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Text and photos © 2019 Steve D'Antonio Marine Consulting, Inc. From the Masthead Regular readers may have noticed that the format of the Marine Systems Excellence...

Photo Essay: Not a Cord Grip These are small, inexpensive, and readily available parts, and they are critically important; without them the worst-case result can...

Photo Essay: Fuel Tank (no) Support Structural failures of fuel tanks are nearly always traceable to either installation or construction flaws, with the former being...

  Photo Essay: Steering Component Inspection Text and photos by Steve D’Antonio Copyright © 2017 Steering represents one of the most important systems aboard, at least equal to propulsion, electrical and...

Copyright © 2014 SDMC Inc.   Steve, I have read your articles in Cruising World for years and have found them very informative. Recently I notice that the...

Photo Essay: Battery Installation   It’s an all-too-common occurrence; while conducting an inspection I reach the area where batteries (often for starting but occasionally house as...

Photo Essay: Steering Components Steering falls into what I call one of the three critical systems, along with propulsion and raw water plumbing/watertight integrity.  On...

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: Core Exposure Virtually every fiberglass vessel afloat today, even those that boast of solid fiberglass hulls rely on core material to add stiffness...

After receiving the following letter from a consulting client a discussion on the subject of CO poisoning seemed in order.   Steve, After recalling reading something on...