He founded Westerly Marine Construction and launched a thousand dreams Issue 96 : May/Jun 2014 Denys Rayner was born in the outskirts of London, England, in 1908. As a boy, he was smitten with boats, ...
Performance in Starck-ly beautiful French style Issue 97 : Jul/Aug 2014 A problem many inland sailors face is that they eventually get tired of sailing the same water. Two years ago, that is what poss...
A big trailerable boat with a lifting keel Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 Reviewing the 1980 C&C Mega 30 owned by Good Old Boat founders Karen Larson and Jerry Powlas is something of a daunting project. ...
They are more than a buffer twixt butt and deck Issue 102 : May/Jun 2015 Closed-cell-foam seat cushions are available at home centers. I found ours at Menards under their house name Guidesman (SKU 175...
An inexpensive LED shows the way Issue 103 : Jul/Aug 2015 We all know about using dollar store LED yard lights for finding our way home in an anchorage. Another handy use we’ve found aboard Thebote, o...
A wet towel puts a damper on a loose helm One morning, we were at anchor in a pretty cove when an empty water bottle blew overboard. We raised the anchor and chased down the errant bottle. Once the an...
A twin-keeler from across “the Pond” Issue 108: May/June 2016 First we’ll address the elephant in the room: the wild paint job is the result of work done by William Barnhart of Mesa, Arizona, for an I...
Useless spaces can earn their keep Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 Our MacGregor 26D, Thebote, has a tiny sink area that is relatively useless. For a long time it held the wastebasket. Recently, at the requ...
A quick trailerable that does the small things right Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 R K. “Kim” Hogan, a retired airline captain, and his wife, Karen, have been sailing their 1996 Precision 23, Willow, on t...
A cat-rigged unballasted sharpie for gunkholing Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 John and Julie Mohr of Seymour, Indiana, own a 1992 Bay Hen 21 named Orca. John, a cartographer, was looking for a simple boat ...
A versatile ’80s-era racer/cruiser from the world’s largest builder of sailboats Issue 109 : Jul/Aug 2016 A classy car and a boat with a storied history say a lot about Wayne Barnard and his wife, Mar...
A daysailer with gunkholing aspirations Issue 110: Sept/Oct 2016 What better place to review boat than in my own backyard? The Slipper 17 that is the subject of this article came into my care when a m...
A handy trailer-sailer that’s easy on the boating budget Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017 Boats to review often come to me via interesting paths. In response to a request by Good Old Boat editor Karen Larson f...
A versatile boat for different owners Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 For this review of the Glastron-built Spirit 28, I looked at two boats with identical hulls that have taken on vastly different character...
Dash off little jobs with dispatch Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 When I’m desperate to get a relatively small teak finish job done in a hurry I . . . Allen Penticoff, a Good Old Boat contributing editor, i...
An update of a longtime favorite Issue 120: May/June 2018 I came upon this classic good old boat at Mazanet Marina, up the Yahara River in Madison, Wisconsin, but I was puzzled as to what it was. Andy...
A Cruising Rocket Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 New Zealand designer Ian Farrier, who died in 2017, is legendary in the multihull community for his concept of folding trimarans. His patented Farrier Folding...
Eight-track audio tape makes for perfect telltales. Issue 132: May/June 2020 When I first began sailing my own boats, I tied yarn to the shrouds to use as telltales. This common, quick-and-easy method...
A Beamy, Obliging Pocket Cruiser Issue 132: May/June 2020 A sailor’s reasons for buying a boat are myriad and often mysterious; in the case of James and Barb Shroeger of Traverse City, Michigan, James...
A Maine-Built Sailing Master Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 When Dave and Sharon Nehring of Racine, Wisconsin, began searching for a boat to serve largely as a comfy floating summer home as well as for cruis...
A Low-Priced, Water-Ballasted Trailer-Sailer Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 Bill and Marianne Blaschka of Madison, Wisconsin, have been so blown away by the Hunter 260 that they’ve kept theirs for 12 years—a...
A modern racer-cruiser with two helms Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 This 2013 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 379 was less than 10 years old at the time of my review, providing a great opportunity to look at some of ...
A Head-Turning Shoal-Draft Cruiser. Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Lake Mendota, just north of Madison, Wisconsin, is my home water; it’s also where the late, great Buddy Melges sailed. Wide and deep, it’s a...
A well-planned economy cruiser Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 Rich and Carolyn Sutorius of St. Charles, Missouri, sailed a Seafarer 26, Manana, for more than 30 years. We reviewed the boat in the July/August...
A good and forgiving starter boat for coastal cruising Issue 127: July/Aug 2019 Rich Sutorius first became interested in sailing from watching a 1960s-era National Geographic special about Irving John...
