Home Boat Maintenance DIY Projects

DIY Projects

Stickier Sail Tape with 3M Primer

Self-adhesive hardware-store hooks don’t stick well to bare fiberglass. Just last week we had one wash into the bilge-pump strainer on our test boat....

F-24 Portlight Replacement

The windows on our Corsair F-24 trimaran were obviously damaged by UV radiation. All we could see through them were shapes of objects that...

The Best Boat Bucket You Can Buy

A recent test report reacquainted me with an age old problem, that has not yet fully been solved: How can one person, absent a...

The DIY Bulkhead Rebuild on a Production Charter Cat

In 2021 I bought Epic, a 2013 Lagoon 450 catamaran, and soon learned the boat’s forward bulkhead, along with other important structural components, were...

Rebuilding a Cape Dory 36 Part V

This is Part V, the final installment of a five-part series on rebuilding and modifying our Cape Dory 36 from a bare hull into...

Simple Tips on Servicing Your Sailboat Winches

We continue to knock down the list of boat projects in anticipation of launch day in the northern hemisphere summer (yes, Florida and Caribbean...

PS Advisor: Tank Monitor and Camera Mount Hacks

Fuel tanks typically have a mechanical gauge, but water tanks can cause corrosion and waste tanks will foul the typical mechanical flat mechanism. As...

Rebuilding a Cape Dory 36 Part IV

This is the fourth article in a five-part series describing the rebuild of our 1982 Cape Dory 36 and how we turned it into...

Bottom Paints for Brackish Water at 1 Year

For more than four decades, Practical Sailor has been testing bottom paints, although for the first few years, the topic really didn’t draw much...

Rebuilding a Cape Dory 36 Part III

This is Part III of a multi-part series describing the rebuilding of our 1982 Cape Dory 36. In Part I (PS November 2022), I...

Island Packet 370: What You Should Know | Boat Review

Interested in buying an Island Packet 370 sailboat? Find an Island Packet for sale? Looking to sell your boat? Practical Sailor editor Tim Labute...