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From the Inside
- By Gus Giobbi
When our family bought our boat in 2001, our broker was in a panic to find us an open slip in San Diego.
Waiting lists were years long at marinas - the same at the yacht clubs - and some had such long waiting lists they wouldn't even take your name.
Well, as anybody who strolls along the waterfront can see - that has changed. Thanks to the economy, there are slips available in nearly every marina now.
But lately I've seen a lot of another trend with the brokers and marina managers I talk to here. Optimism! They can see the beginning of things turning back around.
I think they're right. If ever there was a time to buy a boat or upgrade to a new boat, it's now. The warm weather is coming and you can have the pick of our great San Diego waterfront. When it does turn around, everybody expects it will be with a vengeance.
How do you see it? Send me an e-mail.
You May Have Heard About This ...
A couple of jet skiers recently learned the hard way that the Navy, Homeland Security, and the Coast Guard are serious about watercraft not approaching within 100 yards of any U.S. naval vessel. The jet skiers ignored warnings and turned away and continued on a course toward the Navy ship, causing loaded guns to be ready to fire. Fortunately, the skiers obeyed at the last moment, but are facing a stiff fine.
If you need to pass within 100 yards of a U.S. naval vessel in order to ensure a safe passage in accordance with the navigation rules, you must contact the U.S. naval vessel or the Coast Guard escort vessel on VHF-FM channel 16. Also, you must operate at minimum speed within 500 yards of any U.S. naval vessel. If you have any question at all about this while you're out there, be sure to contact the Coast Guard on channel 16 and don't take any chances.
Down to the Wire - The Importance of Bonding Systems and Galvanic Isolation
- By Brett Dingerson
Whenever I begin a presentation explaining the electrical relationship between a boat and a marina,
I start with a glossary of terms.
Bonding, ship's ground, and galvanic isolation are today's terms.
"Bonding" is part of the ground system in your boat, called "ship's ground". A bonding system is created by running #8 grounding wires connecting all the thru-hulls, shafts, rudders, etc., that comprise the underwater metals of the boat.
The idea is to stabilize the voltage potential between all the underwater metals, thereby controlling galvanic corrosion with a sacrificial anode, zinc. Normally all bonding wires will terminate at large, strong buss bars, since there are other pieces to be connected to the ship's ground.
Ship's ground is also connected to the battery ground terminals, circuit panel ground buss, engine block, starter, generators, etc. In the end, the ship's ground becomes the connection between all of the boat's negative electrical systems and the ocean, or earth ground.
This next part is where a lot of boat people get twitchy; ship's ground must also include a connection to the boat's AC system ground. The shore power cord supplies the AC ground from the marina, the boogie man of galvanic corrosion.
The connection between the ship's ground and shore ground is very important and cannot be over emphasized. Here's why:
Boats sit in the ocean, which for all electrical purposes is zero volts, so your boat is ground. Shore power is delivering at least 30 amps of power at 120 volts, and is protected by an appropriately sized circuit breaker.
Let's say the fridge, full of cold beer, has a short in the compressor wiring. The shore power circuit breaker will energize the metal parts of that fridge at 120 volts, at least 30 amps worth. When you walk over in your wet socks or bare feet to grab a beer one of two things will happen, depending on whether you have a proper connection at ship's ground.
1. If the shore ground is not connected to ship's ground the door handle will be 120 volts, the boat you're standing on will be zero volts, and you will become the conduit of a lot of electricity headed to ground. A miniature lightning bolt.
2. If the shore ground is connected to ship's ground the door handle will be 120 volts, but since the handle is grounded to the boat, the boat will also be at 120 volts. You become "the bird on the wire", and will not be harmed. That's what ground systems do, protect people. There has to be a voltage difference for electrical current to flow.
Now, granted, increasing the voltage on your bonding system to 120 volts won't do the paint job any good, but it will reduce the electrocution danger to near zero and since most shorts of this type are pretty evident, they are repaired rather quickly. AC voltage leaks are also not a major contributor to stray current corrosion, but that's a deep subject and requires a different article.
Which leads to the last point - galvanic isolation; and in particular galvanic isolators. I have shown the importance of connecting ship's ground with shore ground. Since this connection is permanent you need to keep your zincs from protecting the dock and other boats.
A galvanic isolator should be installed in the shore power ground wire before any other ground connection is made aboard the boat. Galvanic isolators will maintain the safety of the ground system, simultaneously eliminating zinc loss to other boats. It's gospel, all boats need galvanic isolation.
Editor's Note: Brett Dingerson has over 25 years experience as a marine electrician, with a specialty in marine galvanic corrosion protection. He has worked with a wide range of sailing and power vessels and is the owner of San Diego-based Marine Electric. If you have a sailing question for Brett, send e-mail to brett@BlueSkyNews.com
What's That Smell!
For months on end your boat smells like the sweet rose of Summer, until one day a noxious green cloud of odor makes the seagulls pass out and strips the gelcoat off your neighbor's boat!
What's the problem? Here's a list of possibilities:
- The tank is over capacity and the contents have started to flow into the vent line
- The vent line or filter is clogged
- The vent filter has gotten wet and no longer functions
- The vent filter just needs to be replaced
- The vent line has been damaged or bent
- The boat has been sitting for a long time with waste in the tank (especially in hot weather). Keep the tank pumped out and treated if it's going to sit for a while.
- The waste hose is old and it has become permeated with odor.
Nautical Trivia - "The Sun's Over the Yardarm"
This was a traditional maritime saying to indicate that it is time for a morning drink.
It was generally assumed that in northern latitudes the sun would show above the foreyard of a ship by 11:00 a.m., which was approximately the time in many ships of the forenoon "stand-easy" when many officers would slip below for their first drink of the day.
e-Letters to the Editor - More on EPIRBs
e-Letter to Bob Simons Last Month - Bob, I read your article in the recent Marina Cortez Newsletter about analog EPIRBs no longer being monitored by the Coast Guard. I have an EPIRB aboard my boat. I am unsure whether it is of the analog type or digital. Can you tell me how I tell the difference? Jim D. - San Diego
e-Letter to Bob This Month
Bob - In my opinion, there is a much easier answer to Jim D.'s question than the one you provided last month. He asked how he could tell whether his EPIRB was of the analog type or digital.
The answer is, if his EPIRB is digital, it will be a "406" type EPIRB, and as such will transmit on 406MHz and 121.5MHz. If his EPIRB is an older analog type EPIRB it will transmit on 121.5MHz and 243.0MHz. The key is "406"!
If he has a 406 EPIRB; if the battery is within its replacement life; if the self test on his EPIRB returns a positive result; if there is no visible sign of damage to the case or antenna; and if he has updated and confirmed his EPIRB's registration with NOAA within the past two years, then his EPIRB is good to go.
The 406 MHz (digital) EPIRB has a fantastic record of leading to lives rescued. The key is to have it serviced every five years and to keep the registration information up to date with NOAA. Here's the web site: www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov.
Bob, keep on answering those questions and helping sailors do it the right way. Thanks for all you do,
Paul Hardin - ACR Electronics
paulhardin@acrelectronics.com
San Diego Bay Cleared For Landing As The Red Bull Air Race Returns For the 3rd Year
Third Time's a Charm as Red Bull Air Race World Championship Soars into San Diego May 9th and 10th
The planes are tuned up, the pylons are on their way,
and the best pilots in the world are strengthening their resolve as the Red Bull Air Race World Championship prepares to head back to San Diego on May 9 and 10. With over 120,000 fans attending over race weekend in 2008, this year's race looks to be bigger and better than ever.
The excitement kicks off the week of May 5 with various Red Bull Air Race concerts, parties and special events leading up to Race Day. The 2009 six-city worldwide tour will kick off in Abu Dhabi, UAE on April 17 and 18, where British racer Paul Bonhomme will look to repeat his daring 2008 win.
San Diego will host the second (and only U.S.) stop of this year's World Championship, with the third stop taking place in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on June 13 and 14 just across the river from Detroit, MI.
Qualifying will take place on Saturday, May 9, and Race Day will take place on Sunday, May 10. The Red Bull Air Race World Championship has revamped its already successful race format in the 2009 season as part of its quest to perfect scoring and spectator enjoyment. The new format features a Qualifying Day with all pilots racing to be one of the ten fastest to take them directly through to the Top 12 session on Race Day.
For the first time ever, Qualifying will also be a race for one championship point which will be awarded to the pilot with the best time in Qualifying. The new format will also be adopted to accommodate the largest field expansion ever in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship - from 12 pilots in 2008 to 15 in 2009.
The expansion includes four rookie pilots from four continents who join the seasoned pros this year. At age 25, Canada's Pete McLeod will be the youngest ever pilot in the high-speed, precision flying race and will be joined by three other rookies - Japan's Yoshihide Muroya, Australia's Matt Hall and Germany's Matthias Dolderer. These elite 15 of the world's best pilots will push their skills to the limit, flying through the challenging, twisting race tracks just feet above the water with points awarded for the fastest times and least number of penalties.
Spectators will have the opportunity to experience the best viewing and sound including on-site activities from the two peninsulas (North & South) of the Embarcadero Marina Park close to the Seaport Village in downtown San Diego.
Tickets for the Red Bull Air Race weekend at the Embarcadero Marine Park are $40 for a 2-day general admission pass and can be purchased and printed at home from www.redbullairrace.com. For updated entertainment schedules and tickets, visit www.redbullairrace.com.
New this year, fans can watch the last three seasons of the Red Bull Air Race on Hulu.
Secrets About Sails - About Sail Cloth Primer - Part 2
- By Brad Poulos
More and more sailors are turning to laminated sailcloth because laminates are lighter for their strength than Dacron. Laminates also have superior shape holding ability.
As the name implies, laminates all have some cloth or yarns glued to one or more layers of Mylar film. Remember the old overhead projector sheets? That was a Mylar film. Laminated sails use various yarns (Kevlar, Pentex, etc) sandwiched between various thicknesses of Mylar to form the base material.
Laminates can be made with a wide variety of yarns. Each yarn has its own special strengths and weaknesses. An additional factor is how the yards are laid out - warp or fill oriented, bias or none, etc. Some sailmakers use external tapes or additional cloth layers (taffetas) to provide additional strength/weight or reinforcement benefits.
Before discussing specific advantages of a specific yard, let's cover some common terms and definitions used in the sailcloth industry.
Initial modulus is usually expressed as grams of load per unit stretch for a certain fiber denier. The higher the initial modulus, the less the fiber will stretch.
Tenacity is the tensile stress at rupture of a fiber expressed in grams of force per denier. Tenacity relates to the breaking strength of fibers and should not be confused with modulus, which relates more directly with a fiber's ability to resist stretch.
Grand Prix racers turn to PBO Zylon — PBO for short. The modulus of PBO is so great that it makes any aramid yarns like Kevlar look stretchy. The material is extremely expensive and it breaks down faster than Kevlar® when exposed to light. To shield it from harmful light, cloth manufacturers are protecting the yarns with dyed mylar.
Kevlar, Technora and Twaron are trademarks for aramid yarns which are the most common high-tech yarn used in performance sailmaking. Dupont's trademarked aramids are called Kevlar® and Kevlar® Edge. Aramids have a distinctive brownish yellow color. Aramids have a couple of drawbacks; they lose strength from flogging as well as from exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays.
Spectra yarns are lighter and more flexible than Kevlar® and Technora. Spectra doesn't break down from folding, is impervious to UV radiation, and gets softer with use. Unfortunately, Spectra is more expensive than Kevlar® .
Another yarn is made of PEN fibers (Polyethylene Napthalate). It is most commonly sold under Challenge Sailcloth's trade name Pentex. Standard Polyester (Dacron) is short for polyethylene terepthalate or PET. PEN fibers have the identical initial breaking strength as PET yarns, but PEN fibers have 2.5 times less stretch than polyester yarns.
Obviously the choices are plentiful and understanding your sailing needs and budget, along with doing your own research will make the selection process easier. All of the major sailmakers work closely with the cloth manufacturers to produce custom laminates that are matched to their construction systems.
Your sailmaker will be happy to discuss sailcloth selection with you, in detail, to recommend what's right for you, your boat and your budget.
Editor's Note: Brad Poulos holds a US Coast Guard 50-ton masters license. Brad is also an ASA certified sailing instructor. If you have a question regarding the use or care of sails, send an e-mail to brad@BlueSkyNews.com.
Between the Sheets - Getting There Faster
- By Richard Benscoter
As a sail boat owner, at times we really want to get to our destination at a faster speed than we are currently sailing at, be it for weather avoidance or meeting crew, we just need to up our speed.
So how do we do this? Well we can use a polar chart if you have one for your boat, or you can experiment with various deviations from your current course in degrees.
Let's say the course to our destination, Catalina Island, is 115 degrees magnetic.
The speed we are at on this course is 6.0 knots. Experimenting with a 10 degree course deviation, we find that we can increase our speed to 6.1 knots.
So the burning question is - it worth the 10 degree course change to pick up the extra one tenth of a knot?
According to our chart - the answer is yes.
Try it yourself - to use the chart, take your speed in knots on your current course, see if you can experience an increase in speed at 10, 20, 30, or 40 degrees off your current course, take your new speed, slide across the chart and you'll find the speed you must be exceeding to arrive at your destination early.
If you really want to nail your course changes down in 1 degree increments, send me an e-mail and I would be glad to send you a table of Secants in one degree increments.
See you on the water!
Editor's Note: Richard Benscoter is a long time avid sailor. He's a member of the Silver Gate Yacht Club and owner of the Mariners Woodshop. If you have a sailing question for Richard, send e-mail to richard@BlueSkyNews.com.
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