DC-to-DC Converters and Solar Controllers: Are They Smart Enough for LFP?
In "How to Charge Your LFP Battery the Right Way" we explored the charging needs of LFPs and how smart chargers, fed from shore...
VHF Radio Safety: What Every Sailor Needs to Know Before a Mayday
One of the most important rules while out on the water is to always lend a hand if possible—without risking your own crew and...
How to Charge Your LFP Battery the Right Way
If you are thinking of managing a conversion of your own existing, all lead acid system over to one with a Lithium iron phosphate...
Camera Gear for Cruisers: A Buyer’s Guide
You love sailing. You love (or like) photography, and you want to share some of the spectacular things you find out on the water...
Lithium-Ion and LFP Battery Fires: The Real Risks Sailors Face
Before we consider the safety issues of lithium-ion batteries, we should remember that lead acid batteries are not without risk. Apart from the obvious...
Servicing Your Wheel-Drive Autopilot
A reliable autopilot is great to have onboard because it gives you opportunities to rest your arms and/or eat while under way while still...
Taking Starlink Offshore: What the Gen 2 and Mini Can Really Do
Sailing used to mean disconnecting from the everyday—for some, it still does. Days were spent watching the waves roll by, adjusting sails, reading books,...
Handheld VHF Radio Buyer’s Guide: Explore 20 Models, from Low-Cost to High-End
VHF radios are not included among the minimal safety equipment required on pleasure craft by the US Coast Guard, but they should be. VHF...
Budget Nav: Build a Fault-Tolerant Electronic Navigation System for Under $3,000
When I started sailing, navigation gear consisted of a paper chart, a few drawing instruments and a compass. Instruments usually consisted of a single...
LFP vs. Lead Acid: Eight Things Every Sailor Must Know Before Switching
Marketing literature does a good job of promoting the primary advantages of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP or LiFePo4), such as life expectancy, weight,...
Latest Logbook
Practical Sailor Logbook – September 2026
This month we tour the Hans Christian 48T — the offshore cruiser many sailors call the holy grail — walk the custom Antigua 60...
Video: Morgan 44 Review – The Catalina Cruiser Everyone Forgot
The 1989 Morgan 44 is a big center-cockpit cruising sailboat with Catalina DNA—but it may be one of the most overlooked boats of its...
Latest Sailboat Reviews
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 42 DS Used Boat Review
This boat is dangerous for one simple reason—it looks like the answer. It’s big enough, pretty enough, modern enough, and suddenly, somehow, almost affordable...
