> There are some things which won't be helped by a spell checker, e.g.,
> using "combing" instead of "coaming". In fact, and I
> just checked this in Winword, the spell checker passed "combing"
> but indicated "coaming" was an incorrect spelling.

"Coaming" and "combing" are both correct. "Coaming" is the spelling generally used in the boating world.