Maintenance and DIY

Chandleries are rife with good folding sailing knives. Selecting the right one often comes down to utility and taste. While the latter quality is subjective, utility is easy to quantify. I’ve been using the Gerber Crucial Tool for several months and I’ve been impressed with its clever design, fantastic utility, and small size and minimal weight (just 5 ounces). While a sharp, locking blade is

Finding the perfect gift for the sailor who’s got it all can be as tricky as trimming a mainsail in an oscillating breeze while sailing through sharp square waves. Get it right and your “skipper” will be happy; bugger it even a little bit and the old salt with a careful eye might subtly let you know that your efforts need to be stepped up a bit. To help avoid this dilemma, SAIL searches

Not all sunscreens are created equal. Some run the second they get wet or sweaty; others burn the living hell out of your eyes, while others fail to properly protect you from the sun. As with many sailors who have spend decades on the water, I have had a few little skin problems and have been advised to use the heartiest sun block on the market Meet ZBlok, a new sunscreen that’s water and sweat

James Brener of Lorton, Virginia, asks:”I’d like to get a laptop computer for the boat so I can get Wifi at the dock, run electronic charts, and access web–based weather and radar when I’m underway. What specifications do you think are important when buying a laptop for use on a boat?”Tim Bartlett replies:In terms of headline specs you really

Looking for an innovative way of keeping your batteries trickle-charged, without adding a cumbersome and expensive fixed solar panel? SolarSail could be your solution.These rollable solar films attach to your boat’s canvas via supplied fasteners (mounting instruction included), allowing you to easily stow them when you collapse your canvas. The monolithically integrated panels are made

Speed ThrillsHow many times have you had to hand over the helm to your first mate, scramble belowdeck, remove a bit of the cabin sole, unscrew your paddle-wheel speed transducer, then deal with a handful of mucky growth that has fouled the unit? NKE’s new Ultrasonic speed sensor puts an end to such chores. This unit, which can be painted with antifouling without reducing

Speed ThrillsHow many times have you had to hand over the helm to your first mate, scramble belowdeck, remove a bit of the cabin sole, unscrew your paddle-wheel speed transducer, then deal with a handful of mucky growth that has fouled the unit? NKE’s new Ultrasonic speed sensor puts an end to such chores. This unit, which can be painted with antifouling without reducing

WAX ON, WAX OFFTo make cleaning your boat a bit easier and a lot safer for the environment, Ecover recently introduced its eco-friendly Boat Wash Wax and Heavy Duty Boat Wash. These low-foaming cleaners and waxes clean and shine metal, fiberglass and painted marine surfaces, and are phosphate-free. The products are made from plant and mineral-based ingredients, including

LED lights have revolutionized onboard lighting in recent years due to the featherweight draw they impose on house batteries. Initially LEDs were several times costlier than their incandescent brethren. Thankfully, this has changed recently, and Hella Marine’s line of NaviLED PRO navigation lights are a great example of affordable performance. These lights use a scant 10% of the power consumed by

If you’ve ever anchored in a really muddy bottom, or amidst blocky granite seafloors, you know firsthand that pulling an anchor up by hand is neither fun nor fast. Quick Nautical Equipment recently unveiled two new vertical windlasses, the Aleph and the Dylan. Each model comes in three sizes. The Aleph is for boats between 22 and 49 feet; the Dylan is for boats from 38 to 64 feet. The windlasses