Rex/Cove logo 

 

 


Harbor Talk Weekly
Rex Marine and Norwalk Cove Marina
 

 

Our Locations

Join Our Mailing List

If you have missed any of our Harbor Talk mailings, you can now "re-live the experience" with our

Harbor Talk Archives:    

Click Here

 

To see an archive of  Boating Articles Click Here  

 


Cove Mini Golf is CLOSED
for the Winter
 
 
See You in the Spring!
. 
 


Mercury Marine Update

As a Certified Mercury Marine Dealer and Repair Center, Rex Marine offers, sales, service and genuine Mercury parts to make your boating painless and trouble free.  
 


 
Rex Yacht Sales
has long been known in NY & CT as the place to find, purchase and sell a boat. 

If you are looking to purchase a new, used or trade-in boat, or to sell the boat you own, please visit 
or give us a call at 203-866-5555. 
Like us on Facebook    Vol. 5.41
 

Feels Like Spring Again 
                    (or maybe Indian Summer) 
 
Take advantage of this weekend's warm temperatures to get your winterizing (and maybe even some spring chores) out of the way!

It can't (and likely won't) last forever! Be aware that the pump out station and fresh water will be shut down for the season when the next cold front comes through...

Look at these temperatures going into the weekend!!   

Reminder: 
If you need Sail Pickup / Repair / Washing / Storage services, bring your sail(s) to the Cove Service Department. They'll connect you with Neil Pryde, Quantum, Hathaways or North Sails.    
Winter Contracts are Available from
Norwalk Cove and Rex Marine
 
 Make your plans now - Fall is here.... 
  
Norwalk Cove Winter Contracts are ...  HERE  
Note: Plan your Rigging Work Now!

Rex Marine Winter Contracts are...    
HERE

 
It's Time ! 
LI Sound Tips:
Nitrogen Reduction Remains a Top Priority  

From the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP)  "Sound Outlook" Newsletter 
 
In the 16 years since the first issue of Sound Outlook was published, DEEP has made great strides in reducing the amount of nitrogen that gets discharged to Long Island Sound.

Although much has been accomplished, we all must remain vigilant in reducing nitrogen discharges to the Sound every chance we get.

With that in mind, here are a few tips on stopping excess nitrogen in its tracks before it makes its way to Long Island Sound:
  • Consider installing a rain garden to treat rainwater before it runs off of your property.  The plants in the garden will take-up the nitrogen in the rainwater as fertilizer, reducing the load in whatever excess rain runs off.
     
  • Apply fertilizers no more than twice a year: after plants start to "green-up" in the spring, and no later than mid-October.  You're wasting product (and money) if you apply too early or too late in the year--the plants aren't ready to eat yet, or they're shutting down for the winter.  If plants can't eat, the fertilizer gets washed away into streams, rivers, and Long Island Sound.
  • Consider the use of timed-release fertilizer on lawns and gardens.
  • And rather than depending on the fertilizer bag, you should check your soil to determine what type of fertilizer and how much your lawn really needs.  Contact the UConn Soil Testing Lab to perform a soil test--it might help you use less fertilizer and actually save some money.
  • Give yourself a mowing break: reduce the amount of lawn coverage in your yard! Consider replacing unused portions of your lawn with native plant borders and beds that attract wildlife and provide habitat for important insect pollinators. 
  • Consider planting a buffer of native plants next to any stream, river, or coastal waterbody that abuts your property.  The plants will help take-up extra nitrogen from rain runoff before it ends up in the water and, ultimately, Long Island Sound.  And you'll have less lawn to mow at the edge of the stream bank.
  • If you're able to squeeze in some last-minute boating this season (now that you have less lawn to mow!), always use a shoreside or mobile pumpout facility to flush your holding tank.
  • If you have a septic system, be sure to have it pumped-out regularly, every 3-5 years.  Learn more about your septic system through the CT Department of Public Health's Environmental Engineering Program.
  • Always clean up after your pet and properly dispose of pet waste.
See the DEEP Organic Lawn Care Article ...   Here

To Subscribe to the DEEP Newsletter, click...  HERE

Rex & Cove are your 
Winterizing Headquarters 
 
Everything you need - From A to Z 
(Antifreeze to Zincs) including:   
  • Fuel and Oil Filters
  • Tarps
  • Pink Stuff (antifreeze)
  • Fuel Stabilizer
  • Engine Fogger
  • Spark Plugs
  • Engine Oil
  • Shrink Wrap Supplies
  • Bubbler Systems
  • Jack Stands
  • Gear Case Lube
  • Zincs
  • Outboard Muffs
  • Marine Sanitation Filters
And More !! 
 
  
 
Inspection Time
 
Whether you have a power boat or sail boat, now is the perfect time to snoop around and do that detailed inspection
Before 
you have been putting off. Since you probably know your boat better than anyone else, start snooping!

Running lights, railing and bimini fittings, canvas snaps and zippers, drain and limber holes, bilge pump float switches, dock lines and fenders, swim ladder fittings. Rigging and turnbuckle inspection (including chain plates). Hoses and hose clamps, hydraulic hose ends, bottom blisters, propeller inspection and zinc condition. Propane fittings and remote switch and solenoid operation. BBQ mounts. 

After
The list goes on - and you probably know what needs to be looked at and what has been put off for a while! 

Dates on your flares, safety harness and life vest condition, rusty cans in the bilge, the bottom of that locker with all the "good stuff" in it. Old food stores in the galley, holding tank vent filter, shower sump pump float switch operation, moldy books and old charts. The Eldridge book from 2012.

Use the warm weather to get a jump on next year and get to know your boat better!  And yes, this was prompted as I started to go through the boat for winterizing....

To see what a real survey would look like, click... HERE 

Garmin Catches Up to Navionics ?
 
Them's fightin' words, boy!   Each marine electronics manufacturer (and now the various chart suppliers) have their followers. Many have learned how the products "think" and know, not unlike Windows and Apple, generally how the software menus will behave. So they develop a strong following of "believers".

Garmin supplies it's own charts, where Raymarine, Furuno and Navico (Simrad, B&G, Lowrance) have not only their own charts, but allow and encourages charts from others (C-Map, Navionics, Insight, NV Digital and more). Recently Garmin has struggled to meet the chart features offered by companies that only make charting software, and has reluctantly allowed some "other charts" to work on certain Garmin units.

A year ago Navionics introduced a way to save your data and create your own chart, upload the data to Navionics (where it was analyzed and commingled with other boaters data to verify) and made available as a "Sonar Chart".  That itself was amazing.

More recently, Navionics partnered with Vexilar's new "Sonar Phone" (a transducer and black box processor with WiFi) that streams a color fish finder to your Android or Apple tablet running Navionics software.  The results were AMAZING - you could create your own charts as you go (without uploading). This allows you to do things like take the dinghy into a new cove, make your own chart and then bring the big boat in, using that chart.

Now Garmin has announced it's "Quickdraw Contours" program that will give you LIVE one foot contour lines as you move about on various models. It will be available in January.  (see links below).

So the electronics marketplace is heating up once again... How can you keep up??     
 
 
Garmin Quickdraw... HERE 

Sonar Phone Hardware:  HERE

Navionics Apps:   HERE

Ok, one more juicy bit of new technology... Simrad just unveiled it's new "HALO™ Pulse Compression Radar"- the world's first high-performance solid-state, open-array radar system with pulse compression technology, suitable for recreational and light marine markets.

Translation:  It adds the distance capabilities of a traditional magnetron radar with the HD resolution of the latest broadband radars. wow!

Read more... HERE 
Things to Do, Events, Seminars and Courses 

 
City Island NY - Ship Building Exhibit 
Now through Dec. 20th at the City Island Nautical Museum
See the history of City Island's contribution to shipbuilding.

Info is... HERE 

______________________________

Mystic Seaport Exhibit - Ships, Clocks and the Stars
 
Open through March 2016, the captivating exhibition is on tour from England for a limited time only. "Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude" tells the extraordinary story of the race to determine longitude at sea. Spurred on by the promise of rich rewards, astronomers, philosophers, and artisans-including John Harrison and his innovative timekeepers-finally solved one of the greatest technical challenges of the 18th century. 

See more... HERE

_______________________________ 

Christmas at the Newport Mansions - Nov 21 - Jan 3

If you've never seen them... GO!  This season the Breakers, the Elms and Marble house will be decked out in yuletide finery

Get the info... HERE 
 
 
_______________________________

Going Cruising Next Summer ?

Sign your crew up for the SOUND BOATING SYMPOSIUM
to be held at Mystic on Feb. 6th 2016

This is a US Sailing & US Powerboating approved Near Coastal Safety at Sea seminar.

Every serious boater who cruises the Sound and beyond should take this course. Even the most experienced boater will learn something new... guaranteed. 

The seminar provides mariners with the information and skills required to be safe on local coastal waters. Topics new for 2016 include boating safety, common medical problems at sea, safety equipment, communications, diesel engine maintenance, NOAA weather, and life raft inflation.

Sign up... HERE
_______________________________

NY Times - Things To Do Around CT

See the Times website & list of events...   HERE
On a Final Note,

Ooops