How to stop noise at night Issue 49 : Jul/Aug 2006 Here’s a pair of halyard chocks I made and tried out this summer. They go a long way toward silencing those Dacron alarm clocks that can interr...
Check out the various ways to reduce sail area Issue 49 : Jul/Aug 2006 When the wind suddenly picks up or a squall line is approaching, the ability to douse the sails or reduce sail area quickly, effi...
Prevent your roller-furling sail from unfurling Issue 50 : Sept/Oct 2006 Considering the number of roller furlers in use around the world today, the accidental unfurling of a sail on a moored or berth...
It’s as important for cruisers as for racers Issue 50 : Sept/Oct 2006 How long have we been sailing? Twenty years? Thirty? How many different sailboats have we owned? Five? Ten? Had we ever tuned our ...
What it’s made of and how to check it Issue 52: Jan/Feb 2007 STANDING RIGGING IS THE TERM GIVEN TO THE CABLES that support a sailboat’s mast(s): the forestay, backstay, and shrouds, as well as special...
Dire necessity drove this 24-hour emergency repair Issue 51 : Nov/Dec 2006 Short-tacking in and out of anchorages is one of my favorite types of sailing. With a competent husband/captain, crew in the ...
Modern systems for stowing sails and reducing area Issue 53 : Mar/Apr 2007 When the wind suddenly picks up or a squall line is approaching, the ability to furl or reef sails efficiently and safely is ...
It’s versatile, efficient, and above all, handsome Issue 54 : May/Jun 2007 The schooner rig is considered to be distinctively North American. There is even a stale old story of how the name came to be...
Keep things under control with off-center vangs Issue 59 : Mar/Apr 2008 When we reconfigured MOMO, our Mason 43, for bluewater sailing, we searched for a way to replace our 4:1-purchase vang with some...
Simple steps to keep your mast standing Issue 59 : Mar/Apr 2008 A strong, seaworthy rig is an integral part of any cruising boat, but inspection and maintenance of the rig is often overlooked. This is...
One last job for the old one Issue 62 : Sept/Oct 2008 Through the course of normal use, halyards gradually wear as they routinely pass over the sheaves at the top of the mast, around turning blocks, a...
Two practical uses for two stays aft Issue 62 : Sept/Oct 2008 Twin backstays, or double backstays, a pair of aft stays that go all the way to the top of the mast, are becoming more popular these days ...
Primary tools for controlling sail shape Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 On a sailboat, the sheet that controls the mainsail boom can be adjusted through a block or blocks that are attached directly to the de...
Here’s a rigging project you can do yourself Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 My best friend Adam’s new-to-him Tartan 37, Audentia, had never left the dock with him at the helm. He’d purchased her in February,...
Self-adhesive Velcro offers improvement Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 I was surprised to see the article about Velcro turnbuckle locks in the March 2010 issue. Perhaps, in the rough waters of Erie off Presq...
Mainsail control for less than $100 Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 The previous owner of our Catalina 30 had installed lazy-jacks to handle the fully-battened mainsail. The system was rigged so the lazy-jack...
Old rigging provides new safety Issue 74 : Sept/Oct 2010 As the refit in celebration of Eurisko’s 30th year neared completion, we were three months and several thousand dollars beyond our original est...
One size, or style, does not fit all Issue 74 : Sept/Oct 2010 Writing about rudders was not much fun. Writing about rigs will be more fun. Everyone has an opinion about sailboat rigs. I have opinions ...
Take preventive steps but be prepared for at-sea repairs Issue 75 : Nov/Dec 2010 This article is an excerpt from Lin and Larry Pardey’s Capable Cruiser, which was published in its third edition earlie...
A Tartan 37’s rig survives a disintegrating chainplate Issue 75 : Nov/Dec 2010 At the time I wrote about replacing the backstay on my best friend, Adam’s, new-to-him Tartan 37 (see Good Old Boat May/J...
In case the splice doesn’t play nice . . . Issue 76 : Jan/Feb 2011 I have eye-spliced my new anchor rode to the nylon thimble, seized the splice with small nylon twine to help keep things in place, an...
A good lashing and they won’t slack off Issue 77 : Mar/Apr 2011 A number of ideas have appeared in Good Old Boat recently for locking turnbuckles without using cotter pins in the conventional way (Mar...
A rigging repair is a community effort Issue 79: July/Aug 2011 In this, the first of two parts, authors Leslie Linkkila and Philip DiNuovo describe what happens when rigging fails in paradise, how the...
A nifty tool preserves fingernails and patience Issue 78 : May/Jun 2011 The smallest rigging job can cause the greatest pain. This is particularly so if you sail in northern waters; delaying the haulo...
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...
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...
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...
The lowdown on your boom’s hold-down Issue 84 : May/Jun 2012 What we today call the boom vang was once called a martingale. It is also referred to as a kicking-strap, kicker, or boom-jack. The princip...
The bottom line in mainsail trim Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 Outhauls have been in use since the days of the square rigger. An outhaul is part of the running rigging, specifically a line fastened to the c...
Many things — coastal enforcer to racing machine Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 The term “cutter” has a long history in the sport of yachting. In the 1870s and ’80s it figured in a hotly debated controversy ...
