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Sailboat DIY And Repair Tips

Converting an Alberg from Wheel to Tiller Steering

When I bought my 1962 Alberg 35, Magic, in 2001, she was equipped with a pedestal-mounted wheel connected to the rudderstock with wire rope running over sheaves and a quadrant. The steering pedestal looked very yachty and provided a nice place for a cupholder, but I never really liked the arrangement.

How to Prepare your Boat for Painting a Gelcoat Part II

Professional applicators know that the preparation and priming stages of any paint job (covered in last month’s issue) are the most important and will take 80 percent of the time spent on a paint job. But they also know that what they get paid for is the finish. Once you have completed the preparation and priming stages, the next step is the application of the paint itself. This is where all of your hard work pays off.

How to Prepare your Boat for Painting a Gelcoat

If the gelcoat is in good condition with no major cracking or crazing, the job is relatively straightforward—clean and prepare the surface, apply an epoxy primer, sand the primer, remove the sanding residue and then apply the topcoat.

Ask SAIL: Short on Shortwave Weather

While in the Bahamas, I tried, with no success, to pick up weather using the SSB function on my portable Grundig YB400 radio. Can this little radio effectively hear SSB bands like weather, ham radio, or international shortwave?

Ask SAIL: Lowering the Gooseneck

My boat is a 1974 C&C 30 with a gooseneck fitting that is set very low on the mast. What would you think of raising the gooseneck 12 inches? As it is, it isn’t possible to use a conventional boom vang, and fitting a dodger under the boom is out of the question

Things That Work: An Anchor Chain Guide

European builders caught on early to the anchoring needs of cruisers, but one issue with older U.S.-built sailboats is the lack of dedicated anchoring systems.

Ask SAIL: Cabin Insulation

I would like to add some insulation to the cabin sidewalls, because we sail in Maine, where it often gets chilly. Is there a way to do this without developing a future mold problem?

Things that Work: Bimini Hatch Flaps

When I bought my aft-cockpit ketch, Silverheels, she had no bimini top at all. While I attended to other upgrades in preparation for tropical cruising, I pondered how I might have full-time shade in the cockpit and still get at the mizzen sail to furl and reef it.

Ask SAIL: Bad Plug?

Do marine electronic plugs just go bad on their own? I have a GPS chartplotter that sometimes go off intermittently until I reach back and wiggle a certain multi-pin plug connection.

Sketchbook: Securing the Tender

Rowing a hard tender rather than motoring an inflatable means we don’t need to carry stealable items like a pump, repair kit, tools, motor and fuel tank.

Tuesday-Trivia-2048-02

Today’s Trivia: Need for Speed

Named for the author of Around the World in 80 Days, the Jules Verne Trophy commemorates the fastest circumnavigation on record. Which of the following

Dieter Loibner

A Father, Son and a Custom Boat

“It was almost standing waves, and we were hobby horsing. The bow was going whoosh, and we were going nowhere,” says Kevin Starnes, 62. He’s

Harken-climbing the Mast

Weekly Photo: Aloft

Going up the mast can be daunting, but not for this sailor who tackled the task while underway on Narragansett Bay last summer. This year,

Trivia

Scraping the Sky

Colloquially the term “skyscraper” is used to refer to a tall city building, but nearly a hundred years before its modern architectural association, it had

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