Boat Humor

Boat Humor

“Searenity”

 

    

“Ahh-Da-See”                                                                                     “Salty Tango”

 

         “Sea-Esta”

“High Hopes”

 

“Riff Raff”

 

“Tenacious”

 

“Bliss”

 

                              

Halloween Fun                                                                                                                       Shark Bite out of the Hornblower

 

Camper? Boat? Safety Hazard?
You decide…
Sea (Doo) Tow
Boat Butt
Boatyard Railroad
Termites

Termites

Boat in a Tent

 

   While airborne termites do not do as much damage as subterranean termites, they are never-the-less a problem for boaters. Even fiberglass boats use wood in their construction for bulkheads, stingers, interior and core.

I find evidence of termites and / or termite damage on roughly 5% of the vessels I survey and recently received an email asking for termite confirmation (via a photo) and for a termite company referral.
Termite “kick out” is brown and black particles that are similar in appearance to saw dust. The “kick out” accumulates directly below the termites’ holes. Airborne termite wings are another indication of termites aboard the vessel.
While airborne termites eat slowly, and the damage they cause is often not of structural significance, they are often significant at the time of sale. They arouse fear due to the uncertainty surrounding them.
How much damage was done? How do I get rid of them? How much will it cost?
There are numerous methods for treating termites. Orange Oil treatment, localized chemical extermination, microwave and whole boat fumigation. Products can be purchased for the do-it-yourselfer and there are numerous professional exterminators available.
Perhaps the most important lesson is to address them as quickly as possible, limiting the damage and reducing the cost of treatment.
While there is no legal requirement to address termites, as there is in real estate, they have caused problems with sales and are fairly easily detectable. If you see “kick out” or termite wings or bodies, be pro-active. Determine the extent of damage, repair as necessary, exterminate appropriately and remove the remnants to allow detection of any future infestation.
One San Diego exterminator said the average price for taping and sealing a 100’ vessel is $4,500 but prices vary depending on the size and difficulty of sealing off the vessel.
               
Termite Kick out                                                                                                                Termite Kick Out
                                                                                  Termite holes from below
A Scary Story

A Scary Story

Do you see anything wrong in this picture?

How about now, compare the two propeller shafts

 

How about now?
This is a broken propeller shaft. It broke ½” aft of the transmission coupler keyway.
The 30 year old boat had a relatively new owner, he had reversed out of his slip and had operated at approximately 15 minutes at low speed. The failure happened as he throttled up in forward and felt something unusual on the steering wheel. This was the propeller contacting the rudder.
He then noticed that he had lost power from his port engine, though the engine ran and the transmission shifted normally.
A quick check of the engine room revealed that the port propeller shaft had slid out of the shaft seal, allowing a 2.5” stream of water into the engine room.
Fortunately experienced boaters were aboard along with emergency wooden dowel plugs, one of which fit nicely into the shaft seal hole.
This averted any significant water intrusion event, the vessel was hauled shortly thereafter limiting the damage to the broken shaft and bent propeller.
It defies logic that the propeller shaft was strong enough to assist in reversing the vessel out of its slip, but broke shortly thereafter while operating in forward. Logically one would think, if the shaft was that close to failure, it would have failed in reverse.
The lines across the break surface of the shaft are called beach lines. These are where a crack in the shaft has propagated across the face of the break surface, or through the shaft, until the point of failure.
This particular failure is unusual, as most propeller shaft failures occur at the key which allows connection to the transmission coupler or the propeller.
Boats maintained “in class” are required to pull their propeller shafts every five years. Most recreational vessels only pull propeller shafts if a problem develops. Another problem which is common with stainless steel propeller shafts is anaerobic corrosion below the shaft seals and strut bearings, caused by long periods of disuse and the unfortunate weaknesses of stainless steel.
This recent failure resulted in relatively little damage, due to the operator recognizing the problem quickly, inspecting the engine room and most importantly having proper emergency response equipment aboard.

Emergency wooden dowels and installation tool

Parking

As boaters we don’t always get to park at our home, yacht club or marina. Your active boating life will necessitate parking someplace else, and you’ll be thrown in with the mass of Southern California drivers searching for coastal parking. More and more of which is fee based.
After nearly 30 years of marine surveying, driving to a different boat every day, it would be logical that I would become savvy at parking near them. Yeah, no… but I am learning all the time.
Decades ago my car was towed from Humphreys on Shelter Island, about a month after they started to control their parking lot. I didn’t believe the newly posted “will tow” signs. Since then, I made it decades until recently when I received tickets in Long Beach and Oceanside.
In Long Beach, a nine iron away from the Queen Mary, I fed three quarters into the meter. When I noticed no time, I wrote a note for any potential enforcer and put it in my dashboard. I even had a witness. The note was no deterrent and a ticket appeared. My initial request for dismissal and my subsequent appeal both rejected, even with a witness statement and a copy of the note left in the dashboard. The denial said the meter was “working properly”.
The Oceanside ticket resulted from my apparent negligence of placing the parking receipt face down on my dash. My initial request for cancellation, including the credit card receipt for purchasing the parking ticket, was rejected. I just put the appeal in the mail, motivation for this story. Wish me luck.
In addition to moving your car to a space with a functional meter and putting the receipt face up, I have learned other useful parking tidbits.
There are often free areas in the vicinity of paid spots. Near our Shelter Island (San Diego) office there is free unlimited street parking. There are free lots on all three corners of the Shelter Island. There is free parking in Spanish Landing, close to San Diego boat shows and Harbor Island (and the airport). Keep in mind that these lots have limitations, displayed on signs, usually to prevent overnight and long term parking. In your area, keep an eye out for where the workers park, usually we know the best spots.
Professionals/vendors often receive discounts in commercial parking lots, including those for large hotel chains. Many marinas allow vendors to purchase keys, a wise decision if one must return to a marina repeatedly, without a boat there.
Keeping the environment and parking difficulties in mind, consider car pooling and bicycles (yes even those colorful eyesore rental bikes and scooters). And then there are times like 4th of July, Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Parade of Lights. My suggestion for all of these: ride share.
PS. Alav ha-shalom (R.I.P.) Carleton Levitetz, a local boat broker with a humorous personality and unique style

Vessel Engine Neutral Safety Switch

The basic idea of a neutral safety switch is to prevent starting a boat’s engine when its transmission is “in gear”.  This prevents the boat from moving suddenly and unexpectedly when an engine is started and is a good safety feature.  An unexpected sudden movement of a boat can be catastrophic.

 

Recently a 90’ motor vessel’s engine started in gear and damaged the dock to which it was secured.  Fortunately there were no injuries.  There were several contributing causes, including a new operator unfamiliar with the systems and either no neutral safety switch or one that didn’t work.

 

I polled a few mechanics and inquired if they test the neutral safety switch function during mechanical surveys.  Most do not.

 

The mechanics all mentioned that many boats don’t have these devices.  One mechanic/surveyor said that most sailboats don’t have them.  A Detroit Diesel specialist said that Jimmy’s usually don’t have them, but I was on a 118’ Hatteras at the moment that did have them on all three 12V92’s.  Most small boats with outboards, outdrives and gasoline inboards have a neutral safety switch in the engine control handle.  Some transmissions have the switch mounted on the shift lever.  Hydraulic and pneumatic controls (like the one in the 90’ MY) can have them, but many do not.  Most new electronically controlled engines do have them as part of the control system.

 

What this means to us as boaters is we can not assume our boat has a neutral safety switch and we should know so we can take proper actions to prevent an accident.  There is a way to safely test the neutral safety switch.  The basic idea is to find the switch’s wires, check for continuity in neutral and make sure continuity is broken when the transmission control is not in neutral.  For those interested in a bit more technical specifics see the following from Ricky at Advanced Marine Power:

 

“Safely checking the switch would entail using a voltmeter/multimeter with the ability to read resistance/ohms.  Place the two leads of the meter on each wire/terminal of the neural safety switch. Set the meter to read ohms; this will check for electrical continuity.  Turn the ignition key on, but do not start the engine.  There should be a resistance value on the meter, signifying that the electrical circuit has continuity. With the key still on, engine not running, shift the transmission into forward. Check the meter. There now should be no resistance value, or “OL”.  This signifies that the electrical circuit does not have continuity, and thus will not allow the engine to start.  Repeat the process by shifting into reverse.”

 

Then there is the layman’s method, put the transmission control in gear and try to start the engine.  If you are ready for it, you should be able to control throttle and dock lines so that if it does start, you don’t hurt anything.  You can also just bump the starter, versus starting the engine.

 

Either method will give you crucial information as to the function of your engine starting system and reduce the potential for surprises, boat or dock damage or worse.

 

Parade of Lights (and lack thereof)

 

Last night I found motivation for a new article.  I enjoyed the spectacular southern California sunset on my way to watch the San Diego Parade of lights on a motor vessel.  I always enjoy the view of the San Diego skyline as the sun goes down and the lights come up.  The view from the Shelter Island and Harbor Island areas always makes me grateful for where I live.

The parade of lights is an interesting event, allowing boaters to show creativity and holiday spirit.  The subject for this year’s parade was “Arrrgh! A Pirate’s Christmas”.  There will be a second parade December 17, 2017 starting at 5:00 p.m. at Shelter Island and ending at the Ferry Landing on Coronado around 7:00 p.m.

The bay was full of spectator boats and we took a lap around the bay after the last participant in the parade of lights passed us.  That’s when the motivation for this article came.

I saw dozens of boats with improper navigational lights displayed.  Some were missing a light, some displayed their anchor lights along with their running lights, but several had no lights on whatsoever.

I suppose it’s a matter of numbers, a certain percentage of boaters will fail to illuminate their lights, but the percentage seemed extra ordinarily high last night.

Many commercial vessels are now using LED lights which are illuminated whenever the vessel is operating, day or night.  The electrical draw is negligible compared to the certainty of displaying the proper lights and additional safety.  Remember lights need to be displayed in times of limited visibility, sun down, fog, or smoke.

I thought about driving a car without lights.  The environment reminds you because you cannot see the road.  Other cars can flash their lights as a reminder.  But navigational lights are not head lights.  And another boat blinking at you is unlikely to cause you to think about your own lights.  I certainly have been guilty of forgetting to turn on my lights.

So I wrote this short reminder to you and to me.  When I see another boat with their lights on, I will check my lights, make sure they are properly functional and the proper lights are illuminated.

Remember if your operating your vessel and you see any lights, on the shore, on a buoy or on other boats, check and make sure your lights are functional and illuminated. See the lights, check the lights.