Having capitulated, here’s how to raise the waterl...
September 25, 2026
Experienced sailors build a comfortable, shallow-draft 50-footer Issue 34: Jan/Feb 2004 IN THE 1960S I WAS ANCHORED OFF the Gold Coast of Queensland in Australia aboard my home-built plywood ketch. Sh...
Advancing age leads to the delicate decision to downsize Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Time to sail, again. Unlikley nuzzles patiently at the sea wall alongside our house. Her bow leans yearningly toward t...
Making that seemingly impossible choice Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 So, you’re in the market for a trailerable sailboat. Great! There are more than 50 new trailerables currently in production, rang...
The Com-Pac 23 is a trailerable pocket cruiser with sturdy, traditional lines Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Florida resident Jim Lennox seems to have figured things out pretty well. He’s the antithesis of ...
Understanding and using your marine-band radio Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 The primary short-range radio-communication system for most small craft is the VHF-FM marine-band radio. It is the communication...
Cost-effective sailing vacations; let us count the ways . . . Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Sailing and sailboats (and perhaps life in general) are all about compromises. Sometimes it would be nice to sail...
Do your homework before you put your boat in charter Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 The pull to own a sailboat can be understandably strong. So when the temptation looms to save expenses by putting it in ch...
One sailing family’s answer to the dinghy problem Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Cursing while sailing among the Apostle Islands never seems wise, not with a couple hundred feet of melted glacier beneath ou...
Famous wooden ocean racer now modified for shorthanded cruising Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Improbable is the wrong name for this boat. Logical would be better, or Synergy, or Refinement. I wasn’t thinki...
Simple ebb and flow results from highly complicated physics Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Poets and ancient cultures have long compared life itself with the tides. Historically, a flood tide has been consi...
All you ever wanted to know — and much more Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Webster’s dictionary: Scend (send), n. [<send, assumed to be a contr. of ascend], the upward heaving of a ship: correlativ...
A determined sojourner ends a long search for the right boat Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 It was the way the sails seemed more like wings than cloth that held me transfixed that summer morning as I stood ...
One of Bill’s pupils reminisces as the one-time mentor turns 85 Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Dear Editor: You want me to write a piece on Bill Garden including background biographical information to be pu...
A crafty sailor converts a water tank into a chain locker Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 The stock water tank in my 1965 Columbia Defender 29 was a plastic, 25-gallon, tapered, trapezoidal thing under the V...
Significant advances in new generation of autopilots Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Not long ago, autopilots were little more than powered aids to steering with somewhat primitive designs and a reputation f...
How Roger Hewson managed the cut and thrust of boatbuilding Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 The history of Sabre Yachts is inextricably entwined with the life of Roger Hewson. Almost no one connected with th...
A catboat with standing headroom and fixed keel? Here’s onesuch Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 I’ve always loved catboats but never owned one. There always seemed to be limiting factors that made me look fo...
Sailing’s also sweating, swearing, swatting, and plain hard work Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 New dock neighbors have moved in next door. We share a finger pier, which means we’ll be seeing a lot of each ...
Simple piloting suits the style of a 40-year-old woodie and her captain Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 We travel in a maze of convoluted shorelines, narrow passages invisible until we are right next to them,...
Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 There are idyllic days when sailing. Many of them. We all recognize this fact, or we wouldn’t be out there with all that canvas in the wind. Those are gorgeous days when nature...
Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 Whether your halyards are of braided or laid rope, as long as they are external, new ones can be reeved without sending a person aloft. Two things are needed: a nearly windless...
Say hello to the North Coast mooring pick-up buoy Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 North Coast sailors (those sailing on the Great Lakes) count on two major seasons: sailing and snowing. The two minor seasons ...
The liquid that creeps along cracks and cures ’em Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 Persistence was a 40-year-old classic wooden ketch, designed by a master and built in Taiwan by folks who knew what they were ...
Instant anti-flap for the rigging before you hit the freeway Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 One of the biggest advantages of trailersailing is that you are not limited to one sailing area in a single sailing...
How a can of fruit salad and some hose clamps saved the day Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 Day two of our planned trip up to Lake Michigan to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula dawned like the previous day: hot, hum...
Faux teak deck is a winner after three years in service Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 In the January 2001 issue of Good Old Boat, I published an article about the new deck I made for my Pearson Triton, All ...
Using an electric drill to drive sheet, halyard, and anchor winches Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 The idea originated with Jim Schmitt, a friend and Freedom 33 owner, who said, “There is a lot of talk on th...
Dolphins, a boat, and a pretty woman make the heart beat faster Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 “They are curious creatures,” I try to explain. “It’s not just the boat that will bring them. They need more tha...
Give in and go with it when you’re chosen by a boat Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 It seems like every important event in my life starts with a phone call: jobs, births, deaths, want ads. This time it was lo...
Wearing a life jacket is sensible — but nobody said it was easy Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 “Is my life worth $359?” I blurted out as I returned to the safety of the cockpit after putting an extra crank o...
