We spend much of our time at anchor and use the Avon like a car, so our portable electronic toys, mail and money are at risk every time we go ashore. The Aquapac waterproof case should be just the thing for keeping our gear dry during many a wet and windy dinghy ride.

Radio - It's criminal!

WATERBORNE enforcement officers from the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) have recently been involved in raids on boats operated by, sailing AGENCY
schools in order to check their VHF radio licences. In one such case, because there was some confusion over who was the actual holder of the £22 licence, the yacht's owner, skipper, the company secretary and the directors of the school were charged under Part I, Section 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, found guilty of a criminal offence, and ended up with criminal records.

A neat little Aussie product, the C-Thru transparent pump cover lets you check whether the pump impeller is turning while the engine is running. We're always a
bit apprehensive when our annual trek takes us through fields of bootlace weed in the English Channel, or into crud in the French canals.

If your initial conclusion is that there's a possibility the gel coat can be saved, what can be done? Let's look at some of the options.

Blisters can be broadly divided into shallow and deep. Shallow blisters, meaning those confined to the gel coat, can simply be broken open (a countersink drill can be useful for this) and, once they're dry, filled with an epoxy filler. The chances are that more will appear later. This doesn't mean that your treatment was unsuccessful - for these will be a fresh batch that would have popped up anyway.