-
Read more: Is Boat Electric Drive Green or Greenwashing?Here at AAC we are all over anything that will reduce carbon emissions, but we also don’t like the pretengineering so prevalent in the electric drive business. Login to continue reading (scroll down) Learn About Membership Get to know us for FREE Username Password Remember Me Forgot Password
-
Read more: Great Source: How Lithium Batteries ChargeI have been deep into researching lithium batteries, and particularly how they charge, while writing new buyer’s guide chapters for our Electrical Systems Online Book. One of the best sources I have read is a post by Eric Bretscher, over at Nordkyn Design. Before you go read it, a few thoughts: Login to continue reading […]
-
Read more: Get Sticky and Go HomeI will clean this up…tomorrow. While we are on the subject of fun you can have with epoxy—see the last Tip—here’s another. Login to continue reading (scroll down) Learn About Membership Get to know us for FREE
-
Read more: We Can Never Have Too Many GlovesI have been doing a bunch of work on our J/109 with epoxy resin lately. Nothing structural, just mounting some hardware, and improving the mounting for a couple of turning blocks. Stuff that requires replacing core and bonding backer plates. This kind of work involves handling things covered in epoxy and then handling tools…and then […]
-
Read more: Lithium Batteries Buyer’s Guide—Balancing and MonitoringTo buy the right lithium battery and BMS for our needs, we must first understand cell balancing and required monitoring.
-
Read more: Source For Custom JacklinesWe have long advocated for jacklines made of heavy Dacron webbing, but in recent years it has been difficult to source them already made up. But now there is a new vendor offering custom jacklines. One suggestion, I would not use their Jackline Assembly, consisting of a shackle and cover. The problem with this approach, […]
-
Read more: AAC Menu ImprovementsAs happens with any new site design, I’m improving a bunch of little things to make the site easier to use. The latest around the menu: Sticky Menu This design (and the old) have a sticky menu that appears only when we scroll up. The idea is that if we realize we are in the […]
-
Read more: Q&A—Weather Information In The Southern HemisphereQuestion Member Terence asked: When we went to Polynesia, we used Predict Wind. We could get weather in all latitudes. Next year we will again be sailing south of the US Pacific Ocean Prediction Center maps. Need I again use Predict Wind to get what I need? Someone asked the same question about the south […]
-
Read more: Just What The World Doesn’t Need
I generally don’t get political around here, and we have a rule against that in our comment guidelines, but sometimes a situation is so egregious that I simply can’t keep my opinion to myself: Login to continue reading (scroll down) Learn About Membership Get to know us for FREE
-
Read more: An Interesting Sailboat Electrical System Upgrade Case StudyScuttlebutt have an interesting two-part story about upgrading the electrical system in a J/105. Worth a read, even though this is a racing boat. To me the takeaways are: All useful, but the biggest takeaways are: Much more on electrical system upgrades:
-
Read more: How To Blow Up Your AlternatorAnytime I write about batteries and charging someone is bound to bring up one of the clever gadgets that fool a stock alternator into charging at a higher current for longer without resorting to external regulation. Some of these gadgets, particularly the VRC-200 from Nordkyn Electronics, are undoubtedly very clever—here’s another one I wrote about. […]
-
Read more: Plumb Bows Are Just Another Rule-Caused FashionThis bow may look old fashioned, but it works. An exchange between Matt and member Charlie in the comments to Matt’s excellent article got me thinking about the latest design fashion to draw boats with plumb bows. Login to continue reading (scroll down) Learn About Membership Get to know us for FREE
-
Read more: Selecting The Right Hull FormThe most important decision when buying a boat is choosing the right hull. Get that wrong and all else is wasted. Matt shines a light on how to recognize good cruising hull designs and then relates that to real boats.
-
Read more: New Site DesignThings are different now. I have just installed the new custom theme I have been working on for the last four months. Here’s all the goodness.
-
Read more: Lithium Batteries Buyer’s Guide—BMS RequirementsChoosing the right BMS is the first and most important task when buying a lithium-battery system for an offshore voyaging boat.
-
Read more: Dark Mode at AACMember Charlie R suggested in a comment to a Tip about the new AAC site design I’m working on that it incorporate dark mode. Initially I was skeptical because there is no consensus among web site experts that dark modes do anything useful, and I have always believed, as many web designers do, that the […]
-
Read more: Tap AdaptersWhile we are on the subject of tap wrenches, here’s another cool way to drive a tap: tap adapters. Login to continue reading (scroll down) Learn About Membership Get to know us for FREE
-
Read more: Versatile Tap WrenchI’m always on the lookout for tools that will work well on a boat without taking up too much room or adding too much weight. At first glance this looks like any other tap wrench, but look closer and we find: The build quality seems OK and the price is surprisingly reasonable. I got mine […]
-
Read more: Why We Have an eWincher on a Small BoatSeveral reasons to consider buying an eWincher, even if the loads are comparatively low, particularly if the halyards on your boat are run aft to winches under the dodger.
-
Read more: Electronic Chart DangersSure, electronic charts are great, but we should never assume that every cool-looking feature is also great, some of them are dangerous.
-
Read more: Check The Siphon BreakThe engine on most sailboats is installed at least partially below the waterline, consequently, with most exhaust systems, the only thing preventing the engine from flooding with water after it stops is the siphon break installed at the highest point in the raw-water cooling system. That’s bad enough, but the other problem with siphon breaks […]
-
Read more: Cool New WinchOne of the most important advances in sailing hardware in my lifetime was the self-tailing winch. If you came to sailing after these came on the scene you will not fully appreciate them, but, trust me, suddenly having both hands free to put our full weight on the handle was game changing, particularly for shorthanded […]
-
Read more: Another Reason To Buy an Electric OutboardThanks to an article by Eric Klem, and to a lesser extent one of mine, we all now clearly understand how bad weight in the ends of the boat is for sailing performance. What’s this got to do with electric outboards? While thinking about a new outboard for our J/109, it just struck me that […]
-
Read more: Review of Ocean Signal PLB3 Against MOB1When something new and cool is released, it’s always tempting to assume it’s better than the older simpler option, but is it?
-
Read more: Weather Analysis—Part 2, StrategicWith modern weather reception and analysis tools we can plan our cruises and voyages as much as two weeks ahead. John shares how.
