One of the ironies of being the editor of a sailing magazine is that you rarely get to sail. That is, the duties involved with the day-to-day management of a sailing magazine—or any magazine, for that...
Our Next Guest, Please In the latest edition of The Dogwatch, there was a great little article by John Churchill (“Modernizing a Guest Anchor Light,” February, 2021). Being a good old boater (cheap), ...
Impeller Advice I saw the hack; a good, traditional hack for many similar installation problems (“Impeller Install Hack,” The Dogwatch, January 2021). Something else folks might not know: It is common...
Moving On Hello Michael and Good Old Boat team! We take our responsibility to live lightly on the planet seriously. Whether living off-grid on land or cruising on our Alberg 30, eco-values drive our d...
A Better Battery for Backup Regarding Jim Shell’s article in last month’s The Dogwatch, “A Battery for Every Need,” Eveready Ultimate Lithium batteries may be a better choice than alkaline batteries f...
A Condemnation of the Chipper While reading the latest Dogwatch, I followed a link to Rob Mazza’s review of Dick Carter’s sailing autobiography. Rob mentioned that Carter began his offshor...
Offense Taken While I appreciate the idea of the umbrella for creating easy cockpit shade (“Cockpit Umbrella,” September 2020), as a 40-years veteran of the Navy, I take offense at your statement that...
More Words on Electrification I have read through the reader letters in response to your question about electric propulsion and I want to offer one more point that I think was addressed only tangentia...
Electrified Last month, I put it to the readers about electric propulsion in sailboats—I wanted your take, and I got it. As a whole, there are strong feelings and a strong desire for information. I hi...
An Early Cat I enjoyed Ronald Sundelin’s article “A Very Early Fiberglass Cat” (The Dogwatch, June 2020). It reminded me of my first boating adventure, for which I used a couple of old 40-gallon...
Summer Sailstice is on! We were shocked to realize that this is the 20th anniversary of Summer Sailstice, the annual worldwide celebration of sailing that coincides with—you guessed it—summer solstice...
PC and Wishy-Washy Regarding your expressed opposition to the news you reported last month about the National Weather Service changing “Small Craft Advisory” to “Small Craft Warning,” I disagree. Wasn...
The Good, the Bad and the Worst Last month, I put it to the readers about sailing movies. I suggested a few, but wanted to know which were the best, the ones people love to watch. The responses helped...
Even Older We received the following letter on March 18, from our friend Jeanne Socrates, who last year became the oldest person to have ever sailed solo, unassisted, and non-stop around the world. He...
Highly Questionable I could not believe that you published this short article (“Easy Charting,” February, The Dogwatch). Taking a picture of a chart on a smartphone? Really? While I’m not sure, ...
Another Lesson for Lee? After reading Lee Brubacher’s story about anchoring with two anchors (“Twice Hooked,” The Dogwatch, January 2019), I think that, in addition to his conclusion about when to use...
The Good and the Best of Good Old Boat: Feedback Last month we put it to the readers to learn what parts of Good Old Boat magazine you looked forward to most, and least. We didn’t get as much feedback...
Lee Brubacher and 17 other volunteers from the West Highland Baptist Church of Hamilton, Ontario are our Dogwatch Sailors of the Month. In September of this year, these folks partnered with Oceanwise ...
Dogwatch Kudos I want to express my appreciation for a tip I got in The Dogwatch today (“LED Light and RFI Feedback,” November 2019). I had seen the earlier RFI/LED article and had made a mental note ...
The Floating Tool Tray By Drew Frye Need to replace a prop? Pull the lower unit on an outboard without pulling the engine? How about install an external strainer without pulling the boat? Worki...
Diesel Auxiliary Trouble I have a ComPac23 Diesel sailboat that I am restoring. I am having trouble getting the 8 HP 1GM10 Yanmar diesel to start. There is plenty of fresh fuel in the tank and ...
Eye Patches for Night Vision? I believe that the depiction of scurvy, salty, scalawags—buccaneers and privateers all, matey!—wearing eye patches is almost certainly a Hollywood trope, meme, or ...
An Exhausting Sail By Bert Vermeer We had been sailing the west coast of Vancouver Island over the past 30 days. Our final day dawned hot and sunny without a ripple on the water, and so we moto...
Deadly Magnificent I was still green, having only a month ago traded my Great Lakes home in Michigan for the salty sea air and hot sun of the Caribbean. Now, here I was, crewing with a bunch of strang...
Distinctive Isla Ventana has long been used as a navigational aid by Sea of Cortez sailors. Raul Martinez III sent this photo from the 38th annual running of the Spring Regatta in San Carlos, Mexico, ...
Chainplates Re-done When my wife and I bought our 1983 Endeavour 33, we renamed her Gemini. They say it’s bad luck to rename a boat. They might be right. Bringing her to her new home in Oyster Bay, Ne...
Me Too! Wow, so others have run into power lines too (“The Fourth of July Meltdown,” The Dogwatch, July 2019)! Around 1968, my brother and I set off across Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay from Bay City...
Book Reviews From 1998 Crusing Rules, by Roland S. Barth Dragged Aboard, by Don Casey Cruising 101: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Paradise, by Amy Sullivan and Kevin Donnelly Illustrated Dictionary of Boat...
In a previously published article, I touched upon the use of a quick and easy way for the lone sailor to raise or lower the mast on the typical small cruiser. Ensuing months brought a number of inquir...
Dogwatch (n): For sailors, either of the 2-hour watch periods between 1600 and 2000; For journalists, the period after going to press when staff stand by in case breaking news warrants a...