Scott Marine Surveyor Blog

So You Have A Boat Now, have taken a few classes, and you think you know everything.

You feel good about yourself and think you are a "Salty"

Think again!

Here are some characteristics of what true boys(and gals), of the sea say makes them seasoned sailors

A sailor…

         Knows what phase the moon is in                                                  

• Can tell the wind speed by feel

• Can light a cigarette no matter the weather conditions (French sailors)

• Has lost a digit in a winching accident

• Dresses in primary colors

• Gets upset when people call the British national flag the Union Jack

• Always passes port to the left (unless he’s in America)

• Can sleep anywhere

• Has an eclectic collection of yacht club-branded T-shirts

• Sports sun-yellowed eyebrows

• Is not afraid of seasickness

• Does not carry an umbrella

• Sniggers when hearing someone say ‘Over and out’ in a movie

• Can always find a parking space

• Drinks beer/rum/whisky for breakfast (after a long trip)

• Never uses a wheelie suitcase

• Finds it acceptable to eat and drink out of plastic

• Owns a spork

• Can fix anything (usually with epoxy or duck tape)

• Can throw a great party in the smallest of spaces

• Can make friends in an instant that last a lifetime

• Is good at keeping in touch

• Is adept at sewing up holes (in sails, in clothes)

• Is good at whipping 

• Daydreams of adventure

• Actually goes on adventures

• Shies away from botox, knowing that lines speak of a life well lived

• Never goes for a manicure

• Does not use the word ‘hurricane’ lightly

• Is not daunted by third world lavatories

• Is open-minded and big-hearted

• Knows the name of a good pub or restaurant in every port town in the western hemisphere (and much of the eastern)

• Has a friend in every port town in the western hemisphere – often a bartender

• Can whip up a hearty meal consisting entirely of tinned and packet foods

• Is not phased by the idea of making tea at 30° (whether lat, long or angle of heel)

• Knows the difference between latitude and longitude – and is always aware of where he or she is

• Has seen more sunsets and sunrises, dolphins and views of the Milky Way than anyone else they know

• Is not afraid of the dark

• Knows that lists like these are for desk-based landlubbers who aren’t busy off having adventure

Your pet needs protection from the cold

 This week the cold weather seems to have really set in. While we bundle up, our pets are sometimes not given the appropriate attention.

 Here are some tips for keeping our pets safe and healthy.

           Keep them inside when the temperature drops below freezing.

• Bang on the hood of your car before starting it to scare away stray cats that may have sought warmth from the engine.
• Never let your dog off the leash on snow or ice, especially during a snowstorm, when dogs can lose their scent and become lost. More dogs are lost during the winter than any other season, so keep ID tags on a well-fitting collar.
• Wipe off your dog's paws, legs and belly after a walk to remove ice, salt and antifreeze. Make sure a freshly bathed dog is completely dry before taking it outside.
• Put a coat or sweater with a high collar on short-haired dogs.
• Check your dog's paws frequently for signs of cold-weather injury or damage, such as cracked paw pads or bleeding. During a walk, sudden lameness may be due to ice accumulation between the toes.
• Postpone housebreaking puppies during the coldest months.
• Don't leave a pet alone in a room with a space heater. It could get knocked over and start a fire.
• Dogs that can tolerate long, cold walks -- the larger breeds with thick fur -- will need to eat more high-protein food.
• Pets need a place to sleep off the floor and away from drafts.
• Dogs that spend any time in the yard must have a dry, draft-free shelter large enough to lie down in, but small enough to retain body heat. The floor should be a few inches off the ground and covered with cedar shavings or straw. The doorway should be covered with waterproof burlap or heavy plastic. Do not use metal bowls for food and water.

So you left your boat in the water this year in hopes of taking advantage of a mild winter.

Here"s 10 tips from our friends at BoatUS to keep your vessel safe and avoid claims,  

1. If your boat's in the water, take a walk around it at the dock. Are there any changes in the waterline? If so, check the bilge for water, a good practice at any time. If you find any, locate the source. It might be a leaking thru-hull or stuffing box, or be coming from the deck through a hatch or portlight.

2. Verify that all seacocks are closed, except for the cockpit. Also check that leaves don't clog the cockpit scuppers, which could fill the cockpit and force drains underwater, back-flooding the boat.

3. Check your docklines for security and chafe. Winter storms can put a lot of strain on docklines so make sure you use a good chafe guard, and make sure the boat is tied so it can't get caught under the dock during tide changes.

4. Check the operation of the bilge pump. It should work even if the battery switch is off. Manually turn on the switch to verify the pump comes on.

5. Inspect the shore power cord for damage and make sure the battery charger is operating. Verify the battery electrolyte hasn't evaporated and add some if needed. If you spot corrosion on battery terminals, clean it off now.

6. Look for fuel, oil, or coolant leaks. You don't want your bilge pump to spew oil into the water. In addition to polluting the environment, you could be in for a big fine.

7. If you haven't already removed expensive electronics, now's the time. Boatyards are like ghost towns in the winter, and can be easy pickings for thieves.

8. Make sure the boat is well-ventilated. Air circulation prevents mold and mildew from forming down below and keeps the boat smelling fresh. Treat any mold that you find now, before it gets worse.

9. If your boat is stored ashore, check that jackstands haven't shifted or sunk into the ground, and are chained together under the boat. Tell the boatyard if something doesn't look right.

10. Make sure that water isn't pooling on deck or in the cockpit. Nothing good ever comes from standing water inside or outside a boat; water can damage the gelcoat and cause stain

The tradition of Christmas stockings originated in the deeds of a nobleman named Nicholas who was born in 280 A.D. in Asia Minor. Nicholas dedicated his life to following the principles of Jesus Christ, using his wealth to help impoverished and suffering people. He became the Bishop of Myra in his young years, and was immensely popular for his kind, generous heart. Living a lifetime of celibacy, Nicholas never married or had children, but he loved children and thus often regaled those who lived in his hometown. This practice provided him with the epithet “the gift-giver of Myra.” Interestingly, his nobility never prevailed his modesty, so he always gave his presents late at night in order to protect his identity. He didn’t like the children to know who their patron was, so they were often told to go and sleep or otherwise he wouldn’t visit them.

One of the legends regarding Christmas stockings takes us to a small village where the destiny of the once wealthy merchant and his daughters changed overnight when they fell into poverty. The father was worried about the future of his children and afraid that he wouldn’t be able to provide dowries for their marriages in the future. At that time, this meant an almost humiliation due to the impossibility of wedlock. While the now-famous St.Nicholas traveled, he passed through the village and heard the sad story about the merchant and his daughter, learning from the locals that he would not accept any gifts of charity.

One night, while he was riding his gorgeous white horse, he stopped at the merchant’s home and threw three bags filled with gold coins down the house’s chimney. The bags fell down right into the girls’ stockings which were hung by the fireplace mantle to dry. The next morning, the daughters and their father discovered the coins and jumped for joy. The young women married happily and prosperously, so, obviously, their story had a happily ever after. The details of their story spread among the villagers, whose children began hanging their stockings by the fireplace, hoping to receive presents from St. Nicholas

Poinsettias at Christmas

Poinsettia plants are native to Central America, especially an area of southern Mexico known as 'Taxco del Alarcon' where they flower during the winter. The ancient Aztecs called them 'cuetlaxochitl'. The Aztecs had many uses for them including using the flowers (actually special types of leaves known as bracts rather than being flowers) to make a purple dye for clothes and cosmetics and the milky white sap was made into a medicine to treat fevers. (Today we call the sap latex!)

The poinsettia was made widely known because of a man called Joel Roberts Poinsett (that's why we call them Poinsettia!). He was the first Ambassador from the USA to Mexico in 1825. Poinsett had some greenhouses on his plantations in South Carolina, and while visiting the Taco area in 1828, he became very interested in the plants. He immediately sent some of the plants back to South Carolina, where he began growing the plants and sending them to friends and botanical gardens.

One of the friends he sent plants to was John Barroom of Philadelphia, who gave the plant to his friend, Robert Buist, a plants-man from Pennsylvania. Robert Buist was probably the first person to have sold the poinsettias under their botanical, or latin name, name 'Euphorbia pulcherrima' (it means, 'the most beautiful Euphorbia'). It is thought that they became known as Poinsettia in the mid 1830's when people found out who had first brought them to America from Mexico.

There is an old Mexican legend about how Poinsettias and Christmas come together, it goes like this:

There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give the the baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked to the chapel, sadly, her cousin Pedro tried to cheer her up.
'Pepita', he said "I'm sure that even the smallest gift, given by someone who loves him will make Jesus Happy."

Pepita didn't know what she could give, so she picked a small handful of weeds from the roadside and made them into a a small bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could only give this small present to Jesus. As she walked through the chapel to the altar, she remembered what Pedro had said. She began to feel better, knelt down and put the bouquet at the bottom of the nativity scene. Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into bright red flowers, and everyone who saw them were sure they had seen a miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the 'Flores de Noche Buena', or 'Flowers of the Holy Night'.

The shape of the poinsettia flower and leaves are sometimes thought as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem which led the Wise Men to Jesus. The red colored leaves symbolize the blood of Christ. The white leaves represent his purity.

TURKEY TALK.... STUFFING THAT IS

Many experts recommend baking the stuffing outside the bird, where it can easily be cooked to 165°F and is less likely to harbor bacteria. However, many people who grew up eating stuffing from inside the bird find it lacking moisture and flavor when it's baked in a casserole dish, without the benefit of the turkey's juices.

Luckily, whichever method you prefer, there are ways to get around the problems. If you choose to bake your stuffing alongside the bird, drizzle 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of extra stock over it before it goes in the oven. This will replace the extra moisture and flavor the turkey would have provided. Using a rich, flavorful homemade stock will also go a long way toward providing that indescribable roast-turkey richness.

If you still want to cook the stuffing inside the bird, you should take several precautions to ensure safety. First, do not stuff your turkey until right before it goes in the oven. Yes, when faced with a long list of Thanksgiving Day tasks, it's tempting to stuff the bird the night before, stow it in the fridge, and then just pop it in the oven the next morning. But this will create an optimal environment for bacteria to flourish: The moist stuffing, likely warm from the cooked veggies and stock, will sit in the fridge for hours before it gets below the "danger zone"—the range of temperatures in which bacteria can grow. This will allow any bacteria present, already thriving in the moist conditions, to multiply like crazy. Once the stuffing finally cools down, they won't be killed—they'll just stop multiplying as quickly. Then, when the turkey goes into the oven, the stuffing, now cold from the fridge, will take quite a while to heat up, again spending hours in the danger zone.

Instead of this risky procedure, cook any veggies for the stuffing the night before, but do not mix them with the bread, stock, and eggs. (Even if you don't stuff the bird, just mixing the wet ingredients and the bread can be too inviting to bacteria.) The next morning, heat the stock and combine it with the other stuffing ingredients, then immediately fill and roast the bird. Using warm stuffing and putting the turkey in the oven immediately will help the stuffing spend as little time in the "danger zone" as possible.

Finally, when the bird is done, take the temperature of the stuffing as well as the meat. Bacteria cannot survive above 165°F, so most recipes call for using a probe thermometer to verify that the thigh has reached this temperature before removing the turkey from the oven. (Some cooks prefer to remove their birds at 150°F on the assumption that the temperature will rise to 165°F as the meat rests; this is safer if you buy an organic or heritage turkey, which is less likely to contain bacteria

However, just because the thigh meat has reached 165°F doesn't mean the stuffing has, too. So, be sure to insert your thermometer into the very center of the cavity as well. If the bird is done but the stuffing isn't, use this tip:  spoon the stuffing out into a bowl and microwave it until it registers 165°F. This will allow you to have moist, not overcooked meat and safe stuffing at the same time.

Custom-made winter covers, typically canvas or synthetic, are a terrific benefit to your boat's gel coat and general well-being.

A good well-supported cover offers many benefits. It keeps leaves and debris from clogging scuppers and causing the boat to flood when a downpour comes or the snow melts. It keeps snow from accumulating in the cockpit and forcing the boat underwater in its slip or damaging thru-hull fittings on boats on the hard when melt-water freezes.

It protects the deck from pooling water that can lead to de-lamination and freeze damage. And it protects gel coat on the deck and coach roof from the elements, extending its life.

The best covers are custom made from canvas. With any custom cover, a frame, either wood or aluminum, should be used to circulate air and prevent pooling on the cover. Vents should also be built into the cover to encourage ventilation and reduce mildew. Never secure the boat's winter cover to the jack stands or support blocks because the stands can be yanked out during a strong blow.

Though shrink-wrapping is very effective at keeping rain and snow out, it will also trap moisture inside and create horrendous mildew problems if vents aren't used along the entire length of the cover. Another problem: Cabins and decks painted with two-part polyurethane paints may peel or bubble where the shrink-wrap touches it.

Inserting a series of foam pads between the hull and cover allows condensation to escape. Finally, don't shrink-wrap the boat yourself.

All it takes is a moment of inattention to ignite the shrink-wrap, and if the fire occurs inside the cover, it might not even be visible right away.

This is one job best left to the pros.