Sinking? Check Your Stuffing Box

Sometimes as a sailor you are learning to run before you can walk or even crawl. If the auto bilge pump isn’t working, maybe...
The engine mounts on my Perkins M20 diesel needed to be changed. Luckily, they are accessible so I was able to change them myself with a few basic tools and new parts. If your engine is less accessible, you'll need to ask a professional to change the mounts. (Photo/ Marc Robic)

How to Change Your Engine Mounts

It is always discomforting when you know, and actually feel, that something is not quite right. For a little while now, while navigating under...
With a few inexpensive materials and a bit of patience, you can redo the vinyl lettering on your boat yourself. (Photo/ Marc Robic)

Vinyl Boat Lettering DIY Application and Repair

One of the pleasures of boating, at least for me, is reading boat names! I enjoy the many humorous names and those that are...
Little things that are hardly necessary but nice to have start in the galley.

Those Extras you Don’t Need But Love to Have

As a full-time live-aboard, you learn to make some sacrifices. You ultimately become your own little island so you must learn to ration your...
This Perkins M20, 3 cyl, 18hp diesel engine is cleaned, inspected and antifreeze flushed after a winter on the hard. Due to proper prep for both winter and spring, it is now running smoothly. (Photo/ Marc Robic)

Spring Season Engine Start-Up for Winterized Engines

Two things, as they say, are certain in life: death and taxes. Perhaps a third would be that fuel cost will inevitably keep rising....

Hidden Maintenance Problems: Part 3 – Gremlins in the Electrics

The final area for hidden maintenance problems that I want to cover is the boat’s electrical system. Most modern boats rely heavily on their...
Irwin Vise-Grip Wire Stripper. (Photo/ Adam Morris)

Best Crimpers and Strippers for Fixing Marine Electrical Connectors

If you own a cruising boat, you will have to learn to be an electrician (in addition to a painter, a detailer, a mechanic,...
When water seeps into a balsa wood core, it eventually rots and needs to be replaced. Photo courtesy of Epoxyworks.com

Seepage or Flooding? How To Keep Water Out of the Boat

Boats are made to live on water, but that does not mean they are impervious to the stuff. Some systems, like the  electrical system...

Painting a New Bootstripe Like a Pro

Have you been wanting to add a bootstripe to your boat but aren’t sure how to do it? Perhaps you have a bootstripe already...
Practical Sailor’s online archives features dozens of bottom paint tests.

The Best Tools for Bottom Painting

In the quest for speed, sailors endlessly debate sail trim, the best cloth, the hottest cut, and which folding prop will do everything. In...

Deep Keel vs Shoal Draft – Which Should You Buy?

Deep keel or shoal draft: which should you buy? In this episode, we look at one of the biggest sailboat buying decisions cruisers face....

Latest Sailboat Reviews

Endeavour 37 Used Boat Review

Rob Valdez and John Brooks founded Endeavour in 1974 using the molds from Ted Irwin's 32-footer to launch the business. The company built about 600 32s in all. Spurred by this success, Valdez and Brooks began looking around for a larger sistership to expand the line. Just how they "developed" the 37 is a tale best left untold until the principals pass away or become too senile to read the yachting periodicals. Brooks calls the 37 a "house design," and that is generous. The total number of Endeavour 37s built is 476 a lot for a boat that size.