety perspective, the ABYC considers engine instrumentation and monitoring quite important. After all, if your engine quits on you at the wrong moment, you could be in serious danger. The cluster above includes a tachometer, water temperature, oil pressure and alternator voltage output from each of the twin engines. So, you can monitor an engine's vital signs while underway, and with enough knowledge, react and affect repairs if needed before things reach a crisis state. This of course assumes you understand what the instruments are telling you. The way I explain this to most people is quite simple. Establish what the norm is for your gauge readings. Anything other than the norm means something is changing and needs attending to. Keep an eye on your engine gauges all the time when underway.

Now for the new, to compare and contrast:

The shot above is also of a twin engine installation package. Besides the two electronic engine monitor gauges in the upper right corner we see a Raymarine multi-function display and an electronic compass and some other miscellaneous displays. So, in an area not too much larger than the mid-thirties instrument cluster we can not only monitor engine status, but have access to a full-color chart plotter, perhaps with a radar overlay of the waters around you, and have depth information at your figertips. The electronic engine monitors are also equipped with a series of audible alarms that will activate if engine temperature exceeds a preset value, it may have an alarm if maximum engine rpms are exceeded and an alarm that could be activated for just about anything the engine manufacturer decided was important. Oh, and let's not forget the ability to automatically reduce engine rpms to a "get home" level if the situation is deemed critical.....by the onboard computer.

So where am I going with this?

Well, as I get older, and in spite of the fact that I've spent my entire career playing on the bleeding edge of technology, I'm starting to long for the days when things were a bit simpler and all you needed to get by were some basic skills to help control the outcome of things. I guess I'm a bit worried that the average boater today doesn't have those basic skills and the equipment manufacturers are forced to engineer that missing knowledge into the equipment they produce.

Computer controlled is becoming a scary notion to me.