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How to

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

How To: Avoiding the Halyard Wrap

The last thing you want from your furling gear is for it to jam up in a rising breeze—or ever. I must be some kind of roller-reefing Jonah, because it’s happened a few times on boats I’ve been sailing aboard. On two of those occasions, halyard wrap was to blame.Halyard wrap sounds like something you’d tear off a new piece of rope, but it’s actually the most common cause of

Repairing a Blistered Bottom

We were spending hurricane season in Trinidad on our Creekmore 34 Eurisko and thought we might as well haul her out to apply another coat

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

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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