Troubleshooting Tips

What good is all the fancy electronics you spent a fortune on, if they don't work? Sometimes, as is often the case in many things in life, simple is the solution. Continuing on the previous blog, here's a continuation on tips for keeping your equipment functioning.

Pull the plug! Just like your computer, when your GPS/chart plotter, fish finder, radar or other gear locks up or fails to respond to the controls, sometimes disconnecting the power cable or switching off the set’s circuit breaker and reapplying power can restore normal operation.

 In extreme cases, when all else fails, you can perform a “master reset.” Follow the instructions in the owner’s manual for the unit. Be advised that this is a last-resort procedure. A master reset can also delete all your waypoints, routes and custom settings.

 Quick tip: Regularly back up your waypoints and other entered data on a blank data card (refer to the unit’s owner’s manual for instructions on how to back up your waypoint list and other valuable data).

Be sure you know the location of every fuse for every electronics instrument you have. And keep an adequate supply of each fuse size on board.

Redundant Systems

Consider installing a second VHF radio and GPS/chart plotter. With a modest investment you can have independent redundancy for these essential instruments.

Keep a handheld VHF and GPS as part of your electronics lineup. Basic models are very affordable, serve as portable second stations and stand ready to go with you if you ever have to leave your boat in an emergency.

 The bonus is that the radio and GPS are already connected internally, so the set’s DSC emergency button is ready for use as soon as you obtain, register and enter your personal Mobile Maritime Service Identity (MMSI) number These sets are waterproof and floatable and will operate even in the event you find yourself in the water.

Always keep fresh batteries for every portable device you carry on board. And, if you don’t already have one, install a 12-volt cigarette lighter outlet to charge all of your handheld devices that have rechargeable batteries.

The difference between getting towed due to an on-water breakdown and being pulled off a sandbar because your boat is hard aground may not seem like much when you're sitting in your cockpit, but it can be huge when it's time to pay the commercial tower who responded. While the average coastal tow typically costs about $750, salvage costs can easily hit five figures. The average boater may not know which service — towing or salvage — is being offered, especially if the weather is bad and stress levels are high when a towboat shows up.

But the question as to whether something's a tow or a salvage has one easy answer. It doesn't matter, if you're covered. If you have unlimited on-the-water towing service, and an all-risk boat insurance policy with hull coverage, like most policies  we recommend , whether your boat is towed or salvaged, someone else picks up the tab.

Towing service gets you back to the dock if you break down (depending on your selected service level), while your insurance policy covers salvage costs.

Having both in force takes the worry out of the towing-or-salvage determination.

Reading A Tide Table

Knowing how to read a tide table can mean the difference between a good day and a bad one.

Here's a great article by Tim Murphy

If you've ever waited anxiously for the twing of your antenna against the underside of a highway bridge, you know that playing with tides can be a game of inches.

To pass safely under that bridge or over the bar that lies between here and home, we need to understand all the components of the tides.

Along most of the coast, tides rise twice and fall twice each day.

These are called semidiurnal tides. In some places, the tides cycle only once per day; these are called diurnal tides. And in still other places, one daily high tide is much higher than the day's second high tide; these are called mixed tides.

Tide tables, provided by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov, tell you three important things for any given place: the time of high tide, the time of low tide, and the heights of each.

But what about the times in between?

For that, you'll need the Rule of Twelfths (see chart above).

Not Sea-Trialing The Boat After Repairs Are Made

When ever you have serious repairs performed on your boat, make sure you get what you expect.

A boater purchased a used powerboat with a large outboard that had a cracked head. Because he wrote into the contract that the engine had to be working before he would buy the boat, the dealer had the engine fixed and claimed they performed a compression test to verify everything was fine. After paying for the boat, the first time the new owner took the boat out, the rod blew a hole in the side of the engine. The dealer he bought it from first said he'd replace it with a used engine, but eventually said that the contract stated that boat was purchased in "as-is" condition and was working on the day of the sale.

Lesson: When contingencies are written into a contract, spell out the details and don't formally accept the boat until you've verified that all repairs have been made properly. Because of the high value of the engine, it would have made sense to have an independent technician check it out and even come along for a sea trial.

Not Verifying The Paperwork Was Sent

A boater purchased a 2014 ski boat with just a few hours on it. One of the biggest selling features was a 5-year warranty that the seller said transferred with the boat. At 150 hours, without any warning, the engine had a catastrophic failure. Smoke emanated from the rear lockers, the engine temperature shot up, water was leaking from the impeller, the exhaust pipe melted, and the boat began to take on water. A shop said that the raw-water pump had failed and that the engine would have to be replaced at a cost of $10,000. Unfortunately, the seller neglected to transfer the warranty to the member, and he was not covered.

Lesson: While some warranties are transferable, many have specific conditions that must be met and specific procedures that must be followed, including paying a fee, paperwork that must be signed and delivered, and sometimes even a maintenance check by a qualified shop. Even then, it pays to verify with the company — in writing — that the warranty actually transferred in your name.

Essential On-Board First-Aid Kit For Any Boat

Whether setting out for a day, week, or longer, you need a well-stocked first-aid kit on board

Tips For A Safe & Healthy Time On The Water

The ABCs Of Fire

As with all battles, you have to learn about your enemy before you can fight them safely and effectively. The type of material that's burning classifies fires. Class A fires are fueled by combustible, solid materials such as wood, paper, cloth, and plastics. Class B fires involve flammable liquids and gasses (gasoline, diesel, varnishes, etc.), while Class C fires are powered by energized electrical circuits or equipment. Think of Class A fires as solids, Class B fires as liquids, and Class C fires as electrical.

Fire extinguishers are rated by the class of fire their extinguishing agent is effective against. A Type C extinguisher is for use on electrical fires only, for example, while a Type ABC multipurpose extinguisher can be used against all three classes. It's important to match the type of extinguishing agent with the class of fire you're up against. Water is effective against a Class A fire, but spraying it at a frying pan of burning oil (a Class B fire) can spread flames throughout the galley, while using it against a Class C fire could result in shock or electrocution. Your best all-around choices are multipurpose extinguishers that are effective against all classes of fires. They take the guesswork out of which fire extinguisher to use (saving time when every second counts).

Fire Extinguisher Checks & Placement

Portable fire extinguishers should be inspected regularly for problems such as corrosion, loss of pressure and damaged mounting brackets. (Photo: Jack Schachner)

Be sure you have the correct number of USCG-approved extinguishers on board, and more is always better. They should be within quick reach and conspicuous. Portable extinguishers should be located near the galley, the engine compartment, and all living spaces. As a marine surveyor, I often see that boats have enough extinguishers, but they are not located in strategic places, for instance all belowdecks where a galley fire could prevent access from the helm. Mount an additional unit at the helm or in the cockpit where it's available to the vessel's operator the second a fire is discovered.

The portable dry chemical extinguishers so popular with boaters (due to both their effectiveness and relatively cheap cost) should be considered disposable; I recommend replacing them every six years. Check your extinguisher's gauge monthly to verify that your extinguisher is still full. Put old units to good use by allowing family and crew to practice putting out a fake fire ashore. Everyone on board should know how to safely use a fire extinguisher before the need arises.

Safety Planning & Fire Prevention

Many fires start in the engine room, typically from electrical malfunctions, followed by fuel leaks, and overheating. The galley is another likely spot (due to cooking mishaps and the like), although to a lesser extent than is popularly thought. Develop a fire action plan, and share it with your crew.

• Post, in prominent locations, diagrams of your vessel showing the location of all portable extinguishers as well as the controls for permanently mounted units (such as those in the engine room).
• Provide primary and alternate escape routes for all spaces (particularly sleeping areas).
• Make sure you and your crew know the location of shutoff valves and switches for electrical, fuel, and LPG or CNG systems.

When planning emergency action items and escape routes, physically walk through them to confirm they actually work. If your evening meal goes up in smoke, can you reach the remote solenoid shutoff for the stove LPG system without having to reach over the flames? Is that forward cabin hatch actually large enough to fit through in the event of a fire? Can it be opened with the dinghy stored on deck? These are the type of questions you want to ask before staking your life on the answer.

Review your boat's fire safety plan with guests prior to getting underway, and hold fire drills regularly to ensure everyone knows what to do in the event of an emergency. Post simple instructions and provide training on operation of VHF radios and how to determine vessel location (reading coordinates from a chartplotter, for example). Explain how to use your fire extinguishers.

Visual Distress Signals: Please Say You See Me!

For many boaters, buying flares is an expense and an exercise we endure every three years or so without much thought. We know we need to carry visual distress signals, and we might even remember that there are both daytime and nighttime signals, but after that, it's hard to parse the differences. And while the need is unavoidable, your choices have expanded recently. So it's worth taking a moment to consider the type of boating you do and if there are better options than adding to your growing collection of expired flares — or, alternatively, if the minimum requirement of three flares, and the few minutes of signal time they represent, will serve you well in an emergency. Maybe you'd prefer additional signaling power.

Distress-Signals Test

We took a look at both USCG-approved and SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) internationally approved pyrotechnic flares and a variety of electronic devices ranging from lasers to an assortment of LED devices. Only one of the lights tested meets carriage requirements, meaning it's an adequate substitute for flares during a safety inspection when combined with an orange distress flag for daytime use. To be clear, this means the others would be carried aboard strictly because you felt they upped your chances of being rescued, rather than to meet the standards of the law. Remember, the law sets a minimum standard; whether or not that's adequate for you really depends on your boating habits.

We stationed our team of observers on a beach, and our test-boat captain positioned the boat at one-, three-, and five-mile distances from the beach. The night for our test was clear, with a full moon, and there were onshore lights in the background, behind the test boat — the most challenging setup for detecting distress signals in calm conditions. The distress signals were then activated in a random sequence, and our observers were asked to rate them on relative visibility, ability to attract attention, and confidence that what was observed was a call for help. The devices fell into three categories: flares, LEDs, and lasers. As expected, flares as a category dominated the tests, ranking consistently higher than other categories by our viewers. But the green Greatland Laser also performed nearly as well. The LED devices didn't fare well, lacking the intensity to stand out on a full-moon night against the backscatter of a distant shore.

The effectiveness of a distress signal comes down to whether or not an observer — who may be tired, careless, or untrained — can see and understand that the light is a signal. A distress signal must be big enough and bright enough for someone who may be miles away to positively identify and locate the source. So it's no surprise that the brightest and most intense flares, the SOLAS-approved or their equivalents, did so well. They're around 30 times brighter than a standard Coast Guard-approved flare. If this was simply a question of the best flares money could buy, it'd be simple. But what if you don't need that level of performance? Or what if the brief duration (most flares last less than 120 seconds) gives you pause? There are pros and cons in each category.

Pyrotechnic Devices

Flares have been around for more than 100 years, largely because they just plain work as a distress signal. Observers commented that they subconsciously recognized fire as a danger, especially when it appears where we know it isn't supposed to be. We know there's a problem when we see fire on the water.

Pros

• Easy to recognize as a distress signal.
• Easy to use.
• Very bright, SOLAS flares and their equivalents ranked in the top three spots at each distance tested.

Cons

• All the flares emitted sparks, which can damage your boat or burn you. Our testers used welding gloves to hold the flares, and even with that, the heat from the flares made them almost too hot to hold.
• Flares expire 42 months after manufacture, for good reason; flares become unstable over time and aren't as reliable.
• The legal requirement calls for three flares, totaling no more than a few minutes of signaling (60 seconds minimum per flare, though some burn for two minutes or so)
• The chemicals in flares are hazardous waste.

LED Devices

Light Emitting Diode devices are relatively new to the scene, and as the technology continues to evolve, prices are dropping rapidly. LEDs are durable and long-lasting, so more devices are expected to come on the market in the next few years.

Pros

• Highest effective intensity of any electronic light available.
• Easy to set a particular color, length of flash, or flash pattern.
• With appropriate power, can work for days, rather than minutes.
• Far safer to handle than pyrotechnic flares.

Cons

• Can be hard to distinguish from background lights.
• Not as bright as pyrotechnic flares. The best-performing light consistently ranked as less visible than the control, a USCG-approved, red Orion handheld flare.
• With no expiration date, batteries need to be checked regularly.
• People might not know a signal from an LED device is a call for help.
• Doesn't have the range of visibility that pyrotechnic devices have. At five miles, the performance dropped off considerably.

Lasers

Lasers have been on the scene longer than LED lights but haven't caught on as an alternative to flares. These devices are not like "light sabers" you'd see in the movies. Although under the right conditions, you can see the beam of light, especially with a green laser. The green Greatland flare was very popular with observers, especially at longer distances. Unlike laser pointers, which should never be aimed at aircraft (or other boats, for that matter) as they temporarily blind the operator, the flares tested emit light in a fan pattern, so the greater the distance from the viewer, the wider the fan. This pattern also protects the eyes of your potential rescuer, as the light isn't a focused beam that could burn your retina. The observer simply sees a green flashing light.

Pros

• Green laser is very visible at night, and the farther away it is, the wider its beam becomes. Always ranked in the top three by our observers, it led the field at three miles and practically tied for the top spot at five miles.
• Far safer than pyrotechnic flares.
• Compact, and designed to last for five hours of continuous use.

Cons

• Lasers are directional, so you must aim them at a potential rescuer, which means you need some idea where help might be coming from before they can be of much use.
• The green color is more expensive than the red, but it was also easier to see. The red version ranked just under the USCG-approved red Orion handheld in all tests.
• While legal for use in rescue situations and deemed "eye safe," pilots are taught to fly away from lasers.