Life Raft Materials, Construction and Servicing

A follow-up to our three-part series evaluates PU, PVC and various rubber fabrics.

Sea Anchors & Drogues

Taking bad weather bow-to or stern-to is a fundamental quandary. Much depends on your boat. Then you have to decide which sea anchor or drogue to buy. We sort through the decision tree.

Mailport 08/01/00

Handheld GPSI have the greatest respect for the equipment reviews in Practical Sailor, but I think that you overlooked very critical attributes for your...

Close As A Pencil Point

On May 1, President Clinton announced that the selective availability (SA) system used to degrade GPS (global positioning system) signals was terminated, effective at...

Mailport

Stripped Hose ClampsRe: The Case of the Stripped Hose Clamp in the September 1999 issue:First, torque is not the issue. Clamping force is the...

A Foolproof (and Simple) Way to Set Jib Leads

An excellent, surprisingly simple way to set jib leads is to use jib luff telltales as a guide. This technique applies to all types of headsails-genoas as well as working jibs.

Offshore Log:Escape From Lotus Land

As lovely as they found New Zealand, the crew of Calypso decides its time to move on…as soon as they can find a window between cyclones to cross theTasman Sea.

Offshore Log:Escape From Lotus Land

As lovely as they found New Zealand, the crew of Calypso decides its time to move on…as soon as they can find a window between cyclones to cross theTasman Sea.

Sailor’s Knives: 14 High-End Blades Tested

The Boye Dendritic Cobalt ‘Prophet’ tops the scoring, followed by three excellent models from Benchmade

20 Electric Bilge Pumps Tested

Top performers from Attwood, Lovett, Rule, West Marine and Whale vary considerably by model, but when all is said and done, we like the Whale Supersub, Rule-Mate and Lovett 1200.

Catalina 25 Sailboat Tour

This Catalina 25 review also explains the important differences between the swing keel, fixed fin keel and wing keel versions, along with the standard...

Latest Sailboat Reviews

Gemini 31/3000 Used Boat Review

The funny thing about the Gemini is that it's an old design. Ken Shaw drew the lines in 1969. There's nothing particularly contemporary about it. However, by painting the cabin sides black (Euro styling), adding a swept-back fiberglass "pilothouse" and gradually adding length to the full-bodied hulls, the Gemini has always looked like she belonged with her contemporaries, whether that was the 1980s or 1990s.