Practical Sailor

This 1981 Bill Shaw design is a late-IOR racer/cruiser.

This is Part II of a three-part series detailing the installation of a complete inboard engine system into our highly modified Cape Dory 36 Far Reach. We sailed the boat for...

Walk the docks at most marinas or check out the bars at your local yacht club and it’s obvious that the average boat owner is getting older. Plus, speaking from personal experience,...

Beyond the shape of the hull and the presence of a mast, nothing distinguishes a sailboat from a powerboat more than the sight and sound of a sailor cranking on a...

In the process of our ongoing investigation on the effect of time and wind gusts on anchor setting and holding capacity, we performed limited testing at short scope and couldnt help but notice that holding capacity at short scope varied greatly. When recovering the test anchors, some anchors would lift out of the bottom while we were pulling the dinghy over to them, while others required heroic efforts even when the rode was nearly vertical.

We’re looking at a boat that sounds like a German electronics band but is actually a 43-ft. cruising sailboat—the Hanse 430e. If you’re shopping that 40-ish foot production cruiser universe, you...

Dorade vents are the best solution to keep the cabin fresh in bad weather or offshore. They let air in but keep water out in a way that nothing else does....

We love marine books at Practical Sailor, but we recognize their shelf life can be limited. After you’ve read, enjoyed and absorbed, they might sit on a bedside stand, then migrate...

This is a three-part series detailing the installation of an inboard diesel engine into my modified Cape Dory 36 Far Reach. I rebuilt Far Reach from bare hull over a six-year...

Sail repairs are a fact of life for the sailor. A stray cotter pin can shred a spinnaker. Perhaps the mainsail luff could use some chafe protection, or the genoa sun cover is flapping. Often, a trip to the sailmaker isn't justified for these repairs. The sail is too old to take stitching without further weakening the material, or you simply want to delay that repair until the end of the season. Perhaps youre on a cruise and would rather wait. A sewn repair is generally the gold standard, but some tears better-fixed with a patch.