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Read more: True GritI’m going to make a confession here: I think brightwork is beautiful. However, since I’m the one that ends up maintaining it—that’s because John insists I’m so much better at it than he is, which is a rotten trick and one I fall for regularly—I also believe it doesn’t belong on our boat.
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Read more: Death By A Thousand Details
Over the last 35 years of offshore boat ownership (there were dinghies before that) I have done four major refits and a complete rebuild—I’m beginning to think that this may be seriously sick behavior. But, be that as it may, at this point in the process, with the launch date looming large, we have entered […]
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Read more: McMaster-CarrDuring this last refit, we had custom wood bezels with embedded helicoils built to fit permanently around the cabin ports (we’ll discuss these further in our Refit Series). During cold weather, we screw Plexiglas covers to the bezels and voila…no condensation! However, after installing them we realized that the little chains with small bars at […]
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Read more: FearWhen people, predominately non-sailors, find out that John and I live on our sailboat and cross oceans (well, one ocean—seems we just can’t shake ourselves loose from the North Atlantic), the thing they most often ask is, “Aren’t you afraid out there?”
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Read more: There’s No Excuse For PoundingIn this chapter I have a good old rant about one of the most common and unpleasant faults of many modern designs that claim to be offshore capable. Reading this chapter could save you from buying a boat you will come to hate.
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Read more: Q&A: Is An Aluminum Catamaran Suitable For The High Latitudes?
Question: I would like to do some cruising in the high latitudes and am in the process of planning a boat to take me there. You and others, like Jimmy Cornell, are very partial to alloy boats and I agree it seems to be the way to go. But I also like catamarans. I can […]
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Read more: A Motorsailer For Offshore Voyaging?Carrying on from the last chapter, I take a look at motorsailers, again by answering a question from a reader. Do motorsailers make sense for offshore cruising? Read on to find out.
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Read more: At What Age should You Stop Sailing And Buy a Motorboat?Is there an age when you should buy a motorboat or motorsailer, rather than a sailboat, for offshore voyaging? I take a look at that by answering a question from a reader.
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Read more: Q&A: Tips On Buying A Used Boat For The High Latitudes
Question: 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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Read more: Q&A: Breaking Load Of Anchor Chain
Our 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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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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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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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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Read more: The Truth Is Out About Old Style Anchors
There 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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Read 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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Read more: Webb Chiles—Adventurer And Artist
I 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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Read 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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Read 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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Read 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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Read more: Q&A: Used Colin Archer Design Sailboat
Question: 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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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, […]
