A clear, calm night at sea evokes awe Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed by the sea. As I look back, I can see where my experiences on the sea and the lessons I...
An indoor shower for a boat that lacks one Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Afew years ago, a friend told me a story about taking a hot shower as the boat he was helping deliver passed through Hell Gate in New...
Give your jib’s roller furler some needed support Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Headsail roller-furling systems have become ubiquitous. Walk the docks or scan the mooring field and you’ll quickly confirm th...
A boat acquisition unfolds like a board game Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Autumn in the Pacific Northwest brings fickle sailing weather, and given that our Cal 20 needed a keel-off refit anyway, we pulled ...
. . . solve line-leading issues on a multilevel deck Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Even in our younger days, my wife and I tried to make living and working aboard our cruising boats as easy as possible. Thi...
Give it the best antenna cable you can Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Acouple of years ago we unstepped and repainted our mast. While it was horizontal and easy to work with, I inspected the wiring. Some of ...
A big makeover for the smallest room Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 It’s said that creative people can look at a pile of garbage and see opportunities. If this is true, I must possess some pretty creative ge...
When solo, planning is the key to smooth sailing Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 This is the third in Karen Sullivan’s series of articles about prepping a boat and sailor for singlehanding. In the March and M...
Open and close a sun flap from below Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Home waters for my 1980 Hunter 30, Summer Wind, are Lake Pontchartrain and the central Gulf Coast, where a generously sized Bimini over the...
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...
Ahoy! Who goes these? Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 AIS, the Automatic Identification System, allows vessels to “see” and identify each other (and for shore stations to “see” vessels). It was developed as a...
The good memories eclipse the bad Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 As I sit here writing this in my shed a million miles from the ocean, I gaze longingly at the chart on the wall. The winter rain gently patte...
Tie ’em fore and aft Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 If you have external halyards on your boat, no doubt you’ve been awakened at night by the annoying clanging of a loose halyard rapping against the mast. T...
Clever clamps made of rubber hose Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 I like my boat to be visible in a dark anchorage, but I prefer to use cockpit and deck lighting that doesn’t use precious stored energy. Sola...
Hand-sewn cargo boosters that stow flat Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 A pair of saddlebags, or panniers as they are often called in the biking world, add capacity and convenience when we make shopping trip...
Reflections upon entering the good old years Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Most of the time it is dark and hot inside during the summer months. It’s late July and for the past nine months I have lived in a...
Why does cleaning it require taking a bath? Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Now that we have mapped the human genome, it’s time to tackle the real technological challenge of the 21st century — foul-proofing ...
A single digit now does a two-person job Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 It’s slightly more than 8 feet from the water to the head of the davits on the raised aft deck of my Down East 45 schooner, Britannia....
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 ...
The boat Bill Shaw designed for himself Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 When 33-year-old Don Sailors initially purchased Schurr Thing, 1976 Pearson 365 hull #38, he may have realized he was buying a proven a...
The head-to-wind drop under sail or power Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 No matter how you anchor, the basics are the same: have your ground tackle ready for instant use, choose your anchorage with care, an...
Investing in overhead pays dividends below Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Having owned my almost-40-year-old Islander 36 for 17 years, I am always looking at ways to renew its beauty. One of the items that ...
. . . buys megayacht looks for a small outlay Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 “You owe my father $175,” Carolyn told me one day when I came home from work. “What for?” I asked. “For the wood to make the boat...
Soft barriers keep out bugs and sunbeams Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 I’ve had it with mosquitoes and also with the sun shining in my eyes when I’m trying to sleep. Maybe it’s about my sense of privacy too...
A portable system becomes permanent Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Bath time on our 35-foot sloop has taken many forms in 30-some years of living aboard. The easiest and most fun was jumping overboard in th...
Where there’s no wheel, there’s still a way Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Numerous dining tables have been designed to fit on the binnacle consoles on sailboats with wheel steering, but on a tiller-steered...
A micro-cruiser with four decades of fans Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Wayne Egleston is a lifelong resident of Island County, Washington, and was a power-boater until 2008, when he spotted a sad-looking ...
A family’s unplanned evening swim Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Every third week our weekend sailing routine was interrupted by . . . work. There I’ve said it. I know you’re not supposed to use such langua...
A mast gets a new foot to stand on Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 I’ve always been in the habit of pulling my mast when I lay my boat up each fall. It adds to the annual cost, but it’s better in the long ru...
The diagnosis was elusive and surprising Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015 Our passage up France’s Seine river from Honfleur to Rouen was uneventful. We ran all day with Entr’acte’s engine humming along at 3,1...
