Author Peter Janssen

On Watch
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Lauderdale Show Opens: Good Vibes, $4 Billion Worth of Boats, Plus Ferraris, Helicopters

. The iconic Fort Lauderdale show just got off to a good start, with blue skies, large crowds, and boats, boats and more boats. Indeed, at breakfast just before the show opened, Skip Zimbalist, who runs the show as the head of Show Management, said there were more boats than ever before, including eight over 200 feet, while advance ticket sales were up 20 percent from last year. The Lauderdale show, arguably the largest show in the United States, has seven locations with small boats, big boats, superyachts and all the appropriate toys. Zimbalist noted that a $7 million helicopter…

Electronics
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Brand-New Simrad Radar, GPS, Fishfinder Package for Smaller Cruising Boats

Simrad has just announced its new GO9 XSE 4G radar bundle with the company’s TotalScan, fishfinder and chartplotter, all in a user-friendly, multi-touch 9” display for smaller cruising boats. The new package has plug-and-play support for Simrad Broadband Radar and halo Pulse Compression radar systems. The bright widescreen has built-in GPS, GoFree Wi-Fi and standard NMEA 2000 capability. You can connect it to smartphones and tablets, control the sound system, monitor engine data and choose from an array of built-in sonar technology to catch the fish you want. The FMCW radar has Simrad’s Broadband 3G radar but with more features,…

Gear
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Fill Those Cracks and Gaps with Pettit’s New Epoxy Compound and Glue

Who doesn’t need this? Pettit has just created two new products to help you take care of your boat, one called EZ-Tex epoxy repair compound, and the other EZ-Bond thickened epoxy glue. EZ-Tex is a two-part epoxy repair compound for when you want a permanent, high-strength waterproof repair. It bonds to most surfaces above and below the waterline, and won’t sag or shrink. Pettit says it’s great for filling cracks, gouges and voids. Once it’s cured, it can be sanded, drilled, tapped and painted. EZ-Bond is a two-part thickened epoxy glue for bonding wood, fiberglass, composites and metals, with a…

Boat Reviews
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MJM 35Z: An Elegant, Fast, Outboard Cruiser

We first reported on plans for the new MJM 35Z back in September. Now we can flesh out the details of this latest collaboration between Douz Zurn, the designer, and Bob Johnstone, the founder of MJM, and so far the new outboard-powered 35Z is living up to our expectations. It’s no surprise that the new boat has all the classic Down East lines of earlier MJMs, with its low profile, gentle tumblehome and long sheerline. Or that it’s a serious offshore boat, with a 20-degree deadrise at the transom and the highest rating for stability and seaworthiness for any boat…

Cruising Life
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Fog: How to See It Coming, How to Cope

I grew up in San Francisco, so I’ve always thought of fog as my friend, my reminder of  home. That is, as long as I’m landlocked. Step on a boat, and fog is a different matter. Recently I’ve been in fog so thick – at the top of the Bay of  Fundy, coming through the Cape Cod Canal – that I could barely see the bow of the boat in the middle of the day. With reduced (or no) visibility, you rely on radar, AIS, GPS and your own experience. Still, fog can be scary. Here’s some of the best…

Boat Reviews
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Eye-Catching, But Still Traditional, Ellis 28 Just Launched

It doesn’t get much more traditional and Down East than this – an Ellis 28 “lobsteryacht” just launched in the company’s family-owned yard in Southwest Harbor, Maine. I’m pretty sure that it never crossed Don Ellis’ mind that he’d be building a red-hulled boat when he took over the Bunker and Ellis yard in the early ‘80s. He’s launched 300 boats since then, with the 28 as the most popular. (The Ellis line goes from 20 to 36 feet, and Ellis’ two sons are now running things.) Ellis started out with traditional lobster boats and then turned to fishing and…

Electronics
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New ICOM Handheld VHF Floats, Flashes and Has GPS and DSC

It seems that the new ICOM M93D handheld VHF radio does just about everything but drive the boat for you. It has an integrated GPS to tell you where you are and where you’re heading, built-in DSC so you can check in with other boats (or sound a distress), a special feature that sounds a buzz while it drains water away from the speaker, and a red LED light that turns on automatically (even if the radio is off) if you drop it in the water. And if floats. By the way, it’s also a state-of-the-art VHF. Slender and easy…

Cruising Life
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Video: Tipsy Captain Hits Palm Beach, Now Sues Town

This is hard to believe. You may remember that the captain of the 72-foot Time Out missed the inlet and ran his boat into the beach at Palm Beach at 2 a.m. after he said he had consumed a few Long Island iced teas last month. At the time, the  police charged him with boating under the influence. Now he’s suing the city, saying he was prevented from protecting his boat after the accident. See the video: http://upnorthlive.com/news/offbeat/owner-of-beached-yacht-suing-palm-beach-police-department

On Watch
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Welcome – Again

. We had so much fun the first time we decided to do it again. And again and again. Welcome to the second edition of Cruising Odyssey, our new, dynamic, free weekly e-newsletter and constantly updated website. The overwhelming reaction to our launch last week has been heart-warming; it seems that a lot of you share our idea of Living the Dream Under Power. So here we are again, as we plan to be every week for a long time to come. . Our launch of Cruising Odyssey, it seems, hit the right nerve at the right time. Indeed, many…

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