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As far as we can tell, this is the second time this has happened, a ship loaded with electric cars that are powered by lithium batteries caught fire last week and had to be abandoned at sea. On June 3, the car carrier Morning Midas caught fire 220 miles south of Adak, Alasks. The fire appears to have started near the stern and it is highly likely that the cause is the spontaneous combustion of an EV battery. As we have learned, lithium battery fires are very hard to put out and will spread from one battery to the next.…
Around the country the various regions have developed over the generations yacht and boat designs with regional characteristics and builders who specialize in delivering boats of these types. We all know of Down East style yachts in the Hinckley-Sabre-Jarvis Newman style, designs that are famous around the world. But there are also the trawler and tug styles that are popular in the Pacific Northwest and the modern express cruiser designs in the Midwest and Great Lakes. One regional style that may be less well known comes from the Chesapeake Bay and is based on the local working craft that evolved…
One of the propositions we often hear with modern hybrid diesel-electric mid-range cruisers that are fitted with solar panels is that the boat will, or at least should, operate all electrical functions overnight without the need to run a generator. This “silent mode” is a very attractive idea as none of us enjoys sharing an anchorage with a boat running at genset. But can this really work? And, what size battery bank do you need to achieve such energy independence? It turns out in a real two-day test in Spain aboard a Greenline 45 Fly Hybrid, British yachting journalist Alex…
The Army Corps of Engineers announced in early May that the famous Dismal Swamp Canal had reopened on May 6 after months of maintenance. The canal is 40 miles long and runs from Chesapeake, Virginia to South Mills, North Carolina. The canal has a controlling depth of only six feet and is only 150 feet wide so larger vessels will have to stay in the ICW to get between the Chesapeake and Albermarle Sound. Still, most cruising boats will find the canal well worth a transit. The length of the canal is a no-wake zone so it usually takes all…
It was a beautiful day for a boat ride. On Wednesday this week, the rain that had covered the Northeast on Tuesday moved out to sea, leaving us a warm and sunny afternoon to take the new Marex 310 Sun Cruiser out for a spin on Long Island Sound. I met Hal Slater and Dan Trusty of Brewer Yacht Sales at their offices at Safe Harbor Marina in Westbrook Connecticut, the yard known for years as Pilot’s Point. Hal is the president and owner of Brewer Yacht Sales and has decades of experience in marine brokerage and new boat sales.…
On May 31, Sessa Marine, a venerable Italian boatbuilder, launched the all new F48 Flybridge in Europe. The F48 had its initial debut at the boat show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this winter and at the Miami International show in Florida. In both events, the 48 drew much attention and the plaudits of dealers, customers and the press. The 48 is a truly Italian-style express cruiser with a large flybridge that has a T-top and a spacious L-shaped settee. The forward inclined windscreen gives the bridge a purposeful look and deflects both wind and spray when running at speed.…
The Galley Guys are three couples who often take boating vacations together and then write up their adventures in Canadian Boating magazine. This installment saw them chartering a power cruiser from Le Boat in which to explore the famously beautiful Trent-Severn Waterway. Le Boat charter craft have been designed to be simple to operate and safe for all levels of expertise. They only go six knots and have fenders all around in anticipation of collisions with lock sides, marina pilings and other boats. They have bow and stern thrusters so they are simple to maneuver and will turn in their…
This spring the German motorboat innovators at Fjord Yachts have introduced an outboard version of their two-cabin 490. With three 600-horsepower Mercurys on the stern, the Sport will have a top end speed over 40 knots. Fjord was an early adopter of the modernistic Euro designs, with slab sies, straight sheers and efficient stepped hull configurations. Axopar and many others were part of this trend. Ther 490 Sport is a walk-around design with a large sunbed forward, another large sun bed aft and hydraulic terraces on both sides of the cockpit that fold down to provide more deck space, The…