Have your boat text you when it’s in trouble Issue...
June 24, 2026
Rubber roofing out of a can does the trick Issue 90: May/June 2013 Over the years I have tried several methods to create a watertight mast boot. As a temporary fix, I once used duct tape. It was inexp...
Adding a tee adds versatility Issue 90: May/June 2013 My Columbia 10.7 was suffering from hardening of the arteries. More specifically, it was hardening of the seacock. The Groco SV Series seacocks we...
Interior ventilation as an art form Issue 90: May/June 2013 Among the rituals we held during our many family sailing adventures, one was airing out the boat. For a family of six crowded in a small sai...
They hold up the shrouds that hold up the mast Issue 88 : Jan/Feb 2013 Spreaders are struts attached to the sides of a mast to hold the shrouds away from the mast and increase the angle at which they ...
A low-profile high-value center-cockpit Issue 88 : Jan/Feb 2013 Founded by George O’Day, an Olympic gold medalist and crew on two successful America’s Cup defenders, the O’Day Corporation was at one t...
The fabric is not worn, but it has long faded from fashion Issue 88 : Jan/Feb 2013 Near as we can figure, Mystic began her life in 1975 in a Cuthbertson and Cassian boatyard in Niagara on the Lake, On...
Inter-island telegraph app for social media Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 We are a long way from home. After nearly a decade in the Caribbean, we returned to the mainland a few years ago and haven’t yet mad...
Parts boxes no longer slip, slide, or spill Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Over the years, I’ve tried all types of containers for storing my tools, fasteners, spare parts, and so on. I finally settled on cle...
Getting a horseshoe buoy to accept a boat’s name Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 It was time to replace the ratty, decades-old yellow (now almost white) throwable horseshoe buoy on Wind-Borne, my 1985 Hunter ...
Rail pads add a little plush to the catbird seats Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 After I made an extension rod for my boat’s wheel so I could steer from the cockpit catbird seats (see “Steering Wheel Extensi...
You never know who’s gonna need your help Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Alone in my Bill Tripp-designed Columbia 26 sailboat that late September afternoon in 1975, I was bound under power for Hyannis on the...
Seeing and feeling full-size is believing Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 What would you do if you had the chance to start all over and rebuild the interior of your sailboat? I would encourage you to do it. B...
Finding homes for boatyard orphans Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 I was the kid on the block who rescued strays. My mother once remarked that I was a magnet for every homeless mutt in the neighborhood. They ...
Cruise with an iPad instead of paper Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 My wife and I were loading our Flicka for a five-week cruise on the Trent Severn Waterway, Georgian Bay, and the North Channel of Lake Huro...
Decorative work occupies a quiet sea passage Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 On a passage from French Polynesia to the Cook Islands a couple of years ago, nothing major had broken, the weather was benign, and...
Take the helm while taking in the view Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 My Catalina 28 has elevated catbird seats in the aft corners of the cockpit that are wonderful places to sit when we’re under sail. I oft...
Wood is practical and attractive Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 In 2002, Magali and I totally redesigned and rebuilt the cockpit of Sigfrid, our 34-foot 6-inch ketch. Where before we had nothing more than a ...
Low-stretch Dyneema has advantages over wire Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Our Liberty 458, Nine of Cups, just celebrated her 25th birthday. We replaced the lifelines the first year we owned her, using viny...
A fast and well-built Bill Lapworth design Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Each year, my wife, Sandy, and I look forward to early October, when we head for Annapolis and the U.S. Sailboat Show. Our fall 2012 ...
A boat search takes an unexpected turn Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 As I write this, Christine and François Ferbos have returned home to Bordeaux, France. They were in the U.S. to visit their son and his w...
Centerboards, daggerboards, bilgeboards, and leeboards Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Sailboats need draft if they are to sail to windward efficiently, but deep draft limits boats to sailing in deep waters a...
The evolution of the three-cornered mainsail Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 The three boats in our comparison this issue have almost identical sail plans. Each is a masthead sloop with a Marconi mainsail. Th...
. . . and its club-racer contemporaries Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Almost every production builder in the late 1960s and early ’70s initially entered the market with a 27-footer, if not as its first boat...
She’s a modern example of “working sail” Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 We began thinking of them as “the Tahoe Four.” There are other winter sailors on Lake Tahoe but this is the core group. Jim Hildinger i...
We asked — now it’s our turn to respond Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 Earlier this winter — once the boat was put away — Jerry decided it would be a good idea to ask our readers for their input. He introduc...
It’s easy to lose sight of what it means Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013 We all know what a boat is and we can probably arrive at some definition of “old” without too much difficulty, but what exactly puts th...
Tame slippery laces with push-button ease Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013 They say necessity is the mother of invention. If that’s so, then Spinnaker, my cocker spaniel puppy, is the father. I’d been getting ...
A vented loop keeps the boat afloat Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013 Having heard horror stories of boats sinking due to a marine toilet overflowing, I have resolved to never let that happen on our 1979 Ericso...
Give slime and scum the brush-off on the cheap Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013 Doesn’t every sailor yearn for another tenth of a knot? Especially when racing? I do. Lucky are those who trailer their boats and...
Compound errors add up to a bump in the night Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013 Accidents are supposed to be nasty moments that come out of nowhere. Yet in 1983, when I had more than 20 years’ sea time under my...
