Have your boat text you when it’s in trouble Issue...
June 24, 2026
Why American sailors stuck with a movable appendage Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 First, let me say it’s a humbling experience to take over the design comparisons in Good Old Boat from someone with the brea...
Good Old Boat welcomes aboard a new contributing editor Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 If you own a C&C yacht, Rob Mazza probably had a hand in its construction, design, or engineering. If you own a boat...
. . . and CCA centerboard contemporaries Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 First built in 1960, and rigged as either a yawl or a sloop, the Mercer 44 goes back to the dawn of fiberglass boat-building. That made...
Years of devotion and labor lifted Spirit Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 Coincidence, destiny, serendipity — call it what you will, chance must play a strong hand in matching aging boats with their rightful ...
A passel of pocket cruisers put on a show Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 The C&C Mega 30 project boat in our backyard doesn’t fit the true definition of a pocket cruiser, but she will be trailerable once...
Or store those moments for memories? Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 What does it mean, to “live in the moment?” It sounds laudable. It implies a mind focused on the business at hand and not easily distracted...
Nail polish helps an anode stay attached Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 Without trying to revisit political skirmishes involving lipstick and pigs, what good old boat wouldn’t benefit from a little nail poli...
A Stimson shed is the ideal cover-up for a project boat Issue 86: Sept/Oct 2012 Just about everyone who has ever owned an old boat for any length of time has had to face a frightening word: refit. Thi...
Unsuspected chafe could have sunk him Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 Sailors are well aware of the danger of chafe to sails, halyards, mooring lines, anchor rode, and various and sundry other pieces of equip...
Artful modifications relieve trailersailor angst Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 Several years before retirement, my wife, Johanna, and I purchased Someday Lady, a trailerable 1995 Catalina 25. It’s the water...
It was curtains for the drapes when the blinds went up Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 Faded and threadbare, the pleated curtains in the main saloon of our Bristol 35 begged for replacement, but with another ...
Car projects and boat projects don’t even compare Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 When my fiancée, Jennifer, and I returned from our 11-month cruise from New Hampshire to the Bahamas aboard our 36-foot sloop,...
A good old springline suffices on a good old boat Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 I recently came across a new Jeanneau with the 360 Docking system. A drive leg that rotates through 360 degrees, coupled with ...
A secondhand book illustrates a sea change in onboard roles Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 Boats and books do the same thing: they transport you to distant places and, if their builders have knocked together...
They gnaw on metal and at your peace of mind Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 When I was a child my cousin told me not to look under the bed because “there could be monsters under there.” It would be terribly ...
Keep that mainsail attached to the mast Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 It is very likely that a sail loft seized the slugs or slides to the luff of your mainsail, mizzen, or trysail. Since that time, those s...
Bronx high schoolers learn life skills from the keel up Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 The South Bronx may be the last place one would associate with handmade wooden boats. Yet head to the industrial neighbo...
A cheap boat and cheaper labor add up to sailing riches Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 I had put our O’Day 22 on the local Craigslist and was hoping to find her a new captain by the end of May. We had sailed...
Clean, reliable diesel for the DIY cruiser Issue 86: Sept/Oct 2012 In our early years of cruising, we learned the hard way about how important clean fuel is. I didn’t worry about the fuel as long as t...
A hydronic system extends the sailing (and showering) season Issue 86: Sept/Oct 2012 Our C&C 35, Secret Plans, was previously used as a racing boat, so the hot-water system was stripped out at som...
A diesel fireplace warms boat, body, and soul Issue 86: Sept/Oct 2012 On the Chesapeake in October you find cruisers migrating south toward warmer climes. My wife and I must have taken a wrong turn, a...
Many things — coastal enforcer to racing machine Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 The term “cutter” has a long history in the sport of yachting. In the 1870s and ’80s it figured in a hotly debated controversy ...
It launched sound boats but foundered in shoal financial waters Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 A few ocean-going sailboats are familiar to almost every sailor: the Pearson Triton, generally accepted as the f...
A spacious coastal cruiser Issue 86: Sept/Oct 2012 Bob Barclay, a professional home inspector, and his wife, Cyndi, owned and sailed a Catalina 28 on Missouri’s Mark Twain Lake. While they both agreed...
A pretty sturdy trailersailer with a swing keel Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 The lovely lines of the dark blue hull caught my eye one weekend while sailing on Lake Mendota near Madison, Wisconsin. I said t...
A blade maker and a good old boatbuilder create the Sage 17 Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 As a brand-new design, the Sage 17 doesn’t exactly fit the standard description of a good old boat. And yet, since t...
Antique technology that still finds favor Issue 86: Sept/Oct 2012 The gaff rig was the rig of choice for more than 250 years until the Marconi rig (also called the Bermudan rig) came along. The gaff-r...
It’s a versatile and invaluable tool Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 The hand-bearing compass, or sighting compass, is a portable compass used to take a bearing or azimuth. This type of compass has been in us...
. . . and two more true double-enders Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 In the September 2012 issue we looked at three “second generation” cruising boats that had fin keels and separate rudders on handsome cano...
