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experts

Ask SAIL: Loose Depth Connection

LOOSE DEPTH CONNECTION Q: The LCD readout on my boat showing bottom depth has become intermittent. When I pulled apart the nav station panel, it

Ask SAIL: A Low Cost AIS Test

Q: Do I need to buy an expensive VHF test meter to check my AIS antenna, which is separate from my normal VHF antenna? T.

Ask SAIL: Reviving Nonskid on Deck

REVIVING NONSKID ON DECK Q: The molded-in nonskid is becoming less and less nonskid on the side decks and foredecks of my old 35-footer. I’m

Ask SAIL: Noisy LED Lights?

A DIN WHEN DIMMING Q: I just purchased an 18ft roll of amber/white flexible LEDs to light up our cabin down below. They are plenty bright

Ask SAIL: Repairing Deep Gouges

DEEP GOUGES Q: While on a night passage aboard my boat, I struck an unidentified floating object. It did not penetrate the inner laminate, but

Ask SAIL: Serious Battery Drain

SERIOUS BATTERY DRAIN Q: While sailing on a friend’s boat we noticed what we thought was excessive voltage loss overnight. The vessel has five 8D

Ask SAIL: True Colors

Q: The electronics at my nav station rely on the old NMEA 0183 protocol for sharing data. I can’t seem to find my original wire-color

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

Squalls at night are no joke, but good preparation will get you through safely. Photo courtesy of Andy Schell

Storms & Sea Stories

The wind built faster than it was forecasted to. We ate dinner with full sail, close-reaching on a building SSW’ly breeze. Before dark we had

Photo: Lisa Smith Molinari

A Charter Passage Rewritten

Sailing on a schedule is famously a recipe for disaster, but on charter you don’t have much of a choice. The adventure is what you make of it. 

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