Ask Sail

This really is an excellent “new” marine-electronics network protocol. So why isn’t the industry getting behind it? It was almost two years ago that I first got out on the water with an NMEA 2000 navigation network and, though the trial rig looked a bit funky (see above), I became a believer. I was bowled over by how easy it was to screw together a multi-manufacturer system of

This wasn’t the first VHF call I had taken from someone seeking advice for an onboard problem, and the caller was clearly distraught. He had accidentally filled his diesel tank with fresh water. To make matters worse, when he tried to start the engine, fresh water had been sucked through the fuel system. Always interested in a challenge, I went over to his boat. Together we fixed the problem

As you get older, you usually discover it’s a little harder to climb on and off a boat. At least, that’s what’s happened to me. Attempting to improve my lot, I tried out several commercially available boarding steps. Some had good features, but I wasn’t really happy with any of them. Then one day Vince and Dianne Purcell stopped by aboard Finn MacCool, their classic Bill Tripp–designed

As part of a major refit of our BoatWorks Bailout boat, a 1983 Ericson 34, we installed an up-to-the-minute electronics package. It was easier than expected.By Mark CorkeInstalling a new pedestal from Edson gave us space for a number of instruments, with the C80 display taking center stage. The C80 acts as a chartplotter, radar display, and, with optional modules, can be

As part of a major refit of our BoatWorks Bailout boat, a 1983 Ericson 34, we installed an up-to-the-minute electronics package. It was easier than expected.By Mark CorkeInstalling a new pedestal from Edson gave us space for a number of instruments, with the C80 display taking center stage. The C80 acts as a chartplotter, radar display, and, with optional modules, can be

A covered foredeck helps keep the noon sun at bayBy Paul EsterleSpending a Tennessee summer on my 35-footer taught me that surviving the sun and heat calls for proper sunshades and awnings. I quickly learned that if I didn’t put up adequate shades, the noon sun would heat the cabin to such high temperatures that even air conditioning could not cool the space down until

“You’re not carrying any paper charts?” is a question I’ve heard at all the exotic landfalls and cruiser’s hangouts I’ve visited during my circumnavigation. Many cruisers, it seems, aren’t quite ready to fully trust their electronic chartplotters. While almost all cruisers, other than a few diehards, do have plotters on board, they also carry enough paper charts and tools for measuring and

A sailor quickly learns the right way to gybe a mainsail: Trim the mainsheet carefully, and always keep the boom and sail under full control. But in all the moving around, the headsail, often a genoa, tends to be forgotten. Unless you have a crew of eager sailors in search of a permanent job, that’s usually a good course of action. Do nothing with the headsail until the mainsail has been

If you really want to know what kind of weather is coming your way, skip the radio and TV broadcasts and look up at the clouds. Even though forecasts are a lot more reliable than they used to be, this old-fashioned way is still valuable.With today’s sophisticated devices, including satellite imagery and Doppler radar, an international network of weather experts can keep an eye on

In general, a line is happier and therefore behaves better if you coil it in a clockwise direction. Any three-strand line will try to kink up if you force it the other way. A multibraid line may be able to go in either direction, but the habit of right-handed coiling should be so ingrained that you couldn’t do it counterclockwise if you wanted to. Old-time sailors called it “coiling against the