Boating Knowledge Base
Have a sailing question? Access NauticEd’s sailing and boating knowledge base, and gain in-depth answers to your sailing questions. If you’re interested in powerboating, visit our new powerboating blog.
Diesel Fuel
The search, discovery, refinement and resource control of fuel has a rich and very sordid history. But just like...
Mast Head pull heeling versus wind heeling
Takeaways: Standing rigging isn’t the place to economize—it’s a load-management system. Use stretchy docklines for masthead pulls, avoid shock loads, and apply smooth, steady pressure. Snatch loads break rigs.
Seamanship Nav Rules
Navigation rules refer many times to good seamanship, The best advice we can give here around seamanship is to get experience...
Basic Sail Telltale Control
Controlling the Telltales by Trimming the Sail. The concept here is actually pretty simple. The golden rule is, when...
Crew Safety Briefing
You can avoid many emergencies by conducting a proper safety briefing before leaving the dock.
Maintaining a Lookout
The Rule Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as...
Mediterranean Mooring – Long Line Ashore
The long-line-ashore is a useful Mediterranean mooring method. It is mostly used in the Mediterranean as a customary way of mooring a lot of boats along a shoreline.
Sailboat Diesel Water Systems
Diesel engines run hot because of high compression and therefore need to be cooled. Fortunately, ample cooling is readily available from the water the vessel is sailing in.
Action by a Stand-On Vessel Nav Rule
Strangely enough, the written text for the action of a Stand-On vessel is longer than that of a Give-Way vessel.
Responsibility between Vessels Nav Rules
Every vessel has a definition of being one and only one of the below at all times. And each vessel has the ability to morph from one to the other.
Seacocks – Getting Familiar with a Charter Boat
Seacocks are designed to let water flow out of the hull safely. They are not one-way valves so any loose clamps around the seacock itself create leaks around the hoses and can allow water to enter into the boat. This is usually bad – right?
Docking Force Alignment and Moment Balance
When you are docking, if your boat pulls on a line attached to the dock, the line pulls back on your boat. If the forces are aligned, then nothing really happens.
Personal Flotation Devices
The terms “life jacket” and “PFD” are interchangeable, with the latter used in the USA and the former used in most of the rest of the world.
Anchoring Basics
Anchoring is not simply throwing a "hook" and letting out a line. Although by watching some sailors this seems to be their theory. The best way to approach anchoring is to dissect it into a series of individual steps.
Heads on a Charter Boat
You don’t need trouble with the waste system, especially when on vacation.
Crew Briefing Video
It is important to know how much experience your crew has before you embark on any sailing adventure. For our boat, we created a video walkaround introduction to the boat covering safety items and also just general items on how we want our boat looked after.
Sailing Vessel Preparation
Sometimes it is a good idea to get nasty stuff out of the way first as well as prepare your boat and crew.
Boat Heading vs Sail Set and Forces on the Sail
The set of your sail depends on your sailing angle to the wind. You're working to maximize the aerodynamic forces on the sail.
Electric Windlass
An electric windlass is a powerful electric winch that greatly helps in the lowering and raising the anchor.
Planning to use springlines when docking
Like a work of fine engineering, a spring maneuver requires a design. The key is to plan the maneuver by considering the wind, current, and other obstacles, then design the placement and directions of the forces and moments.
Securing Your Sailboat
It is convenient to have dock lines that are pre-set to the right length with loops on the end and are permanently mounted onto the marina cleats. Now, when you return to the dock you simply slip the loops over your vessel cleats.
Sailboat Battery Charging
Like a water bucket, batteries have a specific storage capacity and must be refilled/recharged when their contents of energy are depleted.
Crew Overboard
Crew ("Man") Overboard (MOB) is fortunately relatively rare, but chances are that in your sailing career it will happen.
Sailboat Diesel Engine Operation
As noted earlier, diesel engines are sturdy and highly reliable, and operating them today is straightforward.
