Boating & Cruising

Photos, ramblings and the occasional bit of useful information from our voyages aboard the runabout Sunset Chaser and other small boats.

Lithium Charlatanism

It's great to see electrification taking off, as was definitely evident at a recent boat show. It's a little less great to see how much charlatanism and huckstership have tainted the nascent field of marine lithium batteries and the equipment that uses them.
*****
This 1100 W electric outboard is equivalent to a 3 hp gas engine!
1100 W is 1.475 hp, by the literal definition of horsepower which is 1 hp = 745.7 W. Stop lying.
*****

Big Boat, Big Depreciation

I recently came across a 60-foot motor yacht that, after two years with its first owner, was now listed at a brokerage. The broker mentioned that its asking price of \$2.8m CAD was quite a deal, being a $1.5m savings versus the boat's original cost, while having only 200 hours on its twin Volvo IPS powertrains and being virtually pristine inside and out.

Get Rid Of That Damn Kellet

Kellets – those chunky cast-iron weights intended to be tied to the middle of the anchor rode – still exist, somehow, despite being useless (at best) or downright dangerous (at worst). Here's why yours deserves a date with the scrap bin.

Pages