DIY Projects

One of the more popular uses for fairing compounds is for shaping underwater appendages like keels and rudders so they are more efficient. Adjusting the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) profile, or airfoil shape, of a fin keel or rudder can create more lift to enhance windward performance. Altering the trailing edge can yield similar improvements.

The true test of marine gear is not whether it works when installed, but rather how it functions after years in the field. To that end, we have left samples of sewing materials and sewn test samples in the sun, wind, rain, and snow for two years, and have also sailed with sewn samples in service on our test boat.

Weve sewn our fair share of eyes in nylon webbing, but heres an easy no-sew alternative for creating a webbing strap with a buckle (shackle) that can be used for easily lashing down the dinghy, a battery, or even holding up your pants in a pinch. It is based on stuff a sailor has on hand-webbing, a chain link, and a shackle-and is as strong as professionally sewn ends, plus it can be untied after loading. It has tested at greater than 85-percent breaking strength and 100 percent of minimum rate strength, and it works on both nylon and ultra-high strength materials like Vectran webbing.

We think of all stick-and-rip, hook-and-loop fasteners as Velcro-just as we ask for Kleenex after a sneeze-and most tend to have uniformly low performance expectations of these velcro products, assuming that they will have limited holding power from the beginning. These assumptions are not totally unwarranted. Velcro will inevitably be the first component of a canvas project to fail, with ultraviolet rays degrading the fine threads and holding strength dropping to zero within two to four years. When used to mount even the lightest equipment, the velcro fasteners vibrate loose without warning. The Velcros adhesive can slowly ooze off in heat, buckle in humidity, or simply turn to dust. So do any of them actually work? PS testers decided to find out.

Responsible boatyard work requires dust collection. Whether its toxic bottom paint or ordinary sanding dust, it still makes a mess and can ruin a neighbors paint job-in-progress. Dustless sanders have hose connections leading to vacuum cleaners, but unless it is a sophisticated vacuum with multi-stage dust separation, those filters clog and dust flies.

Once upon a time in Tasmania, a skipper faced a daunting task: install a three-bladed, folding propeller without hauling out the boat. The underwater job would require an adhesive to secure some of the bolts, but which adhesives that were already on board would work best under water? To find out, PS contributor Jonathan Neeves decided to run a little adhesives test of the three products he had on hand-all commonly found at chandlers worldwide under the same or a similar brand.

Replacing the roller-furling control line is an easy do-it-yourself job for the boat owner. Inexpensive, double-braid Dacron is a fine choice for furling lines on most boats shorter than 40 feet. On longer boats, you can opt for a furling-line material of more esoteric double-braids with less stretch. However, any line smaller than 3/8-inch diameter is too difficult to grip.

Vinyl protection is about the long run. In the Practical Sailor January 2014 issue, we reported on the performance of a host of clear-vinyl waxes and cleaners, as well as several different clear-vinyl window materials, after testing them for four months on panels. This report is the two-year update on the long-term test of those products, and already the first failures have appeared.

Our long-term test of clear vinyl and clear-vinyl treatments includes environmental outdoor tests with controls, as well as some real-world testing on one of our test boats.

Over the years, weve stressed the importance of keeping a close eye on stainless-steel sailboat hardware and why pitting, crevice-corrosion, and galvanic action are the enemies. But we may have downplayed the need to be aware of how plain old ferrous-metal oxidation comes into the picture. Mild steel and high-carbon steel are even more prone to corrosion, and despite the fact that the oxidation is far easier to spot on these metals, this ticking timebomb somehow gets ignored.