Rhumb Lines: Livin’ the Wharf Rat Life

Named after the enterprising expat who “developed” the former Navy boat repair basin on the island of Guam, Gerberville barely qualified as marina. Our...

Wintering Afloat

Insurance and hurricane risk may require a layup. But I’ve been quite happy wintering in the mid-Chesapeake, snow, ice and all. Over 35 years,...

Bruce Kirby Memoir Tops The Reading List

Writer, raconteur, polymath, and Olympian, very few have touched the sport of sailing in all its facets as thoroughly as Bruce Kirby. Yes, he...

Better Living with USB

Standard power on cruising sailboats is 12 volts, and since the beginning of time, the standard low-voltage outlet, as a consequence, was a 12V...

Feeling the Breeze

There are really three reasons we ventilate; in summer to beat the heat, in the off-season to fight moisture build up from cooking and...

Rhumb Lines: Beating the Heat at Anchor

This month’s article on ventilation got me thinking about how the current situation will impact living aboard in marinas. During 10 years of living aboard,...

A Trash Compactor and a Drip Guard

It seems anomalous, but whether at home or on the boat, when we bring X volume of goods in, they expand to X+20 percent...

A Little PS Winter Reading

With winter upon us, and boats sitting on the hard in many places, its a good time to troubleshoot or update systems, and to make a to-do list for the off-season and pre-season.

Measure, Cut, Glue and Repeat

Generally, a deep locker will have a recessed lid. Some modification may be needed to fit locker bags.

Bottomless Lockers Be Gone

Storage is a challenge on small boats, and my new-to-me Corsair Marine F-24 trimaran was particularly Spartan this regard. The skinny hulls provided minimum volume and the race-focused designer intentionally omitted proper lockers. A performance-oriented boat such as this must be kept light if she is to sail to her potential. But even day sailers and racers attract a certain amount of necessary clutter, sure as honey attracts flies. Something had to be done, and yet, as a new owner its tough to know what will best suit your needs and what the boat needs. Its even harder to cut the first hole. This project was 100 percent non-invasive.

The Fastest Cruising Sailboat in the World?

What is the fastest cruising sailboat in the world—and can a monohull really compete with catamarans for speed while still being livable? In this...

Latest Sailboat Review

Morgan 34 Used Boat Review

By today's standards, the Morgan 34 is a small boat, comparable in accommodations to a lot of 30-footers. When the boat was designed, she was as big as most other boats of her overall length. In profile, the boat has a sweeping, moderately concave sheer. The ends of the boat are beautifully balanced: the bow profile is a slight convex curve, the overhanging counter aft is slightly concave. Esthetically, hull shapes of this period from the best designers are still hard to beat.