Raymarine Debuts Lighthouse II, New Charts and Engine Interface at Offsite Demo Raymarine brought its latest marine electronics to the water on Wednesday, staging an offsite demonstration at the Hilton Marina aboard a 32-foot Boston Whaler center console. The event highlighted the company’s updated operating system for multifunction displays, Lighthouse II, alongside new charting options, … Read more

Taylor Allen never expected it would take him 12 years to convert an old sardine carrier into a comfortable cruising boat. “Are you kidding me?” the Rockport Marine co-owner laughs. “If I had known it would take 12 years, I probably wouldn’t have started.” His plan to transform an iconic Maine coastal workboat into a … Read more

Picturing the Pacific: Art, Exploration, and the Making of a New World Image Between the 1760s and the early 1800s, voyages from Europe to the Pacific brought not only maps and specimens but also a visual record of distant landscapes, peoples, flora and fauna. These records—oil paintings, watercolors and drawings—provided many Europeans with their first … Read more

Sabre 48 Salon Express: Down East Cruiser with Zeus Pods and Joystick Control With the Great Recession well behind the marine industry, boat builders are once again bringing new designs to market rather than only updating existing models. The Sabre 48 Salon Express is a strong example: a Down East-style cruiser designed from the keel … Read more

Jacob Pike: Preserving a Maine Sardine Carrier and a Vanishing Commercial Fishery If a single surviving vessel could stand as a symbol of Maine’s once-thriving commercial fishery, that honor would belong to the Jacob Pike. Built in 1949 at the Newbert and Wallace Shipyard in Thomaston, Maine, the 83-foot Jacob Pike was constructed of oak … Read more

Center console boats have steadily grown in size and popularity since Boston Whaler introduced what is widely regarded as the first production model. The 16-foot Nauset, launched in 1960 and designed by company founder Dick Fisher and chief designer Bob Dougherty, was essentially an oversized dinghy fitted with a hand-built mahogany console and center bench. … Read more

Tragedy Spurs Push for Mandatory Boater Education Across New York The August 2005 collision off Bay Shore, New York, still haunts the families involved and has prompted renewed calls for stronger boater education. Frank and Gina Lieneck were aboard a 24-foot Bayliner with three children when a 25-foot Grady-White, reportedly traveling at full throttle, plowed … Read more

Effort Underway to Protect Tangier Island and Its Navigation Channel The National Park Service describes Tangier Island as “little more than a sandbar, barely rising above the raging waters of the Chesapeake Bay.” Despite that stark image, a multimillion-dollar effort is currently moving forward to stabilize part of the island and protect the navigation channel … Read more

It’s basic physics: a moving boat displaces water and creates waves behind it — that wake is the operator’s responsibility. Good wake etiquette is part of safe seamanship. Most boaters aren’t wakeboarders or surfers, so inconsiderate wakes are more than an annoyance: they can be dangerous to people, damaging to vessels and docks, and harmful … Read more

BG-One: Solid-State Bilge Pump Switch and Oil/Fuel Detector The BG-One from Blue Guard Innovations is a compact, solid-state bilge pump switch and oil and fuel detector designed to improve onboard safety and environmental protection. Built to work with common marine electrical systems, the BG-One senses when oil or fuel is present in the bilge and … Read more