Practical Sailor

Noted seamanship authority John Rousmaniere offers a problem-focused approach to determining and selecting basic but essential safety equipment for the coastal cruising vessel.

This recent sailboat from Jeanneau may as well be a spaceship. They’ve taken all the time-honored designs of a monohull aft cockpit and turned them completely on their head. If you’re...

The wood samples we varnished in late 2015 finally went into service three years after they were varnished. They'd been boxed and stored as PS went through three office moves in...

Despite regular care and maintenance, I know most of us who keep our boats closed and locked up for days, sometimes weeks, still open up to a not-so-fresh smelling boat—see “Managing...

All sailors start somewhere. As a teen I eagerly absorbed National Geographic stories in the late 60s of young Robin Lee Graham sailing singlehanded around the world in his tiny boat....

Athough falling off a ladder or cutting yourself with a sharp tool are the most common boatyard injuries, damage from the foul air we breathe is more insidious. Marine paints contain solvents that can make you dizzy at best or increase cancer risk at worst. Dust from sanding wood is usually only a nuisance, but sanding bottom paint or grinding fiberglass presents serious health risks. Fortunately, theres a wealth of industrial experience with contaminated air…

The Caliber is a peculiar blend of tradition and innovation, of security and performance, of practicality and pizzazz. All of the owners we heard from were "satisfied." One called the 33 his favorite boat over six decades of sailing.

In the article “Is All-Electric Propulsion Practical on Small Sailboats?” we explored the current state of technology for all-electric marine propulsion. We concluded that range remains too limited for the vast...

It starts with a small leak around a piece of deck hardware or even a pinhole in a resin-starved layup. Water seeps between the layers of fiberglass, rotting balsa and plywood...

In our ongoing study of ways to compare, and hopefully improve the way our anchors set, weve learned that it takes time and slow, delayed setting to make best advantage of very soft mud. However, firm sand and weeds can have the opposite character-making it hard for the anchor to penetrate.