PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRE ISLAND NEWS

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Fire Island ferry captain, crew rescue boaters, police say

A sharp-eyed Fire Island ferry captain and his quick-thinking crew saved two Bay Shore men who were knocked out of their boat by a wave Saturday night and into the Great South Bay, Suffolk County police said.

Captain Victor Klipp, 26, however, gave the credit for the rescue to the cellphone one of the men held above the chilly, choppy waters.

“That cellphone saved that guy’s life,” the modest mariner said Sunday at Fire Island Ferries terminal in Bay Shore.

Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau Officer Robert Reed, however, said Klipp and his crew deserve all the credit.

“It was cold and really dark and windy last night, and out on the Bay was really choppy,” Reed said. “Those guys were in the water for a half-hour and they didn’t have life vests on either — they would have only made it another 10 minutes.”

Police say Gerald Corsini, 52, and Donald Deveau, 63, were headed home from Kismet at about 9 p.m. when a wave hit their 18-foot center console boat, knocking them into the water. Corsini was holding his cellphone out of the water and trying to call for assistance when Klipp saw the device’s light.

Klipp, operating the Fire Island ferry Voyager, said he and his crew were headed to Kismet with about five passengers on board when he spotted a light in the water at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Then Klipp and his crew heard screams for help coming from the water.

Crew members Richard Stewart, John Murray and James Sorzono threw life rings and and life jackets to the men and pulled them aboard the ferry.

“You never expect to see two people drowning in the middle of the Bay,” Klipp said. “It was crazy.”

Klipp said the rescue took about five to seven minutes.

“They were getting knocked around pretty good. If it weren’t for that cellphone, we would have never seen them,” he said.

Reed and Suffolk County Marine Bureau Officer Robert Reuter, aboard Marine Juliet, responded to the scene, secured the boat and brought Corsini and Deveau to shore.

Deveau and Corsini were cold and exhausted, but they declined medical treatment, according to police. Neither man responded Sunday to requests for comment.

In the United States, Labor Day is customarily viewed as the end of the summer vacation season, although school starting times now may vary.

Labor Day has its origins in the labor union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. In the United States the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.

Whipping Line

Great article in BoatUS about securing your ropes, check it out.

By Mark Corke

Want to show off your rope-work skills while preventing your lines from becoming unraveled? The common whipping does both.

Well-executed whipping lends a neat and professional look to docklines.

Sure, you can use plastic shrinkwrap or melt the ends to keep synthetic lines in check. But for a classier look, how about trying your hand at whipping? You don't need many tools, and there are different ways to do it, but it's a useful skill to master. Here's how.

1. Carefully melt the end of the line using a lighter to stop it from unraveling. Then the twine comes into play. Starting from about a two-rope-diameter length from the end of the line, make a loop, or bight, in the whipping twine as shown. Leave about a 6-inch tail on the twine; you'll need this later when you finish off the whip. Unwind the twine from the spool as you go; don't cut it yet.

2. Grasp the line with one hand several inches from the end and place your thumb on the free end of the whipping twine so that neither line nor twine is able to move. With your other hand,tightly wrap the twine neatly around the rope from your thumb toward the end of the rope. Make sure there are no gaps between each wrap.

3. Keep wrapping until you've covered approximately one-and-a-half times the diameter of the rope with the twine. Cut the twine, leaving about 3 inches, then pass this cut end through the loop you made in Step 1. TIP: The tighter the whipping, the better the finished result. Wear gloves if you feel the twine cuts into your fingers.

4. Keeping tension on the twine so it will not come unraveled, pull on the free end of the twine to bury the end under the wraps and secure the whipping. Do not pull it all the way through; aim for about midway. If you watch carefully, you should be able to see the loop move under the whipping as you tug the free end.

5. As a final step, use a sharp pair of scissors to trim both ends of the whipping twine. 

All hoses are not created equally

Boat owners are constantly changing hoses, at least, they should be checking them regularly. But you need to get make sure that you use the right hose for the job. Not all hoses are the same, AND NOT ALL HOSES ARE THE RIGHT SIZE FOR THE JOB..

Hoses are sized by their inside diameter (ID) and hose fittings are labeled based on the ID of the hoses.

Hose should be well-supported and not allowed to sag.

One of the best ways to inspect hoses is to squeeze them. If they feel mushy, crumbly, or excessively hard, they are beyond their useful life. Also, look at the ends—if they’re splitting or swollen, the rest of the hose is in just as bad shape even if you can’t see it. Hose that has standing liquid in it, whether effluent, gas, or water, won’t last as long, which is why it’s important to make hose runs that won’t trap liquid.

Use the best marine grade 316 stainless steel hose clamps. Replace any that are even slightly rusted and double-clamp critical hoses. Clamps that are embossed rather that perforated are much stronger and longer-lasting.

Stiff hoses can be easier to install if the end is dipped in boiling water; this allows the end to stretch easier. When shopping for hose, if it is not marked properly (A1, etc.), it doesn’t meet the standards, no matter what the salesperson says.

Boating Industry Reader Survey Reports Ethanol Repairs Increasing

"They have seen damage...caused by ethanol"

Interesting article that affects all boaters using fuel with ethanol.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. July 18, 2017 – A new survey by Boating Industry magazine says those in the boating industry that manufacture, sell, repair and store recreational vessels are seeing a growing number of problems caused by ethanol-related fuels. Said one Minnesota boat dealer in the survey, “Ethanol fuels are great for our service department but bad for our customers!”

The reader survey results, which appear in the magazine’s July 2017 issue, report that 92 percent of survey respondents said “they have seen damage…caused by ethanol…and more business for the service department.” The most recent results are up from 87 percent from a similar survey last year.

The July feature “Ethanol Still a Significant Challenge, Survey Says,” also reported that “more than 15 percent of readers said that based on what they are seeing in their business, more than half of the necessary repairs are being caused by ethanol-related issues.” Eighty-five percent of survey takers were “very concerned” about the use of E15 (fuel containing up to 15 percent ethanol).

Signed into law in 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires an increasing amount of biofuels, such as corn ethanol, to be blended into the gasoline supply. When it was written, the RFS assumed that America’s use of gasoline would continue to grow. Since 2005, however, gasoline usage has actually declined, which today forces more ethanol into each gallon of gas.

To keep up with the RFS mandate, in 2010 the EPA granted a waiver to allow E15 into the marketplace. However, only fuels containing up to 10 percent ethanol (E10) are permitted for use in recreational boats.

For the nation’s largest advocacy, services and safety group, Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the survey’s results add to urgency to fix the RFS. Said Manager of Government Affairs David Kennedy, “For the people who know boats best, the readers of Boating Industry magazine who work on boats and keep them running so we can all enjoy a great day on the water, ethanol continues be concern. It will remain this way until we fix America’s broken ethanol policy.”

Seven Tips for Applying Marine Caulk

With a little knowledge, you can easily apply marine caulk or sealant.

Of course, if you aren't up to it, we can help.

Here' are some tips.

Thanks to  Kevin Falvey  Boating Magazine

Sooner or later the need to apply caulk, sealant or adhesive arises in every boater’s life. Here are some tips for making the job go easier.

1. Reef the Seam
Remove the existing bead of caulking with a reefing tool or reefing hook, either bought or made. I have used an old-fashioned can opener or a shop-made tool created by heating the shaft of an old screwdriver and then bending it at a right angle in a vice. Fein MultiMaster and Dremel also offer seam-reefing accessories.

2. Remove Residue
To ensure a good bond and seal, use a solvent to remove any residual skin of the old sealant. Lacquer thinner or mineral spirits work for most polysulfide and silicone sealants. Adhesive sealants may require specialty products: Check product labels. Wear protective gear when working with solvents and be mindful of fire hazards.

3. Mask Borders
Apply masking tape 1/8 inch to either side of the seam to be caulked. For rounded corners, “overmask” at a right angle, and then use a jar cap or other guide with a utility knife to carefully cut out the radius. Masking takes time, but using tape ensures easier cleanup.

4. Cut the Tip
Too many DIY boaters cut off the caulking nozzle tip wrong. It’s important to examine the tip and cut it at the point that is just a wee bit narrower than the width you need. Also, cut the tip at about 45 degrees. The actual hole should be an oval, the narrow dimension of which is just narrower than the seam or bead.

5. Push, Don’t Pull
In most cases, a neater result can be achieved by pushing the caulking gun while applying the caulk. Press just hard enough so that the speed at which you are pushing doesn’t exceed the rate of caulk being delivered from the tip. Ideally, there should be a slight “hill” or “ball” of caulk just in front of the tip as you move it along. Practice on scrap if you haven’t done much caulking.

6. Tooling Time
The time to tool — that is: fix, neaten or modify — the bead of caulk you applied is the time it takes the caulk to begin to skin over and will vary by brand and type and environmental conditions. Swipe the bead with a gloved finger dipped in water to smooth the bead. Wipe fingers clean between swipes. Be sure to peel the masking tape before skin-over also.

Caulking dries and cracks and should be renewed periodically around bilge and fuel tank hatches, ports, windows and the hull-to-deck joint.