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Books & Boats Blog
by Clyde W. Ford  Now Geo-Enabled! Click to learn more. |
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to Save Our Waters |
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ISBN: 978-0-86571-590-5 $17.95 |
Several summers ago, while cruising
north of Desolation Sound I came down Discovery Passage and took a turn to port
into Okisollo Channel. I waited until slack at Upper and Lower Rapids, then
turned to starboard to enter the Octopus Islands and Waiatt Bay.
The sun beat down on the wide shallow bay where at least 50 boats anchored.
As I pulled to a favorite spot at
the back of the bay, I thought about taking a dip until I stepped from behind
the helm onto the cockpit. The stench of human waste wafted over the bay. Instead
of spending a planned several days there and hiking to Nelson Lake,
I weighed anchor early the next morning and moved on. This experience got me
thinking about the stake that we boaters have in the health of our oceans,
rivers and lakes.
I've listened to environmentalists
talk about working with boaters and come away realizing most know little about
the issues and concerns that we face. Likewise, I've listened to boaters talk
about environmentalists in not so flattering terms. It occurred to me that if
anything was going to change, maybe a boater should write a book about the
environment, hence, my latest book, Boat
Green: 50 Steps Boaters Can Take to Help Save Our Waters (New Society
Press, 2008).
The bad news is that worldwide the
health of navigable waterways is in steady decline. The good news is that
recreational boaters are a miniscule part of the problem. The important news is
that we boaters have a stake in the health of our waterways and that we can, by
our example, demonstrate how protecting the environment while enjoying it are
not only compatible ends but also enhance each other.
In Boat Green, I attempted to focus on what matters most to us as
boaters. It's an imminently practical book that identifies many commonsense,
often do-it-yourself steps that boaters can take to improve vessel performance,
decrease vessel maintenance costs, increase the health and safety of a vessel
and crew, enhance the enjoyment of boating...and, by the way, also benefit the
environment
Here's a list of my top-ten steps
boaters can take that make a difference:
- Use Biodiesel. If you have a diesel engine you really ought to consider using Biodiesel. Even in extremely small proportions (5% Biodiesel to 95% regular diesel) it makes a difference in terms of pollutants released into the environment and performance enhancements for your engine. In Boat Green I discuss the issues surrounding how to use this alternative fuel including how to address some of the legitimate fears and concerns that boaters have about Biodiesel.
- Replace your old two-cycle gasoline engine. If you still have any of these outboards around, replace them. Two-cycles burn a mixture of oil and gasoline, and at that they don't burn the mixture completely. 20 to 30 percent of the fuel/oil mixture is released directly into the water which means $2.00 to $3.00 of every $10.00 you spend on fuel and oil for your outboard ends wasted.
- Use a donut when filling up. Make a donut by poking a hole through an oil absorbent pad and pushing the fuel nozzle through the hole before inserting in into the on-deck port for your tank.
- Use propylene glycol antifreeze. Ethylene glycol is the common component of antifreeze but you can find antifreeze made with propylene glycol a less toxic cousin. Always keep antifreeze in a sealed container away from children and animals. Recycle used antifreeze. Don't mix it with other engine fluids. Antifreeze is 100% recyclable as long as it's keep in a container by itself.
- Use the best bilge socks. All bilge socks are not created equal. A scientific study of bilge socks commissioned by NOAA, which compared all major types, concluded that only one type passed all the tests: polymer bilge socks. Don't throw away your money on the rest.
- Grow a colony of oil-eating bacteria in your bilge. My engine, like many older British engines, leaks oil. (I'm sure you've heard the joke that if an older British engine doesn't leak oil it's because the oil's low!) So, I started a science experiment in my bilge after reading about bioremediation of large oil spills. I mixed a package of freeze-dried, bacteria with warm water, then poured the solution into the bilge. Like magic, in about two weeks the bilge water was clear. You can find freeze-dried oil-eating bacteria online or in many chandleries.
- Install a Y-valve in your bilge pump-out line. Most of us have Y-valves in our head pump-out system. Set in one direction the valves lets us pump overboard. Set the other way, we pump into a holding tank. If get oil leaking into your bilge, install a Y-valve in the bilge pump-out line, so you can pump the bilge into your own container and dispose of the oily bilge water safely.
- Close your crankcase. Most newer boat engines already have closed crankcase ventilation systems. But older boat engines vent blow-by gases right into the engine room and the atmosphere contributing to decreased air quality aboard and increased pollution. It cost me less than $200 to close the crankcase on my Perkins 4-108. In Boat Green, I describe the steps I took.
- Use radar prudently. Many smaller boats have radomes installed at or even below eye level on the flybridge. Often these boats do not have radar monitors on the bridge which makes sense because generally speaking we operate from the upper helm only in good visibility. Yet, on these same boats the radar unit is left in Transmit mode while the boat is being operated from the flybridge, painting the vessel's crew with bursts of radio frequency radiation. While there are no reported health risks associated with exposure to such RF radiation, there's also no need for the exposure. Placing radar units in Standby mode when you move to the flybridge or turning them off when you enter a harbor reduces your exposure and those around you to radio frequency radiation.
- Be a dust buster. When sanding or stripping wood or fiberglass, especially at dock, use a dustless sander. Dustless sanders are essentially regular sanders attached to a vacuum cleaner. The material you sand, often impregnated with very harsh chemicals, is sucked into the vacuum's container instead of being released into the water and air. Some yacht clubs or marinas have invested in vacuum sanders to be shared among many boaters. If your marina or yacht club doesn't have one, step forward and make a suggestion that they acquire a vacuum sander for boaters to use.
And I can't resist an 11th step that comes from an endorsement of Boat Green by fellow boater, environmental advocate, and folksinger, Pete Seeger:
"Boat green? Here's 50 steps boaters can take to start to save the waters. In this mixed-up world, maybe we can get our fellow humans to start thinking about the future by taking them out on the water. Let's share your experiences-and maybe there'll be a human race here in 100 years."
Thanks, Pete, I don't know many boaters who'd turn down your request to go cruising!
| Clyde W. Ford is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, who has written articles for PassageMaker Magazine. His Charlie Noble Novels, Red Herring and Precious Cargo are nautical thrillers set along the Inside Passage. And his latest nonfiction book is on environmental boating, Boat Green: 50 Steps Boaters Can Take to Help Save Our Waters. For the past decade he’s cruised the Inside Passage in his 30-foot, 1977 Willard trawler, Mystic Voyager. |
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