The Ships Logg

Several months ago, I noticed the shower drain in my boat was not removing water as it should. Rather than water running down the drain, it just collected in the pan at the bottom of the shower. Recently, I decided to tackle the job and figure out what was going on. I knew I was going to spend the entire July 4 th weekend on the boat and I wanted to be able to take a shower without worrying about the water building up. If you are not familiar with the workings of a basic shower sump system on a boat, it is actually pretty simple. The drain at the bottom of the shower empties into a box down in the bilge. Since the box is most likely below water level, there is a pump in the box that pumps the water up, out and overboard. Often the pump has a float switch attached to it to cycle the pump on when the water gets to a certain level and off when the box it empty. A Basic Sump Pump Setup In my case, I had already checked the line from the shower drain to the b...

We are well into boating season now and as expected, the traffic on our local waterways has picked up quite a bit. But if your experience is like mine, you may have noticed that boat traffic is even more than it was at this time last year. We can thank COVID-19 for that. In this age of social distancing, people are realizing that spending time on the water is one of the best ways to have your fun and remain safe. It is pretty easy for a family to be out on the water, whether on a boat or a few PWC’s, and keep their distance from other individuals. Statistics have shown that boating has long been one of the best activities for families to participate in. It seems that more and more people are starting to realize that again. Flying across the water on a PWC, a bow rider or raising the sails and gliding across a body of water is not a bad way to spend your time during a pandemic. It sure beats staying indoors. On Lake Lanier, where I do most of my boating traf...

If you have been boating for a long time like I have, you probably already know that no matter how diligent you are about doing the right things, sometimes things just come down to blind luck. I guess you can just say that about life as well. Sometimes your luck is good and sometimes not so good. One thing is consistent though. You can usually learn a lesson from whatever happens. Such is the case with an experience that I recently had on the water. It was February 23 but a nice day for late winter. The temperature was in the upper 60’s and the winds were calm. The Bear’s Den II had not been out of her slip yet since November 2019. That’s not normal for me. But life happens. I was eager to take her out. Two of my friends and I headed to the marina and boarded the boat. I let the blower run while I did my preliminary checks before turning the keys to bring the twin Crusader 454’s roaring to life. After a few minutes of warming up, we cast the lines and headed out...

If you ask me, boaters are some of the best people in the world.   I’m not sure why, but they are.   Maybe it is because they have more fun than most people or maybe it is because they don’t worry themselves with trivial issues such as getting their wills together before they die.   After all, the only thing that will be left is a well-used boat, a few life jackets, a pair of flip flops and some sunglasses.   Even the nicest people, however can get annoyed sometimes.   For the typical boater, the source of annoyance typically comes from those who do not understand the boating lifestyle.   It doesn’t mean the offender is a bad person.   They just need to learn a few things. Here are 10 things that are sure to annoy the average boater: 1.          Showing Up Late – You invite some friends out for a day on the water.   Everyone is there, ready to go . . . except for one person.   Now you are all ...

____________ Visit our archive and check out more interesting articles from The Ship's Log by clicking here .  If you found this article useful, use the space below to subscribe and you will be notified by email every time a new article is published in The Ship's Logg. Don't forget to check your email afterwards for a subscription verification email from Feedburner. Your email address will only be used for notifying you when updates are made to The Ship's Logg. Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

Over the past several years, ethanol has gotten a real bad rap with recreational boaters.   Stories of engine damage and getting stranded out on the water have been told time and time again.   One group says that boaters should stay away from it while another group says it is perfectly fine to use.   Who is telling the truth?   Well, it depends.   Let’s take a look at how we got here and what is really going on. In 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard Act was passed that required a certain amount of renewable fuel to be used along with the fossil fuels that we had already been using.   This was done to reduce the amount of pollution that fossil fuels create.   Ethanol was chosen because it can be made from a renewable resource that is readily available in the US.   Gasoline powered cars and trucks had no problem with the switch at all, but we cannot say the same thing for the boats.   To understand this, let’s take a look at some of th...

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...