Dress them up and domesticate them Issue 48 : May/Jun 2006 Rubber tires are used everywhere in the world as fenders — but on workboats, not on yachts. They’re big, ugly, awkward to stow, and when they...
Eliminate heavy hardware on that flogging headsail Issue 48 : May/Jun 2006 Different skippers, different long-splices, they say. Bending on jibsheets is a task that allows for considerable variety fro...
Turn your cockpit into a porch Issue 50 : Sept/Oct 2006 It’s annoying to have to stay in the cabin during all-day rains. Some days it’s also annoying to have to be out in the cockpit, regardless of ho...
A new concept for “sail training” Issue 51 : Nov/Dec 2006 Our 20-foot Flying Scot had a longer boom than does our C&C 30. With such a short boom, our high-aspect mainsail can’t get into very much ...
Once again you can see the way ahead Issue 53 : Mar/Apr 2007 If your dodger is a few years old, it may be looking pretty shabby. While the fabric is in good shape and has lots of service life left, th...
A functional new cockpit enclosure Issue 56 : Sept/Oct 2007 We wanted our new dodger enclosure to be functional for all seasons. After some consideration, we had two sets of side curtains constructed....
Here’s how to reinforce those grommets Issue 56 : Sept/Oct 2007 Many a respected sailor reinforces the grommets on his mainsail (see, for example, Larry and Lin Pardey, The Self-Sufficient Sailor). I ...
A reusable all-weather cover for a Bristol 30 Issue 56 : Sept/Oct 2007 I never like the wooden frames for sailboat winter storage. To me, they look kind of sloppy and seem to chafe the tarp. It also s...
Build yourself a comfortable place for boatwork Issue 56 : Sept/Oct 2007 I needed a work canopy that would provide a dry, comfortable place to work on a 50-foot restoration project and I did not want ...
Help that plastic cover breathe this winter Issue 63 : Nov/Dec 2008 Those of us who defend our boats against Ol’ Man Winter with that distinctive blue or white shrink-wrap cover are aware of the impor...
Tame your mainsail with strategic bungee cords Issue 63 : Nov/Dec 2008 Unfurling your sail may be a great joy of anticipated sailing. Or it may just be one more tedious chore when getting under way. F...
How to get the most out of your halyard Issue 64 : Jan/Feb 2009 The method of attaching a halyard or outhaul to a sail sometimes limits the distance to which a sail can be stretched. With double-braid...
An extra hand for short-handed cruising sailors Issue 68 : Sept/Oct 2009 Lazy-jacks provide a simple way to control a sail when you lower it. By holding the sail above the boom and preventing it from ...
A light-air sail simplifies cruising choices Issue 67: July/Aug 2009 Code Zero — the term sounds like the title of a spy thriller or a military operation, but it’s not. It’s the name of a sail designe...
A determined amateur builds a suit of sails for his ketch Issue 67: July/Aug 2009 I spent about three years, from 2003 to 2006, getting my Whitby 42 ketch, Blue Stocking, ready for extended voyaging. ...
A radical but simple cure for the rock-and-roll blues Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 “The sails flapped and banged — about the ugliest sound a sailor can hear. Apart from nearly driving me crazy, the conditi...
Trimming your sails to the wind gradient Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 You can have a very happy life and never understand sail twist. You can even be a reasonably good sail trimmer without understanding al...
Integrating lazy-jacks with a sailcover Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 I love my mainsail when it’s doing what it’s supposed to do: powering my boat. But since I am often a singlehanded sailor, there are tim...
Dedicated downwind headsails offer better control Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 The twin-headsail rig, once commonly seen on boats running in the trade winds, has become a dinosaur in today’s fleet of rolle...
Fly and douse a standard spinnaker like a gennaker Issue 75 : Nov/Dec 2010 People are selling their little-used symmetrical spinnakers and replacing them with expensive cruising gennakers that can be ...
The Brother was big, but the Necchi fit the niche Issue 75 : Nov/Dec 2010 This tale begins with the collapsing real estate market. For 7 years, our few shoreside possessions had been residing in a ren...
Cloth panels replace plastic snap-ons Issue 76 : Jan/Feb 2011 Your white plastic instrument covers are deteriorating in the sun, they don’t fi t as tightly as they did when they were new (they used to...
Cautious amateurs start with a kit — for an asymmetrical spinnaker Issue 76 : Jan/Feb 2011 Never say “never.” For nearly 20 years, I have loudly proclaimed that I would never sew a sail for Mystic, ou...
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...
Silent and stowable, they are easy to love Issue 82 : Jan/Feb 2012 Shakespeare said it best: “A hatchboard by any other name would still be a nuisance.” Anyway, I think that’s what he said. It’s late ...
The answer is to baffle it Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 Everyone else on the shopping bus was bleary-eyed and commiserating about how many times during the night they had gotten up to close hatches. It had...
Keep that mainsail attached to the mast Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 It is very likely that a sail loft seized the slugs or slides to the luff of your mainsail, mizzen, or trysail. Since that time, those s...
Varnished teak goes under wraps Issue 88 : Jan/Feb 2013 Our 1983 Tayana 37 cutter, Cetacean, has a profusion of glorious teak brightwork on deck. The gleaming varnish is a pleasure to look at but a ma...
The evolution of the three-cornered mainsail Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 The three boats in our comparison this issue have almost identical sail plans. Each is a masthead sloop with a Marconi mainsail. Th...
A simple way to power up or down the mainsail Issue 90: May/June 2013 Many mainsails have a cringle at the luff of the sail a few inches above the tack. It’s known as the Cunningham and is named after...
