About John Payne
About John Payne. I am the author of the Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible. Also the author of the Motorboat Electrical and Electronics Manual, The Fishermans Electrical Manual and the 10 books making up the Understanding Boat series.
It is not all marine electrics and marine electronics though. Also the books Piracy Today and the Great Cruising Cookbook have come from my keyboard. I boat sails on its stomach and I love food.
The Marine Electrical Electronics Bible is now out, buy and save money, make your boat more reliable and be self sufficient. The Marine Electrical Electronics Bible is now out, buy and save money, make your boat more reliable and be self sufficient.
About John Payne Books
Author of "The Marine Electrical & Electronics Bible" published by Sheridan House, New York, & Adlard Coles, London, with reviews that include
“..as a reference book on the subject it is outstanding” Classic Boat Journal;
“all in all, this book makes an essential reference manual.” Yachting Monthly;
“…this book ranks with the very best technical works ever produced for yachtsmen.” The Island,
and “..the most easy-to-follow reference to date.” Cruising World.
Author of "The Motorboat Electrical & Electronics Manual" Sheridan House, New York, & Adlard Coles, London October 2002.
Author of 10 paperback marine electrical and electronics books as part of the “Understanding Boat…..series.
Author of the “Fisherman’s Electrical Manual”,
Author of "Pirates Today" published by Sheridan House, New York in March 2010 and reviewed in the Wall Street Journal and many other maritime publications including Book of the Month in one magazine.
Regular articles on marine electrical and electronics published in leading US and UK yachting magazines. Regularly lecture at training seminars on marine electrical and electronics subjects.
I love cruising and also all the different cuisines, I call it Cruisine! New Edition is coming next year.More About John Payne
Yes! To know more about John Payne is to know I have an obsession with boats, ships, sailboats, canal boats, fishing and most things nautical and of the sea. Salt water runs in my veins. I was an avid fisherman at an early age, loved boat fishing, beach and rock fishing, not always successful. I started daydreaming about the sea early in my life, running away to a life of adventure. I started small boat dinghy sailing as crew and then into my own passion for high performance dinghy classes. That taught me a lot about sailing, you soon learn after endless capsizes and the thrill of winning that first race. I still like to take a Laser out on very windy day and keep my helm skills up to date. Highly recommended for any cruising sailor.
It wasn’t long before I completed my electrical apprenticeship and ran away to sea, starting as a junior marine engineer and electrician on old tramp cargo ships and with further marine electrical and other studies rising to Chief Electrical Officer on some of the most advanced merchant ships afloat, mostly refrigerated banana boats, all computerized and really hard w rk to keep running. By chance I drifted into the offshore oil industry and have been involved in some of the most high tech deepwater drilling rigs for several years.
The pirates are still out there, not quite so glamorous as Pirates of the CaribbeanMore About John Payne
After a protracted downturn in the oil industry I decided to renovate an old Herreshoff ketch and started living aboard and cruising. It was a hard rebuild but turned out absolutely beautiful. Not long after that and a few more spells at sea and offshore and then I acquired a classic 34 foot wooden sloop from a Belgian friend and spent a year to restore her in Europe. That was the start point for a long cruising from Belgium and the Netherlands, across to the UK, down the French, Spanish and Portuguese coasts to the Med. Biscay sure was a challenge! And then a great explore of the Med.
Having sailed mostly single handed and been a liveaboard for a few many years along with my daytime career, this morphed into managing the commissioning of some of the most advanced deepwater drilling rigs in the USA and Asia, so I decided a change of pace was necessary.
I purchased from some friends a 110 year old Dutch barge, based her in Belgium and explored the canals and rivers of Europe for several years. Guess what? Different boats but same old problems. They really are common for all boats. Highly recommend a tour of the canals and rivers.
What about now? I am once again cruising on my 36 foot ketch, currently completing a refit and ready to head off again. Like everyone you inherit other people' problems, and some of the issues on my boat are terrible. Like pets, some people shouldn't own boats. I will expand on that elsewhere on the website shortly as a cautionary tale.
This website has been running 20 years, still interested in boats, fishing and sailing.
The great news is that after a year of writing, the 4th Edition of the Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible is due out in November. Completely revised, updated and expanded.
More about me, that is enough about John Payne.
