A single digit now does a two-person job Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 It’s slightly more than 8 feet from the water to the head of the davits on the raised aft deck of my Down East 45 schooner, Britannia....
Downwind sailing with a new-tech nuance Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 Square sails have been used on sailing vessels for centuries. There is little argument that these sails, when the wind is dead astern o...
Eliminate fire drills with a drag-proof system Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 When I was new to boating, many, many years ago, I quickly learned it was far better to anchor securely than to stumble about on...
Installing air conditioning was a cool move Issue 108: May/June 2016 My Down East 45 schooner, Britannia, had neither air conditioning nor heating when I bought her one December in Fort Lauderdale. In...
A big makeover for a cramped water closet Issue 108: May/June 2016 When we bought our 1977 Down East 45 schooner, the forward head was a poky little place with a tiny “unstainless-steel” wash-basin an...
When water pipes reach the end of the line Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017 The plastic freshwater plumbing that had been in my Down East 45 schooner, Britannia, since 1977 was a horrible spaghetti-like mess a...
It began with reclaiming space from in-deck storage Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017 Our Down East 45 has a large aft cabin with an attached en-suite head compartment. Entry to this cabin is by way of a passag...
The cost of wood made aluminum the way to go Issue 113: March/April 2017 I was up the foremast of my 1977 Down East 45 schooner, Britannia, raised there by the electric windlass bolted to the bowsprit...
Looking up is no longer embarrassing Issue 114: May/June 2017 One of the inescapable downsides of owning a good old boat is, it’s old! Much on board a boat that’s pushing 40, like my Down East 45 scho...
Its master commands it by radio Issue 117: Nov/Dec 2017 Shortly after becoming a sailboat owner, I became intrigued by the idea of building a radio-controlled model sailboat that performed like the re...
A dilapidated freebie becomes a respectable tender Issue 118: Jan/Feb 2018 When I bought my Down East 45 schooner, Britannia, she didn’t come with a dinghy, but she had very sturdy aluminum davits jus...
Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 StopGull bird deterrents Our berth is near a clump of trees where starlings and blackbirds roost. They do their dirty work all over nearby boats; I jumped at the chance to tes...
Issue 128: Sept/Oct 2019 A New Approach to Through-Hull Redundancy Given that I needed to change the ball valve on the through-hull for my AC raw-water intake, I was the perfect candidate to test this...
Issue 131: March/April 2020 Being Big Brother Last year, as hurricane Dorian headed for Florida, I was forced to evacuate, leaving my schooner Britannia to fend for herself in a Cape Canaveral marina....
In my experience, quick-release fire extinguisher mounting clasps are cheaply made and easily broken. Bungee cord can solve part of this problem, but it eliminates any quick-release capabilities. A be...
Last year, as hurricane Dorian headed for Florida, I was forced to evacuate, leaving my schooner Britannia to fend for herself in a Cape Canaveral marina. For two days I worried about how she was fari...
A dilapidated freebie becomes a respectable tender When I bought my Down East 45 schooner, Britannia, she didn’t come with a dinghy, but she had very sturdy aluminum davits just waiting for a new dink...