Make holding-tank chemistry work in your favor Iss...
March 12, 2026
Mark Sinclair’s choice for the solo nonstop race around the world Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 “This retro race could not have come at a better time,” says Mark Sinclair about the Golden Globe Race 2018. “...
Fulfilling dreams with boats once destined for landfills. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 In an age where the norm is to throw away the old and buy something new, I have learned that thrown-away sailboats can...
All-inclusive fleets welcome novice racers at the starting line. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 When I was a child, my family would spend every summer cruising and sailing out of our home port. Years later, ...
Learn to refine it by chasing good old boats around the buoys Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 I am not a very skilled sailor. I’ve sailed thousands of miles in all types of weather, from Glacier Bay to Panama...
A top-down furler takes the terror out of setting a spinnaker. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 Downwind sailing with only a jib or genoa can leave a sailor wanting more. I wanted to fly a spinnaker on Hagar, ...
Insulate and decorate cold stainless steel with French spiral hitching. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 When a stainless steel steering wheel gets wet or, worse yet, wet and cold, it becomes difficult to grip...
Banish mildew on your boat with a simple chemical brew As near as I can tell, boating consists of one part blue lagoons and white sails and two parts painting the bottom, fixing engines, and scrubbing...
Siting solar panels led to an all-around renewal Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 After deciding to add rigid solar panels aboard Alembic, our 1981 Whitby 42 center-cockpit the 12-foot spans into two 6-foot sp...
A dehumidifier keeps a cabin dry and free from mold Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 My friend Don Smith and I live and keep our boats in Alaska. To control moisture aboard, and its negative side effects, mild...
An electrical update for the 21st century preserves the 1960s aesthetics. Dog-eared and dated, the 12-volt DC switch panel on our 1961 Alden Challenger, Christmas, was original. I had planned to repla...
Over the years, I’ve often used a sun shower to heat water for onboard showers. If conditions are right, they can get to be too hot to use. But more often, a cooling breeze saps the heat generat...
MORE MULTI I enjoyed my Good Old Boat subscription when I had my O’Day 26, but I dropped my subscription last year as I bought a small trimaran (a 1992 Ostac Tramp) and noticed that Good Old Boat does...
ASA RAISES OVER $40,000 TO BOOST LITERACY The American Sailing Association (ASA), America’s premier sail-education authority, announced last week that it raised $41,379 this fall to benefit Hands Acro...
You already know Ed and Ellen Zacko. Ed writes award-winning articles for Good Old Boat. Ellen is the smiling co-sailor occasionally pictured in those articles. Also occasionally pictured in those art...
In warm weather, full-length foul-weather pants are rather uncomfortable to wear for too long...
A User-Friendly Cockpit Grating Kind to feet, it keeps dirt from getting underfoot by Drew Frye...
Mary McKSchmidt was like many idealistic young people of the 1970s. She eschewed business and material possessions. She was going to travel, write, seek adventure, and live free. And for a short time,...
ACETONE DANGER OVERSTATED In the September issue of The Dogwatch, we ran a story by Keith Davie (“Six Lessons from a Simple Job”) in which Davie offered the following: “Stay around to be an old good o...
Editor’s note: Has this happened to you? You’re out for a sail and realize the cockpit-led reefing line or mainsheet that has sailed many years with you is showing signs of wear or UV damage. Back at ...
As a cruising parent, I’ll be frank: narratives that sugar-coat what it’s like to set sail with very young children (the children are happy day and night, nobody gets seasick, it’s a...
British Columbia winter months are cool and damp with short days, rain, and minimal sunshine. Having a heat source on board is essential to keep the mildew at bay and so we keep Natasha, our 1978 Isla...
BY MICHAEL ROBERTSON HONORING HEROES The Association for Rescue at Sea (AFRAS) last month held their annual maritime search and rescue awards ceremony at the Rayburn House Office Building at Washingto...
Archipelago New York is an extended photo essay chronicling documentary filmmaker Thomas Halaczinsky’s single-handed sail in his 30-foot sloop, Sojourn, in and around New York Harbor and out to Long I...
If you suffer from seasonal affective disorder, you might want to plug in your UV lamp before cracking open Jon Keller’s riveting first novel, Of Sea and Cloud. In the depths of coastal Maine’s winte...
PLASTIC OR NAKED? Last month I put it to the readers about whether you think we should continue sending our magazine out into the world in single-use plastic polybags or send it naked and unprotected ...
“People have told us how lucky we are, to get to sail far away. My typical response is to say luck has little to do with it, that we’ve worked so very hard, made many difficult decisions, and given up...
BY MICHAEL ROBERTSON WE WANT FANCY If you’ve done any fancy rope work on your boat, send us a great photo of it. Maybe you’ve wrapped your wheel or boathook handle. Maybe you’ve wrapped your keel-step...
As our boat is 40 years old, she’s not free of blemishes but so far there is no indication of chalking on the gelcoat. Accordingly, every year when my wife, Eileen, and I polish the hull of our good o...
A ravenous rat unites a community while wreaking havoc on board At our farewell party at the Club Náutico de Sevilla, Spain, I ate something I shouldn’t have, and on returning to Entr’acte, I lay down...
