Latest News
Ground Tackle Inspection Tips
Your anchoring system is only as strong as its weakest component, which includes not only the rode, but also shackles, splices, mooring bitts, cleats—in short, any gear used to secure your boat while at anchor. Proper maintenance includes inspection of these as well as...
An Unusual Sailboat Shines a Light On A Sustainable Future
In his younger days, Victorien Erussard was a long-distance solo sailor trying to save seconds per mile on big-time ocean races like La Route du Rhum. Now, Victorien has traded in his maxi-cat for another kind of multihull, but this time he’s trying to...
Quick and Safe Sail Cleaning
It can be a rust stain caused by a loop of chain that spent the winter lying on a sail. Perhaps a bird crawled under the sail cover and built a nest, pooping on the sail for weeks. Either way, cleaning a laminated sail...
New Marine Fire Suppression Tools
A new generation of fire extinguishers, resembling a fat flare in appearance, promise to solve most of the problems of standard fire extinguishers.
The biggest problem with traditional fire extinguishers is extinguishing rate. The typical 5BC extinguisher is often spent in as little as 10...
Hassle-free Pumpouts
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 didn't actually understand the process. Here...
Featured Articles
Bottom Paint 30-Month Update
The Chesapeake Bay is known for brown water and rapid fouling, so any paint that can hang in there for 30 months is doing its job and is a good value. On the other hand, freezing water temperatures and very low salinity knock of...
How Does the Gulf Stream Influence our Weather?
“Big High, Blue Sky, Goodbye…” All you need to get started, right?
...Not so fast. Heed another quote from Captain Ron, hero of the 1992 sailing misadventure movie: “Anything’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen out there…” That’s the truth of it. The test of the...
Can You Run a Marine Air-Conditioner on Battery Power?
Our 16,000 BTU MarinAire A/C is sufficient to maintain our Privilege 435 catamaran at under 26.5°C (80°F) on days up to around 35°C (95°F). However, the exact setup may vary based on the size of your boat and preferences. The challenge is, the units...
C&C 40 Used Boat Review
While C&C did not invent the racer/cruiser, the Canadian-based company remained dedicated to the concept of the dual-purpose boat during its halcyon days in the seventies and eighties of the last century. With the notable exception of a few pure cruisers—the relatively low-performance Landfall...
Is It Time to Get an Electric Dinghy Motor?
I’ve borrowed my dockmate’s electric dinghy. I bought my wife an e-bike and I know she would like an electric motor. Small gas motors can smell the fear of those that lack confidence with a manual choke. Gas motors are loud and you have...
Worship Your Universal M-Series Diesel With the Marinized Kubota Block
The Universal name resonates with many of us as one of the best sailboat engines available. Despite Universal Motor Corp. no longer being in business, I plan to work on many more Universal engines in my time as a marine mechanic. Aboard my own...
Sabre 386 Used Boat Review
Foaming mountains of cold black water loomed out of the darkness behind me, rushing under the stern as the Sabre 386 careened down the face of another wave, bullets of icy spray pelting my foul-weather gear. I was on the midnight watch under a...
Battle of the Teak Cleaners — Snappy Teak-Nu vs. Star Brite
Aboard our Privilege 435 catamaran Confianza, we are teak oilers, not varnishers. Accordingly, our teak needs regular elbow grease. In our (seemingly never-ending) quest for the right teak cleaner, we decided to do a face-off between the two most-often recommended products: Snappy Teak-Nu and...
Launching into the Modern Era
n early March, as the short austral summer was ending, I stood beneath a red-and-white striped lighthouse at the southern tip of South America. Sitting on weathered beech stump in the lee of the abandoned light, I watched through binoculars as a bright red...
Are E-bikes Worth the Extra Weight and Cost?
I’m an avid cyclist. I raced in college, and I still take my college bike on my cruising cat and just hang it on a rack on the stern rail. At Practical Sailor, we’ve looked at folding bikes in the past and touched on...
The No Expense Spared Antigua 60 Cruising Sailboat Soolaimon
Join us for a boat tour of the gorgeous Antigua 60 cruising sailboat Soolaimon. She boasts electric winches, a mighty Lofrans electric windlass, and...
