SAIL.SailMagazine

My wife, Gail, and I recently installed a new radar antenna on the keel-stepped mast of our Bristol 38.8. The first part of the installation was easy. We mounted the receiver and then, using a weighted string as a messenger, pulled the cables through a small hole in the mast near the unit all the way down to the bottom, The difficult part—figuring out a way to keep the cables from slapping
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Smell. Pong. Effluvium. Whichever way you describe it, the airborne essence emanating from Ostara’s aged sanitation system was highly unpleasant. More than just an odor but thankfully short of a full-blown stench, it permeated the forepeak and almost caused a spousal mutiny during our first weekend aboard. No doubt about it – something had to be done.

The sanitation system comprised a

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Sailors are a conservative lot. The sea takes no prisoners, and most people don’t care to experiment when the cost of failure is potentially great. That’s why both futuristic and some older traditional sailing rigs struggle for acceptance and often receive little more than patronizing smiles from so-called modern mariners.

Ironically, the conventional marconi rig that now dominates sailing

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Mike Hatch, of Trinidad, West Indies, asks:

"My 36-year-old Pearson 390 has bronze through-hull fittings, which are starting to have a lot of surface corrosion. What’s the best way to keep them clean and bright?"

Don Casey replies:

Normally bronze seacocks and through-hulls turn green because the valves are weeping. If this is the case, you

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Ralph Halstead of Marmet, West Virginia, asks:

"My Perkins 4-236 is a great engine and has an external cooling system. Recently I’ve noticed some drops of water on the dipstick after use. What do you think might be causing this condition?"

Nigel Calder replies:

It could be a number of things. I would first check whether water is siphoning in

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