TIME TO BUY NEW SAILS? Q: I have a very old set of Dacron sails on my Catalina. Friends have told me I should have them replaced because it will make my boat sail better. But quite frankly, I’d prefer not to spend the money on sails that seem plenty sturdy enough for the kind of ...read more
CETOL SKIN I used Sikkens Cetol on the bare wood on my Catalina 30, Morning Dew IV. The can was compromised over the spring, and I put the balance in a 16oz clean glass mayo jar. Last spring when I went to use it, a skin had formed over the top of the liquid, so I just cut the ...read more
SMOKING DIESEL Q: I have noticed black smoke from my diesel under high rpm, over 2,000, and suspect unburned fuel to be the cause. I have checked the air intake and fuel filler gauge, made sure of good flow from the exhaust and use a bio-additive in my fuel. The oil level has ...read more
WHAT’S WITH THOSE RINGS? Q: I’ve been seeing a bunch of boats at boat shows where each jib sheet passes through an aluminum ring, which is then presumably used to pull the jib sheet inboard. What exactly is going on with this kind of arrangement? Is it like a barber-hauler? ...read more
Q: My crew and I have been debating the location of telltales on our boat, a 30-footer we race only casually. We’ve already got telltales on the luff of the genoa and on the trailing edge of the main. The question is whether it makes sense to have telltales elsewhere, like in the ...read more
Q: Do I have to place my satellite radio receiver antenna out in the open, up high, for effective satellite radio and weather chart reception? B. Hathaway, Coral Gables, FL GORDON WEST REPLIES The latest generation of satellite radio pre-amplified antennas offers such great ...read more
Q: I’ve just bought a sailboat that’s been sitting unattended for a couple of years. The docklines, sheets and furling line are green with algae and stiff to the touch where they have been in contact with the deck. What’s the best way to clean the crud off polyester and nylon ...read more
ZINCS EMERGENCY Q: I need advice. All of a sudden I’m burning through zincs while at dock. My gut instinct says that there is a stray current somewhere. Is it most likely from outside my boat (dock or nearby boat) or inside my boat? What kinds of checks can I make with my ...read more
BASHED-UP BOW PULPIT Q: The bow pulpit on my old 34-footer has seen more than its share of abuse over the years, and now it’s bent and dented to the point where I’m afraid to simply bend it back into shape. A couple of the sockets where it attaches to the deck/bow also appear to ...read more
DIFFERENT TACKS, DIFFERENT PERFORMANCE Q: What may be the reason that my boat exhibits different behavior depending on whether I am sailing on starboard or porttack? It points higher on starboard tack than it does on port. Is my sail trim at fault? Alejandro Morassutti, Buenos ...read more
LOOSE DEPTH CONNECTION Q: The LCD readout on my boat showing bottom depth has become intermittent. When I pulled apart the nav station panel, it magically started working properly, but a few days later, it returned to intermittent. J. Hillier, San Rafael, CA GORDON WEST REPLIES ...read more
HOLDING TANK PUMP-OUT FREQUENCY Q: How long can I go between holding tank pump-outs? I can see it being over two weeks easily between uses and only one or two liquid uses at that. Should I pump out each time no matter how little is the holding tank? Richard Magoon, Canyon ...read more
Q: Do I need to buy an expensive VHF test meter to check my AIS antenna, which is separate from my normal VHF antenna? T. Rabie, Norfolk, VA GORDON WEST REPLIES First of all, VHF antenna test meters are not all that expensive. Check out the Shakespeare ART-3, which I’ve seen ...read more
REVIVING NONSKID ON DECK Q: The molded-in nonskid is becoming less and less nonskid on the side decks and foredecks of my old 35-footer. I’m thinking the easiest thing to do is apply some kind of paint with an abrasive in it, but I assume it will either not work or look odd ...read more
WHAT KIND OF MARINE TOILET? Q: I recently purchased a 1979 Cal 2-25, which has a ceramic head. With all the flexible tubing, the plastic tank and the age of all of it, I question the wisdom of repairing the system. Would replacing the ceramic toilet with a Porta-Potti be a ...read more
REACHING SAIL NOMENCLATURE Q: I keep hearing about different kinds of headsails, like Code 0s, gennakers, A-sails, etc., and for the life of me can’t figure out how they differ from one another, either in terms of cut or the way they’re used. Could you help me out? Robert ...read more
A DIN WHEN DIMMING Q: I just purchased an 18ft roll of amber/white flexible LEDs to light up our cabin down below. They are plenty bright for reading charts, and a rotary dimmer pulls them down to a wonderful warm glow for dining. The one down side is that when I dim the light ...read more
DEEP GOUGES Q: While on a night passage aboard my boat, I struck an unidentified floating object. It did not penetrate the inner laminate, but left a couple of deep 6in-long gouges in the hull. I have a rather large damage excess on my insurance policy and would like to attempt ...read more
SERIOUS BATTERY DRAIN Q: While sailing on a friend’s boat we noticed what we thought was excessive voltage loss overnight. The vessel has five 8D conventional flooded lead-acid batteries for the house bank and one 8D AGM battery for the starter. After running the onboard ...read more
Q: The electronics at my nav station rely on the old NMEA 0183 protocol for sharing data. I can’t seem to find my original wire-color codes for NMEA 0183. Can you help? W. Alber, San Francisco, CA GORDON WEST REPLIES: Try these: White = Talker A Brown= Talker B Yellow = ...read more
Q: The prop shaft zincs on my Cal 33, which I keep in a marina on Long Island Sound, have been disappearing rapidly for a number of years. Prior to 2013, when the boat was hauled the lead keel exhibited numerous round “pops” where epoxy and bottom paint had lifted off and whitish ...read more
Q: When the breeze builds above 16 or 17 knots my 31-footer gets hard to handle and has significant weather helm. The autopilot does not like breezes above 10 knots. Recently it was brought to my attention that the boat has an offset backstay and this could be contributing to ...read more
Chris Bosworth, Newport News, VA A: My sailboat is equipped with a Yanmar diesel. Often while motoring, the tachometer suddenly pegs out beyond the highest value. At these times there is no change in the engine itself; it is not racing. The only solution seems to be to kill the ...read more
NEW JIB TRACKS Q: I have been rehabbing a Pearson 35 for the past eight years. I am just about done and plan on sailing it in southwest Florida. The rig has a normal mainsail and a 145 percent genoa. The boat now has a new toerail, which came out great. However, originally the ...read more