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International Association of Marine Investigators – CMI

  Attention Marine Insurance and Law Enforcement Professionals. I am going to take the opportunity this week to introduce and promote a remarkable organization in the marine industry. Since I may have as many readers from the insurance industry as I do private boaters, it seems appropriate to hit a topic which may be of…

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IN THE OFF SEASON – GET TO KNOW YOUR BOAT PART IV: ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS

  I have made this point before, but I want to start right off with it again. Electrical work on your boat should be, at the very least, supervised or inspected by a qualified marine electrician. ABYC offers a very thorough certification course in marine electrical. I have taken it and hold the certification. But,…

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INSPECTING A FROZEN BOAT

This week, I am compelled to take a one week break for the “Getting to Know Your Boat series, I have been publishing, to discuss frozen boat hulls. Every year, once boat show season is in full swing, my phone starts to ring. The boat buying season starts and everyone in the financial food chain…

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A Bit About Bilges

The leading cause of boat sinkings, mechanical failures, and fire can all be found in the bilge. That’s a bold statement, isn’t it? One has to be careful when you they are in the cause-effect business of marine damage surveys. Like degrees of separation, one could also make the case that not looking in your…

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Currents and rip currents

Rip currents on the Great Lakes kill more people than sharks in all the oceans. The State of Michigan named the first week of June Rip Current Awareness month. I am not aware of the same recognition by the state of Wisconsin or other Great …Lakes states, but I can attest that it has taken…

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CAUTION: About “spring commissioning” or “summerizing” your boat

If you were away from the Lake Michigan shoreline this holiday weekend, you enjoyed temperatures in the upper 60’s and 70’s in Wisconsin and Illinois. Our boating season can feel short, and a beautiful weekend like this is not to be wasted. But, before you pull your boat from storage and get under way, make…