Boat Doctor

2015 April 1 - 12:00 am

My teak decks are shot, now what?

Dear Boat Doctor, The teak decks on my boat are failing. I love them but they are washboarded and thin enough in places that the caulking is just falling out. I need to do something about them but I am not quite sure what. What are my options?

Boat Doctor

2015 March 1 - 12:00 am

Why did my through-hull break off?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor, I was looking around my bilge and saw that the seacock on my shower drain looked odd. I grabbed it and the threaded portion of the through-hull broke off!

Technique

2015 March 1 - 12:00 am

Deck hatch maintenance

Don’t let a little drip turn into a gusher; fixing hatches isn’t as hard as you think

By Bob Pingel

The time will come when you need to give your deck hatches some attention. Those little drips when it rains or when you have a deck washer passage are your first clues.

Boat Doctor

2015 February 1 - 12:00 am

How do I keep my hot water from overheating?

By Bob Pingel

The water on my boat is really hot. How do I keep it from overheating?

Boat Doctor

2014 December 1 - 12:00 am

What size filter elements should I use?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor, What size filter element should I use in my Racor fuel filter? I’ve been told both a two-micron and a 10-micron filter. Ned Bittner Tacoma,

Boat Doctor

2014 December 1 - 12:00 am

Are my boat batteries dead?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor, I am having a problem with the batteries in my boat. I can charge the house bank up to 12.75 volts or so, but once I am away from the dock, the batteries quic

Retrofits

2014 December 1 - 12:00 am

Cal 33

By Bob Pingel

Some boats are meant for a lot of daysailing, a little bit of cruising and maybe one longer cruise a year in nearby waters. That’s where a boat like the Cal 33 comes in. The

Retrofits

2014 December 1 - 12:00 am

Swan 46 MK I

By Bob Pingel

If you had to choose a modern manufacturer and a designer with a timeless sense of style, the combination of German Frers and Swan would be at the top of the list. Swans are expensive boats beca

Boat Doctor

2014 November 1 - 12:00 am

How do I overcome prop walk?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor, I have a 1974 Cal T2-27 with a Yanmar 1GM10. My prop is a twin-blade 12RH10 and my prop walk to port when in reverse is pretty significant. My slip situation calls

Boat Doctor

2014 October 1 - 12:00 am

What’s the best way to run my engine?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor, I sail a Catalina 380 on Lake Michigan and it has a freshwater-cooled Westerbeke 42 engine. I use the engine basically to get in and out of the slip so I don�

Boat Doctor

2014 October 1 - 12:00 am

Why do I have ice build-up on my fridge?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor, The refrigerator on my boat keeps getting a lot of ice build-up, and both the top and front doors are sweating around the openings. A friend of mine told me I

Boat Doctor

2014 September 1 - 12:00 am

What’s the solution for bent stanchions?

By Bob Pingel

A few stanchions on my boat were damaged in a recent docking mishap. Some of them are bent beyond the point of straightening. What are my options for fixing them? I’d like to get stronger stan

Boat Doctor

2014 September 1 - 12:00 am

Why don’t my batteries charge well?

By Bob Pingel

Dear Boat Doctor,I use an invertor to charge the house batteries at the dock and the engine alternator to charge them away from the dock. The inverter seems to charge just fine, but the alternat