Are You Ready to Kludge Your Way Home?
The first use of the word kludge is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm in 1962, describing...
Tough, Versatile Coosa Board Suited for Various Projects
Cosa board is a closed cell panel that is reinforced with glass fiber, giving it both shear strength and compression strength. Compared to the...
The Multipurpose Core
Solid fiberglass is strong and durable, but it weighs a ton. Even boats with solid hulls generally have cored decks, cabins, stringers, and bulkheads....
Foam Filters Make Little Sense for Air Intake
Probably the biggest takeaway from our report is the surprising prevalence of deteriorating foam oil filters...
In Search of Better Filters
Presumably, air cleaners are about dusty environments, and dust is a rare thing on the water....
A Few Tips on Patching or Masking with Tape
Tape seems like simple thing to manage. How complicated can it get? But as webe found in multiple past tests at Practical Sailor, the type of tape you choose, and how you use it determines the quality and durability of your work.
Bird repellants, solvent safety, GPS antennas
[IMGCAP(3)] Anti-Bird StrategyFlorida is hard on boats from sun damage, mildew, bottom blisters and birds. I keep the ospreys from perching on my tricolor light by fitting a clear plastic container over it with tacks on its bottom. I have sunbrella deck covers that keep poo from the smaller birds off the deck and also shade the boat to keep it cooler, the paint protected and mildew free. Then, for the pelicans that pooped on my…
Simplifying Your Cleaning Chemicals Kit
Instead of requiring 30 random cleaning products, you would need only four or five with carefully targeted chemistry. Thats it-no more than five cleaners to serve most purposes. Here are the basics to building your own kit.
Winter Maintenance
For many of us, the falling of leaves marks the end of the sailing season. The boat is winterized for the season and our minds shift gears, away from sailing. As the new year comes, we catalog the winter projects we had intended to tackle. Bottom paint, of course. Fresh varnish may be needed inside and out. Deck fittings need re-bedding.
Clipper Ventures Cites Inaccuracies in Report
The following is an excerpt from the statement that Clipper Ventures released in response to UKs Marine Accident Investigation Branchs report on the death of sailor Simon Speirs. The full response can be found online at: https://bit.ly/36cpUb3
Too Many Layers of Bottom Paint?
So, a couple of years back, you acquired a good old boat at a pretty good price-thanks to the market-but now youre wondering how many coats of bottom paint it has. And what kind? Youve put on a few coats of ablative antifouling since youve owned the boat. It has adhered well and has done its job. But each year, the bottom looks rougher and rougher-with big recesses where paint has flaked off. You sweated out some extra prep-work this season, and thought you had a nice, durable subsurface for painting, but each pass of the roller pulls up more paint. Whats going on here?