Ten Problems That Can Stop You Cold. 1) 2) 3)

[Electronics Guru]

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It’s always the little things that disrupt the best-laid plans. If you’d only remembered to take a moment to fix them, your day wouldn’t be in shambles. To help ensure your time at sea is full of pleasure and devoid of grief, we suggest you take a few preventive steps now, before the season is in full swing.

Here are ten potential problem areas you might normally overlook. Attend to them now, and you won’t have to deal with them later.

1. Sea Strainers
Sea strainers are bronze baskets designed to prevent foreign matter from reaching a boat’s internal components, and they can be a leading cause of engine overheating and failure if clogged. Don Gross, president of Groco, which manufactures seacocks and sea strainers, says it’s crucial to know your engine’s normal operating temperature range and monitor it so that you know when it’s been exceeded. If it has been, a clogged sea strainer is one of the first places you should look.

Before you and your engines suffer a temperature spike, however, you should regularly check your strainers. How often will depend on the water conditions you cruise in, but checking the contents of the strainer once a week will give you an idea of what kind of debris is present in your homeport’s waters and how fast it will accumulate in your strainer. When you do pull the basket, it’s a good idea to wash it with a stiff brush and soap at recommended intervals of at least once a month.


2. Water Tanks
Standing water in your boat’s water tank naturally develops an unpleasant odor and taste, and bacteria and water contamination are both huge concerns in onboard drinking water. You wouldn’t drink water that had been sitting around in a glass for six months, and the same theory applies to the water on your boat.

If you winterize, fully drain the tank at the end of the season, clean it by using a capful or two of bleach, then flush the system, and refill the tank with water in the spring. Make sure, though, that the hose you use to fill the tank is specifically made for potable water. It should be white—not green—and the package should state that it’s designed to carry drinking water. Hoses not specifically designed for this purpose can develop bacteria and algae inside, so if you fill your tank using one of these hoses, the water you’re adding could be contaminated.

If you didn’t properly winterize your boat, particularly in cold climates, hoses and soft lines can freeze and crack, and you won’t be aware of the problem until spring, when they start to leak. To prevent this, some maintenance experts recommend infiltrating the system with nontoxic antifreeze (pink in color) prior to winterizing.

Metal water tanks (especially common on older boats) are particularly prone to corrosion buildup on the inside. If you have one and can replace it, do so; if not, periodically clean it using the bleach mixture mentioned above and consider installing an in-line filter, like General Ecology’s SeaGull IV, which will remove viruses, bacteria, chlorine, sediment, and pesticides.




3. Fuel Tank Contamination
Dirty fuel is a serious concern, especially for boats that have been idle for a few months in cold weather; it can clog your vessel’s filters, damage fuel injectors, and in extreme cases ruin your engine. Although gasoline engines can tolerate small amounts of water, diesels cannot. Water is the primary source of bacterial contamination in a diesel fuel tank, since microorganisms that live in the tank feed off it. As those organisms decompose, their residue sinks to the bottom of the tank, resulting in a sludge-like substance that when sloshed around mixes with and can eventually clog fuel filters, which is one big reason why you should always carry spare filters aboard.

But even if you change filters regularly, some water can get through them, and besides, they only work when the engine is running. A better way to prevent contamination is to use filters in conjunction with a fuel-polishing system, which pulls fuel from the bottom of the tank, cleans it, and returns the clean fuel to the tank. There are a number of such units available, including Beloges Filtration Systems, Kayadon Filtration Group’s Marine Fuel Guardian System, and Walker Engineering’s FuelSep and AlgaeSep. In some cases you can install them yourself, while others will require a mechanic. Regardless, a fuel polisher can save you a lot of headaches down the road.