DIY Projects

While many potential failures are easy to spot, some flaws are hidden under paint or within the structure, or are so small that a routine visual inspection wont pick them up. Standing rigging, hulls, decks and hardware fittings are the most common places where hidden structural weaknesses can lead to big repair bills, or even loss of life.

Single taps cost about $15, though you will need a handle. A small set (#8 through -inch) sells for about $60. Carbon steel taps are fine for aluminum. High speed steel is required for stainless steel. Chose starting taps for typical through-threading work. Taper and bottoming taps are used sequentially for blind holes and are harder to start.

With more time than money on our hands, the sailors innate resourcefulness kicks in. Here are a just some of the penny-pinching projects tech editor Drew Frye has undertaken to improve his sailing life.

I own a 42-foot Pearson 424 with lots of bright work. Ive absolutely had it with Cetol! There must be something that is easier to use than this. It forms a dark coating after a few years and begins to peel in splotches. Then you have to remove it, clean the teak, and start over. Oh, the stuff goes on clear so if you spill a drop on your gelcoat, you can't see it until it ambers. Once that happens, you can never get it off. Im trying Semco Natural. I tried a small area a couple of years ago and so far have had good luck. While it isn't as durable as Cetol, it doesn't build-up.

Often an old sail wont hold stitches, and some sailors hate to sew. A number of products proved strong enough and flexible enough to make serviceable repairs. In Stitch-free Sail Repair, (see November 2017) we reviewed repair tapes, epoxy, polyurethane, and a few other common adhesives for usefulness as no-sewing options for sail repair, and in September 2017 we reviewed options for Sunbrella repair. After two years in the Maryland sun, the rankings have changed…

A companionway slider and hatch boards are the most common type of cabin entry on sailboats. Its seaworthy, lightweight, and inexpensive. Unfortunately, you can't leave the hatch open when its raining without getting water below. Swapping the hatch boards for a hinged door is a popular upgrade, but in many boats there simply isn't space for an opened door.

The fastest way to attach light hardware to a cored deck is a self-tapping screw. It is also the fastest way to have hardware rip out of the deck and end up with a wet core and delaminated deck. But how to replace screws that have gotten loose or prevent a wet deck in your future? One method is to drill and over-sized hole, remove some core, fill the enlarged hole with epoxy, and then replace them with small through bolts (see Spreading the Load Practical Sailor, August 2016). But what if the backside is inaccessible? Can we create an improved repair by filling and reinstalling a self-tapping fastener, without major surgery? What sealing and filling material is best?

My pal Jimmys inflatable dinghy sprung a leak. It was a simple repair. He hoisted the boat aboard, put a wire wheel on his cordless drill and began scuffing the surface in preparation for gluing. Seconds later, a two-inch strand of wire had pierced his cornea and he was on the way to the Northern District Hospital in Luganville, Vanuatu. After battling infection for several weeks and follow up treatment in Australia, he got most of his sight back.

Multifunction display manufacturers have pushed their products through a dramatic evolution in the last five years as they try to keep pace with technology that we take for granted in our other electronics. Better interfaces, screen resolution, and the ability to download useful software apps (beyond navigation) are just some of the improvements. Most of the major vendors are on their third generation of touchscreen interfaces, higher resolution displays, downloadable software, remote music control, and other functions far afield of what MFDs performed five years ago.

Sunbrella does not shrink. That is the mantra, and for covers and dodger that are left in place, it seems to be the true. It stretches a little when wet, and so long as it is maintained under tension while it dries, it retains it shape. So says Sunbrella. While this seems true for tensioned cloth (our dodger still fits) and it hardly matters for a sail cover, our real world experience with removable Sunbrella window covers has been different, shrinking as much as 5 percent over a period of years. The problem, no doubt, is that these are worst case scenario, repeatedly removed while still wet with dew and allowed to dry. The end result was that the covers became difficult to install and some of the snaps were being ripped out by the excessive tension.