A bad alternator and a tale of two mechanics

The warning that appeared on the autopilot was as confounding as it was alarming: “Low Battery.”
How could that be? We’d motored for two straight days from Chesapeake Bay to Cape May, N.J., and now, a half-hour out of the inlet with nightfall approaching and the sails filled for once with a good Atlantic breeze, we’d finally turned off the engine. Surely the batteries were topped off.

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Loving life in the slow lane

A cruising couple has it their way with a lobster yacht built in Maine and finished off in Connecticut

Jim Long maneuvers past a partially submerged log, one of the hazards that Tropical Storm Irene left last summer in the lower Connecticut River. The retired project engineer is on a late-season afternoon run to show off Nancy Ann.

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Memory Lane Makeover

Steve Brady revived fond memories of his youth by restoring a 1974 Sea Ray SRV180 runabout

When Steve Brady was a teenager in the mid-1970s he would blast around Long Island Sound in a number of powerboats. Among them was a friend’s 18-foot Sea Ray runabout that he drove hard and fast.

“It was silly kid stuff,” Brady says. “My friend Greg and I were really into wave jumping and trying to get the engine out of the water, and that boat was a real hit for wave jumping.”

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The Upside to downsizing

A cruising couple finds their new smaller boat to be big on comfort and convenience

Story and photos by George Sass Sr.

In the July issue, I wrote about our decision to downsize from the custom 43-foot Down East-style boat that has taken us safely and comfortably more than 12,000 miles during the last 10 years. We wanted something that would simplify our lives and allow us to continue cruising on a reduced budget as we slowly make the transition to retirement.

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