From the Boathouse: L.A. Boat Show coming soon

By Mike Whitehead

Jan. 5, 2017 10:04 PM PT

Ahoy!

The New Year means that the new boat show season has arrived, and it starts with the Los Angeles Boat Show this month. The exciting news is that the show has weighted anchor from the Los Angeles Convention Center and moved to its new home port at the Fairplex in Pomona.

The L.A. Boat Show is known as Southern California’s largest and is celebrating its 61st year.

So when you pack up the family in your car, remember to set your destination to the Fairplex and not the convention center as in the past. You will be able to climb aboard the boats, but there will be much more with the ever increasing popular pontoon boats, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards.

The Kids Zone promises fun for the whole family including a zip line, toy boat building, balloon artists, face painting and fun surprises. Also this year, there will be craft beer tasting and big screen TVs for the NFL game day.

The boat show begins Jan. 19 and runs through Jan. 22. For more information and tickets, go to losangelesboatshow.com.

This is the boat show season, and the Fred Hall Shows, held in Long Beach, Bakersfield and Del Mar and the Newport Boat Show at Lido Marina Village will be here before the boating season officially begins.

Tip of the week: We finally received rain in the Southland and more rain is predicted for this weekend. We need the rain but not the debris that is washed into our waterways, especially after these first rain showers.

You should regularly check your vessel’s sea strainers, especially after rain showers. Sea strainers are the collection baskets that are connected inline after the thru-hull salt water pickups (commonly called raw water). They look like pool-drain baskets.

The sea strainer’s job is to collect the debris that is sucked up into the hose from the water. This debris will eventually clog up the strainers thus preventing the normal water flow past the strainers.

Strainers are on most engines, including mains and generators, except those with keel coolers, heating and air conditioning units, water makers, raw water heads, raw water faucets and raw water wash downs.

It is important to check and clean the strainers for these items to operate, and it is vital to keep cooling water to the engines’ heat exchangers. If the engines overheat, they can be damaged. The engines may even automatically shut down, causing the skipper to lose control of the boat.

You should also keep the strainers clean so that smaller debris does not work its way through the strainer and, for example, into your heat exchanger, which would require much more work to clear the clog.

Safe Voyages!

MIKE WHITEHEAD is a boating columnist for the Daily Pilot. Send marine-related thoughts and story suggestions to mike@boathousetv.com or go to boathousetv.com.