Sailing Tools and Techniques

Here's a collection of useful sailing and boat articles for any experience level. Boat maintenance, sailing techniques, wood care, winterizing, fuel filters, engines and so much more!

Pitted Iron Keel
am a new owner of a 1980s-era Beneteau First 32 with a cast iron (I believe) fin keel that is showing lots of rust spots bleeding through the bottom paint. There is one especially hard-hit section about 2" square that is corroded to a depth of about an 1/8" to a 1/4". The pitting is not up near the hull but about halfway down the keel. First, what's the best way to repair the deeply pitted section, and second, how should we prepare the iron keel to keep the damage from recurring? She's a sweet boat, fast and points well. This rust problem is the only real concern.

The Blistering Truth
We lab tested 11 barrier coatings to determine which ones work best as 'blister resisters.' We recommend vinylester 'inside' and a finish coat of epoxy with chemically coupled fillers... “Blistering,” said Jono Billings, president of Jamestown Boatyard in Jamestown, Rhode Island, "is a tremendously controversial subject, and there is no real reason for that other than it's an emotional subject, and it's not as emotional for us as it is for boat owners---obviously." He's right. Owners of blistered boats often feel ashamed, as though they've personally contracted some dread disease. Of course there is the practical side of it: Blister repair jobs cost a lot of money. And a blistered boat doesn't play well on the used boat market. Yard owners experienced in blister repairs, such as Billings, are quick to remind their distraught customers that there are solutions, that a properly repaired boat can be as good or better than new, and that having a happy life after the blister blues is really just a matter of money. Obviously.

Caring for Clear Plastics on Your Boat
There are three basic types of transparent plastics used on boats: clear vinyls, acrylics (the best known is Plexiglas), and polycarbonates (the marine standard is Lexan). Each has advantages and disadvantages, which is why most boats include some of each. Vinyl is actually plasticized, stabilized polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It’s the plastic of choice for any window or clear screen that rolls, folds, stretches or needs to be sewn to fabrics. It is used most commonly in roll-up windscreens and windows because of these properties. It doesn’t have the clarity of glass, can distort vision, and will ripple in high heat. Clear vinyl is the most unstable plastic commonly found on a boat. It has three distinct modes of failure: UV degradation from sunlight, which will cause it to become cloudy, muddy, and opaque; loss of plasticizer, which will cause it to become brittle; and mechanical scratching. A cleaner/protectant can help reduce plasticizer evaporation by coating the surface of the vinyl and can prevent scratching by keeping grit and salt from reaching the surface. Halting UV degradation is harder, but vinyl has blockers built-in, and a protective coating will help them do their job. Once vinyl degrades significantly, there’s not much you can do about it.

Do It Yourself Sailboat Blister Fix’s
Earlier this year, reader and occasional contributor Fred Hatch found himself facing a quandary common among boat owners. The topsides of his 32-foot sloop were well faded, and small blisters were beginning to show along the waterline. Would he be in for an ambitious haulout and big yard fees, or might there be other remedies? He recounts his haulout saga: Because it had been a couple of years since Tarwathie's last haulout—and the boat had spent much of the interim in tropical or semi-tropical waters—my wife, Tonia, and I were a little apprehensive about what we’d see when she came out of her natural element. We could see from the dinghy that she had some blistering—pimple size bulges—along her waterline, but we just hoped the whole bottom wasn't covered.

Hull Blisters: Know the Enemy
At Tillotson-Pearson in the early to mid-1980s we looked long and hard at the blister-generation problem, but never fully understood exactly what caused it. Bits and pieces of the puzzle were lying around waiting for someone to properly assemble them. Many other researchers who looked at this problem drew shallow conclusions and created misconceptions where causes were concerned. For example, gelcoats were the initial recipients of the blame for blistering. After all, it was the gelcoat that had all the bumps showing on it. It soon became evident, however, that hulls with blistered gelcoats all had wet laminates underneath. We already knew a lot about the moisture and chemical resistance of various resins, so it made sense to look at their possible role in keeping water out of hulls. We eventually learned through iterative lab studies that higher-quality resins helped the problem significantly. Soon we knew that building with vinylester resin could yield relatively blister-free hull laminates. By 1985, the practice developed by TPI, working with Interplastic Resins, was to build the layers closest to the exterior gelcoat finish using vinylester resins, then switch back to lower-cost resins. This process is known today as skin coating. Interplastic went on to market the use of their resins nationally as a blister resistant "skin coat" product.

Solar Panel Survey
How simple it was for Captain Kirk—he asked for energy, and he received it. "More power, Mr.Scott!" Alas, the world is ruled by physics, not fantasy. With more onboard demand for electronics and creature comforts, daily power usage keeps creeping up. Many of us rely solely on a diesel or gasoline engine to charge batteries, but today many are using other options either to supplement or even replace the engine/alternator combination for battery charging. Solar panels have been springing up everywhere for supplying power and charging batteries. On land, we have solar-powered flashing lights at school crossings, construction warning signs, and pedestrian call boxes. On boats, we've seen solar panels mounted on outboard engines, on top of dodgers, biminis, and cabin tops, on radar arches, on stanchions, draped over booms, hoisted in the rigging, and reclining on the deck. We've even heard rumors of folks putting them across their dinghy and floating them away from boat shadows.

Sextants: Do We Really Have To?
It's shameful but true: we've spent two decades focused on increasingly cheap and accurate electronic navigation devices, and we've let some of our most important and hardest-won skills atrophy. We are, of course, not much different from most sailors. So we asked ourselves two questions: Is it worth learning (or re-learning) to use a sextant these days, and if it is, what sextant should we buy? To answer the first question, we did some soul searching. To answer the second we went out and got half a dozen models in our grips, and sought competent advice.

Wax Test Results
Practical Sailor placed outdoors a tired old fiberglass and gelcoat panel to which had been applied 26 kinds of waxes, along with one liquid plastic and one Teflon coating. The object of this Practical Sailor test was to determine which, if any, of the finishes—hand-applied to the weathered panel—would restore some gloss and last a full year. In other words, which one would provide protection for the gelcoat from one spring to the next, and might still have a bit of shine left? Of course, gelcoat protection was our primary interest. The topsides of a fiberglass boat can remain new-looking for years, if kept clean and coated with something that resists weathering. New gelcoat may seem as impervious as glass, but it isn’t; it's porous, and gets worse as it ages. If left uncoated, bare gelcoat picks up stains that are very difficult to remove.

Sailboat Design Conference Part I
Beyond the text and photos contained in a sailboat manufacturing company’s brochures, and the words of a dealer or salesperson, and absent an understanding of yacht design, discerning the actual capabilities of today’s production boats is a major task. Gone are the days of Herreschoff et. al., when the conventional wisdom held that a long, deep keel was the best method of producing good tracking, displacement produced a seakindly ride, and performance (straightforward speed) was a simple matter of adding sail area. Prior to the age of fiberglass, most yachts used similar raw materials (wood and metal), and construction methods, so those variables were not generally a consideration.

Sailboat Design Conference Part II
Take a cursory glance at a new 35-footer and you might easily conclude that, except for cosmetic changes, the boat is essentially unchanged from those that made their debut in 1995. But that is not the case. In contemporary designs, modifications to deck layouts, the design of creature comforts, and boathandling systems, all reflect the market's desire for easy use, as evinced by below-deck sheeting systems (X Yachts), electrically controlled stern platforms (C&C), and removable traveler systems (Etap), for instance. Despite this general trend, the five designers we interviewed here agree on many issues, and strongly disagree on others when it comes to new sailboats.

A Permanent Mount for the Sensibulb LED Reading Light
I have always been a big fan of brass berth lights, but have never really liked the halogen bulbs commonly used in them. The little halogen bulbs run hot, use a lot of power, and are prone to vibrating loose. When Sailor's Solutions (www.sailorsolutions.com) introduced the Sensibulb, I quickly ordered a couple to test in our custom built boat Suzy. They worked so well that I converted all six of our berth lights. The original Sensibulbs were nice units, but the mounting system was iffy. I elected to bypass the mounting system by removing the ceramic bulb holder and directly gluing the bulb support post to the back of the Sensibulb. It makes for a stronger mount, and it positions the Sensibulb deeper in the lamp for a more pleasing distribution of light. It also eliminates the ceramic pin socket, which is frequently a source of trouble.

Seasickness Remedies: Start With the Least Invasive
It was back in 1995-96 that we last discussed seasickness in Practical Sailor. Reviewing the sometimes acrid letters and responses that flowed forth and back around the issue, we've reconfirmed our clear understanding that there's no clear understanding on this issue, and we won't be making any ironclad recommendations here. There are different remedies that work for different people. At one end of the scale, there's ginger in various forms from tablets to ale—very mild, and amazingly effective for generations of sailors. Some sailors, that is. At the other end there's transdermal scopalamine, sold under the brand name Transderm Scop. It's a circular flat patch that releases the drug into the skin. In some people it produces almost no side-effects beyond a bit of dry-mouth; in others it brings on a range of nasty effects up to and including hallicination.

Compact Cookers, A Review of Boat Galley Stoves
Not much has changed in the world of single-burners since Practical Sailor last reviewed them in March 2002. Some have seen minor updates, but many are still not built for galley cooking, and they lack the fuel capacity for full duty on an extended cruise—unless you have room to stow a few dozen fuel bottles. But they do serve their purpose: They’re great for daysailors and weekend warriors, and the sea-swing style stoves are handy during those rough-weather rides or for a quick bowl of soup. Also unchanged are the attributes of a good marine stove: Onboard cooking requires simple stoves that are reliable, durable, and safe, and are equipped with pot holders and gimbals or table-top mounts. Stove portability and easy stowage are also essential for the small-boater.

Deck Vents: Nicro’s Water Trap and Plastimo’s Cool ‘n Dry are Clever and Effective
Cowls are descendants of simple vent pipes on sailing ships, cousins to the famed Charley Noble over the galley. When ships acquired engines below, the need for air down there became acute. Eventually, somebody decided that the pipes could be made to extract fumes more efficiently or even direct air below. Hence, the hood-like cowl. On working ships, they usually were made of welded-up galvanized steel, which if done properly can last for years and require no care. When cowls migrated to yachts, they were made of spun brass with red or white throats. Later came chromed brass and then stainless. They are more often now made of flexible PVC. It’s hard to say which is harder to keep looking Bristol-fashion…brass or PVC. Why the throats are red or white is a mystery. (Plastimo, which likes to be different, has broken out of the mold by offering cowls with blue throats; blue was Napoleon’s color.)

Practical Sailor Advisor: Keel Bolts
We have owned an Allied 39 for 23 years. She was built in 1970 and among her strengths is an external lead keel. Having creased a coral head or two over the years, I’m sold on it. The only problem we’ve encountered was a small leak in the forward-most keel bolt, which we had replaced many years ago. Although we check the bolts every few years for tightness and visible condition, we feel that it is now time for a “thorough” evaluation: lifting the boat off the keel, removal for magnafluxing or X-raying or possibly just going ahead and replacing them.

Choosing a Below-Decks Autopilot
Guidance on who makes what, sorting through the specifications, and how to buy the best pilot for your boat. Let's examine the nine leading models.

Teak Caulk
Teak decks can last a century, if they’re properly cared for, and a major factor in successful teak deck maintenance is choosing the right caulk—and applying it correctly. In June 2006, testers applied seven caulks used for teak deck seams to test panels. The products: Simson MSR (Marine Special Range) Deck Caulk Plus, Maritime Teak Deck Caulking, Teakdecking Systems SIS 440 Teak Deck Caulking, West Marine’s Multi Caulk Sealant, and three from BoatLIFE (Life-Caulk, Teak Deck Sealant, and Life-Calk Type P). We rated each for ease of application in the September 2006 issue, so after eight months, it’s time to take a look at their durability, adhesiveness, and resistance to chemicals.

Offshore Log: Bermuda-bound Trial by Water
We never seem to do things the easy way. In late November, Calypso left New England once again, this time bound first to Bermuda, then on to the West Indies. No matter how hard you work and how well you plan, a late fall departure from the East Coast to the Caribbean never seems to get off on schedule. As you frantically work to get the things done that absolutely must be done, weather windows slip by, potential crews come and go. By the time we pulled out of New England Boatworks in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, just after sunset on November 19, most of the other snowbirds had long since fled south..

Offshore Log: Re-Inventing the Wheel
Calypso was designed and built to be steered by a tiller. With her double-ended hull form and big outboard rudder, fitting a wheel system was more than a challenge. In fact, it was almost impossible without tearing out the cockpit and starting over. But our experience during the first year of cruising made us look seriously at wheel steering. With her split backstays, tiller travel was limited to just over 28° either side of center—far less than the 34° considered standard. This made for some hair-raising maneuvering under power. In addition, our first long sail included a lot of heavy reaching, and the 5-1/2' tiller provided marginal steering leverage in those conditions. For Maryann, hand steering in bad weather was impossible.

Freshwater Antifouling Paints
Practical Sailor’s readers have long been asking for a test of antifouling paints in freshwater. Last summer, we sank antifouling paint-covered test panels in Lake Erie, and now, the short-term results are in. The top performers, Pettit Super Premium and Pettit Hydrocoat, are laced with copper, but they’re probably overkill for seasonal boaters. While we haven’t had much luck in salt water with those low-copper, slick racing paints like Pettit SR-21 and Interlux VC-17M, these “freshwater” paints hold up well in Lake Erie.

Making the Best Toddler Life Jacket with Harness
Last summer, Practical Sailor rounded up 13 life jackets for kids under 50 pounds. We put them through a series of tests with children ages 1 to 4 who weighed 20 to 35 pounds ("Child’s Play," October 2006). We found four jackets we liked, but none of them met our expectations. Testers decided to give our ideas to artist and industrial designer Sasha Cole. After several drafts, Sasha came up with an improved version of a life jacket for infants and toddlers weighing 20-30 pounds. For comfort, the areas around the neck and sleeves were cut wide, and the foam flotation was tapered around the edges. Our flotation distribution closely mimicked our favorite jackets that we tested, the MTI Bay Bee 201-I and Mustang MV-3150 (see facing page), with a bi-fold head support and a small pillow of flotation in the back. These were the most effective in righting a face-down wearer and keeping them face-up in the water.

Infant/Toddler PFDs
Few tests that Practical Sailor has carried out recently have so exasperated our testers as our comparison of infants’ and children’s life jackets. No wonder 2-year-olds loathe these things. In our opinion, too many of these jackets are either too expensive, cheaply made, or poor-fitting. Vest makers seem to be paying more attention to cute details or cutting production costs than focusing on what matters: proper flotation and quality construction. With the exception of four life jackets—those by Mustang Survival, Sospenders, and MTI—in the large test field of 14, we were disappointed with what we found. Even among our favorites, we found no jacket that represented the best of everything. Keep in mind that fit is such a key element in the function of these devices that our own conclusions regarding fit, comfort, and flotation may not apply to a particular infant or toddler. The U.S. Coast Guard is explicit in this regard, pointing out that since infants and children come in many sizes and shapes, PFDs must be tested immediately after purchase.

Reefing Preferences from the Pros
When done properly, reefing the mainsail can be a graceful affair, a blend of art and science that keeps strong winds from tearing the sail to pieces while bringing relief to crewmembers who have been bouncing around on deck or in the cabin below. When a reefing line gets fouled or a halyard gets stuck or a block pulls out of the boom and colorful language comingles with the breeze, reefing the mainsail can become a high-seas calamity, and a certain precursor to unsafe situations. High winds and building seas put a premium on equipment as well as crew expertise. Getting a proper reef tucked in means getting the boat back on its feet, and how effectively each component works alone—and within the reefing system—can mean the difference between an appropriately taut mainsail or a baggy foil with scalloped sags along the luff stressing the slugs or slides and a flogging clew that causes undue wear to both the sail and the reefing gear. All of this not only wreaks havoc on the gear and the boat's performance, but also on its occupants' safety and peace of mind.

Safety Tips From the Pros
Every two years, some 150 offshore sailboats line up in Newport, RI, to race roughly 650 miles to Bermuda, a semi-tropical island in the western Atlantic, almost due east of Charleston, SC. While this is a relatively short ocean passage, it is not always an easy one. Boats have met serious gale conditions and dodged hurricanes during past editions of this race. Boats racing to Bermuda must comply with the Category One requirements defined in the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Special Regulations Governing Offshore and Oceanic Equipment and Preparation, popularly known as the Special Regulations. Category One races are defined by US SAILING—the governing body for offshore racing in the U.S.—as "…races of long distance, well offshore, in large unprotected bays, and in waters where large waves, strong currents, or conditions leading to rapid onset of hypothermia are possible, where yachts must be completely self-sufficient for extended periods of time, capable of withstanding heavy storms and prepared to meet serious emergencies without the expectation of outside assistance."

Sailboat Lightning Dissipators, Dealing with Boat Yards and In Search of Sailboat Stability of Modern Cruising Boats.

Used Nylon Three-Strand Rope Faces The Ultimate Endurance Test
Nylon three-strand dock lines, anchor rodes, and mooring pendants are the sailor’s safety net, so to speak, and have been for nearly a century. But as often happens with gear that has stood the test of time, the reliability of this cordage has to some degree given way to a false sense of security. Sun, sea, and salt rob rope of its tenacity, but just how much has never been accurately quantified. Being skeptics at heart, Practical Sailor testers suspected our old nylon lines were a lot weaker than we thought, and decided to see just how much original oomph an old set of dock lines actually retained over time. In order to take a closer look at this issue of line longevity, we rounded up a set of in-service dock lines with a known history, and enlisted the patient help of Steve Parola and his quality-control team in the lab at New England Ropes.

Sailboat Shockles and Ventair
Shockles are new, introduced late last summer by a company in Hood River, Oregon. You might say Shockles are a glorified version of what campers and truckers call "tie-downs,"which are various arrangements of shock cord with bent-wire or plastic hooks. Or an easier-to-rig version of a plain rubber snubber. Or a more versatile gadget than, say, Tempo's Line-Master (because the Shockle has hooks on the ends). A Shockle's primary use is in a mooring line or anchor line. However, it also can serve as a boom stabilizer or preventer; to lash a tiller; for dinghy towing; to secure the dinghy on deck, or for more esoteric purposes like on the tack of an asymmetrical headsail (to handle gusts). As shown in the photos, the heart of a Shockle is a double loop of tough shock cord, covered with a nylon sleeve and securely fastened with both a knot and wire clips.The double loop's ends are left exposed to mount a pair of anodized aluminum carabiners with stainless pins. The modified "D" shape of the carabiner places the load on the non-gate side and leaves the spring-loaded gate free to work under tension, if need be.

Bungy Shock Absorbers
Among the more worrisome situations for any boat owner is lying at anchor in roily conditions. It usually calls for an anchor watch, especially at night, particularly if the bottom conditions are unknown. In these situations, the boat's deadly rhythmic dance can jerk fearsomely on the anchor rode. Chafe and drag become far more than the scary words you encountered in some book on anchoring. Fear not. There are lots of ways to ease the relentless shock on the rode. And because it's an important subject, Practical Sailor never passes on an opportunity to present ideas for dealing with that shock.

Perma Buoy Chafe Gear Lasts Longest
It’s called “ground tackle”—mooring weights, chain, lines, snubbers, shackles, swivels, anchors—all intended to hold your boat still when moored or anchored. The vulnerable spot is where the anchor rode or mooring line climbs aboard the boat via a bow chock, which the French call a galoche d’avant and the Germans, whose marine terms surely are the most comical-looking, say, “Bug-Aufklotzung.” The chock may have straight or angled horns, can be let into the toe rail, can be open or closed or even equipped with rollers, maybe a sliding latch to lock the line in place, anything to prevent the line from lifting out of the chock. It’s trouble if it does and it usually happens not from the boat’s pitching but because the line gets stiff. Out of the chock, the line is almost guaranteed to get quickly chewed up by some other bow hardware.

High-Tech Rope Shackles
For some time, it has been our view that, as a stand-in for a standard 10-inch steel I-beam 50 feet long and weighing 1,720 pounds, there will be, sooner than you think, a piece of rigid foamed plastic that you can pick up with one hand. And the plastic beam will never corrode or fatigue - which means that you could pair it with glass (the world's other wonder material) and build something to last forever. A bellwether for this world-of-tomorrow view is rope, which has progressed rapidly from manila to nylon to Dacron and now to some of the most amazing stuff ever conjured up. Rope using Kevlar has been used for some time now, especially for running backstays, to which custom metal terminals are fitted. As things have progressed, Practical Sailor has presented quite a bit of material about UHMW-PEs (ultra high molecular weight polyethylenes), as the new chemically engineered ropes are designated.

Tideminders
If you keep your boat in tidal waters, where particular attention must be paid to the docking or mooring lines, you’ll be interested to know about Tideminders. What the marketers at Go With the Flow Solutions in Norton Shores, Mich., call a dock/mooring line system is actually a series of injection-molded, high-density polyethylene spheres with holes through them. (Sailors of gaff-rigged boats will recognize them as parrel-beads.) Users simply thread their dock lines through the holes, tie figure-8 knots in the line to contain the spheres, wrap that portion of the line around a piling, and secure the other ends to a cleat onboard. When the tide drops or rises, the spheres roll down or up the piling, effectively tending the line and reportedly keeping it free from abrasion.

Men's Foul-Weather Gear Put to the Test
Practical Sailor tested foul-weather jackets and pants from seven manufacturers: from Gill, Gul International, Helly Hansen, Henri Lloyd, Ronstan, Slam, and Third Reef from West Marine. Each set included a jacket and a pair of bib trousers designed for coastal cruising and light offshore sailing. All foul-weather kits were priced under $500. Testers examined the sets for wind- and water-resistance, reflectivity, and wearability, and tested the zippers and fasteners. With well-placed reflective patches, a fluorescent peaked hood, and plenty of pockets and abrasion-resistant fabric, the Gill’s Key West gear stood out in field of well-designed sailing apparel.

Boatbuying: How Not To Get Ripped Off
Most boats, especially those longer than 35 feet, are sold through yacht brokers. Therefore, dealing with a member of this profession is a strong likelihood, whether you plan on being a buyer or a seller. Before we dive into the shenanigans you may encounter in the world of yacht brokering, it’s important to review the traditional elements of buying or selling a boat and the role of the broker. The broker’s role probably begins long before you’re ready to seal a deal for a yacht. If you are a seller, you probably contacted the broker and listed your boat. When you list a boat, you usually sign a contract, too, promising the broker a commission of at most 10% if he is successful. Commissions vary from region to region and many sellers attempt to structure the commission to achieve particular goals. For example, if a broker sells the yacht sooner rather than later, he gets a larger commission.

Professional Advice for Do It Yourself Boat Blister Repairs
Earlier this year, reader and occasional contributor Fred Hatch found himself facing a quandary common among boat owners. The topsides of his 32-foot sloop were well faded, and small blisters were beginning to show along the waterline. Would he be in for an ambitious haulout and big yard fees, or might there be other remedies? He recounts his haulout saga: Because it had been a couple of years since Tarwathie's last haulout—and the boat had spent much of the interim in tropical or semi-tropical waters—my wife, Tonia, and I were a little apprehensive about what we’d see when she came out of her natural element. We could see from the dinghy that she had some blistering—pimple size bulges—along her waterline, but we just hoped the whole bottom wasn't covered. After the boat was washed and set down, a closer inspection showed pimple blistering all along the waterline and down about six or nine inches. There were about six quarter-size blisters visible elsewhere on her bottom. Later on, as we prepped her for painting, we would discover another half dozen.

Practical Sailor Advisor: 08/01/2004
Practical Sailor rigorously tested both mechanical and swaged rigging terminals a decade ago (see May 15, 1993 issue). With characteristic candor, we titled that article "Wire Terminal Destruction Test." Information derived from those tests can help answer most of your questions as we believe the essential data regarding strength remains true today. Though the article did examine the relative costs, that information is now well out of date. The wire in the swage fitting began to fail at 7,700 pounds of pull. The first strand of the wire affixed to the Sta-Lok fitting broke at just over 8,000 pounds, and the wire in the Norseman began to break at 7,300 pounds. Wire in the Castlok lasted until the tension reached 8,000, and the wire in the Quick Rig failed at 6,400 pounds. In that 1993 article, we told readers that "swaged fittings, applied by an expert rigger, are strong, neat, and fairly inexpensive....The principal liability of swaged fittings is that because dirt and water can enter the terminal, they are more prone to corrosion than sealed mechanical terminals."

Sailboat Cockpit Seating
The proportions of the human body are the basis of all design. Cockpit seating, as with any seat or chair design, is one of the most complicated problems facing the designer. Niels Diffrient, an industrial designer and one of the world’s leading authorities on aircraft seating, says that, “Chair design is the acid test for designers”. If you’re a typical sailor, it has been estimated that you spend most of your valuable and limited time on the water in the cockpit. Cockpit seating and layouts on sailboats need not only accommodate a wide range of body types, but also conflicting task requirements including steering, sail trimming, navigating, sitting while eating, lounging while socializing or reading and perhaps sleeping both at anchor and heeled 20° to 30°. The amount of clothing worn also can have a considerable impact on seat function and comfort. Non-skid can be quite uncomfortable while wearing bathing suits or other thin clothing. Likewise, in cold conditions multiple bulky layers of clothing can substantially change your body’s proportions, requiring different seat dimensions. Seats may also have to function with and without cockpit cushions, which will additionally alter their dimensions and comfort.

Plastics Versus Weather: The Nature of a Losing Battle
Weather has always tested the mettle of human construction, and in all cases wins eventually. The sunlight that warms us also harbors a great hatred of plastics; the high heat of summer turns dark-hulled boats into furnaces, and can wreak havoc on paints, finishes, and fillers. The water that gives life to most creatures on earth is also among the most corrosive solvents that exist. Oxygen, ozone, acid rain, tannins, and a whole slew of other little nasties wait to turn our innocent polymeric creations into awful-looking maintenance hogs. There are almost no boats today—even the most traditional wooden kind—without a few plastic parts exposed to the elements. Plastics have become an integral part of our everyday lives, and especially of our lives on the water—yet as resilient as they are, they do degrade. Nature wins. In this article, we hope simply to provide some insight into the reasons for plastic degradation, and to recap some of our coverage of products that can help slow the process nearly to a halt, given diligence and elbow-grease.

In-Boom Furling: Five Systems
In the late '80s, Hood Systems introduced the Stoboom, and rolling the sail inside the boom became an option. More affordable and less risky than furling the main inside the mast, these boom furlers were a big hit. However, the newly-engineered hardware proved to be more complicated and ultimately less convenient than it looked. It was, according to one owner who sailed a Hunter 42, "the costliest consumer mistake I ever made." The sail entered and exited the Hood boom through a narrow slot in the top of the tube. For that and several other reasons Stobooms proved jammable. They were also fickle in terms of boom angle, and costly in terms of luff chafe. Hood tried education (a special aftermarket owner's manual) and hand-holding (extensive customer service) before eventually pulling the Stoboom off the market. "However," says Paul Boyce of Hood Yacht Systems, "we're still involved in in-boom furling with hydraulic systems fitted to larger boats, most of which are in Europe."

Mainsail Track Hardware
The systems used to attach a mainsail to its mast have come a long way since the time of hoops and parrels, and the variety of options now available for retrofitting plays to the advantage of the consumer. The three S's of mainsail handling get a lot of attention. Rightfully so, too. Whether it's a small family sloop or a flat-out ocean racer, there are few troubles for a sailor that are worse than having difficulty setting, shortening, and striking the mainsail. To make it four S's, you might also throw in stowing. On an old square-rigger, the majority of control lines were devoted to the three S's. The myriad lines on those vessels far exceeded the piles of "spaghetti" seen on modern race boats whose crews often appear to think that disorder is cool. It's not. It's dangerous. Aboard big sailing ships, carefully stowed on belaying pins, there were the usual halyards and sheets for the clews and braces for the yard arms. There were lots of very sturdy pin racks at the base of the masts and pinrails along the bulwarks. In an emergency, any line could be released by simply pulling out its pin, and hoping the line didn't run foul.

Practical Sailor Advisor: Anchoring Hand Signals
Is there an agreed-upon set of hand signals for anchoring, between the anchorer on the foredeck and the helmsman, or does everyone just make up their own? There are no hard and fast rules about these things—whatever you and your crew agree on and practice can work, but remember that once the anchoring spot or mooring has been agreed-upon, it's the person on the foredeck who should be controlling the boat. The helmsman needs to follow the signals—they're not merely "suggestions." Both contributors need to have a good sense of how the boat will carry through the water in neutral in various conditions, and what the engine can be expected to do to the momentum when shifted in and out of gear at low speed.

Practical Sailor Advisor: Four-Stroke Outboard Motors
Manufacturers understandably want their customers to get the best life and performance out of their engines, so outboard engine manuals encourage the user to flush the engine with fresh water after each use, especially after running in salt water. It's definitely a good idea, because aluminum lower units are susceptible to corrosion, and salt can and does scale up in the engine's cooling passages. It's also a good idea to flush if you run in water with a lot of silt or particulates in it. The trouble is, it really is impractical for many people, and you're a good example. Few who leave their outboard-powered boats on moorings or in slips will haul the boat or the engine during the course of the season with the sole purpose of flushing the engine. It just doesn't happen. People who keep their boats on trailers or storage racks have it easier in this regard, and they're generally more dedicated in their flushing practices.

Offshore Log: A Pitch for Adjusting Pitch
When we installed a Max-Prop VP feathering prop on Calypso back in 1996, we did it with two purposes in mind: to reduce drag under sail, and to increase maneuverability in tight quarters, particularly in reverse gear. During a survey prior to turning her over to her new owners, we were reminded of yet a third advantage of this versatile propeller, an advantage that, to us, more than compensates for the price difference between the VP and standard versions of the Max-Prop, and almost any other prop, for that matter: the ability to change propeller pitch without hauling the boat.

Life Raft Stowage: The Overlooked Necessity
Sometimes, it seems that safety is a dirty word in the boat-building industry. A favorite marketing catchword is “blue water cruiser.” We assume this means a boat capable of going to sea, rather than a boat designed to tiptoe along the shore.

Offshore Log: Back to School
You're tearing along at seven knots, trying desperately to reach harbor before total darkness. Suddenly you're aware that visibility is deteriorating—your running lights are reflecting back at you, and it seems darker than it should be for this time of day. It's not just getting dark—it's getting foggy. Visibility must be a lot worse than you thought, and your palms feel cold and wet, much more so than justified by the weather.

Offshore Log: Gelcoat Maintenance
Painting fiberglass boats is a huge business. The development of high-gloss, long-lived polyurethanes means you can get multiple years out of a paint job. But a good paint job can be breathtakingly expensive, and a single careless docking can mar that beautiful finish. Better by far is a program of gelcoat maintenance that preserves the finish your boat came with for as long as possible. Whether it's topsides or superstructure, your gelcoat surfaces will last a long, long time if properly cared for.

Offshore Log: IMX 45 Boat Review
Nick Nicholson recently returned from the Marblehead-Halifax Race, in which he was aboard the winning boat as navigator. He decided to devote his column this month to a review of that boat. The new IMX 45 is the Jeppesen brothers' largest IMS racing boat, but it makes a surprisingly comfortable performance cruiser with the wave of a magic wand—and a day of work to install removable cruising options.

Sparkling Brightwork: Careful Attention to the Details
It takes practice to produce a perfect, mirror finish on varnished wood, but it is not so much a difficult task as an exacting one, where attention to detail and no short cuts are the secrets to success. Whether you are finishing new wood, refinishing old wood, or maintaining a finish in good condition, the basics are the same. Tools and materials required are sandpaper, vacuum cleaner or dusting brush, tack rag, brushes, and of course varnish and thinner.

Offshore Log: Kiwi Spars, Hatches, and Pumps
With New Zealand's yacht construction industry booming, it's inevitable that associated industries such as sparmaking should enjoy parallel growth. New Zealand has long been a leader in composite construction of one-off boats for both racing and cruising. That same expertise, coupled with the advantage of a relatively low labor rate, has spilled over into the sparmaking sector in a big way.

Do You Want a Headsail Luff-groove Device?
Just 15 years ago, one of the hardest jobs on the foredeck of a racing boat was to make a quick headsail change. Unless the boat was equipped with two headstays, which adds considerable windage, the headsail change drill meant releasing the lowest hanks on the headsail in use, tacking down the new sail, hanking it on below the head-sail already up, taking a deep breath, letting the jib halyard run, then going like mad to get the hanks open on the old jib, all the time listening to the skipper scream to hurry up.

Offshore Log: Made In New Zealand
New Zealand may be a small island nation on the far side of the world, but that little nation is having an impact on the US marine industry all out of proportion to its size. At the recent Ft. Lauderdale boat show, New Zealand-built yachts won four major superyacht awards for excellence in construction. In 2001, the value of New Zealand marine industry exports was about $175 million US. In the last five years, exports have increased in value about 23% per year, at a time when large parts of the US marine industry have been relatively stagnant.

Do-It-Yourself Fender Boards
Fender boards are practically a necessity when lying along side pilings. They are designed to ride outboard of two fenders, protecting a larger section of the topsides than the two fenders could provide alone. Without fender boards, no matter how you position and secure your boat and fenders, the movement of the tide and the boat will invariably displace the position of the fenders relative to the pilings. The result? Dinged and scratched topsides.

Offshore Log: More Gear for the New Year
It's hard to believe that when we took off around the world just seven years ago, Calypso was one of the few sailboats of her size to boast a reverse-osmosis watermaker. Our Village Marine Little Wonder was a real workhorse that did yeoman duty during our circumnavigation. Its one weak point was relatively high power consumption for its output.

Improve your Catalina 30: Upgrading the Worlds Most Popular 30-Footer
The Catalina 30 is a remarkable success story. We suspect that more Catalina 30s have been built than any other boat of that size anywhere in the world. While the basic boat has remained unchanged since it was introduced in1975, there have been dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of minor developments in the boat in the course of a production run that is approaching 4,000 hulls.

Offshore Log: More Kiwi Companies
If you live in the US, you've probably never heard of Manson anchors. But for most sailors in New Zealand, Australia, and the rest of Asia, "Manson" is the synonym for anchor. In a small factory on the outskirts of Auckland, Manson builds the plow, ray, and kedge anchors that are standard equipment not just on normal-sized sailboats throughout the Pacific, but are widely seen on superyachts throughout the world. Manson was founded in the late 1970s when Kerry Mair took a close look at the CQR anchor and figured he could do a better job more cheaply. In typical Kiwi fashion, he took an existing design, adapted it to local conditions and materials, and went to work producing it.

User Report: Lasdrop Shaft Seal
On my 40’ wood boat Daybreak I had a stuffing box problem. The gland leaked worse and worse, especially when motoring. It is very inaccessible, and could not be further tightened. The stuffing box needed to be repacked, but this couldn’t be done without major effort because of insufficient space between the gland and the shaft coupling at the transmission. The Lasdrop shaft seal looked like it might solve several problems at the same time.

Offshore Log: New Gear for the New Year
This is the time of year when sailors in the frozen north plan their winter projects and think of next summer, with perhaps one eye on a warm-weather winter charter to see them through. This is the time of year when southern sailors—or those lucky enough to head south with the birds for the winter—cast a pitying eye on their northern cousins.

Boat Clinic: Tuning the Masthead Rig
Tuning the rig of a boat is one of the necessary -and pleasant -tasks which must be done to achieve good performance. In an untuned boat, the mast bends in odd ways, and this in turn causes the sails to set badly. By contrast, on a well tuned boat, the rig bends in a controlled fashion, allowing the sails to do their best. For this reason, an avid racer will be constantly fiddling with the tune of his boat, while for most of us a one time job during commissioning may suffice.

Offshore Log: Open Class Monohulls
While the attention of much of the sailing world in February was focused on the America's Cup matches, a very different but equally innovative group of boats was leaving Tauranga, a small port south of Auckland, on the next leg of their 29,000-mile odyssey around the world. Practical Sailor caught up with the 11-strong fleet before departure and took a close look at these singlehanded racers.

The Multifarious Mainsheet
The mainsail is a big part of the motive power of almost every sailboat. The art of mainsail control, however, is a relatively modern one. One tool that greatly facilitates mainsail control is the traveler. Traditionally, the mainsheet traveler was a heavy bronze or iron rod that allowed some control over the position of the boom relative to the centerline of the boat.

Offshore Log: Still In Class
It's not unusual for a Practical Sailor article to generate a fair amount of reader response. This is particularly true when we either get on our soapbox or venture far out on a fragile limb, both of which we do on a regular basis. "Back to School," the Offshore Log in the October 1 issue, generated an unusual number of responses from professional navigators: those who are involved in teaching navigation and seamanship, those who have had careers as navigators in the military, and those who are regular navigators of racing yachts. Some of our correspondents asked to reprint the article to hand out to their classes, commending it for its emphasis on the fact that traditional piloting skills still have an important role in an age when many sailors don't even bother to learn them.

Solution to a Problem: Custom Shower Sump and Pump
Amid the excitement and anticipation of taking delivery of a new boat, one tends to discount the importance of certain items. In my case, when I switched on the “shower sump” breaker of my pride and joy and heard no pump running, I initially wasn’t too concerned. During commissioning, however, I gave more thought to the drainage of the shower and decided to launch an investigation.

Offshore Log: The Volvo Open 70
In November 5, 2005, an elite fleet of racing sailboats will depart a southern Mediterranean port, bound on a 31,000-mile odyssey, racing around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race. These 70-foot sloops—the Volvo Open 70s—will be the fastest offshore monohulls of their size ever built. At about 26,000 pounds, they will also be among the lightest big ocean racers ever conceived. With their huge sail plans—a masthead 100 feet off the water, mainsails of 1,880 square feet, masthead spinnakers of 5,380 square feet—these canting-keel boats will have power-to-weight ratios more like racing motorcycles than oceangoing sailboats.

Mast Support for Trailerable Boats
On most trailerable boats, when the mast is stowed for travel it is lashed to the bow pulpit and stern rail with no support at all in the middle. For just a few dollars’ worth of readily-available material you can make a pair of mast supports that not only provide the needed support but also make mast handling much easier.

Offshore Log: Waypoints
For most sailors, a waypoint is a point on a surface, a defined location with special meaning. It can be a goal, an obstacle to avoid, or merely a marker to be passed on the way to somewhere else. For us, waypoints exist in time as well as space. Waypoints are three-dimensional: latitude, longitude, date and time. With Calypso going to new owners, it's a good time to revisit some of those waypoints.

How to Prevent Head Odors Aboard Your Sailboat
While permeation of waste gases through flexible sanitation hose is a major source of odors in the head, it is not the only one. This article looks at the possible sources one by one. We believe that replacing flexible white PVC sanitation hose with SeaLand OdorSafe hose will help eliminate odors. But it, too, will eventually fail, albeit after a much longer time. You can prolong the lifespan of OdorSafe or any sanitation hose by eliminating low spots in the installation where sewage collects. No sewage sitting in the hose, no hose failure. Hence, vigorous flushing of the hose helps, too. This is fine if you’re offshore and pumping directly overboard, but if pumping into a holding tank, overflushing fills the tank that much faster.

Winterizing the Engine: Maintenance that Is Truly Preventive
Winterizing an inboard engine installation means a lot more than filling the cooling system with antifreeze and stuffing a rag in the exhaust outlet. It means taking care of the exhaust system, the fuel system, the engine controls, and other components of the drive train, such as the shaft and prop. If you want to do these things yourself none of them is difficult, only time consuming plan on a long day of work, or perhaps a leisurely weekend.

Ethanol Fuel Attacks Outboard Engines, Inboard Engines and Fuel Tanks
Who wouldn’t accept with open arms a renewable product that is produced right here in the United States, reduces our dependency on foreign oil, and reduces pollution? You’ve probably already heard of biodiesel, a fuel made from, among other things, soybeans and used deep-fryer oils. Similarly, ethanol or ethyl alcohol is made from various agricultural products such as sugar cane and corn. (It’s what moonshiners used to make in rural stills in the early part of the last century.) Here in the U.S., where huge quantities of corn are grown, this seems like a natural fit. When mixed with gasoline, usually at a 10-percent ratio, it’s referred to as either E10 or gasohol. The resulting product, an oxygenate, allows fuel to burn more efficiently and thus produces less pollution.

Practical Sailor Advisor: Marine Sanitation and Holding Tanks
We own a Com-Pac 25 and we enjoy making improvements to her. Now I'd like to replace all the flexible hose plumbing in the head compartment with PVC, hoping that'll eliminate the odor problems we occasionally have. Also, the holding tank, which is located under the port settee, just aft of the head, is too small, but it probably couldn't be replaced with a larger one because of the size of the access hatch. I wonder if the whole compartment it sits in could be turned into a permanent built-in holding tank enclosed by the hull and quarter berth with added fiberglass to form the two ends and the top. Is this ever done?

Practical Sailor Advisor: Resale Value of Diesel Boat Engines
We own a 1975 Tartan 34C, still powered with the original Farymann R30 (V2) diesel engine. In its 28 years of service (all on the Great Lakes), the diesel has never had a mechanical problem, and has never failed to start (speaks highly for the quality of the product). I would estimate the engine has approximately 1,000 of operation (25-30 hours/year). We are looking to do some extended cruising on the Great Lakes after I retire in a couple of years, but have some concern about the prospect of being hundreds of miles from home with a 30+ year old engine. Some say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," and that's what we may well do. However, we are also considering having the engine rebuilt (estimated cost $3-6K), or installing a new engine (estimated cost $9-10K).

Practical Sailor Advisor: Using Laptops for Nautical Navigational Purposes
I am using a laptop computer in the cockpit of my sailboat for navigation purposes. My problem is the "washout" appearance of the sailing charts due to reflected light. I can barely see the screen in bright daylight. I have tried making an enclosure around the laptop, but this is cumbersome and results in little viewing improvement. Do you know of a flat screen monitor that I can connect to my laptop and mount remotely that has good viewing in bright daylight?

Practical Sailor Advisor: Maintaining Your Mainsail
On most boats, it's not possible to keep the mainsail from contacting the shroud. This is particularly true on boats with spreaders that are swept far aft. The shrouds do leave streaks, but worse, they wear the sail, especially on the stitching. Streaks like that are mostly just dirt, and can usually be removed with a mild soap solution and a soft brush. The chafe problem is a bit trickier. In the old days, baggy wrinkle reduced the wear, and helped with two other problems—keeping lazy sailors busy and making good use of old line. Today a good boom vang, whose real purpose is to help shape the sail, will tend to minimize the amount of sail that's in contact with the shroud, by making the belly of the sail flatter (the wildly popular Vang Diet).

Practical Sailor Advisor: Diesel Engine Maintenance
In a previous Practical Sailor Advisor, the question of revving a diesel upon ending a run was addressed. I am a mechanic but not a marine diesel mechanic. So if Mike Muessel says it isn't necessary, I am not one to disagree. But for argument's sake, let me quote from my OEM Yanmar manual that I have from a 1989 2GM20(F) manual, pages 62, 63, that I have with my 1989 Hunter 30...

Practical Sailor Advisor: Self Tending Headsails
There are some boats from the IOR-inspired design era that would be troublesome to retrofit with self-tacking jibs (as primary, all-weather headsails) because their mainsails are "abnormally" small—designed to take advantage of IOR ratings. We forwarded your question to naval architect Steve Killing, who designed for C&C Yachts in the 1970s when the C&C24 was created. Here's his answer:

Practical Sailor Advisor: Floorboard Varnish Facts
Practical Sailor has been testing varnish for years and will not flinch from this challenge. We know not where Mr. Kearney got the impression that either of the varnishes he named are not for use below the waterline. Varnish is, first and foremost, a sealer. Varnish used to be relatively simple stuff derived by squeezing resins out of various plants and adding a drying oil derived from the nuts of tung trees. Add a chemical to speed the drying, flatten it, and you had a tough, shiny, waterproof coating. Nowadays, varnish is a fancy formulation that defies description by anyone other than chemists working in a very specialized field. Most varnish these days claims to be polyurethane and who’s to dispute that? "Poly" means "many" or “something made of this.” So, whether they foam it (Styrofoam), roll it (Saranwrap), or pour it, it’s all plastic.

Practical Sailor Advisor: Maintaining Your Saildrive
Saildrives are neither fish nor fowl in the sailboat propulsion field, and are a close relative of the popular powerboat outdrive units. For the sailboat manufacturer they represent a quicker, more versatile and non-technical engine installation route as compared to a conventional inboard installation. Gone is the propeller shaft, along with its attendant coupling, stuffing box, cutless bearing, stern tube, and strut. Also missing are the alignment procedures between the engine and shaft that must be done on the production line. The saildrive can easily be mounted facing forward or aft, and because it isn't constrained by shaft angle or aperture location, it offers the builder more versatility in engine placement.

Checking and Replacing: Keelbolts, Part 1
The largest fasteners in any sailboat with outside ballast are likely to be the bolts holding the ballast keel to the hull. As a rule, designers specify keelbolts by a tremendous factor, on the order of ten to one or more. Nevertheless, this safety margin does not guarantee eternal life for keelbolts. Corrosion takes its toll, sometimes more quickly than you might think. It is almost impossible to generalize about the longevity of keelbolts, since so many variables influence the life of a metal immersed in water.

Boat Clinic: Minor Repair to Cored Decks
A fairly common ailment with cored decks is the presence of soft spots where the outer skin has delaminated from the core material. Typically these areas are found around the mast and on the foredeck where heavy-footed spinnaker handlers have trod, but they are candidates to occur anywhere in a relatively large, flat span of unsupported deck. As long as the areas are small-no more than one or two square feet-repairs are quite simple and can usually be accomplished by injecting epoxy resin underneath the skin into the affected area.

Maintenance of Interior Teak
For the last decade or so, the majority of all production boats built in the U.S. have been trimmed above and belowdecks with teak. Teak makes abundant sense on deck. With resistance to weathering as its primary virtue, however, teak makes less sense for use as trim below. Nevertheless, the simplicity of finishing teak, the economy of a single variety of wood in inventory, and the ready acceptance by boat buyers, are all attractive reasons why boatbuilders use the wood for interior decor.

Can You-Should You-Build Your Own Fiberglass Tanks?
Due to the litigious environment in today’s society, I feel compelled to advise that fuel tanks used in boats-especially those used to store gasoline or alcohol-based fuels-be built by persons or firms specializing in the manufacture of marine tanks.

Maintaining Your Boat’s Electrical System
The battery is the heart of a boat’s 12-volt electrical system. In it, a chemical reaction maintains a potential difference or voltage, which “pumps” or pushes electrons around whichever circuits are switched on or are “closed.” No charges should flow through an “open” or incomplete circuit; if they do, you’ve got a problem, which we’ll get to later.

The Rig: Keep it Standing
When was the last time you went carefully over every detail of your boat’s rig? The chances are good that it may have been a few years, and it’s possible that you may never have looked at it in the detail it deserves.

Choosing Ground Tackle for Cruising
A broad range of choices confronts the sailor in choosing ground tackle for cruising. Advertising claims would lead one to believe that each type of anchor is best. Well, don’t believe it!

Do-It-Yourself Autopilot Installation
Whenever you read about radar, loran, SSB, VHF and other electronic goodies, you’ll find the writer also extolling the virtues of an autopilot with the admonition that “you can’t install it yourself” and to “screen the installer carefully.”

Stop That Leak!
Alot of water has gone over the dam since the days whenboats were caulked with cotton, and storm windows were snugged up with putty. Modern chemistry has presented us with new choices of sealants for everything, including the kitchen sink.

Stemming Troublesome Deck Leaks
Deck joints don’t leak as much as they used to. Most builders have switched to less leak-prone types of joints, and most are more conscientious about fastening and sealing them.

Peeling Paint on the Portlights
Peeling Paint on the Portlights Our 5" x 12" aluminum Bomar portlights, retrofitted to our 1978 Val- iant 40 in 1987, are losing their paint, which is peeling. We don't want to remove the eight portlights (which cost about $200 each) because none of themleak...andthat's important. They were installed with polysulphide, which has great adhesiveness. Re- moving the portlights would ruin them. Can we remove the paint, or should we just sand them and re- paint?

Portlight Gasket Source
Please click on the following link to read Practical Sailor's piece on Portlight Gasket Source from the Spare Parts archive...

Upgrading the C&C 33 Part I
In July 1990 we bought a 1975 C & C 33 to function as a test platform for Practical Sailor. We chose it above others for several reasons: The design seemed typical of many modern sailboats, with a fin keel and spade rudder and moderate displacement; C & C had a good reputation; and the price was right.

Upgrading the C&C 33 Part II
For hull bottom and topside repair, we love our Porter-Cable random orbit sander and WEST System Microlight Fairing Compound. Micron CSC bottom paint again rated 'Fair' in Narragansett Bay.

Offshore Log: Essential Forecasting Tools
Our years of sailing in New England and the Caribbean, with their stable, predictable weather patterns, left us ill-prepared to deal with the vagaries of weather in other parts of the world. Faced with the reality of spending weeks at sea at a time, we no longer had the luxury of waiting for suitable weather windows that would encompass an entire passage.

The Complete Propane Appliance System
Of course, everything on a boat is a compromise, and so it is with propane. It has two nasty traits that must be dealt with: Propane is heavier than air, which allows the gas to collect in the bilge in the event of a leak; and propane is explosive when it collects in such places. With the numerous horror stories concerning propane explosions and fires that have been reported in the boating press, the timid might be frightened away.

Getting the Charge Out of Lightning
Every year, a surprising number of boats are struck by lightning. Almost invariably, there is some damage to the boat or its equipment. The damage can range from minor electrical problems to serious hull damage. No matter how well protected the boat may be, few manage to escape unscathed.

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose, and Wood is Wood is...
For the boat owner customizing his boat, the choice of wood to use in a project can be as interesting as the design or execution of the job. Because of the overwhelming use of teak and mahogany in boatbuilding today, this opportunity to select a different wood is often overlooked.

Practical Sailor Advisor - Sails and Rigging
Cutting sailing rope can be tough - As for cutting nylon and Dacron rope, “cut” is a misnomer. Don’t saw back and forth with a knife. The edge will go hopelessly dull in a hurry. Instead, apply a ring of tape, place the line on a narrow wood block, position the knife blade on the rope and simply rock back and forth. “Cutting” the more exotic braided lines poses problems. The very advanced core fibers called Kevlar, Technora, Vectran, Certran, etc. are, as advertised, stronger (by weight) than steel. They don’t melt at any temperature you can muster up with a Hot Knife, HotBlade or Zippo lighter. Further, they resist a knife blade with a vengeance.

Offshore Log: Fit To Be Tied
Tying a boat to a dock and pilings isn’t exactly rocket science, but it's surprising how easy it is to forget some of the basics. Bow and stern lines stop the boat from moving transversely in the slip, while spring lines control fore and aft movement. For a side-tie, a bow line, a stern line, and fore and aft springs will have to do. For a tie-off in the middle of a slip, add a second set of bow and stern lines, but a single set of springs will normally suffice.

Offshore Log: Rigged For Downwind
A cruising boat has for downwind sailing much the same hardware as a racing boat. The only difference is that the cruising boat is more likely to use an asymmetrical “gennaker” style downwind sail than the conventional symmetrical spinnakers used by most racing boats. In addition, the cruising boat may want to set a headsail on the pole for deep running or for heavier air, when the gennaker may not be the right call.

Offshore Log: Engine Spares For Cruising
Perhaps the biggest surprise during our 30,000-mile circumnavigation was just how critical the engine is to a cruising sailboat. We motored or motorsailed almost 25 percent of the miles that passed under our keel. The engine also provided battery charging for everything from lighting to making fresh water. It drove the refrigeration system, and made hot water.