anchor chain - search results

Slips too expensive? A mooring may be your answer. We search for the toughest chain.

I never like writing filled with subtle allegory, puzzles, and hidden meaning. But in the hands of a master, creative use of language is...

The Valiant 40 has a long history. In 1972, Nathan Rothman decided to start a boatbuilding business and approached old friend Bob Perry to...

With several hundred boats sailing the seas of the world, the Tayana 37 has been one of the most successful products of the U.S.s Taiwan-built boat invasion that began in the early 1970s. Its shapely Baltic stern, scribed plank seams molded into the glass hull, and lavish use of teak above and belowdecks have come to epitomize the image associated with Oriental boats.

Rob Miller began his sailing life in dinghies in the waters south of the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia at age 10. Interest in...

PDQ Yachts in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, launched the Alan Slater-designed PDQ 32 catamaran in 1994 and built 53 of the boats in the following eight years. Practical Sailor first reviewed the PDQ 32 catamaran in April 1997, which happened to be when the test boat for this review update rolled off the production line. Heres a look at what testers have learned from coastal cruising this boat for 18 years and from other owners who live aboard.

Loss of steering may well be the most common cause of rescue for boats sailing offshore, but the problem is even more common inshore where there is more debris to hit. An emergency rudder is always possible, but for most of us, extra gear to rig, cost, and strength concerns most often render the option impractical. Wrestling an emergency rudder into position will be physical and possibly dangerous in rough conditions. In the case of a catamaran it is simple to disconnect a rudder that is jammed straight, but what if it is jammed hard over, as in the loss of the Alpha 42 Catamaran Be Good Too in 2014? Tests have been published using drogues for steering with the rudder either removed or locked in position, showing that in moderate weather even sailing to windward is practical as long as sails were adjusted in concert and the drogue position was adjustable. Our questions go further. What if the rudder has jammed an angle? Are all drogues appropriate for this purpose? How do you choose the best size?

Stainless chain resists best, but attracts barnacles.

I spent last weekend tuning the rig aboard boatbuilder Robert Helmicks Endeavour 42, Lost Boys, and got a first-hand look at the problems reader Scott Rimmer encountered with his vertical windlass back in 2009. When Helmick's son, Kameron, went to work deploying the anchor, he soon ran into trouble; the chain was jammed in the naval pipe, kinked with hockles. Helmick started plying me with questions about anchor swivels-questions we often get at the magazine.

A Mexican vacation with her husband had Debbie Bulk dreaming of a better way to see local village life, away from the regular tourist...