On Sunday Melissa and I spent a few hours poking around Moonrise’s various systems and storage compartments with a young woman that is considering Moonrise as a live aboard. Laura and her daughter, Miss Mia were the subject of an earlier post that included a beautiful day sail : The Sweet Sorrow of Parting

Laura has been doing her homework and asked a lot of great questions. Melissa and I opened just about every compartment and drawer on the boat. We discussed heads, tankage, through hulls, engines and battery systems. In short, Laura got the fifty cent tour.

By the end of three hours we were all pretty drained.  I think Laura’s ears were hurting by the time we were done. We recognized that we were trying to impart years of boat ownership into just a few hours and it made me realize that perhaps a post on some of the more useful marine maintenance books would be handy for  Laura and anyone else looking for solid information on some of the less glamorous aspects of boat ownership.

My first pick for any new boat owner with a disel engine would be [amazon_link id=”0071475354″ target=”_blank” ]Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair[/amazon_link]

[amazon_image id=”0071475354″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair[/amazon_image] Nigel Calder greatly demystifies diesel engines with this book and its excellent photos and drawings. It is a generic overview of the various diesel technologies and systems, including charging, cooling and transmissions. This book along with the maintenance manual for your particular engine makes for great reading at anchorage. Well, at least I think so.

Next up is [amazon_link id=”0071392335″ target=”_blank” ]The 12-Volt Bible for Boats[/amazon_link]. [amazon_image id=”0071392335″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The 12-Volt Bible for Boats[/amazon_image]

Melissa will tell you that I am a little obsessed with the batteries and the electrical system on Moonrise and it is true. I spent many years in electrical communications and instrumentation and I enjoy understanding and improving the electrics on Moonrise. The 12-Volt Bible for Boats is a great primer for understanding and optimizing your 12 volt system. It includes sections on how batteries are made, calculations for wiring sizes and how to charge your batteries in a loving way. Batteries are expensive and if you treat them poorly,  you cannot wring all the value from them. Plus, you really want that power at anchorage for lighting and starting you engine.

Lastly, we spoke about storage. You can never have too much on a boat and as Laura is considering Moonrise as a liveaboard, storage is a concern. One book I would recommend for great storage ideas is [amazon_link id=”0071379630″ target=”_blank” ]Cruising World’s Workbench: 200 Ideas from America’s Leading Cruising Magazine to Improve Your Life Afloat[/amazon_link]

[amazon_image id=”0071379630″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Cruising World’s Workbench: 200 Ideas from America’s Leading Cruising Magazine to Improve Your Life Afloat[/amazon_image]

Bruce Bingham’s illustrations really make this book informative and enjoyable to read. It includes sections on just about every area of boat maintenance, including electronics, stowage, rigging, ventilation, galleys and the head area. If you don’t come up with twelve new ideas for improving your boat with this book, read it again. With feeling.

I’d love to hear from other sailors what their favorite books are. I highlight these for the specific purpose of helping the new boat owner get up to speed with the often complex systems aboard a modern boat. If you have other recommendations, post a comment below.

Brion Toss ascending the mast of s/v Osprey

This past Sunday, Melissa and I had the opportunity to attend a sailboat rigging and tuning seminar presented by Brion Toss. For those of you unfamiliar with sailboats, the rigging refers to the wires and hardware used to keep the mast aligned and tensioned. This allows the sails to work at their peak efficiency and is a veritable art. Brion Toss  (http://www.briontoss.com)  is perhaps the best known rigger in the world; certainly in our part of it, and is the author of numerous books and DVDs on rigging, rope work, sailmaking and other disciplines of the dedicated seaman.

Osprey is a beautiful Annapolis 44 owned by Steve and Elsie Hulsizer for the last 29 years. Brion spoke about the basic objectives of rig tuning and showed us how to use a tension gauge and other tools of the rigger, including this fetching gear keeper  modeled by one of our class mates.

Tools work better when they aren't at the bottom of the ocean. Brion's rule is if you drop it, you buy it.

Fortunately for us, Osprey’s rig was nicely out of tune which allowed Brion to show the class some basic adjustments. It also gave us an opportunity to calibrate our eyes. For example Osprey’s mast is designed to bend  a few inches to allow the sails to be shaped for various wind conditions and points of sail. After we had all looked up the mast to see the bend and then guess at how much bend was actually  present, Brion then showed us how to confirm our guesses with an actual measurement on the ground.

The class tested our ability to detect the bend in Osprey's mast

Brion had more tips than he could possibly impart in three short hours. One item of interest to me was his tips on adjusting the roller furling to minimize friction and wear.

Michael studying Osprey's roller furler after Brion's adjustment

It was a great class that gave Melissa and me some confidence that we could perform this important task and we came away with a great appreciation for  Brion’s expertise and skill as an instructor. I also appreciated Brion’s safety conscious attitude and will definitely use some of his techniques for ascending the mast the next time I go aloft. Below is a short clip of Brion coming down after adjusting the intermediary stays at the spreaders.