The Mechanical Watch

Image by Greg Rudzinski

There are many places where watch batteries are not readily available which makes the mechanical watch an important backup to the very accurate quartz watch. I recommend the Seiko 7s26 automatic mechanical movement which is affordable, simple , sturdy, and reliable. The best part about the 7s26 movements is that they can be easily regulated to better than ± 5 seconds per day.

Go to the link below for an excellent description on how to regulate a modern mechanical watch movement:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Budget_Watch_Collecting/Regulating

Voyaging Tip #26: Icebox Space Management

Nest a 5 gallon, 3 gallon, and 2 gallon bucket into the icebox putting ice and beverages in the bottom 5 gallon bucket, frozen goods in the middle 3 gallon bucket, and dairy in the top 2 gallon bucket. This system will save space, conserve ice, and assist with icebox access.

The Celtic Button Knot

Image by Greg Rudzinski

The Celtic button knot is an alternative to the figure eight knot when a little more girth is needed to prevent pull through.

Genoa Wrap

Wrap an extra halyard around the vessels roller furled genoa for extra security against high winds. This is cheap insurance against sail damage when away from the boat for an extended period of time.

Voyaging Tip #25 : Fire Extinuisher Inspection

At the beginning of each sailing season inspect each fire extinguisher on board to verify that the charge indicator is showing full in the green. Additionally for a dry chemical extinguisher gently tap at the base of the extinguisher using a rubber mallet followed by a vigorous shaking of the extinguisher. This will loosen all the packed dry chemical to insure effective discharge.

Voyaging Tip #24 : Camera Inspections

Inspect voids, tank internals, bilges, or any hard to access space using a small point and shoot camera equipped with a flash as a blind man's eye. The attached photo is of a diesel engine underside which is normally not visible to the engineer.

World Wide Ship Traffic

Very useful information regarding commercial shipping traffic is available at:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

Click on a ship location for real time course, speed, destination, name, call sign, registration, size, photo, etc. This gives mariners a powerful tool to improve safety at sea.