Engines & Parts Reviews

The definition of innovation can be elusive.  Is a new design innovative or incremental?  Is it evolutionary or revolutionary?  We wrestled with that repeatedly at the NMMA Innovation awards in Miami recently but we arrived at the conclusion that innovation can be deceptively simple.   Hunt’s table on their new 52 Cruiser proves that a forehead slapping simple solution to an age old problem can be innovative – and elegant as well.  The table on the aft weather deck is designed be converted from a dining to a cocktail table so it’s dual purpose, thereby saving space.  The table does the usual hi-lo adjustment because the whole unit is mounted on gas springs.  But this convertible table can also move in and out from the seat and be made smaller or larger.  For dining, the table is at full height, full width and can be brought in close to the person seated.  When converted to a cocktail table, the unit is lowered and a leaf is removed from the center to make it smaller.  The table is split in half and the two halves are moved with gears below to join together with or without the leaf.  Then the whole unit is “swung” outward on arms that rotate around the columns or legs, giving people a chance to lounge comfortably with a cocktail.  It’s a great solution where a table requires fiddles which preclude a folding design. The finish on the gears is a work of art too and it’s almost a shame that they’re on the underneath side where nobody will see them.  The design won the NMMA award and it’s likely to start popping up in saloon and exterior deck table applications – at least on Hunt Yachts.  …Read More

Fishing and blogging are all part of the tour for this team of professional fishermen. Now you can ride along with them. …Read More

Mercury ECO-Screen wins West Marine's new award as Environmental Product of the Year …Read More

Kadey-Krogen yesterday released more details of its newest trawler, the Krogen 52′, which we first reported on here. It’s decidedly a classic Krogen trawler, with its raised pilothouse and 3,000 nm range at about 7 knots. It shares many of the features of its bigger sister, the Krogen 58′.  The main-deck galley is “Iron Chef”-equipped (my [...] …Read More

I hate frozen lettuce.  How many times have you pulled from the boat fridge a frozen chunk of produce and after resetting the thermostat, your shrimp thawed and had to be thrown away?  I never know exactly where to set the temperature for the optimum trade-off between food preservation and minimum power consumption and I have no idea what happened in between the off/on cycles which makes me wonder about those shrimp.  Enter a smart little idea called the Freezer Safe.  Powered by two AAA batteries and just a little bigger than a pack of chewing gum, Freezer Safe will record temperatures from -5 degrees F to +122 degrees F (-20 C to +50 C). The Freezer Safe audible thaw alarm starts beeping when it's been above 31 degrees F for 2 hours or more...but must have been below 29 degrees before it starts tracking.  With one in the freezer and one in the box you can see at what temperature the compressor turns on, and how temperature varies during a cycle in different parts of the box. It will record and store high and low temps for 100 days, 100 hours, or 100 minutes, so you'll know exactly where to set your thermostat for maximum performance. Think of the money you’ll save by not throwing away food that may or may not have been put at risk.  And dialing in power consumption means there’s more juice to run other toys aboard.  You can even use it to track temperatures in the engine room during a voyage since it has an attachment ring to keep it from flying around or landing in the bilge. Freezer Safe carries a 90 day warranty and retails for $29.95 for one or $49.95 for a pair. …Read More

The Suunto KB-20 is a hand-bearing and floating compass that weighs only about an ounce.  But it’s not the size that matters here but rather the accuracy.  The Suunto KB-20 allows the user to sight and follow bearings with accuracy better than 1 degree. The Suunto KB-20 has a scale graduation of 1 degree, a reverse scale for readings through an optical lens and regular scale for viewing from above.  It’s bright yellow so you aren’t likely to lose it even in the bottom of a dark bag and it has a lanyard to keep it handy.  This little compass is so accurate it’s actually used in commercial applications.  It can function from -40 degrees F to +140 degrees F and has a self-cleaning capsule bearing.  It’s easy to read and therefore use. It’s not cheap – MSRP is around $85 but you can find it for up to 30% less online.  This compass is not for those who point the bow in roughly the right direction and hope for the best.  This is for those times when precision is everything.    …Read More

Here’s a photo e-mailed to me by a friend – let’s see if you can tell what’s wrong with this picture: Yes, those are icicles hanging from the engine. This boat was left in the water well past the start of winter, which itself is not a problem. In fact, many of us hard-core anglers fish [...] …Read More

As its name implies, the Quick-Shade Top by Taylor Made Products is a fast and easy solution to getting some shade over your dinghy.  Designed to fit inflatable boats up to 10’ 8” long and 5’ 7” wide, the Quick-Shade Top kit is an easy, owner-installed alternative to custom aluminum and canvas structures to make your tender more comfortable.  The top comes complete with the shade material, frame, marine-grade hardware, storage bag and instructions.  All you’ll need is a Phillips head screwdriver and a place to fully inflate your dink.  It takes about 2 days to completely install it but that’s only due to the drying time of the PVC adhesive (included).  Once the permanent hardware and patches are mounted to the bow and stern of the boat, the top sets up and breaks down easily. Two, 7’, fiberglass and shock cord poles are set fore and aft on either side of the inflatable boat.  They are quick and easy to set up and take down for convenient storage and look like heavy duty tent poles.  A 3’ supporting pole provides a little shape overhead and the rear support poles placed on the transom board add a little strength and stability.  The hardest part of this whole installation is getting the patches placed and glued on correctly.  A little assistance from a helper will make it go more smoothly.  Two people will be very comfortable under this top with adequate headroom.  Additional folks might find themselves dodging the poles a bit.  Although I wouldn’t take the dink out for a spin on a plane with the top up, it’ll certainly serve well for those lazy anchorage explorations, cocktail in hand and sun at bay. The Quick-Shade Top retails for around $110 …Read More

With the best-selling VX models below, and the powerful, high-tech FX SHO models above, Yamaha's FX HO and FX Cruiser HO were in danger of being overlooked. No longer. Last year Yamaha gave the craft the SHO's big-displacement 1.8-liter engine, along with those model's electronic throttle enhancements. Add in the lighter weight NanoXcel hull, and you've got one potent middle child in the Yamaha lineup. …Read More

Dry bags aren’t new, but heavy duty, purpose-built dry bags sure are something to talk about.  Watershed out of North Carolina has just introduced its ZipDry® Largo Tote dry bag and computer carrying case for your laptop so you can go ashore with your electronic lifeline and rest assured it will get there dry and safe.  The Watershed Largo Tote is a large, waterproof bag (approximately 18” x 18”) with a separate, lightly padded laptop case (roughly 14” square) for the interior. Once ashore, you can carry the laptop case separately from the dry bag.  The laptop bag joins a full line of Watershed’s designer, military-grade dry bags, many shaped like duffels or backpacks.  The fabric is one of the keys to the product:  When left out, PVC becomes stiff when cold and wears out quickly in the sun. Watershed uses only chemically stable, UV resistant, polyurethane laminated nylon, featuring four times the abrasion resistance of PVC and flexibility at all temperatures.  The ZipDry seal is the second secret to the Watershed technology.  Snap it shut like a freezer bag, and anything inside is protected - even underwater.   The ZipDry seal is so waterproof you decide when you close it whether you want to bleed the air out to make the bag smaller or keep some in to make the bag buoyant.  Watershed also provides you with a space age sunscreen/ lubricant to keep the seal tracks working properly.  The seal is so secure, it actually takes directions to show you how to open it.  The Largo Tote has two carrying straps made of wide webbing and four D-ring type buckles that you can use to lash the bag to the dink in case you are expecting a rough landing in the surf.  It also has two side snaps which allow you to roll the bag down to a smaller size.  And the bags stay really dry since even the seams are welded together with radio frequency energy.  The Largo Tote by Watershed retails for $89 and comes with a lifetime warranty against material defects and workmanship issues. …Read More