by Colin
on March 11, 2013
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Regular readers of this site will know that I take a more than passing interest in fuel quality and our dependence on engine reliability. I believe that these are matters that go to the heart of modern cruising. Therefore, I also believe that anything that can offer improvements in terms of engine reliability has got to [...]
by John
on February 22, 2013
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by John
on February 9, 2013
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by Colin
on February 5, 2013
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There’s nothing like a good long voyage to sort out a boat, for better or for worse. That much I learned running a working charter boat for so many years. Every season we’d cover around 8000 hard miles between the English Channel and the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. On our return to Falmouth at the [...]
by John
on December 11, 2012
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Colin’s post about the failure of a snap shackle on Pèlerin and his recommendation to stick with shackles made by Wichard or Harken, which we heartily agree with, got me thinking about another type of shackle that we have found very useful on Morgan’s Cloud. A type that may surprise you since it is normally [...]
by John
on November 15, 2012
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A couple of years ago, inventor and AAC reader Antoni Campins was kind enough to send us one of his AnchorWitch fouled anchor retrieval devices.
by John
on September 22, 2012
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It’s strange to think that it’s only about 20 years since the now-ubiquitous headlamp crossed over from the climbing world to offshore sailing. Prior to that, when we needed both hands (most of the time), we either fumbled around in the dark or jammed a huge heavy flashlight between our jaws, thereby insuring that our [...]
by Colin
on August 23, 2012
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Grippy soled, well-protected sandals One thing we have a ban on aboard Pèlerin is going around the decks with no shoes. Stubbed toes can easily be badly damaged, as I found out one night in a pitch-dark harbour when another yacht announced that they were coming alongside by the simple expedient of slamming straight into the [...]
by Phyllis
on August 9, 2012
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A while ago I wrote about how we keep our hands warm when sailing and a number of commentors mentioned they really like Sealskinz gloves. Well, when something gets that much good press, who are we to argue? So we went ahead and bought ourselves a pair of Chillblocker Sealskinz gloves. And yes, you all [...]
by Colin
on July 20, 2012
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It’s a fact of life that even in our throw away world of ‘service by replacement’ equipment there are times when good old fashioned improvisation can save the day, especially when you’re thousands of miles from the nearest service centre. As a result, part of any spares kit should comprise of a mix of wire, [...]
by Phyllis
on June 6, 2012
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In our Warm Feet, Please post of several years ago, we mentioned that we had purchased Dubarry Ultima boots and, after several years, were impressed. At that time, however, we weren’t ready to commit to anything until we had given them a thorough testing.
by John
on April 27, 2012
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A reliable autopilot comes right after radar on our priority scale. A short handed crew that steers all the time, or even much of the time, is a tired crew, and a tired crew is a dangerous crew.
by John
on April 14, 2012
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As most of our regular readers know, we just completed a 10,000 mile, eight month voyage to the Arctic and back on Morgan’s Cloud, our 56-foot McCurdy and Rhodes aluminum cutter. A voyage that constituted a gruelling test of all the gear on the boat. In the last post of this series we covered our [...]
by Phyllis
on March 10, 2012
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No leaks down the exterior of the mast below the partners. Period. That’s what Waterboot promises and what it delivers.
by Phyllis
on March 4, 2012
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The winter we spent in London England living on Morgan’s Cloud at St Katharine Haven next to Tower Bridge, was wonderful. We walked all over the city and soaked up the history and culture. And the pubs…wow!
by Phyllis
on March 3, 2012
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My spotty memory has struck again! The two products I describe below work great and I want to replace them (or order more) but the details have escaped me.
by John
on February 18, 2012
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by Phyllis
on February 6, 2012
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John and I have been ardent fans of Maui Jim sunglasses for many years and many pairs. Their glasses get ever lighter in weight and more comfortable and their lenses get ever better at cutting glare on the water (we prefer their super-thin polarized glass lenses in gray).
by John
on January 7, 2012
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by Colin
on December 19, 2011
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The first time I used a windvane in anger was back in the early 1980s, aboard my newly purchased UFO 34 cruiser-racer whilst delivering her home from Scotland through the Irish Sea. Fitted with a then state-of-the-art Aries vane, we had strong tailwinds for much of the way, which the vane handled fairly well, impressive [...]
by John
on May 27, 2011
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by John
on April 4, 2011
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Practical Sailor is one of the two magazines we still subscribe to. We have been getting their great information on all things boating gear for over 25 years. In that time the magazine has saved us untold amounts of money, not to speak of frustration and wasted time, by helping us to source the best [...]
by Colin
on April 2, 2011
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When we took delivery of our new OVNI 435 in 2008, we decided to stick with the standard 3 bladed propeller, partly for reasons of cost (we were running out of cash!). But on all of my previous boats I’d had either a folding or feathering prop, and fully intended to fit one to Pèlerin [...]
by John
on March 11, 2011
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We are really careful about getting our liferaft serviced each year. So back in the fall we contacted Raymond Harvey at Air-Sea Safety and Survival Inc, here in Charleston, South Carolina, where we are spending the winter.
by Phyllis
on January 3, 2011
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A while ago I wrote about how we keep our feet warm when sailing in colder climes. In this post I will address the issue of keeping our hands warm, which aren’t, unfortunately, as easy to please.
by Phyllis
on December 9, 2010
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Our chafe material of choice in the past has been to take old rags and wire tie them to the appropriate place on the dock line or mooring pendant. However, this tears (literally!) through a lot of rags, uses up a lot of wire ties, looks a bit disreputable, and takes some finagling to undo.
by John
on December 4, 2010
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In the last few weeks there has been a huge brouhaha in the cruising community about the dangers of using open WiFi hotspots, and rightly so. This has never been a particularly safe practice, but the release of Firesheep—a plug in for the Firefox browser that allows literally any idiot, no matter how technically inept, [...]
by Phyllis
on November 12, 2010
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We loved our old Avon dinghy, so much so that we kept it in active service for 20 years, even though it sprang a slow air leak about year 17. (Unless you’ve ever tried jumping 4 feet into the air—it’s about that distance from the dinghy tube to Morgan’s Cloud’s side-deck—off a squishy inner tube, [...]
by Phyllis
on April 3, 2010
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I don’t know about the rest of you, but figuring out how to get bedding to fit the odd size and shape of boat bunks has been an ongoing battle for me.
by John
on February 19, 2010
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Fire blankets are a great idea, particularly to smother a grease flare-up in the galley without the mess of a dry powder extinguisher, and we have long carried one on Morgan’s Cloud; however, it was bulky and ugly and so was relegated to a locker up forward, much reducing its effectiveness in a fire where [...]
