A voyage to a new home in North Carolina offers something fresh around every bend. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 I’ve spent 40-plus years sailing—mostly singlehanding—New Jersey’s Raritan Bay. It’s been gr...
Delayed engine maintenance leads to a white-knuckled sail through a slice of New York history. Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 “Whatever you do, retorque the head at 500 hours,” I was told by the previous own...
A sailor flouts an age-old superstition and pays the price Issue 150: May/June 2023 After what seemed like a short, mild winter, I was ready to splash for the summer season. The boatyard didn’t launch...
Every sailor knows to investigate when they hear noises out of the ordinary, whether mechanical (the bilge pump running a bit too long) or natural (distant thunder to windward). It’s expected, a part ...
After I built my dinghy, an 11-foot 6-inch plywood Bolger design coincidentally called “The Cartopper,” the first problem I faced was: how do I get it to the boatyard? Obviously, on the roof of my car...
Since moving from a mooring to a slip, I’ve noticed that there is a great variety in the way people secure their boats to a dock. Some methods are seemingly bulletproof, others interesting, whimsical,...
Furniture protectors make a quick, easy fix for sharp solar panel corners. Issue 137: March/April 2021 It wasn’t long after I installed the solar panel on the stern pulpit that I discovered the proble...
It’s been said that the most useless things aboard a sailboat are an umbrella and a Naval officer. However, sometimes that’s just not completely true. Cruising in New England, I would ofte...
An automatic bilge pump for the dinghy solves that sinking feeling. Issue 129: Nov/Dec 2019 For the past couple of years, I’ve kept my dinghy at the dock, butter side up. It’s easy to stow it and use ...
An old design puts cheap wheels under a long-loved tender Issue 126: May/June 2019 When I moved from New Jersey in the spring of 2018, I sold, gave away, or abandoned a lot of my stuff, including the ...