Practical Sailor

Are the tapered plug seacocks on your boat difficult or impossible to close? If you tighten the adjustment nut enough for them to stop weeping all over the inside of your boat, does it take two hands and a hammer to operate them? If so, it's time for an overhaul. Even if they worked well last season, a little care while the boat is hauled can save you a lot of grief in the future. As part of your boat's routine maintenance, tapered plug seacocks should be disassembled, cleaned, lubri­cated, and reassembled on a regular basis.

The Sun Odyssey 32 and Sun Fast 32i are two versions of the same boat, designed by Philippe Briand. The attractive combination may well capture a good share of the market in this size slot.

There’s nothing worse than getting or giving yet another ugly sweater or never-to-be-worn tie. Why not try up-cycling old boat parts to give new life to retired gear? Here’s a dozen...

A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to be spending a few weeks aboard our 1978 Islander Bahama 30 Natasha cruising the west coast of Vancouver Island. Sailing singlehanded, I...

When the King of Sweden ordered the newly launched warship Vasa to sea in 1628, he gave little thought to the stability implications of the bronze canons perched on two upper decks. Just 1,500 yards into her maiden voyage, the Vasa capsized and sank, relegating the fire power intended to be pointed at Poland to ignominiously sink in Stockholm Harbor. This was neither the first nor last case of poorly calculated vessel stability, and todays sailors, boat designers, naval architects, and boat builders continue to debate just how much stability is enough.

Practical Sailor carried out its own series of anchor tests in a mud bottom in 2006 (see April 2006 and October 2006 issues), and those tests bore out a commonly known fact: Danforth-style anchors, which feature flukes that are proportionally larger than other types of anchors of the same mass, tend to hold better than older, plough-style anchors in soft mud. When Practical Sailor was invited to witness Fortresss test, editors were initially skeptical; the playing field seemed heavily tilted in Fortresss favor. In the end, however, it was a busy test schedule, not outright skepticism, that prevented our attending.

The Pearson 30 was designed as a family cruiser and daysailer with a good turn of speed. The boat is actively raced throughout the country, however, with some holding IOR certificates, and many more racing in PHRF, MORC, and one-design fleets.

As the owner of a modern Beneteau, Jeanneau or a host of other recently-launched dream boats, you’ve probably noticed the distinct lack of teak trim on deck. You may very well...

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how to size your new lithium battery system, choose a battery, and assess the components and tools you’ll need to complete the install....

One of my biggest mistakes in life was waiting so long to sail the Great Lakes.