Sailboat Maintenance

Smooth Talk

by Don Casey, Posted May 12, 2010

Although the technique of using sand as an abrasive goes back to the stone age, the first recorded example comes from the 13th century, when Chinese craftsmen bonded sand, crushed shells and sharp seeds onto parchment with natural gum. In the western world, abrasive paper was being used in France by the 18th century and “glasspaper,” which consisted of glass particles glued to paper, was

What, no copper?

by Peter Nielsen, Posted March 23, 2010

When your antifouling paint arrives in plain-labelled cans marked “Experimental,” you’re going to get some suspicious looks from your boatyard neighbors. When I painted our 34ft project boat’s bottom with Interlux’s Pacifica Plus copper-free antifouling last spring, the product was so new the labels hadn’t even been printed, and it proved to be a bit of a conversation-starter in the

Get Protected

by Sail Staff, Posted February 1, 2010

I'll never forget the time I epoxied my wristwatch to my arm and shirt cuff. Oh, how I laughed—not. Then there was the time I neglected to clean resin off my hands before it kicked, and spent the next week walking around with flakes of it peeling off my skin like something out of the Mummy’s Revenge.My tales of woe are obviously not unusual, for WEST SYSTEM has just introduced a

Winter battery storage: Four-step Guide

by Sail Staff, Posted February 1, 2010

Kalyan Jana, development support manager (specialty markets) for EnerSys, sent us his four-step guide to winter battery storage.1. TestingUse a reliable digital voltmeter to measure the open circuit voltage (OCV) of the battery and determine its state of charge (SOC). Measure the OCV no sooner than 6 to 8 hours after charging the battery so that the chemical reactions

Installing a Water Heater

by Peter Nielsen, Posted January 28, 2010

When replacing the pressure water system on our project boat, we thought it would be fun to install a water heater. But where to put it? Like most early ’70s boats, our Norlin 34 lacks interior volume compared to modern boats. The need for the heater to be mounted below the engine’s heat exchanger (to prevent problems with coolant circulation) further complicated matters.The only logical

Old Boat Nightmares #1

by Peter Nielsen, Posted January 27, 2010

A few years ago I was seriously interested in a Pearson 10M that was on the market for a very reasonable asking price. I had looked it over pretty closely—or so I thought—and I had picked up on a number of faults, none of which were serious enough to put me off.Luckily, I had engaged surveyor Norm LeBlanc to check the boat over, and he found plenty more flaws. The biggest one can be seen