A plan and hard labor win the day Issue 97 : Jul/Aug 2014 I had known for a couple of years that Moonshadow, our 1983 Hudson Force 50, needed to have the gelcoat blisters on the bottom repaired. Blist...
To peel or not to peel? Issue 97 : Jul/Aug 2014 The photos on these pages illustrate a complete six-layer laminate peel and replacement using biaxial cloth and vinylester resins followed by an epoxy b...
A quick-and-dirty repair gets the boat home Issue 99 : Nov/Dec 2014 Many resources are available to help owners of good old boats complete their projects in the best possible way: seaworthy, beautiful...
A top-down core replacement Issue 99 : Nov/Dec 2014 In this, the first of two parts, Matt Bowser describes three ways to repair a delaminated deck. He then relates how he settled upon the one he would...
Current designs arrived via varied routes Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 All three of our comparison boats in this issue (see “The Vineyard Vixen 34 meets two canoe-stern cousins”, Issue 100) hav...
Renewal restores the psyche Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 This is the second of two parts. In the first part, in the November 2014 issue, Matt described the process of removing the deck skin and soggy core ...
It satisfies an aesthetic need Issue 102 : May/Jun 2015 Gerry Douglas, Catalina Yachts’ designer and vice president, says that a person’s tastes in boats are established at around the age of 14 by the...
A foil made with fiberglass, foam, and ingenuity Issue 103 : Jul/Aug 2015 One of the appealing things about Nurdle, my Bristol 35.5, is that she has a centerboard. I knew this would be an ongoing main...
Eye-catching reflective tape adds color Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 The reflective cove stripe on our 1981 C&C Landfall 35 had faded badly. To refresh it, we used a type of pressure- sensitive adhes...
After pushing up daisies, a whole new life Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 I recently moved aboard a 30-foot trawler yacht and needed a dinghy for shore excursions. It had to be small to fit on what passes f...
Unwanted portlights left holes to patch Issue 111: Nov/Dec 2016 Over dinner one evening aboard their Allmand 31, Here & Now, our friends mentioned wanting to replace the boat’s portlights. They pl...
Two dollies make keel hauling a one-man job Issue 113: March/April 2017 When I pulled Carolyn’s Eyes, our 1984 Catalina 22, out of Chesapeake Bay in the fall of 2015, I saw at once that her retractabl...
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...
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...
Anyone handy and well tooled can make them at home Issue 117: Nov/Dec 2017 Over the course of 30 years, the unfinished handrails on my friend’s 35-foot Bruno & Stillman powerboat had become whittl...
Dropboards give way to user-friendly doors Issue 117: Nov/Dec 2017 Companionway dropboards are cumbersome to remove and replace and inconvenient to store. When you need them, they’re often buried deep...
It supports a whole lot more than an over-the-cockpit solar array Issue 119: March/April 2018 “Don’t do it . . . just don’t.” That’s the advice we got from nearly everyone we talked to after deciding ...
Adding a deck hatch transformed the head compartment Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Even with an opening portlight, the head in our Island Packet 31 was a dark cave in need of more ventilation. Adding an ov...
Individuals of genius, and technical advances, laid the groundwork Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Although fiberglass quickly overtook wood in the 1950s as the predominant material for building pleasure boa...
Rigidity and shade were just two of the benefits Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 As all things must, the old canvas dodger on my Westsail 32, Antares, came to the end of its life. We had sailed many a happy ...
Full metal jacket replaces aged-out on-deck woodwork Issue 123: Nov/Dec 2018 My Cal 9.2, Jade, was in a distressed state when I bought her. She’d experienced a chainplate failure and had a large numbe...
Worldwide connections give a 50-year-old sailboat a new lease on life Issue 123: Nov/Dec 2018 It’s midafternoon in late August 2015, and the wind is howling at a near gale. We’d put two deep reefs in ...
Adding a gate in the stern pulpit makes for easy in, easy out. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 We love our 40-year-old Catalina 27, but it has the old-style stern pulpit with no easy access to the swim ladder...
Fabricating a spray hood changes the companionway game. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 Our 1965 Alberg 35 has been a wonderful boat to us, but there are a few places where she could stand to be a little mor...
Nobody likes a leaky hatch. Here’s how to re-bed one. Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 My husband, Robin, and I met fellow cruiser Adva Reshef in a boatyard, and we became fast friends making repairs to...
Extensions make older-style cockpit coamings far more comfy to lean against. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 Kicking back and relaxing in the cockpit of one’s sailboat, especially if it is well-designed, cons...
Great modifications make all the difference on three good old boats. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 Spend any meaningful amount of time aboard a boat, and its shortcomings quickly become apparent. That wet l...
Issue 143: March/April 2022 What to do with rotted wood on a boat? Whether it’s a supporting internal structure or a wood-cored fiberglass sandwich exposed to the elements, either may be remedied with...
Hot-melt glue solves a sticky situation when rebedding deck hardware. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 Recently, we wanted to replace the Dorades on our 1979 Gulfstar 37 with lower-profile solar vents....
