Inside Practical Sailor

Lest you think multi-billion-dollar chemical companies and their geeks in white lab coats have a lock on cleaning your boat, there are numerous homebrew solutions that have the ability to bring back that new boat shine.

A few years back at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show, I was reminded of the hidden dangers of boat shows. I was sitting in the cockpit of a custom Ed Monk design offered for sale and had forgotten that I had a mortgage and a job that required regular appearances at an office.I caressed the freshly varnished tiller. It seemed to fit my hand perfectly.The previous owner sailed it all over the Pacific, the owner said. I suddenly realized Id violated the first rule for attending a boat show: Never go alone.

Ever since I fell under the spell of E.B. White’s classic tale “Charlotte’s Web,” I’ve been more than reluctant to stomp on every bug we see on deck—especially spiders. I know my arachnid empathy might come back to bite me, literally. Nevertheless, when someone on board shouts, "Spider!" I still reach for a clear plastic container (to trap the uninvited guest) and sheet of notebook paper (to slip under the plastic dome, for extraction). Each time I do, I imagine prominent American philosopher and famous bug lover E.O. Wilson nodding with approval.

If you want your ropes to stay a bit lighter in the rain and spray, waterproofing treatments can definitely help. In our testing, Nikwax Rope Proof made a 39-percent difference in water-weight gain after a dunking—compared to untreated line—after eight months of use. It also gave a subtle, but unmistakable, improvement in handling and reduction in snarling. It seems like good stuff to use on all sheets and halyards.

To keep pipe joints from leaking, use Teflon tape or pipe joint compound, and remember that hose barb-to-hose connections are much easier to make drip-proof with a hose clamp than the same connection made on a threaded pipe stub.

One of the most common question we are asked regarding standing rigging upgrades is, How do I install an inner forestay or Solent stay? Because these stays might one day be depended upon to carry a storm jib in heavy weather, and because every boat presents different challenges for this project, it's important to do your research and investigate other boats that have carried out this retrofit. Once you have a general idea of what features you like, consult a rigger for the initial design. Here are several resources that can start you down the right path.

When it takes longer to find the right tool for the job than to actually complete the job, consider creating your own doctors bag of boat tools. In this weeks Inside Practical Sailor blog, youll find great advice on taming your toolbox from veteran circumnavigator Evans Starzinger, as well as links to some of our most popular tests of hand tools and power tools-just in time for Father's Day.

This coming Thanksgiving prompted my reflection on all that sailors like me have to be thankful for. It's easy to appreciate our good fortune on a tradewind passage—with the log ticking off the miles, and cloud streets stretching above us. But, looking back through the lens of time, it's clear even the roughest passages have their gifts. Here then, as Practical Sailor embarks on its 50th year of publication, are a few things I'm thankful for.

One of my projects this winter will be to upgrade the interior lights on my 1971 Yankee 30 Opal that I am restoring. The classic S&S design currently has some chintzy plastic LED lights made for the recreational vehicle market. The lights are effective, practical, and efficient, but when I came across a box of brass bell-type traditional bulkhead reading lights at a used gear chandlery, that was the nudge I needed to make a switch.

In plainest technical terms the tiller gives us immediate corrective feedback, an opportunity to learn from our mistakes, far quicker than any wheel assembly can do. Both devices help us become better sailors, but the tiller just does it faster. It is, at its core, more honest about the conditions were facing-sometimes brutally so.