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Q&A: Tips On Buying A Used Boat For The High Latitudes
0 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: Tips On Buying A Used Boat For The High LatitudesQuestion: We are looking for a used boat to buy, and wonder if you could give us any pointers. We plan to cruise the high latitudes and circumnavigate with two people. The features we are looking for in a boat are:
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Q&A: Breaking Load Of Anchor Chain
20 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: Breaking Load Of Anchor ChainOur latest thinking on chain starts with this chapter. Question: Do you have views on breaking load of main anchor chain compared to weight of boat? Our new boat is 40’ long and weighs something like 12 metric tons (26,000lbs) and a ‘standard’ 10mm (about 3/8”) galvanized chain has a breaking load of approximately 6 […]
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It’s Often Better to Anchor Than Pick Up a Mooring
4 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesMembers
Read more: It’s Often Better to Anchor Than Pick Up a MooringPeople are often surprised and even a little hurt when we turn down their kind offers to use their moorings in harbours we visit. John explains why.
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The Ethics Of Cairn Building
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Read more: The Ethics Of Cairn BuildingWe just got an e-mail from our friend Louis Nielsen. Louis has lived for over 20 years, mostly alone, in a remote cabin on the west coast of Spitsbergen. He is one of the last, perhaps the very last, people to make a living as a trapper in the Svalbard archipelago, some 500 miles north […]
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Used Boat For Trans-Atlantic On A Budget
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Read more: Used Boat For Trans-Atlantic On A BudgetHow much do you have to spend to get a safe and functional boat to cross oceans with? Here we answer exactly that question for a reader.
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The Truth Is Out About Old Style Anchors
13 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: The Truth Is Out About Old Style AnchorsThere is an interesting comparison test of anchors in the October 2007 issue of SAIL magazine. All the usual anchor suspects are put through their paces but what stands out is the very poor performance of traditional anchors, particularly the CQR, against more modern designs like the Rocna and SPADE.
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Q&A: What Size Anchor Should We Buy?
10 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: What Size Anchor Should We Buy?Question: My wife and I have recently sold our 40ft Cambria and purchased an Able Apogee 50 for extended cruising. We were very happy with our 20kg SPADE anchor on our 40 footer and would like to purchase a SPADE for the new boat. At 50 feet and with an unloaded weight of 35,000lbs, we […]
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Webb Chiles—Adventurer And Artist
1 CommentReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Webb Chiles—Adventurer And ArtistI stumbled across Webb Chiles’ site today. For those who don’t know of him, Chiles is a single-handed multiple-circumnavigator, consummate seaman, writer of good prose and even poetry, and probably a little nuts—but then, in my experience, many of the most interesting people fall into the last category.
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Q&A: Which Ensign?
5 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Q&A: Which Ensign?Question: I liked the beautiful twilight photo of your boat in Hare Bay, Newfoundland in this month’s Cruising World, and I showed it to a friend who’s been reading a manual on marine flag etiquette. He asked me what flag you’re flying on the backstay…and if the boat is an American registered boat from the […]
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QA&: Is A Macgregor 26M Suitable For A Trans-Atlantic?
3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: QA&: Is A Macgregor 26M Suitable For A Trans-Atlantic?Question: I am a 46 year old professional in fairly good health and in good shape. I am wanting to reverse the steps of my great-great-grandfather, sailing from Belfast, Maine to Bantry Bay, Ireland. I plan to leave June 3rd, 2011. The boat I want to take is a Macgregor 26M. Is this solid enough?
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Q&A: Should I Use Coppercoat Antifouling Paint On An Aluminum Boat?
0 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: Should I Use Coppercoat Antifouling Paint On An Aluminum Boat?Question: We are considering applying Coppercoat to our aluminum boat and would be interested in your thoughts. I have attached some correspondence that I had with the makers of Coppercoat that may help:
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Q&A: Should I Apply Antifouling Paint To An Aluminum Boat?
8 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Q&A: Should I Apply Antifouling Paint To An Aluminum Boat?Question: I’m thinking of leaving the bottom of my aluminum boat unpainted since I’m afraid of electrolysis caused, or at least made worse, by antifouling paint, particularly if the bottom is scratched. The boat is in fresh water, so she will not foul much.
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Q&A: Used Colin Archer Design Sailboat
0 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: Used Colin Archer Design SailboatQuestion: We have reached a stage now where we want to be cruising very soon (world in 4 to 5 years, local waters well before that), and so we are looking at boats to do this. In two weeks or so we will travel interstate to see this boat: She is a Colin Archer design, […]
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Q&A: How Did You Construct Your Bow Rollers?
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Read more: Q&A: How Did You Construct Your Bow Rollers?We now have a full in depth chapter on designing and building a perfect anchor roller. Question: I just read your anchoring article in Offshore magazine—a subject really close to our hearts, and went to your website hoping to see how you constructed/designed your bow roller. We have a pretty similar collection of large/heavy anchors, […]
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Changed Plans And Superyachting 2006
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Read more: Changed Plans And Superyachting 2006Our last news letter described our circumnavigation of Newfoundland in the summer of 2005 and our return to Maine for the winter of 2005/06, with a plan to complete the refit of Morgan’s Cloud over the winter and move back aboard in the spring of 2006 to resume our cruising life. It was not to […]
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Reefing Questions and Answers
8 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesMembers
Read more: Reefing Questions and AnswersReefing is one of those areas where the devil really is in the details. Over the years we have answered dozens of questions about reefing. In this chapter we highlight a few of those and provide our answers.
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Sail Area: How Much and How to Distribute It
7 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: Sail Area: How Much and How to Distribute ItSo just how much sail area should a voyaging boat have and how should it be distributed? We examine those two issues in this question and answer chapter.
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GMT Carbon Mast, Problems
18 CommentsReading Time: 15 minutesFree
Read more: GMT Carbon Mast, ProblemsOkay, this is a big one and to fully understand it will take you a lot of reading. But, if you are contemplating a major custom project, such as a new mast or even a new boat, the time expended here may save you a lot of money and aggravation.
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Navtec Hydraulics
3 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Navtec HydraulicsMorgan’s Cloud was fitted with an hydraulic vang and with hydraulic backstays when we bought her. Initially we were skeptical, feeling that such complexity had no place on a cruising boat, especially one that sails to remote places.
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Maloney Marine Rigging
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Harken Fittings
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Q&A: France To Tortola In The Autumn
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Q&A: France To Tortola In The AutumnQuestion: I have an opportunity to sail from France to the Canaries to Tortola, leaving the end of September through October. What can I expect from a weather perspective based on your experience? My assumption is we will be in the area of hurricane formation (eastern Atlantic) for the first week then right in the […]
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Q&A: UK To Boston Via The North In June
4 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: UK To Boston Via The North In JuneQuestion: I wondered if I could seek your advice on a trip that has been suggested to me but that I have serious reservations about: Sailing from the UK to Boston, leaving around the end of May, taking the North Atlantic route. The skipper seems to be under the impression that we will have easterly […]
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Cummins Marine 6B5 Diesel Engine Manufacturing Problems
0 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFreeRead more: Cummins Marine 6B5 Diesel Engine Manufacturing ProblemsOil pan bolts that were stripped during manufacturing at Cummins take three attempts to fix.
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Q&A: Forward Scan Sonar
4 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFreeRead more: Q&A: Forward Scan SonarQuestion: We are looking at sonar options for use in areas with poor charts and low visibility. Our interest is primarily for checking anchorages and narrow passages, looking for obstructions. We have a small plotter/sounder in the dinghy, but nobody wants to go out in the dink when it is cold and rainy (and warm […]
