Issue 14: Sept/Oct 2000 Good Old Boat magazine is about cruising sailboats 10 years old and older. When we started this magazine we decided to define a cruising sailboat as any boat with a head, galle...
Issue 16 : Jan/Feb 2001 There was very little wrong with our 1976 C&C 30, Mystic, when we bought her. The raw-water pump impeller was about to fail, the mast wiring needed to be replaced, and the ...
Issue 16 : Jan/Feb 2001 I recently wrote a short biography in which I mentioned that I had sailed halfway around the world twice. In all fairness, in the context of this sailing magazine, this does no...
Issue 17 : Mar/Apr 2001 One of the peculiarities of the magazine business is that the deadline for the March issue is January 1. Nothing personal; even if you are married to the editor, it is still Ja...
Issue 19 : Jul/Aug 2001 Several years ago we defined the niche for this magazine as “cruising sailboats more than 10 years old.” We elaborated by saying that, for our purposes, a cruising sailboat is ...
Issue 18: May/June 2001 Arecent issue of USAA magazine carried the story of a National Guard rescue attempt that occurred during “The Perfect Storm.” Not the Hollywood version; the real storm. The 106...
Issue 19 : Jul/Aug 2001 Ron Bohannon is a fussy guy. The world needs fussy people, those more inclined to say “that’s not good enough.” Ron looked at the lifeline stanchions on the market and said he ...
How to lift your engine with a spherical air bladder Issue 27: Nov/Dec 2002 AS I WAS GROWING UP, I SUSPECT SEVERAL COACHES SAID, OUT of earshot, “Now there’s a boy who doesn’t know what to do with a b...
Issue 19 : Jul/Aug 2001 Should you consider doing this work to a wooden boat? A 1996 editorial in a sailing magazine I rather like, spoke favorably of the sheathing and glassing of Mustang’s hull and ...
Auxiliary motor borrowed from a fork-lift truck; batteries from golf carts Issue 20 : Sept/Oct 2001 It was the kind of day that couldn’t figure out if it wanted to rain, be foggy, or grow dark. Rainbo...
Issue 20 : Sept/Oct 2001 Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, and more than 99 percent of the earth’s human population is on the remaining land. That makes the water a very spec...
Issue 21 : Nov/Dec 2001 Not all lids are made with a locking mechanism. The lids on our cockpit lazarettes come to mind. These lids are large, heavy, and awkward. Dick Thews must have grappled with th...
Issue 21 : Nov/Dec 2001 I missed that piece of American popular culture. I was out of town. Still, I bought a record in a Navy exchange somewhere that had Marianne Faithful wailing that well-known Mam...
Issue 22 : Jan/Feb 2002 I wrote the editorial for the November/December issue on September 10 and handed it in the next day. It made no reference to the events of September 11. When you publish every ...
Issue 22 : Jan/Feb 2002 There is never enough counter space in any galley, or kitchen for that matter, but this is a particular problem in smaller boats like our C&C 30. The galley is aft on both ...
All you need is a simple calculator and Jerry’s magic formula Issue 22 : Jan/Feb 2002 The mathematicians who read this should be prepared to forgive me. It is my only contribution to “applied mathemat...
Simple (not too elegant) gauge for your holding tank Issue 23 : Mar/Apr 2002 Our boat was built with a holding tank, but there was no provision made for determining how full it is. In the early years,...
You’ve got to/you’re gonna hit some docks Issue 23 : Mar/Apr 2002 I’ve heard it said that one of the differences between the sexes is that a woman will hit a dock and say, “I wonder what I did wrong,”...
Four years at the weather mark Issue 24 : May/June 2002 When we adopted the name Last Tack for this column, we had in mind the part of a sailboat race where one has reached the lay-line and thrown the...
Issue 28 : Jan/Feb 2003 We’d let the delivery wait too long. Doing a story in warm, sunny South Carolina made it seem like we had all the time in the world, but on the great prairie autumn was l...
Some sailors need a house just as much as they need a boat Issue 34: Jan/Feb 2004 OVER TIME I HAVE COME TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE MOST CRITICAL item of cruising equipment for us is a house. “E-e-e-k!” sa...
Issue 29 : Mar/Apr 2003 The Slate Islands are a place of beginnings. The concept for Good Old Boat magazine was born there. Five years later, we were back looking for more inspiration. Once the hooks ...
Your boat takes you to places you can’t reach any other way Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 How far is it to somewhere else? It’s a relative thing. It’s straightforward to lay a tape measur...
Two very different aids to navigation Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Back in 1968 when I was a navigating officer on the USS Newport News, we had a chart table that would hold a full-sized chart without fol...
This is something you don’t see on the Great Prairie Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 We were working our way back home from a wonderful excursion down the middle of the country. We had traveled from near the ...
Lake Huron or bust Issue 44: Sept/Oct 2005 DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DISPOSED TO DO DIFFERENT THINGS. When I met my editor and wife, I was happily sailing around triangular race courses on a large lake in ...
Bluewater or coastal, weather controls all Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Weather cells move through our cruising grounds in about three days in summer and closer to two days in fall and spring. If you sail ...
Issue 37 : Jul/Aug 2004 I’ve singlehanded for a couple of weeks at a time, and I’ve cruised with an all-male crew as well. Both are OK, but not my preference. Joshua Slocum and other singlehande...
A tale of human fallibility and 500-hour alternator brackets Issue 38 : Sept/Oct 2004 The brackets connecting the bottom of the alternator to our engine failed in benign conditions miles from the near...
