In the April edition of Ask Sail, Nigel Calder asked readers to share ideas on how best to keep their props clean. The Q and A from the magazine sparked a discussion with readers chiming in from all corners of the country. Here are some of their ideas:Q: What do you recommend for keeping barnacles from growing on my prop, strut and shaft? For years, I’ve used metal
When my oldest son, David, told me about the J/24 he had just bought I had a pretty good idea what was coming next. “Dad, I’ve bought a J/24. It needs a lot of work, but the price was right.”“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.“Race it, eventually. Here’s what needs to be done,” he said and pulled out a two-page list of repairs and upgrades he wanted to make on the boat.
When someone drops a winch handle, spinnaker pole or outboard shaft on a fiberglass deck, it will sometimes produce a minor ding in the gelcoat and fiberglass. Fortunately, most of these dings are relatively easy to fix. Heres how.Hole in oneTo repair a minor ding or hairline crack, first use a Dremel tool to smooth the gelcoat
When someone drops a winch handle, spinnaker pole or outboard shaft on a fiberglass deck, it will sometimes produce a minor ding in the gelcoat and fiberglass. Fortunately, most of these dings are relatively easy to fix. Heres how.Hole in oneTo repair a minor ding or hairline crack, first use a Dremel tool to smooth the gelcoat
This is the time of year when I receive emails like this: My engine ran fine when I laid it up last fall, but now it wont turn over It is also the time of year when that magical device, the digital multimeter, earns its keep.Please note, I wrote digital. If you have a cheap analog meter (the one with a swinging needle) do yourself a favor and replace it with a decent digital one. If
Dick Hansen of Norwalk, Connecticut, asks:”My new chartplotter is just great and gives me aerial and radar overlays. But when I transmit on VHF Channel 68, a frequency we use a lot in my area, the GPS hiccups, the chartplotter freezes, and it can take about 30 seconds for the system to recover. Everything works fine when I transmit on other channels; its just 68 that is
Olene Boyko of Urbanna, Virginia, asks:”On removing the inspection plates on the welded steel water tanks aboard my 48foot boat, I could see they were painted on the inside with a blue high-gloss rubber-like paint. I also saw quite a bit of corrosion around the edges of the opening for the inspection plates and a considerable amount of scum and algae growth. Bleach has
Joe Nieters of Dillon, Colorado, asks: “What are the advantages of a rigid boomvang? Many boats I’ve seen with them seem to also have topping lifts, and a lot of the rigid vangs also have a block-and-tackle control arrangement.” Win Fowler replies: The advantage of a rigid boomvang is that it supports the boom. Having a topping lift and a rigid
Photos by Mark CorkeSimply removing accumulated dust and grit on your hull with a garden hose before the spring launch might make it a little cleaner, but to get a sparkle on your topsides youll have to spend a bit more time and effort. Fortunately, getting a spit-and-polish shine is neither difficult nor complicated. I know some sailors honestly believe that they can pour
When your antifouling paint arrives in plain-labelled cans marked Experimental, youre going to get some suspicious looks from your boatyard neighbors. When I painted our 34ft project boats bottom with Interluxs Pacifica Plus copper-free antifouling last spring, the product was so new the labels hadnt even been printed, and it proved to be a bit of a conversation-starter in the
We had stopped to snorkel at Cayo Sal in Cuba, and I grabbed my mask and fins to check on the anchor. This weather-beaten, low-lying
I could feel the boat find her groove and settle in at 7.2 knots on a beam reach with the code zero flying. It was
Would a brief passage to no particular place soothe this landbound sailor’s pelagic soul?
It was half past midnight and the wind had been building for the last few hours. We had left the west coast of Puerto Rico
A Clean Bottom and No Burglars Nighttime dinghy theft is a major issue in the Caribbean. Even in parts of the United States it is
Editor’s Note: In 1956, Alan Nicol—nicknamed “Stormy” for the weather he seemed to attract—was Francis Chichester’s main crew on Gipsy Moth II, sailing with Chichester
When they think about the Society Islands, most sailors likely conjure the most famous of this French Polynesian group—Tahiti, Bora Bora, perhaps Moorea—the stuff that
Peter Harken needs little introduction in the world of sailing. With his brother, Olaf, he started a shoestring business building collegiate and Olympic class dinghies
The new Windelo 50, which made its U.S. debut in February at the Miami International Boat Show, is an updated version of an earlier launch
Three Grenada men have been charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of American cruising sailors Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel. The
