A big trailerable boat with a lifting keel Issue 1...
May 6, 2026
Our Next Guest, Please In the latest edition of The Dogwatch, there was a great little article by John Churchill (“Modernizing a Guest Anchor Light,” February, 2021). Being a good old boater (cheap), ...
A trio of Pearson 36-1 owners compares notes on their boats, refits, and wide-ranging sailing. Issue 137: March/April 2021 In 1972, Pearson Yachts began producing the P36-1, designed by William Shaw. ...
In the world of sailing vloggers, few crews are better known than the Delos crew. They have sailed around the world with their cameras rolling and have a loyal tribe of followers for every nautical mi...
Impeller Advice I saw the hack; a good, traditional hack for many similar installation problems (“Impeller Install Hack,” The Dogwatch, January 2021). Something else folks might not know: It is common...
I used to own a Guest model 461 anchor light, a popular piece of gear when many of our good old boats were built. A fundamentally well-made device, the incandescent bulb suffered from poor light outpu...
As the title makes clear, this is a book of 27 unforgettable stories. Having just read this book, I realize I’ve already forgotten most of them. Then again, my rusty old brain does not remember things...
No News Here The Dogwatch stems from the original Good Old Boat Newsletter that was released six times a year. It’s a radically different (and monthly) newsletter today. It may have made sense to have...
If you don’t want to be taken to the cleaners when it comes to cleaning, try these DIY solutions. Issue 137: March/April 2021 Over the years, I’ve gradually ditched store-bought boat cleaning pr...
Issue 137: March/April 2021 Frank Willis Butler, the man who introduced hundreds of thousands of people to sailing during his lifetime as the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Catalin...
The DIY deck paint job looked fantastic. Then the surveyor showed up. Issue 137: March/April 2021 Toward the end of a 13-month refit, my 1968 Santana 22 was looking pretty spiffy. Just the decks remai...
Vineyard hopping through Long Island Sound makes for a mellow shakedown cruise. Issue 137: March/April 2021 It had been three years since we had last sailed through Long Island Sound. To be honest, it...
Issue 137: March/April 2021 Many boat owners will never have heard the name George Hazen, but most yacht designers know it well. It’s a bit of a cliché to say that George, who died in December 2020, w...
Wherein a foolhardy notion and a puff of wind nearly end in disaster. Issue 137: March/April 2021 Get a bunch of sailors gathered around a table at the club and they’ll tell stories. Sometimes the sto...
An easily assembled base and two Bluetooth speakers provide a rockin’ sound system. Issue 137: March/April 2021 I spend a lot of time aboard my boat just tinkering. Other times, I sail her alone...
Relying on celestial navigation and a very good old boat, Bert ter Hart solos the globe. Issue 137: March/April 2021 When Bert ter Hart bought his OCY 45, he had an inkling that down the road, she mig...
Furniture protectors make a quick, easy fix for sharp solar panel corners. Issue 137: March/April 2021 It wasn’t long after I installed the solar panel on the stern pulpit that I discovered the proble...
Anxiety can scuttle everyone’s time aboard. Here’s how to understand it and help. Issue 137: March/April 2021 My husband and I were sailing our 1974 Olympic Adventure 47 slow and easy down...
…and Two More CCA-Onspired Classics Issue 137: March/April 2021 Carl Alberg developed a design aesthetic based on the Cruising Club of America (CCA) yachts of the 1950s and ’60s, and he never re...
A Classic Full-Keel Beauty Issue 137: March/April 2021 Laurie Knight’s lifelong dream has been to own and sail her own boat, something she hopes all women will realize isn’t as hard as it looks and is...
This 1970s family cruiser offers a fair turn of speed Pearson Yachts was one of the most respected builders during its long run from 1956 to 1988 or thereabouts (under ownership by an investment firm,...
Installing a new impeller in a water pump can be a bit of a struggle, especially if you’re working under the engine by braille. That’s the position I found myself in with the Yanmar 3GM30F aboard my 1...
It’s amazing to think that no scholars atop the masthead of Melville studies had thought until now to undertake the systematic cataloging of the ways in which Moby-Dick reflects the 19th century mind ...
What do you do when you’ve prepared for a single-handed around-the-world sailboat competition, have a great 40-foot high-performance boat ready to go… and then the race is called off? Go. That’s what ...
Moving On Hello Michael and Good Old Boat team! We take our responsibility to live lightly on the planet seriously. Whether living off-grid on land or cruising on our Alberg 30, eco-values drive our d...
Nautical Scribes We heard from prolific nautical novel writer Jinx Schwartz that prolific nautical novel writer Ed Robinson has died. Ed lived on a boat and traveled throughout Florida and the Bahamas...
Want to successfully sell your boat on your own? Here’s how. Issue 136: Jan/Feb 2021 Over the past decade, my husband and I have bought six sailboats and sold five of them (we live aboard the boat we ...
A Better Battery for Backup Regarding Jim Shell’s article in last month’s The Dogwatch, “A Battery for Every Need,” Eveready Ultimate Lithium batteries may be a better choice than alkaline batteries f...
Rarely do I really enjoy a cruising memoir that melds a family story with descriptions of white-knuckled adventure. I also tend to identify with solo sailors or the male half of a cruising couple, bei...
For years I’ve been landing 36- to 48-inch striped bass during the Chesapeake Bay spring trophy season. It’s a spring ritual and yet, I never cease to be amazed at how easy it is to wind in 200 feet o...
Protagonist Emmeline “Em” Ridge is a boat delivery captain of limited experience. Newly widowed, her husband having died in a kayak accident, she lives on a tidal island just east of Portland, Maine, ...
