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Photo Essay: Avoiding Heat Shrink Butt Splice Woes Butt splices are ubiquitous, the average 50-foot vessel contains scores, perhaps even a hundred or more of...

Photo Essay: Shore Power Over-Current Protection Over-current protection, or OCP, a subject I write about all too often (most recently here), only because it is...

Photo Essay: Exhaust Injection Angle Water-cooled, often referred to as “wet” exhaust systems, enable otherwise extremely hot gasses to be safely conveyed through a vessel,...

Photo Essay: The Perils of an Unvented Loop Vented loops, also known as anti-siphon valves or siphon-breaks, have served mariners for many years.  Their mission...

                Photo Essay: Fan Belt Shedding Fan belts fulfill a vital role for engines; they transfer energy from the crankshaft pulley to other vital components and...

Photo Essay: Lifeline Corrosion While plastic coated wire lifelines are a ubiquitous aspect of small boat safety, they aren’t without their shortcomings.  Long ago, while...

  Photo Essay: Plumbing Bonding Technique As I carry out inspections, one of the issues I frequently encounter involves bonding or grounding (there is a difference,...

Photo Essay: Fixed Fire Extinguisher Manual Discharge Fixed engine room firefighting systems are an invaluable safety option for virtually every inboard powered vessel.  These familiar...

Photo Essay: Shaft Coupling Fasteners The average small vessel may have anywhere from hundreds to several thousand, fasteners aboard, used in everything from joinerwork to...

Photo Essay: Stainless Steel Raw Water Plumbing Stainless steel is undoubtedly the most commonly used boat building hardware alloy, and with good reason... it’s durable,...