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By : Captain Rod & Susie Stebbins This article is produced in cooperation with Magellan Systems Corporation, 960 Overland Court, San Dimas, CA 91773. Without this collaboration, this article might have gone on forever to try to explain the magic of satellite positioning, encrypting reasoning and communications. Their significant contributions in this venture are greatly appreciated. The Owners : The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of 24 satellites that orbit the earth twice a day, transmitting precise time and positioning information to anywhere on the globe, 24 hours a day. The system was designed and deployed by the U S Department of Defense to provide continuous, worldwide position and navigation data for the use of the United States and allied military forces. Note from Capt. Charlie: This GPS tutorial was first printed in the early 90's. Very little has changed except the LORAN C stations which were available at the time, and were accurate navigation beacons, have been decommissioned by the USCG and we are left with only GPS as a form of fairly accurate electronic navigation. We now have nationwide differential GPS coverage available, which is very accurate. In the year 2000, Selective Availability was turned off.... Read More

Changing Fluids in your engine.............. It's a necessary chore that nobody wants to do, but when you ignore it too long, the consequences are usually very costly. Many engine manufacturers recommend an oil change every 100 hours for a gasoline engine but every 50 hours for a diesel. If you are a sailor and only run your engine an hour or less every outing, you will need to change the oil even more frequently! Dirty oil inside your engine sitting idle, can destroy the internal surfaces of the engine. A note to those of you in the snow and ice areas where your boat is put away for the winter; it is imperative for the life of your engine to change the oil BEFORE the boat is put away so that your engine sits over the winter with fresh oil. Even if you do not run your boat for the recommended oil change interval during the season, CHANGE THE OIL BEFORE THE BOAT IS PUT AWAY FOR THE WINTER! Running your engine during the boating season creates acid and water accumulation in the oil. Removing this will extend the life of your engine and transmission. Letting it stay in the... Read More