Keels: Minor Maintenance and Repair
The best way to treat an iron keel that’s rusting is to sandblast the whole thing and apply a complete, new, epoxy-based coating system....
Design For: Accessible Radio Rack
Radios occupy an important place in the contemporary sailing scene, supplying weather reports, time ticks, entertainment, and news. High quality radios are also expensive....
Nonskid Test Update
Practical Sailor recently tested a nonskid mat from Soft Deck Inc. as a followup to our January 2012 report on do-it-yourself options for replacing...
Marine Sealant Adhesion Tests
We expect a lot from adhesive sealants for the marine environment. They must stick to a wide variety of surfaces, including gelcoat, aluminum, wood,...
Fixing the Storm-Damaged Boat
With $655 million dollars marine vessel insurance claims from the 2017 hurricanes Harvey and Irma, there is no shortage of broken boats accumulating in...
How to Measure Boat Humidity: Psychrometric Charts Do It Right
Insulation is a greater energy-saving expedient; if our heater or air conditioner is undersized, fixing drafts, shading or insulating windows, and insulating non-cored laminate...
Epoxy Fairing Compounds, Part One
Breathing life into an older fiberglass boat always entails more work than was expected, but for a person with the time, skill, and do-it-yourself...
Do-It-Yourself Boatyards
The cost of buying, owning, and maintaining a sailboat has spiraled to an all-time high. The ranks of entry-level sailors, starting out in smaller...
Ideal Drogue setup will require experiments
For maximum maneuverability, the control lines-one port, one starboard-should attach at the widest part of the boat. This maximizes leverage and places the effort...
Mailport: Marelon Seacocks
Regarding your recent report on Seacocks (Beneteau Responds to Seacock Query, PS August 2018) I owned a 1987 Catalina 30, Mark II. It had...
The Great Loop – The Basics
Join us this week as we discuss taking a sailboat around North America's great boating adventure - The Great Loop. We discuss advice from...
