Marine stereos have seemed to me to be a bit of a gimmick. Take a five year old car stereo design, inject some white plastic, and make some vague promises about being “marine grade,” and call it good. Of course some are actually made for exterior mounting, and are designed to be weatherproof, but I doubt they’d hold up for extended cruising in the cockpit. A lot of folks just opt to install a car stereo at the navstation. Similarly, Sweet Destiny had a Sony stereo and a JBL amp that had both succumbed to the marine environment. I’ve been keeping an eye out for something to replace the sound system, and have found the latest stereos with their flashy designs and lightshow graphics a bit much. So, I was happy to see that Clarion has a new “marine” stereo that looks good, but simple. It’s one of those double height ones, which makes sense for a unit that doesn’t have to be jammed in the little slot in a car dash. It also has knobs! Yay! There’s really no better mechanism for adjusting the volume and settings than a real knob. It also has dedicated inputs for a CD changer, satellite radio, and an auxiliary for hooking up your iPod or computer. And it’s reasonably priced at about $350. I think I’ve found my next boat stereo.

Link: Check it out at Crutchfield

One of the refit jobs on Sweet Destiny has been rerigging her, so while I had the mast down I decided to have it repainted. One thing led to another, and it seemed like a good time to pull all the fittings off, check for corrosion problems, and reassemble with good insulation between dissimilar metals. Many fittings on aluminum masts are typically pop-riveted in place, and I spent several hours drilling out the old 3/16ths stainless rivets. If you’ve ever used a pop-rivet tool, you’ve probably found that it only takes installing a few before your hand is aching and the tool starts bending ominously. With about 100 rivets to install, I knew I’d need a good tool. And it’s the Big Daddy Riveter, from the Marson division of Alcoa. It’s an industrial strength product, with long, solid arms and a geared mechanism that makes for lots of leverage. So, the tool has worked beautifully and it made putting the mast back together considerably easier than drilling the old rivets out. The downside is that the Big Daddy is expensive (I got mine from Jamestown Distributors for $170), but it’s one of these last-a-lifetime and pass on to your grandkids kinda tools. Just hope they need to rivet something someday.

Link: Marson Big Daddy Riveter

In September I got to raft the Grand Canyon with some friends, and knowing it could likely be on of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences, I wanted a digital camera that would survive the trip, maybe even taking pictures in the middle of rapids, which in fact I was able to do quite successfully. I settled on a Pentax Optio 43 WR for less than $350. This particular model has been replaced with a more advanced 5 megapixel version, still sporting gaskets that protect against dust, splashes, and brief immersions (but it’s not a dive camera). I have to add, though, that a digital camera can have value way beyond taking vacation snapshots. On a boat, I’ve found it a superb way to document processes, repairs, disassemblies, etc. I’ve even slid the camera behind inaccessible bulkheads or under the engine to take pictures of things I wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. And having a camera that can take a bit of knocking about is extra useful in the tool type usage. The Pentax WR cameras take nice pictures, work well, and don’t need an additional expensive waterproof case to be robust. And though I can’t vouch for them directly Olympus also makes a weather resistant model or two.

Link: Optio WR

Actually, even if you don’t want to rip around like you have testosterone poisoning, these new inflatables may prove to be a significant innovation. It’s kind of a “why didn’t I think of that?” design, but by adding some 6 inch diameter speed tubes to the bottoms of the regular tubes on a flat bottom inflatable, you get the equivalent of a tunnel hull catamaran hull form. New in the West Marine catalog this year, these PVC inflatables from CI Marine come in two designs—the Sport, which is an all out performance model, and the CAT, which looks more like a regular dinghy when it’s sitting still. Both models have removable floorboards and roll-up for easier storage than a RIB. They promise high performance and great stability, and seem to be able to be able to handle larger outboards for their size. And there’s some suggestion that a Hypalon version may be coming (repeat after me, “I will not buy a PVC dink for cruising…”). It occurs to me that a design like this might be more amenable to rowing and sailing rigs that a RIB—I’ll be interested to see if they expand their horizons beyond going fast as heck.

www.cimarineusa.com

It’s a little thing, really, but the clock in your computer probably isn’t terribly accurate, but you’d never know because if you have Windows XP, the clock gets updated every time you go online. But out in the middle of nowhere without an internet connection, the inaccuracy might start to be a bother. Of course most boats carry a GPS now, and because the GPS satellites each have an extremely accurate atomic clock, your GPS is one of the most accurate clocks around. NMEATime is a straightforward little software product that will set the clock on your computer from the GPS (or over the internet), and can display a digital or analog clock in various colors and sizes. It’ll also display your basic GPS info, like position and satellite signal strength. It’s just $20 and there’s thirty day free trial version. The other products on the site are worth a look, too, especially if you want to monitor or diagnose the NMEA data coming from your GPS.

Link: NMEATime

I’ve raved about Rosepoint Navigation’s Coastal Explorer before—one of the best designed software products I’ve seen. And they promise version 1.1 by the end of April. It’s a free upgrade for existing users. New features include tides/currents and weather overlays, and uploading waypoints and routes to GPS and chartplotters. Also included are vector charts for the entire U.S. at no extra cost and with no need for burdensome unlocking codes. A searchable gazetteer helps you find locations and additional information quickly without having to dig through the charts. Sounds great!

Link: Rose Point Navigation

Getting the right navigation lights on and off in the right situations is typically a somewhat error prone procedure. If your boat is like mine, every circuit is on its own breaker, and you practically need a quick reference chart to remember what’s what. Then I take a saunter around deck to double check. And if you’re hollering instructions to your new crew down the companionway, it’s all the more error prone. So, finally, in the better-mousetrap department, Aquasignal has come out with a neat four position rotary switch. Little symbols for sail, motor, and anchor (and off) light when the switch is turned on, and a push/pull mechanism provides a secondary function, most logically a switch for deck lighting. An IP66 waterproof (not submersible) rating suggests it could be installed at the helm if desired. About $85 from www.pyacht.com.

Link: Aquasignal Lighting

A couple weeks ago a reader posted a link to some interesting spinnaker furlers made by Bamar. And since then I’ve seen that Bamar was awarded the coveted DAME award at the METS (Marine Equipment Trade Show) in Amsterdam, for the motorized version of their furlers. Unlike a code zero or reacher sail that is designed with a wire in the luff for furling, these new furlers work with any asymmetric spinnaker, and require no modifications to the sail. The continuous line-type furler has an extra thick, yet still flexible luff-rope/stay. The spin attaches to an offset tack pendant at the bottom, and a shackle which spins with the foil up top. Thirty seconds of pulling the continuous line wraps the sail onto the stay. The whole assembly can then be lowered and stowed. And the unit is also suitable of hoisting wire luff sails for outstanding flexibility. If your boat has a bowsprit that can fly an asymmetric spin, this may be a very attractive proposition for short-handed cruising.

Link: www.rollgen.com

A reader recently commented that he believes that using Iridium or Globalsat for email would be more economical that the Skymate system I mentioned earlier. In a number of cases he’s right, though I would contend that it really depends on your usage patterns. The great thing, though, is that you can rent an Iridium phone for less than $200/month now (or as low as $40/week), and evaluate the pros and cons yourself. No matter what system you use, you’ll want to think about creating a new email account and taking steps to control spam. As our usual email programs tend to be rather inefficient, some technical knowledge and additional software and services can result in big savings. The MailaSail system and others like it, that focus on providing very efficient, compressed email services specifically for satphone users are well worth looking into.

www.satphonestore.com/rentals/
www.rentsatellitephones.com

Being familiar with the Bosch on-demand hot water heaters for residential use, I’ve kept an eye similar units for boats. However, they are typically propane-fired, and propane can be a rather limited resource on-board, best saved for cooking. There are also the diesel-fired hydronic heating systems from Webasto and Espar, and you can plumb them into a hot water tank heat exchanger, but that seems a bit complex to me. The first product I’ve seen that promises to be an on-demand diesel hot water heater is the WaterHeater from ITR (International Thermal Research). It’s kind of a hybrid actually, with a five gallon holding tank, and the ability to deliver a constant rise of 52 degrees at 1.5 gallons per minute. 316 stainless construction bodes well for it’s marine-grade intentions. A heating element can be added to the system for cabin-heat of 14,000 btu/hour, but with a draw of 5.6 amps, your battery bank might have to be pretty hefty to get you through a New England winter night.

Link: www.itrheat.com