Projects

Get clear steering

by Don Casey, Posted April 15, 2009

I’ve seen it happen many times. A boat turns in to the channel between two piers at a marina but then begins to veer off line. The skipper makes a small steering adjustment, followed by a larger one, and then he realizes that the wheel is no longer connected to the rudder. What comes next is often not pleasant, and it is why you need to check your steering system at least once a

Blister repair

by Rosie Burr, Posted April 15, 2009

We know that every other year our annual haulout will involve a little more than just sanding and painting the bottom of Alianna, our 1983 Corbin 39. While some might call our problem osmosis, we like to say that we just have a few blisters. Simeon and I knew there might be blister problems when we bought the boat five years ago, but we didn’t have time to wait for the hull to dry out so we could

The forgotten details

by Nigel Calder, Posted April 15, 2009

I often hear from people who, after years of preparation, have set out on their first ocean crossing with a high degree of confidence in their boats. Then something really disconcerting happens—say, the propeller shaft disappears out of the back of the boat. It’s quite a confidence shaker. I’ve heard enough of these stories to be able to identify several easily prevented but potentially

Tank Math: Full or Empty?

by Steve Henkind, Posted February 21, 2008

In the "Know-How" section of the March issue, Steven J. Henkind wrote about how fuel gauges operate and how you can prevent fuel-gauge errors. Here's the mathematical formula he discussed in the story. You can also calculate the amount of fuel in a tank mathematically. For a rectangular tank, the calculation is easy: the overall volume of the tank = Length x Width x Height; if the

Staying Put: Dock Line Inspection

by Charles Mason, Posted April 22, 2008

With boats going back in the water in the northern parts of the country and marinas further south beginning to fill up with the summer regulars, it’s time to make sure the dock lines you’ll be using are going to keep your boat in its designated spot. Carefully inspect the condition of all these lines, and if any show signs of chafe or abrasion, replace them. Once the wind has

Make A Portable Pump

by Paul Esterle, Posted August 20, 2008

The cockpit lockers on my 20-foot trailersailer leak because the lid destroys any seal that is attached to it. I’ve resigned myself to needing a waterproof container for anything I store there, but I still have to deal with the water that has leaked in. My solution was to attach a small electric bilgepump (with a hose) to a handle. I used 1/8" by 1" aluminum bar stock, which is easy to

Boom Time

by Sail Staff, Posted August 21, 2008

"Yachts shall comply with the US SAILING recommendations of OSR 5.11, Preventer or Boom Restraining Device. The boom-restraining device shall be installed and demonstrated at the time of the yacht's mandatory courtesy inspection. A process and plan for its use shall be part of the crew's training and practice."This paragraph, from the Notice of Race; Special Requirements for the

Coil with the Sun

by Tom Cunliffe, Posted August 21, 2008

In general, a line is happier and therefore behaves better if you coil it in a clockwise direction. Any three-strand line will try to kink up if you force it the other way. A multibraid line may be able to go in either direction, but the habit of right-handed coiling should be so ingrained that you couldn't do it counterclockwise if you wanted to. Old-time sailors called it "coiling against the

Adding Mast Pulpits

by Peter Dubler, Posted August 21, 2008

Call me old-fashioned, call me daring, call me crazy, but I prefer not to have my cockpit full of lines that have been led aft. I enjoy going forward and working at the mast. It hasn’t always been that way. During my first crossing from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, to the Dry Tortugas off Florida many years ago as crew on an Irwin 38, each trip forward was a crawl on my hands and knees. Oh, how I

Rigged!

by Sail Staff, Posted August 22, 2008

Castaway gets a new sparFor the last two years we’ve been involved in the full refit of Castaway, a 1978 Ericson 34T. We recapped the story of this BoatWorks Bailout project in the January issue, and now the boat is at last in the water. Any old-boat project runs into some kinks, and we hit a literal kink with Castaway when the mast was found to be so badly