Q: A friend and I have a wager going. He says you should never say "right" or "left" on a boat but always "port" and "starboard." I think there are times when you can say "left." In fact, I think that I've heard it used on Navy ships. Who's right ... err, correct?
- Tom Hastings, Hoffman Estates, IL

A: You win, but your friend has a point. The origin of "starboard" goes back to the days when ships had a steering oar, or "steer board," instead of a rudder. The other side of the boat was "laboard," probably a corruption of "lee board," a device to prevent sailing ships from sliding sideways in the wind. The word "port" was substituted for larboard quite recently. The claim is that ships laid their laboard sides to the quay when in port to protect their fragile steer boards.

Until the 20th century, sailors gave helm orders that referenced the tiller, not the direction of the turn. Thus, a left turn called for starboard helm. The tiller went to the starboard, causing the rudder to swing to port and the bow to pivot to port. This is why in James Cameron's 1997 movie Titanic, the officer yells, "hard a-starboard," but the quartermaster turns the wheel to the left.

During World War I, a lot of farm boys were pressed into naval service. Rural lads assigned to steering battleships became confused by turning to their left for a starboard helm command. To sort out the chaos, the British navy issued a regulation requiring that all steering directions be given in "left" or "right" based on the quartermaster's point of view. The U.S. Navy and merchant ships followed suit.

For several decades, U.S. ships were required to have signs in their wheelhouses identifying the left side of the ship from the right. It's still required that steering instructions be given in "left"  or "right." However, the port side is still the port side for every other purpose.


Q: I recently replaced the ignition switch in my 1997 sterndrive. When I started it the first time, it initially ran rough but then smoothed out. However, problems developed in shutting it down. I turned the key to "off" and the gauges turned off OK, but the engine kept running. I then removed the battery, but the engine kept running. I finally pulled out the coil wire and it stopped. Is there any explanation as to why it would continue to run?
- Ken Donaldson, via e-mail

A: The first rule in troubleshooting  is to check the last thing you touched before the trouble started. In your case, this is the key switch. There's a 99-percent probability that in wiring the new switch, you "hot wired" the ignition to the positive (+) 12-volt feed. Whether the key is "on" or "off," you have voltage going to the coil and the points in the distributor. The engine started because the wiring to the starter solenoid is correct. Once the engine began running, however, you couldn't shut it off with the key because it was hot-wired.

Your key switch should have three terminals. One terminal is for the incoming red wire providing 12-volt power. The second terminal is for purple wires, of which there are usually two. One sends power from the switch to the ignition coil, while the other sends it to the instruments. A yellow with red stripe wire goes from the third terminal to the solenoid on the starter motor.

If it's wired correctly when the switch is "off," no power goes to either the ignition coil or the starter solenoid. When the key is turned "on," 12-volt power appears only on the purple wires to the instruments and ignition coil. Turning the switch a bit more to the momentary contact sends power to the starter solenoid. When you let go of the key, power is cut off to the solenoid but not to the ignition and instruments.

Most likely, you have the purple wire to the ignition coil attached to the "hot" terminal where the switch gets its 12-volt power. In effect, you have hot-wired your engine to run without a key. Moving the ignition wire to the same  terminal where you attached the instruments should fix your problem.   

Sorry to bring bad news, but disconnecting the battery with the engine running wasn't a good idea. In doing this, you suddenly took the electrical load off of the alternator and may have "fried" the diodes. If they didn't fail, you're lucky. But either way, plan on replacing them in the near future, as it's likely they have internal damage.


Q: I'm trying to do a fiberglass repair on my boat using epoxy resin, but I can't keep it from foaming up and smoking before I get done. What am I doing wrong? Should I mix the ratio of the hardener differently?
- Alex Sutton, Key Largo, FL

A: First, never mix epoxy in any other ratio than what the manufacturer recommends. Unlike polyester resin, varying the amount of hardener in epoxy doesn't change the speed of the cure. Instead, changing the ratio usually has an adverse effect on the strength of the cured joint. Always weigh the proper amounts of resin and hardener. Another option is to use the metered pumps available from the glue manufacturers to dispense resin and hardener.

As for the foaming and the smoke, your Florida address is part of your problem. Epoxy glues are "exothermic." That means they generate heat as they cure. Working in the hot Florida sun may be good for a suntan, but it promotes this internal heating, which can cause a runaway reaction. The glue gets hot, then smokes and foams until it hardens. In your climate, it pays to buy the slowest curing hardener available for the epoxy system you're using. Slow-cure hardeners allow more "open time" to work before the chemical reaction begins.

Keeping your resin and hardener cool is another way to avoid the problem. A foam ice Styrofoam chest is a good glue box. Its white color reflects much of the sun's heat. You can also toss in a chunk of ice for good measure on a hot day. Just don't get water in the glue.

Mix small batches of glue, and use a flat container rather than a tall can. I never mix more than three pumps of hardener and resin on warm days because that's about all I can apply before heat becomes a problem. A flat container spreads the glue over a wider surface so it has more exposed surface area for cooling.   

Most importantly, read the instructions on the epoxy to make sure you're following the manufacturer's guidelines. Always mix thoroughly. Most epoxy failures can be traced to improper mixing.


Q: At a boat show this year, I spent some time discussing jet drives with a salesman. He almost had me sold until I told him I wanted to dock my boat in salt water for the summer months. At that point, he recommended I look at his other boats with traditional I/O and outboard options. What's so different about a jet drive that it shouldn't be left in salt water during the normal boating season?
- Rob Bunyon, Glenmoore, PA

A: Your salesman was probably not worried about saltwater corrosion. Jet drives pump salt water all the time as they push everything from personal watercraft to huge car and passenger ferries. Manufacturers know to use corrosion-resistant materials and to avoid creating galvanic corrosion from dissimilar metals. Nothing lasts forever in salt water, but jet drives can and do have reasonable service lives.

He was probably worried about marine growth that might get into the intake and damage or clog the jet pump. Most pleasure boats spend the bulk of their time sitting quietly while their owners are at work. The hot sun warms the water near the surface, so everything from eelgrass to saltwater barnacles or freshwater zebra mussels grows abundantly.

The tolerances between the tips of the pump vane and the pump body are critical for good performance. Grinding up hard-shell marine life is like throwing sand into your car's transmission. The resulting wear can dramatically shorten the moving parts' working life.

Commercial jet-powered ferries don't have an internal marine growth problem because they typically operate up to 18 hours a day. During that entire time, millions of gallons of water are going through the pump impeller. This scours the system clean.

Personal watercraft and other trailerable jet pleasure boats are typically stored out of the water during their idle hours. Once their jet pumps dry out, no marine life can grow. The type of boat most likely to encounter this trouble is one that sits idle day after day in the water - and that's probably what worried your salesman.


Send your Boatcraft Q&A questions to Dave Brown c/o Boating World , 2100 Powers Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30339. You can also e-mail your questions to editor@boatingworld.com. Due to the volume of inquiries Dave Brown receives, he will be unable to answer every question.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard's Office of Boating Safety.