LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE SILENT MINORITY
Steve D’Antonio’s “Battery Bank
Upgrade” article in PMM’s December
e-newsletter was great—probably
the best article I’ve ever seen on
this subject. With your continuing
education of all us boaters, I believe
that the media can be a powerful
force in the effort to quiet anchorages
of genset noise.
I look forward to further articles
on this topic and would love to
read more about battery amp-hour
monitors and exhaust-water
separators. I find that the majority
of boaters use a voltmeter, which
shows the voltage while under load,
to decide the state of charge, and then
the genset runs for five hours a day.
We recently added three 135-watt
solar panels to our 36-foot trawler,
Blue Heron, along with a Morningstar
TS-MPPT- 45 charge controller, and
have found that this setup works well.
Roy Warner
Sechelt, British Columbia
NEWSLETTER UPDATE
I like your electronic newsletter,
but I get so many emails, I ignore
most that are from an email address
like “newsletter.” If you change
your “from” line to something like
“PassageMaker eNewsletter,” then
I’ll be sure to read it!
Our Mainship 400 is on the hard
while we’re at our winter home in
Sarasota, Florida. In 2007, my wife,
Marianne, and I left our home port
of Newport, Rhode Island, in October
and spent six weeks cruising down the
ICW and around the tip of Florida.
We kept Pathfinder in Sarasota
through 2008, and then left in March
of 2009, crossing the Okeechobee and
cruising over to the Abacos, where we
spent a month just floating around
with no schedule. We then continued
up the ICW to Newport, arriving at
the end of June—the trip of a lifetime.
Pathfinder is a great boat for a couple
to handle, and she performed well on
the 4,000-plus-nautical-mile journey.
We’ve learned a lot over the last five
years on this boat and have developed
great teamwork as a couple. Marianne
learned to handle the wheel when
we’re docking, while I learned to
handle the lines. This has worked
much better for us, as opposed to the
big husband up at the wheel and the
tiny wife struggling over the lines.
Our plans for next summer include
a leisurely trip from Newport through
Boston Harbor and southern Maine.
The tips we’ve picked up in PMM
have really helped us while cruising.
Chris Barlow
Mainship 400 Pathfinder
Thanks for writing, Chris. We
love hearing about our readers’
travels, as well as their thoughts
for improvements at PMM. In
response to your note, our electronic
newsletter, now called Channels, will
arrive in your inbox with the words
“PassageMaker Newsletter” in the
“from” line. We hope this makes it
easier for you to identify and enjoy
our newsletter, which provides a
diverse selection of how-to articles,
destination pieces, and other cruising
news.—John Wooldridge
TRANSMISSION TALK
I’m considering buying an Albin
Command Bridge 32+ 2. However,
it has a V-drive transmission. I’m
wondering how this compares to a
straight drive insofar as reliability and
serviceability are concerned.
Don Kaplan
Lexington, Massachusetts
V-drive transmissions have been
used aboard boats for many years.
For the most part, they are
both reliable and useful in that
they allow a naval architect and
boatbuilder to orient the engine
farther aft, over the propeller shaft,
freeing up room for more efficient
use of the accommodations space.
DEFINING ‘LIVEABOARD’
With regard to the November
e-newsletter story “Body, Mind, Soul:
Healthier Living Aboard” by Maria
Torelli, I’m a little confused as to why
the title includes the phrase “living
aboard” when the couple only stays
on their boat three days a week. My
husband and I own a Krogen 42, and
we actually live aboard with two large
dogs. It is definitely a “way of life,” as
the author says, but I’m not sure why
she would describe it as liveaboard.
As my husband and I are both in
our 30s and not retired, we still find
time to work on our boat and take it
out on weekend excursions. We also
plan to take her around the world
someday soon.
Samantha Kahn
San Diego, California
When Maria Torelli wrote, “While
we are not official liveaboards in the
sense of living on the boat 24/7 (we
still own a home 100 miles away),
we do average three days per week
