Boat Maintenance

Practical Sailor tested a bevy of bird repellents to determine which are the most effective in keeping the pelicans, pigeons, cormorants, gulls, and other fowl from fouling your boat. Bird repellents fit into four basic categories: acoustical repellents, visual repellents, biochemical repellents, and those that use physical exclusion. Sailboats most commonly use visual devices, which are the easiest and most economical to use and install on boats. We installed a sampling of the various types and monitored them for six months. The test products included: Bird Barriers Scare Eye, Bird-Xs Terror Eyes, Bird Xs Prowler Owl, Bird-Xs Irri-Tape, Bird Barriers Polly-Spike, Bird Barriers Bird-Flight, Fly Byes Stainless Steel Wide Spike, Fly Byes Bird Umbrella, Bird Barriers Daddi Long Legs, Bird-B-Gones Bird Spider, Birdoffs Bird Off, WhirlyBird Repeller, Gull Sweep, and Bird-B-Gones Bird Deterrent.

We recently launched a new evaluation of marine adhesives and sealants. There is no single caulk that works in all of these cases, so its impossible to declare a single Best Choice adhesive, but we decided to at least put some numbers on paper to guide you in your choices.

Every spring, there are numerous online forums discussing the best rope-cleaning methods. Practical Sailors interviews with technical representatives from major rope makers Bluewater Ropes, New England Ropes, Samson Cordage, and Yale Cordage yielded uniformly conservative guidance on how to get the grit out of old lines without destroying the rope's integrity. Testers also took to the laundry room to determine the effects of detergent, wash cycles, acids, bases and solvents, fabric softeners, power washing, bleach, hot water, and heat on rope strength and stretch.

For better or worse, technology is changing cruising. It is turning sailboats into floating workshops, offices, cafes and even cinemas. While not every cruiser...

You've made an offer on a used boat and have retained a marine surveyor to examine the vessel prior to completing the transaction. One...

I received a message regarding surveying a 1980 CS 36: “I bought a sailboat with two friends and need a survey,” the WhatsApp message...

You can’t maintain a boat without ordering a few marine supplies, so Practical Sailor readers offered (mostly) high praise and appreciation for our guide...

It’s been a few years since Interlux (Akzo Nobel) discontinued the popular VC17 and VC17m antifouling due to environmental and safety concerns. However, it...

Are Marelon through-hulls a good modern replacement for bronze or a failure waiting to happen? Common refrains are: “Okay above the waterline if you...

Online juggernaut Amazon, big-box behemoth Walmart, and West Marine—with more than 250 stores nationwide—are the biggest sellers of marine supplies in North America. But...