Here's a small, bright, floating spotlight from Stanley.

The Stanley Floating Waterproof Spotlight is smaller than most spotlights, but it still put outs 520 lumens, generated by its five-watt LED bulb. The case is both rugged and rubberized. Stanley says it can survive a 10-foot drop. I didn't drop it from 10 feet, but I did drop it on a fiberglass deck from shoulder height and it still worked fine. I also dropped into the Hudson River. I attached a line to it, just in case, but I didn't need to. It floated with the beam facing into the water. That throws a very long shaft of light down into the water, making it easy to recover at night. A rotating switch turns the light on or off and also acts as a dimmer to save battery life. If you don't need full brightness, just rotate the switch back a bit. The FL5W10 Waterproof Spotlight has a 7.2-V rechargeable NiMH battery. Stanley says it powers the light for up to 10 hours per charge.  With both an AC and 12-volt cigarette lighter charger the suggested retail is about $60, but discounts are available if you do a web search.  I typed Stanley Waterproof Spotlight FL5W10 into Google and found it for about $48. Hang on - at Buy.com they have it for $39 + $11 shipping. I haven’t shopped at this e-tailer however:

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=220950632&sellerid=34785327

Voyage to see what's under the water!

A few weeks ago I talked about AppSpeed from Dexim, trucks you can control by tilting your iPad or iPhone in different directions. Now there’s even much more high tech: HydroView from Aquabotix. HydroView is a lightweight, remote operated underwater vehicle with a high definition video camera and LED lights. It lets you see the underwater world through live video and captured still shots. You can even upload recorded images to social media sites. You navigate your HydroView through the water using your iPad, iPhone, Android phone or (least fun) your laptop. It’s a fun, safe way to see marine life, look for underwater relics or find possessions that fell off a dock or a boat. The HydroView is also a great tool for boaters. Use it to inspect the bottom of the boat, check on anchor settings or mooring, and check out underwater environments that may damage your watercraft. The HydroView weighs 8 pounds. It’s 14.6” wide, 19” long and 7” high. It comes with 50 feet of cable, but you can add as much as 300 feet more. With it’s twin propellers to moves forward at 3 knots and reverse at 1 knot. On a full charge, which takes 16 hours, you get about 2 hours of run time. There are built-in LED lights to illuminate dark areas or for nighttime use. Cost is $2995.00.

At the company website you can also check out AquaLens, manual underwater viewing system that costs less than $800.

www.aquabotix.com

Giz Wiz Video of the week: http://youtu.be/i4K4oRdT8yE 

See or hear this Netcast: http://www.twit.tv/dgw1339

A boat with legs -- Sea Legs.

Of all the boats I saw at the Miami Boat Show, I’d have to say Sealegs was the most unusual. The company says they specifically designed and developed it to take all the hassle out of the boat launching and retrieval process. And how did they do that? It’s an inflatable boat (they make two models in the 20 foot range) with motorized, retractable and steerable wheels! A Sealegs boat can be driven from a storage location, down a boat ramp or beach and into the water - all with the occupants staying in the boat and remaining completely dry! Once in the water, the Sealegs wheels are retracted into the "UP" position where they are completely out of the water. The boat is then driven and used as normal. When approaching land, the Sealegs wheels are lowered into the "DOWN" position while still moving in the water. Then the captain slowly moves towards the beach and when the Sealegs motorized wheels touch the bottom, he/she can drive the boat up onto land. The occupants can then disembark, totally dry and safe. The Sealegs boats use two kinds of engines. The motorized wheels which give a user variable speed of 0-10km/h (forward and reverse) are powered by an on-board 24hp Honda driven hydraulic power-pack motor. In the water, the boat is powered by an outboard motor starting at about 90 hp. It can hit a top speed of about 35 knots, which is equal to 40+ mph on the water. The Sealegs system utilizes all submersible components and is Salt Water ready. I asked what the market would be for a boat like this, and they said mostly military, police, and commercial. I figured the boat was not “street legal” and it’s not. The construction looked top notch and they had impressive video at the booth, some of which you can see on the company’s website. A Sealegs craft is not inexpensive. They start at $69,700. That includes the motor for the pumps & wheels, but not the cost of the outboard, which is about $12,000 to $20,000 depending on the size of the engine.

www.sealegs.com

Great for boat, car, RV and home emergencies.

The Wagan Power Dome NX is an all-in-one Emergency Power Source. Weighing about 18 pounds, it's portable and ideal to carry in the trunk of your car, or in the garage at home. This rechargeable power unit has 400 Amps of cranking power to help jump-start your car when the battery is low. The heavy duty negative and postive cables (red and black) and clamps are stored in the ends of the unit. If you need air in your tires, or an inflatable beach toy, there's a 260 PSI air compressor and a tire pressure gauge. If the power goes out you can use the 2 AC outlets to plug in lights, a small TV, electric drill, etc. up to 200 watts. (The company says up to 180 watts is better.) If you have a 12 volt device there's also a DC outlet. If you need to charge your cell phones there's also a USB charging port. But wait, there's more! There's a bright LED work light, that also has a blinking function. A red lens turns it into an emergency blinker. Then there's an AM/FM radio and an audio input jack so you can play your own tunes from your phone or MP3 player through the Power Dome NX stereo speakers.  This is a great portable unit for use during emergencies or any time you need power away from an AC outlet. The internal battery can be recharged via by DC or AC with the included cables. Retails for under $100 on Amazon.

This e-tailer sells it for about $96.00, but I haven't shopped here:

http://tinyurl.com/3uoh75f

Also check out the Power Dome EX. For just about $15 more it offers a 400 watt invertor & 600 amps of cranking power.

Your boat floats, so shouldn't your VHF radio float too?

Floating VHF radios are nothing new, but Cobra’s model MR HH475 FLT BT floats and has a ton of other features. It has Bluetooth so you can carry on cell phone conversations through the Cobra radio. That's perfect if you want to leave your cell phone in a protected area of your boat and talk outdoors in stormy weather. The strangely named "BURP" feature vibrates water out of the speaker grill if it gets wet. That feature is designed to help improve performance in extreme conditions. Tri-Watch allows monitoring of three channels at once (2 user selected & emergency channel 16). It receives all NOAA Weather Channels & Emergency Weather Alerts too. And finally, the Rewind-Say-Again feature lets you record and replay up to 20 seconds of a call. That could be a lifesaver if you need critical information and have no way to write it down. The Cobra ships with a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery, charger and AC/DC adapters. MSRP is $179.95, but discounts are easy to find. It's here on Amazon for $135. I have not shopped at this e-tailor, but found it with a web search on Google:

http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-Waterproof-Two-Way-Marine-Bluetooth/dp/B002MIS8V6