The Ships Logg

Okay, I will admit it.   I am kind of old school when it comes to boating.   I take pride in the fact that I can put my boat in the slip without any assistance from a joystick or a gaggle of inebriated dock dwellers at the end of the day.   Don’t get me wrong.   I don’t feel that I’m perfect at it, but I do feel a bit of pride when I make that oh so soft but perfect landing in the right spot on a day when the wind is blowing one direction and the current flowing in another.   When one of my good friends recently bought a Regal 35 Sport Coupe with joystick control, I was one of the first to say, “That’s cheating!”, but every time I watch him pull into a slip, I am reminded of why he got it. Every boater knows that the most difficult part of boating is putting the boat in the slip.   The stakes go higher when backing into a slip, and lets not talk about a windy day or strong currents.   For some, an enjoyable day on the water suddenly turns into...

The Volvo Penta 5.7 Engine after the finished rebuild in 2015 A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about hydrolock.   In the article, I mentioned that I had experienced hydrolock on a previous boat and that it caused damage to the engine.   To be more precise, it took the engine out.   Here is how I handled that situation. In July of 2014, I experienced something that no boater wants to experience.   I great day out on the lake turned ugly all of a sudden when my engine went down hard.   At the time, I did not know exactly what the issue was but based on the sound that it made, I knew that it was not a simple fix.   Earlier in the day, my engine had ingested water, something that I had experienced before.   I knew how to handle it though.   I pulled the plugs out, yanked the kill switch cord and cranked the engine over several times, allowing the water to be expelled from the cylinders.   After drying the plugs, putting them ba...