Have your boat text you when it’s in trouble Issue...
June 24, 2026
On the sharp end in performance and quality Issue 82 : Jan/Feb 2012 While in Burlington, Vermont, looking for a way to get out on beautiful Lake Champlain, I had a chance to sail Trilogy, Fred and Vic...
What’s in a name? Issue 82 : Jan/Feb 2012 It’s hard to believe Good Old Boat is approaching its 15th birthday. It was 15 years ago this past fall that Jerry and I sat on Mystic in the Canadian Slate I...
An enjoyable voyage needs no destination Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 For some people, the term “going nowhere” is an oxymoron, impossible to fathom. You’ve seen them, walking along staring at their BlackB...
. . . and take a dent out of your bottom cleaning Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 I sail a 1969 Columbia 28 out of Cedar Island Yacht Club in Kingsville, Ontario. Without something firm to hold on to, thoroug...
Varnishing grabrails the easy way Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 It was time to give the four teak grabrails on the coach-roof of my 1985 Hunter 28.5 the full treatment. I must confess that, for several year...
They let you see what you seek Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 Sailors waste a lot of time looking for things. Here’s something that, once you make it, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without. Let’s say yo...
New wires bring a Yanmar diesel back to life Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 For the last few years of its 14-year life, our normally faithful Yanmar diesel engine occasionally refused to obey the turn of the...
Timing is everything when picking out a light Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 You’ve been under way for days. It’s 0200 and you’re on watch on the blackest of nights, straining through binoculars to pick up t...
A family business makes old boats good again Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 Cayuga Lake, located in upstate New York’s Finger Lakes Region, is home to a large and active fleet of good old boats based in the ...
It takes more thought but saves time (and face) Issue 83: March/April 2012 “Do it right the first time?” I tend to learn more from not doing it right the first time. Then again, in boatbuilding there ...
Mother Nature has no respect for job schedules Issue 83: March/April 2012 If you spend enough time on the water, you’ll have stories to tell: good and bad, hair-raising or hilarious. It comes with the...
A nesting hard dinghy that’s enduring and endearing Issue 83: March/April 2012 Many years before we cast off our docklines, sailed out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and watched Cape Flattery disappear a...
A plan for the future and a project for today Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 When I was in high school, a friend of mine and his father were working to restore a Jaguar Roadster. Anytime I asked when they we...
Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 Editor’s Note: We hope you enjoy these excerpts from Jule Miller’s Voyages in Desperate Times. It is a historically based novel about the Coast Guard Picket Fleet, aka the Hool...
Raid the hardware store, not your wallet Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 When I went shopping for a telescoping whisker pole, I came away with sticker shock. Like a lot of other small cruising sailboats, my 2...
Cast resin is a clear alternative to glass Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 We have a love/hate relationship with deck prisms. We love the warm, diffused light they provide but they are downright annoying when...
An autopilot gets an inexpensive pod Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 My recently acquired Pacific Seacraft 31, Ann West, has a very long “to do” list, which is probably why I could afford her. (She’d been a l...
A Latin beauty for bluewater cruising Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 I first saw a Cabo Rico at a sailboat show in the early 1980s and was smitten. However, as I was retired from the Marine Corps on half-pay...
And we carry their lessons far from the water Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 A boat — especially an old boat — is a good teacher. It teaches us how to fix things. We read manuals, magazine articles, and book...
Age and patience make up for fading youth and verve Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 There comes a tide in the affairs of men that, taken at the flood, sucks them swiftly away from the sea and boats and strand...
Marine adhesive caulks are put to the test Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 After experiencing poor adhesion results when replacing an acrylic port on my 1985 Hunter 28.5 sailboat, I decided to test a number o...
They protect brightwork and give paws a grip Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 Getting to know the neighbors on my pier was certainly easier than getting to know the neighbors at my new home. For one thing, we ...
. . . with a contemporary and a successor Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 Note: Ted Brewer selected the boats and tabulated the data but, due to unforeseen circumstances, was unable to write for this issue hi...
A life’s love of sailboats summed up in Finesse Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 Over the years, Texan Richard Beard has owned nearly two dozen boats, but his heart has always gone out to Alberg designs. It’s ...
Minor modifications add up to a major improvement Issue 83: March/April 2012 In 2004, we sold the 31-foot Bombay Clipper we’d purchased specifically for an extended summer cruise. We intended to leave...
A perky pocket cruiser built in great numbers Issue 83: March/April 2012 It’s often said that numbers don’t lie. Using that adage as a benchmark, the Pearson 26, with more than 700 hulls produced, qua...
The lowdown on your boom’s hold-down Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 What we today call the boom vang was once called a martingale. It is also referred to as a kicking-strap, kicker, or boom-jack. The princip...
How rating-rule number crunchers shaped sailboats Issue 83: March/April 2012 I have been looking forward to writing this. If your boat was designed between 1970 and 1985 it probably shows the effect o...
A true cruiser/racer, with emphasis on the latter Issue 83: March/April 2012 Skylark already had a long Great Lakes racing career when Al and Lorelei Goodman of Beloit, Wisconsin, acquired the 1974 C&...
