Steering CommitteeCastaway, the Bailout boat, needed a new steering pedestal. Mark Corke shows how it was installed.The original steering pedestal on Castaway, a 1979 Ericson 34T, was serviceable, but it was old and in need of some TLC. We could have reused it, which would have involved refinishing it and replacing the control cablesbut it would still have lacked a
A 30-year-old Ericson 34T gets a complete makeoverBy Mark CorkeBoatWorks Bailout was conceived as a project that would generate a series of stories for BoatWorks. We would take a readers tired old boat and bring it up to modern standards using equipment donated by manufacturersa pimp your ride for the marine industry. The fortunate owners would get a
Simply hoping that your rig is trouble free is not a good strategy, says Chris LabYou need to keep up to date on the condition of your standing and running rigging, both before you launch in the spring and continually throughout the season. Your rig is an integrated system, and anything that happens to any part of it can quickly turn your sailboat into a slow-moving
Making sailboats easier to handle (Sailing for Geezers, September 2007) apparently touched a responsive chord. Here are more improvements Ive made on my 30-year-old Pearson 40 to make it easier and safer for me to handle. Since Im approaching 60 years of age, easier also equals fun. The Geezer mainsail reefStaying in the cockpit when the wind is building is a
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 didnt 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
For the past 30 years, lead-acid batteries have always been the principal limiting factor in the design of high-capacity DC systems for sailboats. Over the years a number of technologies have been developed that attempt to circumvent this roadblock—NiCad, nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (LiI), fuel cells—but none has had sufficient life expectancy at a price affordable enough to be
Castaway gets a new sparFor the last two years weve been involved in the full refit of Castaway, a 1978 Ericson 34T. We recapped the story of this BoatWorks Bailout project in the January issue, and now the boat is at last in the water. Any old-boat project runs into some kinks, and we hit a literal kink with Castaway when the mast was found to be so badly
Call me old-fashioned, call me daring, call me crazy, but I prefer not to have my cockpit full of lines that have been led aft. I enjoy going forward and working at the mast. It hasnt always been that way. During my first crossing from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, to the Dry Tortugas off Florida many years ago as crew on an Irwin 38, each trip forward was a crawl on my hands and knees. Oh, how I
Windage and drag are two of a racing sailboats worst enemies, especially around a sails leech. Many racers eschew in situ reefing lines until its absolutely necessary to reef. (Some cruisers also dont use reefing lines, as they can chafe sailcloth.) The risk is that you can get caught out if youre not careful. A smarter, faster way to reef without leaving reefing lines in
“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
It’s not ordinary for a sailor to be captivated by the sight of boulders the size of pianos slipping beneath the keel. In my experience
I was but a shiftless wharf rat, recently shipwrecked, working the docks at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in search of a ride across the
The first question to ask about a boat should be, “What is its purpose?” The new Elan 50.1 answers that clearly. It is a long-range
“Grenada.” The woman, a passenger on a seven-day charter I was captaining in the British Virgin Islands, looked expectantly at me. “I’ve heard there’s a
Technology and disposable income are changing sailing and making luxurious boats available to more people than ever. The Hanse 460 is a perfect example. Not
On September 24, 90 singlehanded sailors will take off from Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, racing 21-foot (6.5-meter) Classe Mini boats alone for 4,050 nautical miles to
Windward PassageA Maxi Yacht in Her Sixth DecadeBy Randall Peffer, Steve Jost, Ronald GeismanWoodenBoat, $75.00 Few world class racing boats have had such improbable beginnings
It’s no secret that testing dinghies is my favorite part of SAIL’s Top 10 Best Boats competition. They’re sporty, playful, and give sailors an opportunity
The third annual Safe Harbor Race Weekend wrapped up on Sunday after three days of racing that included 66 teams in 11 classes with two
A record-warm Atlantic Ocean, possibly competing with the usually mitigating effects of El Niño, has caused scientists at NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center to amend their
