Boat Maintenance

Are you one of those sailors who believes there are too many holes in the hull of your boat? Have you ever wondered if...

Whether you own a Raymarine Tiller Pilot (ST1000 or ST2000) or the Simrad Tillerpilot (TP10, TP22 or TP32), the day may come when this...

During the 1970s and early 80s frenzy of fiberglass production boat building, many cabin soles were pretty basic—a textured fiberglass pan or bare plywood....

As sailors, once we’ve cleared the outer markers of our club, marina or harbor, we look forward to raising our sails and we enjoy...

In light air, a major portion of the total resistance of a sailboat derives from skin friction. To oversimplify, the smoother the boat's "skin" — the submerged part of the vessel — the less power is required to drive it to a given speed. Put another way, given two boats identical in every way, including sail area, the boat with the smoother bot­tom will be slightly faster than a boat with a rough bottom in light air. Most racing sailors have learned the value of a smooth bottom. Ironically, cruising sailors can benefit at least as much from the creation of a low-resistance bottom as racing sailors, although you rarely see a cruising or daysailing boat with a bottom to match that of a good racing boat.

Many of the fiberglass boats manufactured in the 70s and 80s, sail or power, were built on production assembly lines where speed and expense...

I’ve long thought there must be a safer, more comfortable way to go up our mast than a Bosun’s Chair. When I criticized our...

Most teak cleaners don't just clean; they also remove weathered woods surface fibers and expose new wood. As much as 0.010 inches of surface teak can be removed in a single cleaning when using some common teak-cleaning products. Regularly cleaning with these products will shorten a teak decks life. Some also contain strong alkalis that can harm paint, caulk, and aluminum.

Canvas dodgers and biminis are the hallmark of a cruising yacht, but they arent cheap to come by. We wanted to find the best way to protect the investment and get the most life out of the canvas. Sunbrella makers recommend that routine maintenance include frequent freshwater rinsing, plus spot cleaning, and applying a treatment to restore the fabrics repellency. In this article, we take a look at treatments designed to keep on-board canvas water repellent and looking its best. We tested seven: Aquatech, Marykate, 3M, 303 Products, NikWax, Star brite, and Iosso.

In addition to all of that lovely salt, seawater is very hard, nearly saturated with calcium. All it needs is something to react with (uric acid in the head) or localized overheating (engine) to create concrete-like incrustations. Sometimes mechanical removal is possible; a favorite cruiser ritual involves hauling out the sanitation hoses and beating them on concrete to remove internal scale build-up. Heat exchangers can be reamed out with a rod, but most engine and plumbing systems are inaccessible without considerable disassembly.