Sails, Rigging & Deck Gear

Even the most dedicated sun worshipper craves shade after a bright, hot day on the water. For those of us whose goals include keeping our skin intact over time, a way to get out of the sun is imperative if we are to enjoy being in the cockpit at anchororinaslip. The problem is that few sailboats come equipped with usable shade, at least when the sails are down. The solution to the shade problem is a sun awning. A sun awning also solves another problem, particularly in tropical climates. By keeping the deck shaded, and by preventing the sun from streaming through deadlights and open hatches, an awning is a big help in keeping the temperature of the cabin interior at a habitable level.

This month’s Gear Graveyard called to mind the famous scene in the movie The Graduate when actor Dustin Hoffman is pulled aside at a dinner party and offered a word of advice: "I just want to say one word to you son . . . just one word . . . plastics." There are a myriad of polymer combinations that make up the vast realm we call plastics, so to speak of them in a general sense can be misleading. Some plastics, like the glass-fiber reinforced acetal copolymers used in a variety of marine hardware are extremely strong.

This year, Practical Sailor’s Winter Reading List offers a roundup of books to boost your navigation, weather, and knot-tying know-how as you while away the winter hours hearthside. We’ve also reviewed a few picks for the young adults in your crew; these reads will surely stoke their sailing daydreams as they too long for spring’s return. Featured titles include “The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather” by Jack Williams, “Emergency Navigation” by David Burch, “Oliver's Surprise” by former Olympic sailor Carol Newman Cronin, and “True Spirit” by 16-year-old solo circumnavigator Jessica Watson.

Letters to Practical Sailor, January 2011. This month's letters cover subjects such as: Sailing non-profits, wind gens, pressure cookers, wood finish and mildew remover.

As a publication that strives to give readers a thorough look at similar items competing in the marketplace, Practical Sailor's long-term testing is vital to determining product durability. Over the years, weve found various ways to update our views. Occasionally run a column called Gear Graveyard, and once in a while, we just round up products that have or havent stood the test of time. This is one of those roundups. All of the items mentioned are, or have been, in use aboard either a 26-foot biodiesel-powered inboard powerboat or a 32-foot Union cutter test boat. They are among quite a few items aboard that undergo testing and abuse, formal and informal, intentional and unintentional. The 10 items included in this report are the Plastimo flexible water tank, Seoladair Easystow inflatable fender, Garmin GPSMap 545s chartplotter, Coleman thermo-electric cooler, Jabsco oil changer, ACR Firefly 2 strobe light, Force 10 Seacook single-burner propane stive, FilterBoss, Aere inflatable fender, Boatsense systems alarm.

During the past decade, Practical Sailor has looked at a number of devices designed to hold the tiller while the helmsman can attend to other important business-such as trimming a jib sheet or popping open a frosty cold beverage. Theres the Davis Tiller-Tamer (Oct. 1, 1992), the Tillerstay (April 15, 1997), the Tillermate (April 1, 2005), and the Steer-iT (April 1, 2008). Except for the Steer-iT, all of these systems involve some form of line-clutch device on the tiller. The clutch "grabs" an athwartship line that passes through it. The line then leads back to cam (or clam) cleats on either side of the tiller that can be used to tension or release the line.

This months feature on long-term product testing (pages 25-30) got me thinking about my own cruising experience between 1989 and 2000. My wife and I didnt have much gear to start, so our list of survivors is small. I suppose that makes it a list worth sharing.

Letters to the Practical Sailor editors in December 2010 include: paint colors, sailmaker services, bilge pumps, pest control and the Wirie v. a DIY WiFi antenna.

My boat has an ITT/Jabsco 36600 diaphragm bilge pump that does not sit in the bilge and is rebuildable. With an 8-foot head on the pump installation, I think this type of pump may be a better type for me than the electric centrifugal pumps you reviewed in the September 2010 issue—although they are more expensive. You did not include any diaphragm pumps in your review. Was there a reason? Do you plan to test this type of pump and perhaps compare them to the ones reported on in the September article? Any information on diaphragm pumps versus centrifugal pumps would be greatly appreciated.

The editors at Practical Sailor get a few reports of broken anchors each year. Typically, these are failed fluke welds on Danforth-style designs or bent shanks on plough-types. The experience of Ted Goodwin, whose 43-pound cast aluminum Barnacle anchor catastrophically broke on the Bahama Bank earlier this year, is fortunately quite rare. …