Ask the service writer at your local marine center to list the biggest weekend killers and the answer will be ���batteries, batteries and batteries.��� If you really push for a more complete answer, he���ll add to the list corroded terminals, bad gas, sunken float switches and general sloppy house keeping.

My good friend Rob Fondren from Texas recently built a new outboard powered 38-foot walk around fishing boat and needed to outfit her not only with cleaning and maintenance materials, but docking lines, fenders, ground tackle, tools and of course fishing tackle. So, like a good friend should, I immediately helped him spend some of his hard earned dollars with the tackle industry.

Understanding paper charts is an important skill.

Since the amazing leap forward in electronic technology during the past several decades, many boaters have shelved their paper charts. And with good reason too.

After spending three days bunkered down during a strong northerly front in the Bahamas, we decided if we didn't leave, the weather would only deteriorate. Hours after making this stupid decision we were punching the Grand Banks 42 through large swells churned up by a week of fierce north winds. With roaring winds of 30 knots and higher, my crew Jack Bulger and I exchanged glances, both realizing we were in for a long disagreeable night.

Just about the only good thing that happens after you run your underwater gear into a rock is that the locals may name the rock after you assuming no one has run afoul of it before. (I've got an underwater gravel pile bearing my name.)

I can smell diesel fuel a long way off. So when I recognized the familiar scent as I was sliding through the inlet after a good day of fishing, I knew immediately something was wrong. A quick check in the engineroom confirmed my fear when I spotted the telltale sheen in the bilge water. I quickly flipped off the breakers on the bilge pumps so I would not pump water overboard, but I could not quickly find the source of the leak. The engine was running fine and boat traffic was thick, so the best I could do was get to the dock and look for the leak there.