Philip Donegan of Kemah, Texas asks: “My 35ft boat has a 379 ft2 mainsail. I’m using 10mm braid for my reefing lines, but I am thinking about replacing them with smaller Dyneema lines on the theory that the smaller diameter line will reduce the friction on the blocks. Am I correct, and if so, what is the minimum line strength I can use?” Win Fowler
For cruisers with boats much longer than 35 feet, or those planning to head off on an extended blue-water cruise, an autopilot with a hydraulic or electric ram connected directly to the steering quadrant or rudder stock is almost mandatory. Modern below-decks pilots are powerful and reliable. They are also expensive, and coastal cruisers must balance the cost and complexity of such an
Jim Fischer of Ellicott City, Maryland, asks:”All the bronze seacocks aboard my 1979 fiberglass 34ft sloop are connected to a keelbolt, along with the boat’s lightning ground system, which is also connected to a keelbolt. Is this still the recommended arrangement, or do you think all the seacocks should be isolated from each other and not connected to a keelbolt? Can I
Don Glynn of Westlake Village, California, asks:”My ground tackle consists of 30ft of 5/16in galvanized chain, 270ft of 5/8 in three-strand nylon and a 22-pound Danforth anchor. Recently I discovered a 20ft hockle in the middle of the 10-year-old nylon rode and assumed that the kinks occurred after being coiled many times, and the boat circling around the anchor. I am
Joseph Serio of Brooklyn, New York, asks: “What is the best way to check that the shrouds and stays are properly adjusted on my Irwin 40 Mk 11?” Win Fowler replies: Let’s talk about a single-spreader rig. For more spreaders the principles are the same, but the process is a bit trickier. Before you start, make sure the spreader-tip heights bisect
Paul Scott of Coral Gables, Florida, asks:”I just bought a pre-owned boat that came with a fairly new 406 MHz EPIRB. I’ve checked the date on the battery, and it is fine, but when I contacted the FCC to change the registration information, they told me that they don’t handle EPIRB registrations. Where should I go to re-register my unit?”Gordon West
After many hours of discussion, my wife, Vicki, and I decided to install a set of davits on Freelance, our Pearson 36 cutter. We hoped davits would solve our dinghy storage problem and save us time getting the dinghy in the water. We also knew that not having to tow it astern would increase our boatspeed in light air.We considered building custom davits, but decided that a clamp-on type
Recently, as part of my work on hybrid propulsion systems, I attended a demonstration where a large-scale lithium battery pack was deliberately pushed past the boundaries of existing experience. The intention was to run the system at 20 kW of output and 160 volts, creating a current flow of around 130 amps. Owing to a miscalculation, when we threw the switch and brought everything on line we
At the beginning of last season, the stroke of an official pen shut down an entire communications system and made half a million distress beacons obsolete, as the International Cospas-Sarsat satellite system stopped processing distress signals on 121.5MHz.It wasnt as bad as it might appear, though: the old 121.5MHz distress beacons hadnt been doing muchother than adding to the tally of
THE TECHNOLOGY Conventional old-fashioned high-frequency radios are quite capable of communicating worldwide, just as they did throughout most of the 20th century. But they suffer from two main problems.The first is that radio communication over distances of more than a few hundred miles can be achieved only by reflecting radio waves off electrically charged
Grizzly bears? Check. Tidal currents at up to 15 knots? Check. Wild weather? Check. This is the Race to Alaska (R2AK), 750 nautical miles of
New sailboats can make statements in many ways—sharp-edged performance, glamorous styling, cutting-edge systems—but sometimes a boat stands out because its form follows its function so
Inside Cole Brauer’s Race Around the World Twenty-nine-year-old Cole Brauer skyrocketed to fame after becoming the first female winner of the Bermuda 1-2 last year,
Olivia Wyatt let go of the shore in the summer of 2019, a decision slow to arrive that was part obsession, part dare, and part
The year is 1966, in the heart of Orange County, California, when White Seal is laid up in fiberglass, by hand, at the Jansen Marine
Caribbean sailors marked a milestone this past weekend as they celebrated the 50th St. Thomas International Regatta (STIR), a unique three-day event that draws a
Ever since the government started polluting our fuel with ethanol, I’ve agonized over how best to power the dinghies I use when cruising. I did
It has been a long, hard winter and the summer months can’t come soon enough. We wish we were in Lauderdale, soaking up the sunshine,
Sailors have a longstanding history with music. From ancient seafaring cultures to modern sailors, music has played a vital role in maritime life, offering solace,
The latest from Nautitech is what getting it right looks like.
