Inside Practical Sailor

Once a boat has been shored and blocked, its a good idea to layer tarps or plastic sheeting beneath it. That keeps cleaners, paint, paint removers, and other chemicals from contaminating the ground. Layering the tarps means you can remove a soiled one and have a clean surface to kneel or stand on.

As any cold-weather sailor will tell you, the battle against the elements involves more than just bibs and a jacket. Keeping out the wind and wet begins with underlayers, boots, and gloves. Whether youre dreaming of high latitude adventures, or just want to keep sailing through October, weve got you covered. Here is a summary of past reports on cold-weather sailing apparel.

So you've read our many reports on anchor shanks, and you're thinking, "I wonder what kind of steel my anchor shank is made of?" You could go to the maker, but you might find, as we did, that some manufacturers consider this proprietary information - as if the strength of the steel is not worth sharing with the consumer. So you decide to find out for yourself.

Most boat railings are a spindly -inch or 1-inch diameter polished stainless. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, on the other hand, requires hand rails be 1 -inch diameter. The average baseball bat, hockey stick or hammer is about 1 -inch, often fattened with tape beyond that. Why would we accept anything less secure on a wet and wildly pitching deck?

In response to ship reports of radio interference from LED lights, the U.S. Coast Guard has issued a step-by-step guide to checking for interference on VHF frequencies used for radiotelephone, digital selective calling (DSC) and automatic identification systems (AIS). Because mariners use these frequencies for communication and tracking of nearby vessels, interference can create a safety hazard. Practical Sailor has been warning sailors about problems with LED lights for several years, and has tested several LED navigation lights for VHF interference.

We wished the silica gel drying filters used in marine fuel tank vents could be as maintenance-free as the carbon canister on your car, but our simple DIY filters (as well as those made by various manufacturers) don't have programmed regeneration cycles like the automotive carbon canisters. The makers of silica gel fuel filters say the silica gel resin should be replaced annually, but Practical Sailor testers have found that three years is about right for diesel and five years for E-10 gasoline.

If youre headed to the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis October 4-8, we encourage you to stick around a few days to pick up some wisdom from Practical Sailors Technical Editor Ralph Naranjo. Ralph will be teaching a couple of his signature courses at the Annapolis School of Seamanship in downtown Annapolis during the days shortly after the show.

Old teak decks can be a deal breaker for the used boat buyer. Unless the previous owner(s) have taken a white-glove approach to deck maintenance, about 30 years of use is all you can hope for in a modern 12-millimeter-thick teak deck. The wood's biggest foe is the scrub brush, which can chew through the soft grain and shave years off the decks life. So if you are looking at an old Taiwanese-built cruiser from the 1970s with a deeply grooved old teak deck, give it a close inspection, especially the subdeck; you might be biting off more than you can chew. Even if the core sub-deck is still good, re-caulking and refastening an existing deck is a time-consuming project.

Those of you who missed Practical Sailor's report on how a weak winterizing solution can create a Sandals Beach Resort for waterborne bacteria may be noticing a pungent odor coming from your galley tap. Regardless of the cause of your onboard water woes, our favorite chemist-sailor Drew Frye offers a series of simple steps to decontaminate that tainted water tank.

This week I had the opportunity to poke around a ketch-rigged Pearson 424 that was for sale in the neighborhood and I was reminded of the many advantages of the ketch design. The Pearson 424 is an example of several decades-old designs that were offered in a variety of rigs, giving owners an opportunity to compare the sail plans.