Tips, Tricks & Thoughts:
Tips
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Own Our Own Sawhorses
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Read more: Own Our Own SawhorsesThis tip won’t work for active voyagers far from home, but for those of us who commission our boats at the same yard every year and have a place to store them it’s well worth owning our own sawhorses. The things are always in short supply at a boatyard, and the ones we can hunt […]
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Threaded Inserts Save The Day
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Read more: Threaded Inserts Save The DayEngine access on the J/109 is way easier if we remove the top companionway step, so over the years that’s clearly been done a bunch of times. And of course with each removal and reinstallation the screw holes in the retaining battens underneath have got bigger and more ragged. So people have replaced the screws […]
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Protect Hydraulic Rams
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Read more: Protect Hydraulic RamsI have long been a fan of hydraulic backstay adjusters, and, on bigger boats, hydraulic vangs, but they do have one vulnerability: a ding in the exposed rod will eventually damage the top seal and start a leak. Sometimes a small ding can be polished out with very fine emory paper, but bigger ones can, […]
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Good Boat Review—Leadership 44
2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Good Boat Review—Leadership 44Practical Sailor just reminded me in an email of an excellent review, written by editor Darrell Nicholson, of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Leadership 44, designed by David Pedrick (one of my favourite designers) and built by Morris Yachts. Darrell also compares the Coast Guard boat to the Navy 44 Mk II, also by Pedrick, […]
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Mental Liquidity
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Read more: Mental LiquidityI have quoted Morgan Housel, one of the smartest people in investing as well as one of the best writers, before. His thoughts about investing often make sense for life, and offshore voyaging. Here’s Morgan again: A question I love to ask people is, “What have you changed your mind about in the last decade?” […]
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Crew Overboard Lessons Learned
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Read more: Crew Overboard Lessons LearnedHere’s an interesting article about a triple crew overboard emergency from the point of view of the crew of the rescuing boat. I learned from all the lessons shared, but the two that really jumped out at me were: Anyway, thankfully it ended well. Thanks to my friend Wilson for the heads-up.
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Get Vane Gear Blade Out Of The Water Before Deploying JSD
14 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFreeRead more: Get Vane Gear Blade Out Of The Water Before Deploying JSDAs I have said before, there are few people on the planet, probably less than a dozen, who know as much about surviving storms at sea in a small boat as Susanne Huber-Curphey. I’m privileged to be on her email newsletter list. The latest contained the following nugget of wisdom: This self-steering was also the […]
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Battle Born Batteries Get The Memo
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Read more: Battle Born Batteries Get The MemoGreat to see that one of the largest vendors of lithium batteries has finally got wise to the fact that when used on boats, lithium batteries with an internal BMS must be able to communicate with external devices and the user to be safe and compliant. That said, Battle Born are making a lot of […]
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Takacat Dinghy On Test
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Read more: Takacat Dinghy On TestI’m constantly correcting people who assume that because my last three boats were monohulls I must be a multihull hater. Why is it that these days so many people seem to jump to the conclusion that just because we own one type of boat, we must think that it’s the best and all other boats […]
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Updated Norwegian Cruising Guide, Volume 3
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Read more: Updated Norwegian Cruising Guide, Volume 3Many of you may not be aware, but Phyllis and I have a second job as publishers and editors of the Norwegian Cruising Guide. Actually, that’s a bit of a stretch in that Phyllis, together with our friend and Norwegian partner Hans Jakob, do 95% of the work on that project and I get my […]
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Backer Plate Hack
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Read more: Backer Plate HackPretty much any deck fitting should have a substantial backer plate. I like G10 for this function, although fibreglass sheet can work for less money when less stiffness is required. I keep some of each in different thicknesses on hand. But how do we hold the backer plate in place while we drill the holes?The […]
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Great Core Removal Drill Bits
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Read more: Great Core Removal Drill BitsI think pretty much everyone knows that when installing new fittings on a cored boat we should first remove the core before filling the void with thickened epoxy and then re-drilling for the fastener(s). There are a bunch of different ways to do this, but the set of Alfa Tools Forstner bits I just bought […]
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Q&A Winch Service Intervals & grease.
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Read more: Q&A Winch Service Intervals & grease.Member Courtney asked: In this whole set of articles on rigs/spars/lines and the bits and bobs that make the sailing happen I see no mention of the service schedule or recommended sundries for winches. I found your suggestions for a water-based degreaser, but no suggestions for the grease (And there’s sooo many, and they all claim […]
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Cutting Bolts Hack¹
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Read more: Cutting Bolts Hack¹I’m guessing most of you know this one, but I didn’t when I first started working on boats, so it may be useful. When cutting a bolt off that’s too long, first put a nut on it as shown in the above. Winding the nut off cleans up burs on the threads from cutting. But […]
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Drawings For Improved Force 10 Stove Bracket
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Read more: Drawings For Improved Force 10 Stove BracketI just added a drawing of this much-improved stove bracket to the original article so others can use it to get one made to improve the safety of Force 10 stoves. Should have done this years ago. Thanks to member Nina for the nudge.
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Recommended Deck Wiring Glands
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Read more: Recommended Deck Wiring GlandsI have a pathological hatred for drilling holes in the deck of our boat, but sometimes it’s unavoidable, and when it is I’m guided by a healthy dose of deck-leak paranoia—it only takes one passage with a leak over your bunk to instill said condition for life. The cables in the shot will be under […]
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Wire Routing Hack
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Read more: Wire Routing HackI have been running a bunch of new cables up to the instrument pod on our new-to-us J/109 while installing a better on-deck navigation system, including radar. The cables run through the head under some trim in a very tight space with no room for wire ties, and they needed to stay put while I […]
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Oil Change Danger
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Read more: Oil Change DangerWe have a friend who was well into a voyage across the Atlantic when the oil pressure alarm went off on her engine. She and her crew made all the usual checks but to no avail. When they finally got to the Azores under sail and with no engine for charging, the mechanic found parts […]
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A Shed For Your Boat
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Read more: A Shed For Your BoatA couple of years ago my friend David sent me the above photos of a Stimson shed he built to winter store his lovely Hinkley 41, the same boat he so kindly lent me for a cruise. I’m ashamed to admit that said photos have languished on my computer until I stumbled over them while […]
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While Converting To Lithium
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Read more: While Converting To LithiumMember Rob sent us the above photo of the very cool (in more ways than one) equipment and battery bay he and his installer built in the aft cabin of his 2002 Beneteau Oceanis 473 while they were changing the boat over to a lithium house (service) bank. Prior to that change, as is so […]
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Loos Rigging Tension Gauge
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Read more: Loos Rigging Tension GaugeA cool tool for tuning a one-design boat where the settings are known, as they are on our J/109. Probably not worth the money otherwise. Here’s how to tune a rig without.
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Small Problems Add Up To Big Problems
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Read more: Small Problems Add Up To Big ProblemsMember Tim Newson sent us the attached account of a serious situation that developed when several small oversights and maintenance failures came home to roost during a challenging early winter voyage across the North Sea—only Brits would think such a cruise might be fun! …OK, I have done that sort of thing, too, but then […]
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Question and Answer—Limited Fuel Range Voyage
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Read more: Question and Answer—Limited Fuel Range VoyageMember, George asked: I’m presently faced with challenge of a transatlantic delivery Maine- Azores and beyond. Boat is old 1978 NY 40, Palmer Johnson built. Pretty solid for IOR era as it was intended for Bermuda races as well as inshore events. Stickey issue is the 12 gallon fuel tank! I don’t like lashing 5 […]
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Thoughts on The Golden Globe Race 2022
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Read more: Thoughts on The Golden Globe Race 2022Member Jim asked: So now that GGR 2022 is in the final stretch – What do you think? Seems like the later start had some benefits – if I recall correctly one boat sank (auto-pilot broke off?) otherwise barnacles seems to be the biggest issue… and kudos to Kirsten! Yes, the later start was a […]
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Answer to Electrical Quiz
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Read more: Answer to Electrical QuizA bit over a week ago I posted an electrical quiz question. A couple of members came close in the comments, but no one got it exactly right. I had the volt meter connected between a reference anode, immersed in the water next to the boat, and the boat’s bond system, and was looking to […]
