Things to Throw Overboard

	Bob Todd We're always open to suggestions from other cruisers about the things that should be thrown overboard. This, however, was the first suggestion for a captain to be thrown overboard. Submitted by Ann Todd of JULE III, she says Bob should go overboard -- we think she's kidding. :-) If you have suggestions for this page, let us know. We'll do some research and, if we agree, it will show up here.
No Picture Available	AquaSignal Portable Dinghy Navigation Lights Aqua Signal's portable lights have no place in a marine environment. We have used their model 23010-7 (stern) and 23102-7 (bow) lights on our dinghy, but have finally given up after our second set failed after only one month of service. The problem is water penetration and corrosion. They have a lifetime warranty, but who wants to send them back every month? Not us! We finally removed the white and red/green lenses and use them overtop one of our reliable Pelican StealthLite 4AA flashlights. Don't waste your money on these Aqua Signal lights unless you have a watertight case to store them in.
	Micron CSC Bottom Paint We applied three coats of Micron CSC bottom paint for our first year of cruising. The anti-fouling paint worked well until we sailed south of Charleston. From there through the Florida Keys, West Coast of Florida, and back, the bottom developed a 1/2" thick slime and the bottom would not self-polish even with our constant movement and several long offshore passages. Not worth our money if we were sailing south. We've switched to Trinidad SR and have had great results in all areas.
	EastPak Backpack with leather bottom EastPak makes some nice backpacks. This one is not one of them. The leather bottom bleeds all over your clothes, ruining several of our shirts before we found the culprit. We contacted EastPak about the problem and they told us (paraphrased) 'Too Bad'. Our new backpacks will obviously not be from this company or of this style.
	Spinlock XT Line Cleats These work well -- but for a very short lifetime. We have had to rebuild two of them in only a year of sailing. Seems like a short service life to us.
	Helly-Hansen Jackets The jacket works great!! However, Helly-Hansen designed this Match-Race jacket with an inner zipper for a fleece liner -- only they NEVER followed through and made the liner. We talked to their rep at the Annapolis show who told us 'sorry'. Well, we're sorry to have spent all this money on their stuff. Correction -- They finally made some fleece that zips into these jackets. Now they've discontinued the Match-Race Jackets, though. At least we can stay warm offshore with our new zip-in fleece :-)
No Picture Available	ABUS - Marine Combination Locks We've used Sesame Marine combination locks for years with very little problems. We couldn't find one and purchased an ABUS lock instead (from West Marine). The lock lasted for less than a month before corroding so bad internally that we just threw it away -- it wasn't worth trying to clean/service. And it says it's made for the marine environment. Never again.