Having capitulated, here’s how to raise the waterl...
September 25, 2026
Keep your feet dry with a simple, non-skid wooden floor Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Our boat, a 1979 Nor’west 33, came with a very beat-up, warped, and decrepit cockpit grating. During our trip home with ...
Multihull designer Ian Farrier popularized the concept of trimarans Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 The wind was blowing only 13 to 14 knots in Canterbury Bight off Timaru on New Zealand’s South Island, yet w...
GPS, the system that supports your navigational eyes in the sky Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 In October 1957, the first man-made satellite was thrust into orbit around the earth. The USSR’s tiny Sputnik ha...
It was love at first sight — then the hard labor began Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 The first time I saw one of these boats, I asked the owner who built it and whether his was for sale. This was a most unu...
It was just Rebecca and the sailboat — then sudden unconditional love Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 “For sale” read the faded handwritten sign on her pulpit. Looking forlorn and out of place, she was huddle...
An annual physical keeps the auxiliary running fit and well Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Since the main powerplant on a sailboat is its sails, the engine on a sailboat is correctly described when it is ref...
Away from the hurly-burly, drifting in contentment Issue 44: Sept/Oct 2005 I KNOW A MAGIC PLACE. A PLACE WHERE there are no 10-mile-long traffic jams, no honking horns, no howling disk jockeys or lyin...
And there was light: from Alpenglow on high, in the Montana Rockies Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 You know how difficult it can be to reach Someone In Authority (SIA) on the phone. It typically requires neg...
Lake Huron or bust Issue 44: Sept/Oct 2005 DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DISPOSED TO DO DIFFERENT THINGS. When I met my editor and wife, I was happily sailing around triangular race courses on a large lake in ...
Shorthanded or sailing solo, this trailing line could save your life Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Anyone who has ever sailed offshore shares a common dread: falling overboard and helplessly watching the bo...
Don’t blame the cook if the galley’s no good Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach. If that is true, a ship floats on its stomach. A well-fed crew is always a ...
When the noise died down, he needed a new boom Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 There are a few good reasons to replace your boom. If you want to add capability or features, it’s easier and more cost-effective...
Try this logical, six-step method to eliminate impulse purchases Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Is choosing the boat that’s right for you like selecting an appliance or more like falling in love? Is it a mat...
A trailerable deep-sea cruiser with an impeccable pedigree Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 When I leaf through my picture album, I occasionally chance upon a photo that, even after all these years, takes my b...
Bluewater or coastal, weather controls all Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Weather cells move through our cruising grounds in about three days in summer and closer to two days in fall and spring. If you sail ...
Living in a work zone tests patience Issue 44: Sept/Oct 2005 WELL, WE’RE AT IT AGAIN: beefing up our hard-working 1950s racer in the hope she’ll sail onward for another hundred years. The job this tim...
A gentle giant teaches the patience a good skipper needs Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 I bought my first sailboat more than 20 years ago, not knowing how little I really knew about sailing, let alone what s...
Pre-1975 entries almost double for 2005 Issue 44: Sept/Oct 2005 SEQUELS AREN’T AS good as originals, so the theory goes. But, this year’s Classics Race sponsored by Good Old Boat — part of the Swiftsu...
Never mind the birds, the winter cover’s off the boat Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 Chickadees in Minnesota are substituting their nervous chick-a-dee-dee-dee twitter for a heartfelt phoebee-phoebee song. T...
How to enlarge an existing hole Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 How do you enlarge an existing hole — whether for a through-hull fitting, a finger hole in a drawer, or plumbing to go through a bulkhead — with...
More reach, more height in the galley sink Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 I love the foot pumps in my galley. Not only do they provide precise control over water consumption, they allow the use of both hands...
Bicycle safety flags mark the edges of your trailer Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 At a boat show this past winter I overheard a salesman tell a prospective buyer, “Retrieving a trailerable sailboat is easy....
Neater and tidier dining al fresco Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 Eating lunch in the cockpit while under way can be an ordeal. The boat heels, drinks spill, sandwiches are sat upon — or slip off the seats a...
Good old boat-cleaning recipes use cheap, natural ingredients Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 We live on a farm in rural, northeastern Ohio, nestled in among the fourth-largest Amish community in the world. A...
An easy, low-cost project for the beginning canvasworker Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 Screen bags are an elegant solution to a couple of age-old problems aboard our little sailboat — namely where do we put...
A newcomer takes to sailing like a duck to water Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 This is Willi’s first time at the tiller. Her sharp brown eyes stare past the tanbark sails at the cumulus clouds buildin...
A marine surveyor’s best friend Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 A moisture meter is a marine surveyor’s best friend, but do you need to own one if you are not a surveyor? Basically there are two types of mari...
Refitting a Westsail 42 brings years of happy sailing and a sad goodbye Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 We were two ecstatic people. With our soaring spirits we didn’t mind the cold on that December day in 19...
Male boaters rush to hush the noise of the boatyard cash register Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 In the Puget Sound region it is staying light longer, coats are giving way to jackets, and tattered tarps are ...
An inland loft with saltwater aspirations Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004 As we traveled across eastern Washington to meet Don and Mary Yager, we kept thinking how incongruous it was to be driving through suc...
