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I was single handed on our Islander Bahama 30 on a spectacular fall afternoon, white caps dancing on the blue waters of Plumper Sound...

As we explore material legacies and evolution with a regenerative lens for our Wharram Narai Mk IV build, the focus now shifts to sheathing...

Eighteen knots? Maybe not, but theres plenty to like about this cat.

The tools and materials required to maintain and repair everything on a boat will barely fit in a room. Just the kit required to maintain vital systems will raise the waterline of a large boat and is impractical in a smaller boat. Fortunately, when day sailing and even cruising locally, all we really need to do is get back to the dock...any dock.

While its possible the waste pump-out line on the boat is plugged, most pump-out problems can be traced to poor procedure. Instructions on the pump-out station-if provided at all-overlook key factors, probably because the bureaucrat who wrote them didnt actually understand the process. Here are some tips on doing it right.

Epoxy deserves its wonder resin status as a highly adhesive, water-resistant laminating resin. It is the secret sauce behind a shelf full of fillers, glues, and fairing compounds.

If youve followed the first two installments in this three-part series on ensuring safe, fresh-tasting drinking water onboard, youve cleaned your freshwater tank, pre-filtered all water going into the tank, screened the vent, and disinfected the contents. Now that the water has sat in the tank, its time for one more filtration process; this time, focusing on improving taste and eliminating micro-organisms.

American sailboat manufacturers have had their highs and lows, and many have dropped right off the map, but Catalina has been going strong for more than four decades, and looks to be gearing up for at least 40 more. If you want a history lesson in how owner Frank Butler navigated this company through a fickle, cyclical industry, you can check out one of our many reviews of Catalina boats online at www.practial-sailor.com. The more recent trends are the most relevant to this boat review, an update to one originally published in 1991.

Cheoy Lee Shipyards of Hong Kong has been a commercial builder since the early 1900s and is one of the first molders of fiberglass boats in Asia. Production of fiberglass boats began in the early 1960s and continues today, although the company-like many big yards around the world-has turned its focus toward commercial ships and the mega-yacht market. Looking at the line of 78- to 100-plus-foot yachts catering to Far East millionaires and billionaires, it is clear that any concerns about what would happen to Cheoy Lee when Hong Kong reverted to China were way off target.

Boat buying is an exciting, maddening exercise that can test the tolerance of even the most patient sailor. Most of the maddening part has to do with trying to ferret out a boats problems before buying it-and making the problems your own. Hiring a professional marine surveyor can be expensive when youre looking at multiple boats, so save yourself some money-and potential heartache-by learning how to examine a used sailboat, from stem to stern and mast to bilge. Practical Sailors DIY survey how-to details common problem areas (like engines and rigging), what issues are easy to remedy, and what red flags you should walk away from.