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Read more: Gear Leveling and Mounting HackBoats are not square so it’s often necessary to mount gear at an angle and/or on a curved surface. Here’s the easy way to do that.
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Read more: New Iridium Go! execPredict Wind have a preliminary announcement video for a new faster version of the Iridium GO!. Not a lot of details yet, but it’s supposedly a lot faster, although not fast enough to use for actual internet surfing. The big drawback will be if the unlimited data package available with the original GO! is not […]
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Read more: Disturbing Failure Modality In Some Fall Arrest DevicesWhile researching fall arrest devices I came across the video below from a seemingly credible source that explains how several popular devices can fail to arrest if the attaching carabiner gets oriented in ways that I can easily see happening when climbing masts. Worth 15 minutes of your time, particularly if you use climbing backup […]
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Read more: Important Update To Recent Mast Climbing ArticleI have just updated my latest mast climbing article in light of some very important and counterintuitive new information that climber, sailor, and AAC friend-in-the-comments Drew found. Don’t miss this (scroll down to second alert box).
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Read more: A Crash Jibe Looking For A PlaceI’m in the throes of replacing the autopilot computer on our J/109 (more on that in a full article). First off, when I opened this box to connect up the drive and clutch I was distressed to see this terminal type. These things have no place on a boat, at least if they rely on […]
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Read more: Going Up The Mast—Four Dangerous But Common MistakesJohn highlights four more dangerous mistakes he has made and seen many others make too. With these mistakes fixed, he is now reasonable happy with his system.
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Read more: Cruiser Tools—Jesus PliersYears ago, when the world was young, I worked as a mainframe computer technician for NCR Corporation—yes they made computers, great big ones. In the workshop, which I shared with a bunch of techs who fixed mechanical cash registers and accounting machines—fiendishly complicated contraptions that it took great skill to work on—a common cry was […]
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Read more: Cruiser Tools—FilesOn our McCurdy and Rhodes 56 I had a whole bunch of different files, but that was a 25-ton boat where weight, while important, was less of an issue. Since selling that boat, along with all my tools, I have found that the three files shown above will do most things, and while I have […]
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Read more: Give an AAC Membership For ChristmasStuck for a Christmas gift?
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Read more: Wire Tie Best PracticeOur new-to-us J/109 was filled with wire ties like the one on the left. Horrible things because when changes and additions are made people tend to just add more wire ties over the existing bundle. So, as I clean up the wiring, I’m replacing the ones on the left with those on the right (first […]
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Read more: Don’t Play With Your Phone When On WatchI think we would all agree that smart phones are seductive and, as a gadget freak, I’m as susceptible to their siren call as anyone. Here’s a really good reminder to me, and everyone else, from none other than the US Coast Guard, of why we should not give in to smart-phone temptation: For approximately […]
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Read more: How To Do Amateur Engineering¹From time to time we get a question asking us to opine on whether a modification to the boat or rig will be strong enough. Let’s look at that.
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Read more: Q&A—New Lead Acid Batteries From VictronMember Kimbal asked: I’m looking at an ad on Yachtworld for a boat that has “New Victron Super Cycle AGM batteries – 3 x 125ah (2022) – Note: These batteries are a new type of AGM which approach lithium in some respects, and matches the Carbon Foam Firefly batteries performance – capable of up to […]
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Read more: All This and Sailing, TooJohn reviews Olin Stephens’ autobiography, just in time for holiday gift giving.
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Read more: Cruising With Starlink ReportsWe have received some favourable reports from Members about using Starlink while cruising. First on a tip we already published. And recently two more: Three weeks ago I installed a Starlink antenna on BJoyce. Contrary to some skeptics this thing works GREAT! Hasn’t buffered once and fast. No limit on devices or anything else. The […]
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Read more: Is It Time To Consider a Robot For Watchkeeping?OK, that was a clickbait title, if ever there was one. Anyway, I have been vaguely interested in the AI lookout and collision avoidance technology that has been used in the singlehanded racing game for some years, called OSCAR. Now I see that the company has rebranded as SEA.AI and their entry level product is […]
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Read more: Tools: The Little Details MatterI just took the Edson steering system on our J/109 apart to service it. A fiddly job that requires undoing a bunch of fasteners in awkward places only accessible through the top of the steering pedestal after removing the compass. This job was way easier and probably took half as long using my new Wera […]
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Read more: Going Up The Mast—Our SystemAfter over 50 years of going up masts John shares the system he and Phyllis are now using as well as highlighting the many dangerous mistakes he has made over the years.
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Read more: Heritage Intrepid 35As most of you know, I’m a sucker for most any boat from the drawing boards of McCurdy and Rhodes. Normally, to get a M&R boat you are looking at custom boats, or those from Hinckley, so deep pockets required. But, while I was researching something else, I discovered that, back in the 70s, the […]
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Read more: Sailing In Close QuartersI have to confess that over the 30 years we owned our McCurdy and Rhodes 56 I let my close-quarters sailing skills get rusty. It’s not that the boat is unhandy, far from it, with main and staysail she can be sailed into the smallest and most crowded of spaces. But somehow, in the the […]
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Read more: The Best Cruising BoatThe photo shows our new-to-us J/109 and AAC member Frank’s Ovni 435 hanging out together in the workshop at East River Shipyard here in Nova Scotia. It would be hard to imagine two more different boats, and yet I like both boats a lot. Which is best? Wrong question. They are designed for different purposes. […]
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Read more: Quote Of The Day
The reason that ‘guru’ is such a popular word is because ‘charlatan’ is so hard to spell. William Bernstein I strongly recommend keeping this quote top of mind when watching YouTube.
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Read more: Going Up The Mast—FundamentalsThoughts on backup systems, fall arrest as against fall prevention, and gear recommendations for going up the mast.
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Read more: Don’t Use Old Sailcloth For a Jordan Series DrogueThere’s an article on DIYing a Jordan Series Drogue (JSD), AAC preferred and recommended storm survival equipment, over at This Old Boat. There’s some useful stuff to learn in the article; however, the author makes the terrible mistake of using old discarded sailcloth that she bought from a boat salvager for the cones. We know […]
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Read more: Simple Alcohol Heaters Are No MoreI have been thinking about heat for our J/109 lately. Not a full-on system for the Arctic like we had on or McCurdy and Rhodes 56, but rather something to take the chill off on a cold morning in early or late summer. One idea I had was one of those portable alcohol heaters that […]
