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diy

Ask Sail: Cetol Skin

I used Sikkens Cetol on the bare wood on my Catalina 30, Morning Dew IV. The can was compromised over the spring, and I put the balance in a 16oz clean glass mayo jar. Last spring when I went to use it, a skin had formed over the top of the liquid, so I just cut the skin off. It is 1/8in thick. In the future, is it still OK to use?

Know-how: Electrifying Betty Jane

Quiet. That’s what you hear as you back away from the mooring. No chug, chug, chug from the diesel as water cascades out of the

Know-how: Inflatable Dinghy Repair

Properly maintaining your inflatable boat can be vexing, no? Wait a sec, though, before throwing up your hands and marching off in search of a

Know-how: Modern Rigs 101

I pretty much took rigs for granted when I first started sailing on other people’s boats. After all, unlike exciting, moving, tweakable things like sails

Know-how: Chainplate Replacement

Everyone dreads the day that something as major and costly as a boat’s rigging must be replaced. For my 1984 Tayana 42, Eclipse, still sporting

A Cruiser’s Wine Cellar

I’m not going to lie. This all started with wine. I wanted (needed?) to find more space on the boat where we could stow the

Know how: Thru-hulls and Seacocks

Duncan Kent explains what you should look for in these vital fittings Clearly, with any device that penetrates the hull of a yacht, the choice

Installing a Helm Pod

Our 1987 Pearson project boat came with an elderly but functioning Raymarine chartplotter, located belowdecks at the nav station. Since I usually sail solo or

This 2026 Top 10 winner is a functional and fashionable update to the 410.

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 415

Developed in record time and on a shoestring budget, a new design hits the bullseye of the cruising market. 

Boat under shrinkwrap

Selecting a Marine Pro

Note: This story is excerpted from SAIL Contributing Editor Christopher Birch’s upcoming book The Four Seasons of Boat Maintenance—a compendium of lessons learned during his

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