Inside Practical Sailor

Start your inspection with the shore power cord itself, ensuring its constructed of proper marine grade components, uses appropriately sized wiring, and is the shortest cord that will get the job done. Always replace cords that show signs of chafe, cracks, split insulation, or those having electrical tape repairs.

The danger in running before the squall (or tacking downwind, a tactic sometimes employed by Transpac racers) is the inevitable wind shift that can cause an accidental jibe. Since squalls are usually short lived, with the strongest winds lasting less than 20 minutes, simply reducing sail to a safe configuration and motoring through is a less taxing approach. What is a "safe" configuration? Gusts much over 40 knots are not common, but some devastating downbursts in excess of 50 knots can occur in volatile areas. (The fatal squall line that struck the fleet in the 2011 Chicago-Mac race is a good example).

We tested each solution by diluting the holding tank treatment about 5:1 with water, placing the mix in a trigger-style spray bottle, and misting the toilet bowl after each use, or at least a few times a day. The results were impressive, but there are some holding tank treatments that can promote holding tank odors if used in this manner.

This week's blog on restoring old hulls includes tips like this one on wet-sanding: If youre using an electric sander, mist the hull surface with a spray bottle. Mix a few drops of dish detergent in the water to keep the hull evenly wet and keep it wetter longer. Rinse the surface often to look for potential burn-through areas, and look at it from several angles. You can use a window squeegee to quick dry the surface after a rinse to get a low-glare look at the gelcoat. Do not use circular movements. Wet-sand until the hull has an even dullness, a matte finish; then rinse with fresh water.

Most long-range sailors first start out on marine SSB, and monitor the ham traffic nets for valuable local and distant marine weather forecasts. If the ham service sounds intriguing, they move forward and study for the general class ham radio license.

One of the biggest mistakes an owner makes when estimating how much time it takes to strip bottom paint from a hull is to peck away at one of the easy spots where the paint is peeling and then assume the rest of the coating will come off just as easily. We offer a more realistic formula for estimating the amount of time a stripping project will take.

At the St. Petersburg Boat Show month a while back, I had the pleasure of seeing delivery skipper and author John Kretschmers presentation on what he called sailboats for a serious ocean. I have reservations about any ideal boat list, but Kretschmer, who reviews boats for Sail Magazine and whose most recent book Sailing a Serious Ocean was one of our favorite books last winter, has the ideal background for this sort of work, and a list like this is undeniably helpful for wannabe cruisers who need a place to start their search.

If you are in the market for a used boat and live where winter storage is the norm, now is probably one of the best times to bargain. The owner is looking at another year of storage bills for a boat he no longer wants, and he knows that trying to sell a boat thats buttoned down for the winter is like trying to sell a house thats under a circus tent. However, if you are anywhere near the pathway of last years Hurricane Matthew, that bargain boat might well turn out to be your worst nightmare.

Ive been the fortunate witness to the rebirth of a boat and the marvelous effects that sailing can have in the life of a boy. And Practical Sailor readers have unknowingly been along for the ride. For the past five years, boatbuilder Robert Helmick has allowed his Endeavour 42 Lost Boys to serve as a test platform for a wide array of sailing gear featured in these pages.

In the March 2016 article Changing views on chain hooks, we pointed out that the major manufacturers of marine anchor chains caution that some chain hooks can weaken chains under extreme loads. These chain hooks are often used to attach an anchor snubber to the anchor chain. We confirmed this effect with testing and advised that if you want to use a hook on your anchor snubber, you should choose a hook that doesn't weaken the chain through point-loading (concentrating shock loads on a small area of the chain link). Greg Kutsen, president of Mantus, the maker of one of the chain hooks that we tested, contends that the real-life loads encountered when anchoring with a snubber are not significant enough to worry about any point-loading caused by the hook on the chain. Kutsen explains the reasons for his view here.