Great Lakes Skipper Blog

Get 'em while they're hot! All boat seats are 10% off through April 14, 2019!

New boat upholstery is so beautiful: flawless and firm. As much as we wish it, it doesn't stay that way; the elements inevitably make their mark. When that time comes, you can look at it as a wonderful opportunity to create a custom seating configuration for your boat.

In 1732, an engineer named Henri Pitot got the job of measuring the flow of the Seine, the famous river that bisects the city of Paris. A late bloomer, Pitot seems to have been an unremarkable student until age 19, when he fell in love with geometry after picking up a book on the subject in a shop. Pitot went on to accomplish many feats of engineering in his career, but it's the contraption he devised to measure the speed of water flow that has made his name famous among boaters.

When boaters talk speedos, they don't mean the cheeky swimwear (well, not usually). The speedometer enjoys pride of place on a boat's dashboard, and when it goes bad, it's pretty obvious. Finding and fixing the problem can take a little detective work, but it's not difficult.

Nobody enjoys bad news, especially not from one of the boat's gauges. If you're getting a reading that doesn't seem right (or no reading at all), it's not difficult to figure out the problem.

With certain parts exposed to the elements, your boat's gauges and their sensors can take a beating. If you suspect that your gauge is not giving you an accurate reading, we have some hints for how to figure out the problem and how to fix it.

The most famous pirate of all time, Blackbeard, died three hundred years ago this week. He inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silver and J. M. Barrie's Captain Hook, and has been portrayed on film by actors like Ian McShane and Peter Ustinov. As well known as he is, there is much about him that remains mysterious.

Save 10% on boat deck and floor hatches, escape and ventilation hatches, portlights, and storage boxes through November 25, 2018!

How many of us have caught wind of trouble and said, "Batten down the hatches"? We know we have. It's something we say and hear often, but have you ever thought of where the expression comes from?

What's the scariest thing you've ever seen while boating? We're not talking about close encounters with sharks, though those are pretty scary. We want to know your creepy, weird, spooky sea stories.

Last year, we scared ourselves silly with the tale of Mary Celeste, the most famous ghost ship of all time. This year, we turn from the warm waters of the Sargasso Sea to the windswept Maritime Provinces for a legend as chilling as the Bay of Fundy.

What's more satisfying than a good day spent on the boat? Maybe knowing that you've worked on it yourself! DIY work doesn't have to mean slapdash or chintzy. With quality parts, the right tools, and some spare time, you can make improvements you can be proud of. Here are five DIY projects to make your boat better.

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Fact: you are 45 times more likely to lose your life to a rip current than a shark attack. We don't have sharks in our part of the world, but the dangerous currents of the Great Lakes are even more deadly. Twelve people perished in Lake Michigan just over Labor Day weekend, and two deaths occurred in Kenosha Harbor in the first week of September.