Inside Practical Sailor

With all the rain this spring, boaters in almost every region of the U.S. are dealing with mildew on their boat. For many of us mildew is a year-round problem, but it can be especially acute in spring. Many boaters combat mildew on their boat the same way they deal with it at home—they buy some bottled spray (usually with some form of bleach in it) and spray away, hoping for the best. But unless they have a general undestanding of the relationship between surface temperature and humidity, this will be a never-ending battle that in the long run could do more harm than good. For example, take mildewed vinyl-covered foam ceiling liners. Installed over a non-cored hull, these are virtually guaranteed to sweat, even if deck fitting leaks don't get them first. In cases like this and many others, the key to preventing recurring mold or mildew is a thoughtful approach to insulation.

The starting point for a successful solar panel installation is quantifying your power requirements. How many days can you manage with poor generation? Are you willing to economize during a long cloudy stretch? Will you recharge at a marina or by running the engine periodically? Long-term cruisers appreciate an abundance of power, while the occasional cruisers may be satisfied with less. Here we present a simple analysis based on the test boat used for our recent report on choosing and installing a solar panel. Some values are based on our experience, and others are accepted rules of thumb.

If you're going to sail you'll be doing some stitching-no two ways about it. That doesn't mean you have to go overboard with sail repair tools. Don't jump into the $100 do-everything kit. Start with a modest kit, adding tools and materials only as your skills grow and projects require them. Chances are, you already have most of what you need in your other supply lockers or tool boxes.

Although you can allow your varnish and hull paint to fade, crack, or peel with no more penalty than the disdain of those who mistake shine for soul, you don't want to let your non-skid deck paint lose its grip. Even the most soulful boat evokes a sense of pity if its owner is lying flat on their back asking for help.

Although once a low-ticket item costing less than $20, cam cleat prices have soared in recent years, and even the least expensive cleats can add up for a small boat owner who has 4-6 cam cleats aboard his 22-footer. The cost can become especially significant if a poorly chosen cam cleat chews through several halyards and sheets. Line ain't cheap. Practical Sailor has tested cam cleats several times during the past 50 years. Our first head-to-head cam-cleat test was back in the late 70s. Some of these devices have come a long way since then; others haven't.

Hook and loop fasteners are familiar from jacket cuffs and companionway bug screens, but during our many years of fiddling around boats, we've come up with a few applications that even a Velcro-lover havent yet tried. Lets look at some new tricks.

Some of our best performing antifouling paints in our past tests have been hard, modified epoxy paints. One of the drawbacks of these paints is that they can lose their effectiveness after being hauled out and stored ashore for more than 30 days. Even newly painted hulls can lose their effectiveness if the launch is delayed too long. Fortunately, there are ways to reactivate a hard paint on a newly painted boat that has been stored ashore for less than a year.

We know the theory behind using an anchor swivel: The swivel releases any twists in the chain when an anchored boat swings through 360 degrees or more. Still, we question the logic of using one. Our skepticism is supported by our own experience, previous testing, and input from long-term cruisers, but we wanted to devise a test to investigate chain twisting. The results were surprising.

Our PS Advisor article on barber haulers illustrated an arrangement that relied on a low friction ring to control tension on the sheet. Although you can buy pre-rigged control lines that terminate with low friction rings, sailors should be able to do this themselves.

We had a cold and chilly front blow through Florida last week, which gave us an opportunity to look at something we haven't paid much attention to in a few years: waterproofing coatings for fabrics. Textile technology has seen some significant new developments since our last complete test of waterproof coatings. Chemical engineers have found new ways to impregnate fibers with coatings that can last through dozens of wash cycles. Some new after-market spray protectants have emerged as well. The end result is clothing that -- if you choose right and don't put on too many pounds -- you won't have to think about replacing for 10-15 years, or even more.