Boat Maintenance

Design For: Stern Rail Mount Work Surface

For those who enjoy fishing or char­coal cooking, here's a design for a stern rail mount work surface useful for fish cleaning and meat cutting, and big enough to hold a hibachi when moored. I got the idea from yacht designer C.W. "Chuck" Paine, and Chuck got the idea from some Caribbean charter boats. You could also clamp a vise to the work surface and thus have a handy little work bench for onboard repairs and modifications. Mounted as it is on the stern rail, it is at a useful height, and offal and mess are easily cleared over­board. A hibachi used on the surface demands careful use, of course — as with any open flame on a boat — but it's about as far outboard a position as can be found. It's also a lot cheaper than those charcoal grills designed to be clamped to the stern rail.

It Takes a Tough Sailor to Make a Smooth Boat Bottom

Fairing in through hull fittings, as described in the February issue, will go a long way toward reducing bot­tom drag in light air, but it won't really do the job unless the paint surface of the bottom is smooth. A surprisingly high percentage of boats not used primarily for racing have bottom paint jobs that range from poor to atrocious. If your bottom has peeling patches that haven't been in, brush marks from failure to smooth out thick bottom paints, or stipple marks from ap­plication with a roller, your boat will be slower in light air than it could be. Bottom paints, unlike topside paints, are not formulated for smooth application, in most cases. They have a high solids content and quick-flashing solvents, a combination guaranteed to make smooth application difficult. Even the racing boat with the smoothest bottom didn't start out that way.

Teak: A Little Effort Goes a Long Way

Probably nothing can make or break the appearance of a fiberglass boat more quickly than the appearance of the exterior teak trim. Contrary to popular belief, teak is not a maintenance-free wood that can be safely ignored and neglected for years at a time. Though teak may not rot, it can check, warp, and look depressingly drab if not proper­ly cared for. Although it is not immune to neglect, teak is incredibly resilient, and can be brought back to life after remarkable amounts of abuse. Therefore, there is no excuse for drab, ugly exterior teak on any boat. Unlike other woods used for exterior trim, the grey weathering of teak rarely extends very far below the sur­face of the wood.

A Homemade Tiller Tender

On my Catalina 22 I have a tiller tender which has served me well for many years — and it didn't cost a cent. On top of the tiller are two pieces of 3/8" x 3/4" hardwood about 5" long. The two pieces are drilled horizontally, at the joint line, about 2" from the end to accommodate a 3" length of split neoprene which has an inside diameter slightly less than the diameter of the braided line which runs to the coamings. Two holes drilled vertically near the ends are used to fasten the device to the tiller.

Lay New Nonskid to Restore Worn Decks

We don't really know what the life expectancy of a fiberglass boat may be. There are lots of them out there that are more than 20 years old, still going strong. We do know, however, that no matter how longlived fiberglass may be as a structural material, over time the gelcoat sur­face commonly used in finishing fiberglass becomes porous and chalky, and has the unfortunate tendency to crack and craze. Gelcoat, in other words, weathers just as a painted surface will over time. With topsides, a tired gelcoat surface can be restored to better than new condition through the use of polyurethane paints, which can retain color and gloss for years. Decks, however, are another story.

Adjust Your Own Compass

With a little care, boatowners can do a perfectly adequate job of compen­sating their own compasses. The ob­jective in compass adjusting is to neutralize the boat's magnetism, not to make the compass point in any par­ticular direction. You can determine the effect of the boat's magnetic field on any compass bearing by simply turning the boat 180 for the amount that the compass overshoots or under‑shoots a 180' change is always just twice the effect of the boat's field on that heading.

Proper Fastenings: Don’t Screw Up

The ultimate in trivial significance is probably Richard III's lament about losing a battle for lack of a nail. By contrast, use a nail in a fiberglass boat and it's likely the boat will be lost. Nails as well as wood screws have little application on a modern boat. The reason is simple: almost any fastener will do a better job than either. In this day and age the most practical fastener material is stainless…

Replacing Teak Decks, the DIY-er’s Way

Practical Sailor contributor and world cruiser Joe Minick details the steps he and his wife took to replace the wornout teak deck aboard their Mason 43, Southern Cross. Minick breaks down the major tasks of the three-month project and explains how they saved a lot of money by doing some of the work themselves. The article looks at the pros and cons of a do-it-yourself teak deck refit; planning and budgeting; step-by-step removal of hardware and the old deck; and the detailed installation process of the new deck.

Winterizing the Engine: Maintenance that Is Truly Preventive

Winterizing an inboard engine installation means a lot more than filling the cooling system with antifreeze and stuffing a rag in the exhaust outlet. It means taking care of the exhaust system, the fuel system, the engine controls, and other components of the drive train, such as the shaft and prop. If you want to do these things yourself — none of them is difficult, only time consuming — plan on a long day of work, or perhaps a leisurely weekend. It's work that will pay off, however, both in im­proved understanding of your boat's propulsion sys­tem, and in money saved. At $25 per hour, the simple projects described here will save you about $200. Few special tools are required, and the only skill necessary is a modicum of common sense.

Where Credit is Due: June 2011

Letters to Practical Sailor, June 2011. This month's letters cover subjects such as: Precision Boat Works, Groco, and More!

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Hunter Marine unveiled its latest large cruising monohull, the Hunter 45DS, in late 2007. The boat is essentially an upgrade of the 44DS, with twin wheels, a new transom, new styling, and a roomier, reconfigured interior. Hunter has sold 152 hulls since the boats debut, making it a fairly successful endeavor. To increase the Hunter 45DSs interior volume, designer Glenn Henderson opted for relatively high freeboard and additional length. Henderson also matched a nearly elliptical rudder with a smaller keel. The 54-horsepower Yanmar auxiliary engine moved the Hunter through calm water at 8 knots at 3,000 rpm. Testers sailed the 45-footer in flat water and 13.5 knots of wind, making 5.8 knots and were able to tack through 110 degrees. The current base price of the Hunter is $268,990.