Brion Toss | Why make lazyjacks difficult?

December 13, 2011

Why would you make your lazy jacks difficult? Brion Toss offers a better approach at Three Sheets Northwest: There’s a Gary Larson cartoon with the caption “Inconvenience store,” in which all of a shop’s merchandise is crowded onto a tiny shelf, far above the heads of the customers. Lazyjacks can be like that, a system [...]

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Anchoring Hand Signals

December 8, 2011

Capt. Nak has this useful item at his MV Independence blog: Recently while on a trip down to check the MV Independence, a boat neighbor at the dock stopped me and asked about anchoring.  He said that many times he and his wife get into this shouting match because she’s up at the bow dropping [...]

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Want to properly practice shooting flares? Here’s how

November 30, 2011

Deborah Bach has this story at Three Sheets Northwest: Most boaters will never fire off a flare from their boats, but it’s a good idea to know how in case you ever need to. And properly staging a practice run is easier than you might think — you just need to let the U.S. Coast [...]

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DIY wood stove project

November 24, 2011

Mike over at Tiburon36 has been working on his Bill Crealock-designed Tiburon 36 for a few years now, and it looks like it’s coming along nicely. His recent wood stove project is the sort of thing that makes me regret that I never learned to weld. Maybe it’s time… In any case, take a look [...]

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Cleat hitch: It’s easier than you think!

November 22, 2011

Ah, the horn cleat…so useful…yet so misunderstood. Bob over at Boat Bits has linked to a brief video to show us how to tie a cleat hitch. For the record, this is how we tie cleat hitches on Two Lucky Fish. That’s it… and when I say "That’s it", I really mean it! Extra wraps, [...]

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Mustang recalls some of their new M.I.T. inflatable PFDs

November 21, 2011

I wrote about Mustang’s new M.I.T. inflatable PFDs during the Seattle Boat Show last winter, and I bought one for my own boat. So I took careful note when I spotted this item. Luckily for me, the particular model I purchased isn’t affected. But in case you have one that is, please read the information [...]

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Coast Guard warns to prepare for winter storms

November 16, 2011

[We’ve got some big wind coming in shortly, so US Coast Guard 13th District sent out the following press release. But it occurs to me that this is just good advice for boat owners almost anywhere when winter storms come, so I figured I would post it here at Navagear as well. —Tim] SEATTLE — [...]

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Digital Selective Calling: Outreach still needed

October 24, 2011

I’ve written about DSC lots of times over the past few years, and I’m still astonished that this cool technology isn’t more fully understood by boaters. At this point, almost everybody with an installed marine VHF radio manufactured since…oh…about the turn of the century has DSC. I exaggerate, perhaps, but only a little. How many [...]

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Raymarine e7 Wins IBEX Innovation Award

October 19, 2011

[It’s a press release, folks. —Tim] MERRIMACK, N.H. October 19th 2011 – Raymarine, a world leader in marine electronics, announced today that its e7 multifunction display was selected for the prestigious IBEX Innovation award at the opening of the 2011 International Boat Builders Exhibition and Conference.   The IBEX Innovation Awards are organized by NMMA and [...]

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Furuno’s new “Safe Helm” autopilot feature: Competition for Garmin’s “Shadow Drive”?

October 11, 2011

Ben Ellison has this over at Panbo, and for my own part I am very interested in learning more! Take it away, Ben… Yes that’s an Accu-Steer reversing hydraulic pump meant to push a rudder around, but that block on top is a patent-pending sensor co-developed with FurunoUSA, and the whole package leads to the [...]

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