There are a huge number of second-hand fibreglass cruising boats for sale, but very few good ones. Here is how to weed out some of the junk.
John
Randall Reeves and John spent a couple of hours discussing storm tactics in general and the series drogue designed by Don Jordan in particular. Here’s an excerpt.
One of the common debates in any sailor’s bar is which hull material is best. John settles the argument…it depends. But he does make some solid recommendations for hull materials most of us should avoid and the one that the majority should choose.
When an anchor that thousands of sailors rely on seems to have a dangerous flaw, we need to write about that…and we do. Also, some thoughts on the the Vulcan and the Mantus anchors.
John and Phyllis want to buy a 40-foot sailboat. There are thousands of second-hand boats for sale, but most of them are not fit to go offshore. So how do we weed through all the junk to find a decent and safe boat at a fair price? And what about refitting an older boat? This is the first of a series of articles to answer those two questions.
We finally finished our transfer to a new membership system and so I have written about the many improvements it delivers for our members.
One of the saddest things that can happen to a cruiser is buying a fundamentally bad boat, and there are plenty of those out there to tempt the uninformed. Here’s how to make sure that the boat you buy is well designed.
When the subject comes up of buying an old and tired boat and refitting it as a way to get out there ocean voyaging inexpensively, John tends to start throwing around a lot of cold reality, and generally being a spoil sport. But sometimes this approach can work.
More news about our efforts to choose and install a new membership system.
In a previous two chapters we covered our favourite anchor and a second choice. In this chapter we move on to size and material—even tricker things to decide on. But not to worry, we make it simple.
Susie Goodall was one of the few competitors in Golden Globe Race 2018 with a series drogue to Don Jordan’s design. But it failed her, and her boat pitchpoled What went wrong and does Susies’ terrible experience indicate a fundamental problem with the series drogue and/or Don Jorgan’s science and engineering? John digs in to find out.
In the last two chapters we have reviewed the SPADE and SARCA Excel anchors. So which of the two is best, and are there other anchors as good or better?
Now that the Golden Globe 2018 is nearly over, it’s time to figure out why it turned into a demolition derby, and how to fix it so that there will be future editions.
We pursue a technical vein here at AAC. But sometimes it’s nice to take a break from anchors and electrons. To that end, John is trying his hand at fiction.
Everyone loves to tout the benefits of their favourite anchor, John included, but this article is about much more: how to cut through all the claims to the criteria that really matter when selecting an anchor.
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