Tips on Preventing Mildew Growth on Boats and Sails
The best way to fight mildew onboard is to keep it from ever starting in the first place. Prevention is your best defense. When...
Bilge Absorbers
The second you drop a loaded oil filter into your bilge, you realize that the most important piece of gear on your boat is...
Bootleg Bronze Cleaners
Lest you think multi-billion-dollar chemical companies and their geeks in white lab coats have a lock on cleaning your bronze, there are numerous homebrewed...
Common-Sense Safety Precautions
Most times, cleaning your sailboat is nothing more than a common but necessary chore. But some cleaning jobs require special cleaners and more-than-usual elbow...
Momentum
Excerpted from Maneuver and Dock Your Sailboat Under Power
Throughout this book, we will explain the concept and combine it with real exercises that we will...
No Damage Docking Hacks
Excerpted from Maneuver and Dock Your Sailboat Under Power
RETURNING TO THE DOCK
Time flies when you are sailing, but sadly the moment comes when it is...
Checking for Delamination
Excerpted from Don Casey’s Inspecting the Aging Sailboat
DELAMINATION
Delamination in fiberglass is the functional equivalent of rot in a wooden boat. Well-constructed solid-fiberglass hulls (meaning...
Signs of Stress or Trauma in Fiberglass
Excerpted from Don Casey’s Inspecting the Aging Sailboat
SIGNS OF STRESS OR TRAUMA
Fiberglass generally reveals stress problems with cracks in the gelcoat. The cracks can...
How To Evaluate the Condition of an Older Fiberglass Sailboat
Excerpted from Don Casey’s Inspecting the Aging Sailboat
SURVEYING A BOAT FOR PURCHASE
There aren’t many experiences more ripe with promise than buying a boat. When...
Maximize the Use of Each Sail
Excerpted from How to Sail Around the World
After trying many sails and lots of sail-handling schemes, I have learned which sails to buy and...
Latest Logbook
Practical Sailor Logbook – October 2026
This month leans into used-boat value and hands-on maintenance: Tim Labute tours the traditional, shoal-draft Bayfield 32, Nick Nicholson revisits the much-requested Morgan 38/382,...
Video: Catalina 356 Review – The First Boat of the Comeback
Catalina Yachts is BACK! After a change in ownership and a pause in production, Catalina has returned to building sailboats in America, and we're...
Latest Sailboat Reviews
Tartan 31 Piper: Used Boat Review
The Tartan 31 is one of the new line of performance cruising yachts from the venerable-and durable--Grand River, Ohio boatbuilder. In the last few years, Tartan Marine has come out with a range of new models, including the T-28, the 3500 and the 4600. A 41-footer is in the works. Both the 28 and the latest version of the 31 are part of the new Piper series, which are marketed in sailaway condition. Tartan has a reputation for solid construction and good workmanship and that's what the 31 is: solid and well put together. The hull is hand-laminated with alternating layers of chopped strand mat and unidirectional E glass. Behind the NPG/ISO gelcoat there's a layer of vinylester resin, which so far appears to provide the best osmotic blister protection available.
