Welcome to the Bulletin Board. On this tab we will be posting items of immediate interest to HBYC Members such as non-club sanctioned cruises being planned, people who are looking to crew, captains looking for crew, marine notices, maintenance articles, recalls or alerts to equipment problems and any other general non-HBYC related stuff of interest.
As always we need your input relative to any of the items on the BB, so please email the Webmaster to submit an item or have your name put on a crew list. As always, your feedback is appreciated.
Helpful documents for you to use: (in MSWord format)
Save to your hard drive and fill out and print.
Coast Guard Safety Exam of Your Boat:
Ernie & Edna Schwabe of our club are qualified Coast Guard Auxillary Inspectors for a USCG boat safety survey. They are more than willing to come and survey your boat and let you know how she shapes up. Their phone number is: 727-457-3788, so give them a call to schedule a survey.
In addition, here is a link to the Coast Guard's website page on safety inspections and things to look for. It's great for reference and even has an Adobe format self inspection form you can download and print, so that when Ernie & Edna inspect your boat, it will be perfect. Click here: USCG - Boat Safety Checklist
Here is BoatUS's suggested list of preparations - applicable for any threatening bad weather:
1. Scuppers: With any boat, in the water or stored ashore, ensure that cockpit and deck scuppers are free of debris so rain can drain easily.
2. Extra lines: Boats in slips should have extra lines and fenders.
3. Windage: Remove biminis, sails, and dodgers to reduce windage and line strain.
4. Haul-out: Need help hauling out your boat? Ask your insurance company if they have a program to help pay for the cost of a storm related haul-out.
5. Small boats: If possible, small open boats and boats with low freeboard should be taken out of the water and put on trailers.
6. Boatlifts: Vessels stored on boatlifts are especially vulnerable to the combined effect of wind, rain and surge. When drain plugs are left in, rain adds considerable weight and many lifts are known to have collapsed. If the drain plug is left out, the boat can be flooded by storm surge. The best solution is to take the boat out of the water and store it ashore on a trailer. An alternative is to move the boat to a well-protected slip if one is available.
See all the free online "tools" available from Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatU.S.) at the BoatU.S. Hurricane Resource Center including downloadable storm planning materials and checklists for what to do before and after a hurricane strikes.
The
tutorial is located at http://www.BoatUS.
No special computer program is needed to view the seven-part tutorial
and it's compatible with both PC and Mac formats. A viewer can stop
the tutorial at any point and return to the same spot later on. For
those familiar with some of the topics, the tutorial lets boaters
skip around from chapter to chapter.
While the majority of fixed-mount VHF radios available today have the
DSC feature, most boaters have not registered their radio in order to
get the unique calling number - much like a telephone phone number -
called an Maritime Mobile Service Identity or MMSI number. The
tutorial also covers this process, which is free through BoatU.S.
Equally important is connecting the radio to a GPS so that vessel
location is broadcast with a distress call.
The BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water is a
national 501(c)(3) nonprofit education and research organization
primarily funded by the voluntary contributions of the 670,000
members of BoatU.S. The Foundation operates more than a dozen
programs including the only accredited, free, online general boating
safety course, a low-cost EPIRB rental program, the "Help Stop the
Drops" national clean fueling campaign, a free kid's Life Jacket
Loaner Program, and has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in
grants for nonprofit groups for boating safety and environmental
projects.
Guy Colson
________________________________________________________________________________________
For those of you who are using your MMSI feature on the GPS, the MMSI number for Tow Boat US is 003380400.
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MOSQUITOES
Submitted by John Cover
Pass this on to anyone who likes sitting out in the evening or when they're having a cook out. So you don't like those pesky mosquitoes, especially now that they have the potential to carry the West Nile Virus?
Here's a tip that was given at a recent gardening forum. Put some water in a white dinner plate and add just a few drops of Lemon Fresh Joy dish detergent. Set the dish on your porch, patio, or other outdoor area. Not sure what attracts them, the lemon smell, the white plate, or what, but mosquitoes flock to it, and drop dead shortly after drinking the Lemon Fresh Joy/water mixture, and usually within about 10 feet of the plate.
Check this out -- it works just super! May seem trivial, but it may help control mosquitoes around your home, especially in the South and elsewhere where the West Nile virus is reaching epidemic proportions in mosquitoes, birds, and humans.
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Very important message from Yanmar who finally distrubuted a bulletin on the correct position for the transmission to be in while sailing, engine not running. Please read the link and be so advised.
| http://www.sailnet.com/forums/diesel-engine-forum/63165-yanmar-gear-position-while-sailing.html |
"Atomic 4 Owners
If you're a mechanically challenged (like me) owner of a Universal Atomic 4 Gas inboard - good news!
I've acquired a CD with a complete set of Illustrated Parts Catalogs, Owner's Manuals, and Workshop Manuals.
All are useful for routine as well as more involved repair procedures.
The CD also contains similar information for Universal's Diesel engines.
Depending on circumstances, I can email relevant pages, print pages, or lend you my copy.
Peter Wierzbicki
Czech Mate
(352) 637-4018
pwierzbicki@earthlink.net"
