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Read more: Yarmouth, Nova Scotia—Acadian DreamsThere’s more to Yarmouth than meets the eye—don’t just sail on by.
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Read more: Crossing The Bay Of Fundy—Off To The Land Of Big TidesCrossing from Maine to Nova Scotia can be daunting, due to the big tides in the Bay of Fundy. But the rewards of entering a new cruising ground make it worthwhile. Here are a few tips on how to make the passage.
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Read more: Battery Replacement—Resisting The Seduction of PerfectionThe story of how John nearly wasted a bunch of time and money, but finally got a grip of himself. Lots of electrical system recommendations and a caution to make sure that the complexity we choose is right for us.
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Read more: Hoisting the Mainsail Made Easy—Simplicity in ActionWhen we have a problem on our boats, it’s always tempting to try to fix it by adding gear, but often a better approach is simplification. We look at mainsail hoisting as an example and provide several tips to make the job easier.
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Read more: Happy Anniversary To UsPhyllis expands a bit on our (very slow) transition to part-time voyaging and discusses the upcoming very important month of December.
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Read more: Security Tips For Cruising In Risky PlacesSome of the world’s most interesting cruising destinations are subject to theft and violence. Colin provides tips to stay safe. Fixation on risk plays no part in adventure…but planning does.
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Read more: The Weirdest—And Best—Small Boat of 2016Sick of fighting with an outboard? Want to keep fit while cruising? Like to get on the water in a small fun boat? Matt has the answer.
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Read more: Ten Tips To Fix Weather HelmThere are few problems that detract more from the pleasure of sailing than a bad case of weather helm, a surprisingly common affliction. The good news is that this problem can be fixed.
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Read more: How Batteries Charge (Multiple Charging Sources Too)The details of how batteries charge and how voltage regulators work together…or not. Practical information that will help make sure you have electricity when you need it.
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Maiden Voyage of The Boreal 55—What Worked and What Didn’t
47 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesMembers
Read more: Maiden Voyage of The Boreal 55—What Worked and What Didn’tColin’s report on testing some of the latest and coolest gear on a brand new Boreal 55: autopilot, plotter, radar, stove, hydrogenerator, it’s all here. A real gear-heads article.
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One Simple Law That Makes Electrical Systems Easy to Understand
53 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: One Simple Law That Makes Electrical Systems Easy to UnderstandElectricity, batteries and how to charge them are the source of more confusion in the cruising world than just about anything I can think of. But suppose you could really understand electricity? Now you can, and it’s not hard. Read on.
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Read more: Offshore Motorboats and an Ideal Geezer BoatJohn has long been a critic of the current state of motorboat design but now he’s seeing some exciting new designs that bode well for the future.
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Read more: Things I’ve Learned From Three Refits That Will Help YouAndy Schell summarizes what he has learned from the three refits , and provides some solid hard-earned tips for anyone considering refitting an old boat.
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Read more: Giving a Tough Old Ocean Greyhound a New PurposeMaking over an older quality racing boat into a capable and fast offshore cruising boat.
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Read more: The Marine Electronics Industry Has Really Lost The Plot NowJohn’s in rant mode. This time it’s marine electronic and electrical technician training that has attracted his ire. But he’s not just throwing rocks, he makes suggestions for improvement too.
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Read more: Refitting a Wauquiez Hood 38What it takes to refit a good sailboat to make her ocean cruising ready.
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Read more: A Trans-Atlantic Boat For Less Than US$100,000Refitting a 45 year old 35’ Allied Seabreeze Yawl to make her ocean cruising ready.
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How To Select The Best Power and Propeller Settings For Your Engine
84 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesMembers
Read more: How To Select The Best Power and Propeller Settings For Your EngineIn the last chapter in this Online Book, John wrote about how chronic underloading of your engine can wreck it, as well as waste fuel and produce unnecessary carbon. In this chapter we get to the good stuff: how to solve the problem for both new and existing engines.
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Read more: How To Stop Killing Your Engine With KindnessRunning your engine at low power settings can slowly kill it. Here’s what to do about that. This could save you a bunch of money and aggravation.
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Read more: Lin and Larry Pardey Biography, A Great ReadI just read Herb McCormick’s biography of Lin and Larry Pardey, As Long as It’s Fun. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I devoured the book, or maybe to be more accurate still, the book consumed me for several hours. Here’s a short review.
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Read more: Controllable Pitch Propellers (CPPs)So far in this Online Book we have learned about the fundamentals of engine and propeller efficiency and, in the last chapter, we looked at a way to make our existing engines a bit more efficient. In this chapter Matt explains a much better way to get the very most out of every drop of diesel fuel.
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Read more: Is There Life After Full-Time Cruising?After 20 years of full-time live-aboard cruising, John and Phyllis are making the transition to part-time voyaging. Phyllis shares how intense a transition this is.
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Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Using Iridium Handsets and GO!The whole process of buying, installing and working with a satellite phone can be downright intimidating and very frustrating. John explains how to make the whole process easy. The results of 15 years of experience with Iridium devices.
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Read more: Going Cruising—Being Realistic About You, 4 TipsSo much of writing on getting out cruising focuses on boats and gear. But, in fact, there is something even more important to think about…you.
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Iridium GO! Review—6 Myths Busted and a Purchase Recommendation
73 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: Iridium GO! Review—6 Myths Busted and a Purchase RecommendationFew pieces of new gear have created more buzz in the offshore cruising community than the Iridium GO!. And there have also been few pieces of gear that have been surrounded with as many myths and as much confusion as the GO!. John busts the myths and analyzes the benefits of buying an Iridium GO!.
