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Colby has a great point. If you haven't done it, do get a boating course -- at the least, basic boating. My state requires it. There's a certain fund of information about aids to navigation (buoys, lights, etc.), safety (right of way, rules of the road, communication, emergencies) and some other...

I've been toying with the idea of a similar trip and thinking the same way about car and trailer issues. Friends who have done the canal loved it. A boating contact near Buffalo (thanks, US Power Squadron) says the section from Buffalo to Rochester is flat and rural and, in his opinion, the most...

It looks like it was inspired by the Nimble Nomad, which has a following. When hunting for small cruisers I drove to Maryland and looked at one. Nomads have a wonderful interior layout with lots of usable features including an enclosed head, in about the same space as a 22 Cruiser. The little...

Yes. It looks like thieves have been using GPS jammers for some time to take high end cars and cargos: https://rntfnd.org/2017/12/18/gps-jammi ... und-world/ I don't know if GPS units using multiple systems avoid the problem or not. Do you? In any case it's a good argument for learning coastal...

A lot of replies on this thread say something like "I just trust my GPS." Not a lot of boaters have heard there are now problems with bad actors hacking the GPS signals. Here's one article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/new ... 703476001/ The GPS signals are quite weak (satellite to you...

On the lists of essentials there are great bits of advice. It's surprising there aren't more who suggest a good marine compass. It's often on "starter" lists along with an anchor, horn and flares. Beyond course-holding, it gives you a way to establish your position relative to landmarks and...

Pages 16-17 of the Spring 2017 issue of The Ensign, the US Power Squadrons magazine, also carries a nice C-Dory photo. Taken in Maine, I think.

After thinking it over I chose a Tohatsu 6 hp 4-stroke. I avoid bad weather like the plague and so it's very unlikely I will ever need the kicker against heavy winds. The 6hp should push the boat at hull speed if necessary. I got the short shaft and plan to use it with a Garelick swinging mount...

Absolutely. People use butyl tape, 3M 5200, and Life-Caulk for this. Don't use silicone, which isn't up to the job. Unless the bolts and bracket are bedded, water will get in between them and the deck and cause rotting of the deck core and probably leaks into the cabin below.

Another person who sells (and can update or work on) older Garmin units and cards is Capt. Mike Macrae, 609-471-1756.

April 2017, Portage Lakes State Park, Ohio

Defender is having its sale right now. They offer a 10 pound Manson Supreme anchor (regularly $139) for $30. Manson rates that anchor for boats 15 to 22 feet. Mansons are highly rated in some recent anchor tests. At that price I've ordered one as a second anchor (have a Bruce on the bow).

Whether you ever go to Canada or not, it's past time to have a VHF with DSC (digital selective calling) and an MMSI number for your boat. This safety feature has been available for about 10 years now. It's included on low priced VHFs, even handhelds. If your radio is too old or too simple to...

My father in law once built a foam-strip canoe encapsulated with fiberglass (epoxy resin, I think). Think of cedar strip canoes, but he used styrofoam. The finished canoe was incredibly light and plenty strong enough for normal paddling. There's no reason you couldn't build a cheap, light dinghy...

Let me recommend some books by David James Duncan: The River Why, River Teeth, and My Story as Told by Water. He has written others less water-oriented, too; see his website. I'm now reading A Sea Dog's Tale by Peter Muilenberg and will review it for The Ensign (the USPS quarterly). So far it's...

Jazzmaniac, you can try sitting inside the cabin during a rainstorm. When I did that, I found a number of active, dripping leaks through bolt holes and fittings that I'd assumed were watertight. Once I'd fixed them all and dried the cabin and underfloor (see earlier post on installing a 6" round...

Tparrent, I also bought a lightly used 2007 model with about 100 hours on the motor (Suzuki in my case). I too could not get fuel to flow -- from either tank in my case. The problem on my boat was the fuel pickup tubes that drop down inside the tanks. Both tubes, as I discovered, had broken...

Active Captain's folks are just a little ahead of the curve, and it's very interesting. If it's possible to get a big-screen chartplotter, instrument cluster, GPS and AIS information, weather, music and more for the price of a tablet -- which you can take home and use for other things -- would...

If you google "6 inch deck plate" you will see ads for the type of inspection port I used. Less than $15 at Wal-Mart, more at the boat stores (for the same one, I think).