Having capitulated, here’s how to raise the waterl...
September 25, 2026
A mirror warms the ambience of a harsh LED Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 After replacing with LEDs all of the old-style incandescent bulbs in the cabin lights aboard Pelorus, my AMF Paceship 26, I started ...
Now it’s on the level, it’s a straight steerer Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 Pelorus, my AMF Paceship 26, sustained a bit of damage in her brush with Hurricane Joaquin in 2015. In the spring of 2016, I reb...
A home for electronics hides clutter from view Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 After purchasing my Spirit 28 sailboat, Wastin’ Time, in 2009, I began looking for a suitable space inside where I could build a...
Reentry after cruising has its ups and downs Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 Not too long ago, we returned from our longest sailing adventure to date, almost a year of cruising from Tennessee to the Bahamas ...
Keep ahead of it and never look back Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 We’d neglected the bottom of our boat for a month and the warm Mexican waters had transformed our sleek hull into a furry ecosystem teemin...
The riddle of “overheating” engine Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 It was a beautiful summer’s day and we were heading out for a two-week cruise. Our first leg was 26 miles across the Strait of G...
The Cuban yo-yo takes up no space yet hauls in dinner Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 I’m a fishing sailor. Fishing passes the time during periods of light winds, and there is no finer dining than on a fish ...
A good old yacht designer on good old boats Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 One of the best pieces of advice Chuck Paine ever took — from a friend who had been there — was to not go to MIT and study naval ar...
A high-schooler falls for a derelict in the woods Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 Do you remember when you were younger, before you’d been thrown a few surprises and knocked around a bit by life? Back then, ...
Don’t leave anything to chance Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 During the seasonal cruiser migration along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), it is quite common to see boats bottle-necked before a dr...
Jet it off with a homemade washdown wand Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 Dirty rode in an anchor locker can make a mess and get to smelling pretty foul. A clean rode is especially desirable when an anchor lo...
It removes the aroma before it can envelop you Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 Ah, the holding tank, that place where we store our waste until we can find a pump-out station. In a perfect world, a marine hol...
Make holding-tank chemistry work in your favor Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 You’ve polished the gelcoat, cleaned the seat covers, and put out matching towels, and yet when guests visit the head, their rea...
Insurance against the 0-dark-thirty cartridge change Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 I well remember the first time I had to change a diesel fuel filter under duress. We were on our first trip away from the ...
. . . and two early IOR cruiser/racers Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 Here is a trio of moderate 28-foot cruiser/racers from the 1970s. This was an extremely popular size during this period and builders oft...
A versatile boat for different owners Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 For this review of the Glastron-built Spirit 28, I looked at two boats with identical hulls that have taken on vastly different character...
. . . to a fresh crew of familiar old hands Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 In early April, Jerry and I experienced “the first day of the rest of our lives.” This followed my waking one morning in late Febru...
The novelty of a first sail is a source of joy Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 Avital Keeley was 13 last summer when she spent a couple of days as a guest of Good Old Boat founders, Jerry Powlas and I, aboar...
Dash off little jobs with dispatch Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 When I’m desperate to get a relatively small teak finish job done in a hurry I . . . Allen Penticoff, a Good Old Boat contributing editor, i...
It uses a feature common to many devices Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 It started with a search for an anemometer, as I was curious about wind speeds while sailing my Seaward 24. Sure, I had an idea of wha...
Keep out their prey and spiders won’t move in Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 Over the more than 40 years that I’ve been messing around in boats, I’ve had to deal with a variety of uninvited guests that have...
A water-cooled fridge keeps its chill in warm waters Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 Sailing in any region where the water is warm — the Tropics, Florida, and the Bahamas come to mind — can impose a real str...
Weighing cruising gains vs. performance losses Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 By modifying the keel on his Tartan 37 to reduce its draft (see “A Keel Too Deep”), Tom Wells has taken a step that many sailors...
Turning a deep-draft racer into a shoal-draft cruiser Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 As we approached our retirement, Sandy and I confronted a dilemma. We had owned our Tartan 37, Higher Porpoise, since 199...
Well-drilled junior sailors help save a mast Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 To the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song . . . Let me tell you a little story ’bout an engineer named Tom.Had a little bo...
A cannibalized cockpit enclosure provides versatile shelter Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 How much shelter from the weather does a sailing crew need? Some sailors look at their bare unprotected cockpits an...
A beloved family member receives a whole new cockpit Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 Our 1961 Alden Challenger yawl, Christmas, has brought us joy season after season for many years. She is one of 53 Alden C...
Is it real? Is it laminate? No, it’s paint! Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 My good old boat is a 1979 San Juan 28, a plastic production-line IOR fin-keeler. When I had her hauled one recent fall for a multi...
The practiced art of setting and weighing anchor under sail Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 In four years of cruising aboard MonArk, we’ve lost our engine twice. On the second occasion, in San Francisco Bay,...
A new alternator delivers on the promise of faster charging Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 Electrical systems aboard cruising sailboats hang by two threads: the capacity and reliability of the batteries and...
