Boat Maintenance

Delighted with the performance of the over-the-boom riding sail, we decided to make our own.

While most of us are-hopefully-out sailing this summer, we know that many sailors are busy with system upgrades, do-it-yourself projects, and the usual marine maintenance adventures. Here are some archive articles we think will help you tick off the tasks on your to-do list.

As a subscriber, you have free access to our back-issue archive-more than 2,000 articles. Here are a few topics you might find relevant this season.

Balsa and rigid foam cores. Aluminum, magnesium, and titanium alloys. Epoxy resins. Unidirectional glass, carbon fiber , and Kevlar. Builders have the most fantastic tools at their disposal to build light, durable boats … and then we weigh them down with all manner of stuff.

In addition to the usual steps you take before a seasonal haul out at home (decommissioning the engine, storing sails, pickling systems, etc.), hauling out and leaving your boat in a new yard, especially a foreign port, involves some extra measures.

A high percentage of cruisers we meet each year plan on leaving their boats in a safe place and flying home, often once a year. If youre leaving your boat for less than four weeks, it may be most convenient to leave it in the water, providing you can find a secure marina slip or mooring. For longer periods of time, it may be cost effective and attractive to combine dry storage in a secure boat yard with your annual haul out. Weve left Mahina Tiare 1, II & III on the hard or in the water in Portugal, the Azores, Sweden, Panama, Chile, Hawaii, Canada and New Zealand and over the past 35 years and have learned quite a bit about the process, from choosing a place to keep the boat.

If you buy your paint in summer or fall, you can often save some money, but this means youll need to mix it well prior to painting. In fact most of the paint in the store has settled long enough to have separated, leaving a thin solvent-rich layer on the top and 2/3 of the paint as a sludge on the bottom. Intended for less stubborn house paint, ordinary mixers clog up with the goo, taking 15 minutes or more to properly rejuvenate a can. After a dozen layers of paint build up, they scarcely mix at all.

In the quest for speed, sailors endlessly debate sail trim, the best cloth, the hottest cut, and which folding prop will do everything. In reality, nothing slows you down more than a dirty bottom, the primary motivation behind Practical Sailors trademark bottom paint trials.

Were guessing 90 percent of sailors have their boat hauled by a yard. A travel lift or crane plucks the boat from the water, and yard guys block the boat for the winter. Your sole involvement is reading a warning in the lease agreement that you will not touch the stands and that you will not attach anything to them, including tarps. Those are good rules, and nothing we are about to say is meant to contradict them.

While interviewing boat maintenance professionals for background information preferences, several quipped that in reality, they replace far more caulk because its mildewed than because it has failed or stiffened. They seemed to favor either 3M 4000 UV or Sika 291 for exposed uses, because they leave a smooth finish and resist mildew. When we asked about strength and bonding on-deck, they referred us back to the mildew problem. Thats what causes most of their call-backs. (Below the waterline, where looks don't matter, they favored 3M 5200 or Sika 291.)