Boat projects seem to wait for the heat Issue 79: July/Aug 2011 Fate has proclaimed that I should perform hard labor on the boat in the heat of July in the South. It was July when I had to drop the ru...
A propane locker that won’t blow the budget Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 A standard propane locker from a marine catalog seemed ridiculously expensive ($650 or more) when I was refurbishing my Cape Dory 27...
Thinking outside the lockers and drawers Issue 78: July/Aug 2011 Any of us who have lived or considered living aboard a boat understand the problem of finding enough space to stow all of our possessio...
Double doors do more than double duty Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 Living aboard a boat changes one’s priorities. What works for the occasional trip can become downright annoying on a daily basis. Take the...
A home-built tower with manumatic leveler Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 Several years ago, my wife, Kari, and I decided to venture beyond the relative safety of our normal cruising grounds in the Apostle Is...
Acrylic goes behind bars for its own protection Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 One interesting aspect of socializing with other cruising sailors is discovering how they go about fitting out, maintaining, and...
Replacing a reclusive transmission component Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 I am meticulous about maintaining my sailboat. I perform routine maintenance on a schedule and I address little problems that arise...
Building a boat while building lives Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 David Salter is meticulous. You know that the moment you step on the boat, named Opportunity, he and his wife, Eileen, keep moored behind t...
Storing life’s essential element Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 Water is necessary for living aboard a boat. Since a gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds, full water tanks can be very heavy and should be instal...
A drop-in alcohol stove is an easy, functional fit Issue 79: July/Aug 2011 Like most older boats, ours came with a worn-out and obsolete stove. Sarmiento, our Bristol 35.5, had a pressurized-alcohol f...
A not-so-nutty way to send a messenger Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 You say you lost an internal halyard? You’re scratching your head over how to reeve a messenger with which to pull through a replacement...
Fabric scraps protect delicate displays Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 The sailing instruments in our cockpit are not the original units that came on our good old boat. The depth sounder and knot meter have...
A system that simplifies storage and use Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 Everyone knows the importance of keeping paper charts aboard as backups for our electronics. But these things can be huge, so how do y...
Contrary to Internet rumors, it is not weak Issue 79: July/Aug 2011 Recently, in online sailing forums, I have seen self-proclaimed pundits advise sailors new to yachting that single-spreader rigs are...
A homemade filter keeps the cabin sweet Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 Boating equipment retailers offer dozens of chemicals to make your head smell fresh. We tried them all in our attempts to eliminate the...
Obsessive design disorder became a career Issue 79: July/Aug 2011 Who can say when the first hint of the madness appeared? Was it on my first sail on a Lightning at age 12? I hadn’t been aboard for mo...
More power to you! Issue 79: July/Aug 2011 The forces we have to contend with when sailing a boat are greater than we can handle with our unaided physical strength. To cope with them, we make use of a...
A homemade sentinel is cheap reassurance Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 Anchoring is a lot like sailing: 95 percent relaxing and fun and 5 percent hassle, if not outright terror. At the end of the summer, t...
Taking comfort in a little added weight Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 When sailors get together and talk boats, the topic invariably shifts to anchoring. What follows is a steady stream of stories about lo...
Replacing standing rigging, step by step Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 When our headstay almost parted in Panama, where there is no professional rigging service, we had to replace it ourselves. Since the s...
Making canny use of nooks and crannies Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 My 37-year-old Cape Dory 28, Nikki, has been my home for five years. We swing on a mooring in Boca Ciega Bay near Gulfport on the midwes...
Making the most of what you have Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 Sometimes, being realistic about your boat’s limitations and embracing them with whole-hearted and simple adjustments can reap a host of benef...
A liveaboard steps up to a major project Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 My ears burned and my pride smarted when I heard the old sailor’s words: “Some people are too worn out from all the prep work,” he sai...
It takes fortune, fortitude, and a well-stocked pickup truck Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 My friend Tony, who owns a nice Ranger 23, called one day last spring to say he had a problem with his boat. He as...
A cruising family installs the Air Head Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 While debating a return to the continent after nearly six years in the Caribbean, we tried to imagine the changes that would force us t...
A saloon table doubles up in the cockpit Issue 81 : Nov/Dec 2011 We have a large mahogany drop-leaf table in the main cabin on Delphinus. When we’re belowdecks it is always the center of activity. We ...
Old-world wisdom helps restore white vinyl Issue 81 : Nov/Dec 2011 An article of mine entitled “Simply Clean” appeared in the May 2004 issue of Good Old Boat. It detailed recipes for more than two doz...
A convenient container for small canisters Issue 81 : Nov/Dec 2011 If you have an anchor locker with a drain, here’s an easy way to store those 1-pound propane tanks used for barbecue grills. Buy a le...
A clever little box cuts projects down to size Issue 81 : Nov/Dec 2011 Many sailors do their repair projects or build additions for their boats in home workshops equipped with all the tools required f...
Peace of mind for pocket change Issue 81 : Nov/Dec 2011 The battery-operated wireless burglar alarms widely available now for doors and windows can provide an easy and inexpensive way to protect the c...
