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Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner

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    YAchtsman of the year award

    Nominate your 2025 Yachtsman of the Year and Young Sailor of the Year

    ARC Rally Stopover Survival Guide: The boatyard at the crossroads of the world

    How to manage solar, hydro and wind power on your boat

    A Starlink Mini mounted on a boat

    Satellite internet for under £400, but how good is the Starlink Mini for staying in contact offshore?

    How a faulty chainplate turned a perfect sail into a dismasting disaster

    Antarctica Lemaire Channel Aerial view from mast of S V Spirit of Sydney while sailing through ice along Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: WorldFoto/Alamy

    Insurance cover for sailing high latitudes

    Read more top stories

    How I built a DIY propeller puller to free a calcified prop and shaft

    Removing a propeller from your sail- or motorboat doesn’t always translate to smooth sailing, even on a well-maintained yacht. Imagine doing it on an old…

    Globe 5.80 Performance Review: how the micro-yachts & gear fared after 10,000 miles of solo racing

    After sailing thousands of miles offshore, the Mini Globe Race 2025 skippers share exactly how the Globe 5.80 and the gear on board stands up…

    How the Mini Globe Race 2025 fleet is facing the fierce Agulhas Currents in Leg 3

    The Mini Globe Race 2025 is drawing closer to the end of Leg 3, with solo skippers rapidly approaching Durban on their homebuilt, 19ft plywood…

    Read more

    Boat maintenance

    A man replacing keel bolts

    Checking and replacing keel bolts on wooden boats

    A trailer sailer built made using cold moulding

    How to build a boat with cold moulding: the secret to a hull that looks like GRP

    A failed shroud from a boat due to metal fatigue

    Understanding metal fatigue: What causes rigging and engine failures?

    I installed a yacht air conditioning system in just a few hours

    The simple rebuild that saved a 50-year-old BMC diesel engine for less

    How I built a SCAMP boat so my sick dog could go sailing again

    Read more how to articles...

    Maintenance

    How to link your smartphone to your navigation system

    Considering a smart navigation system? The advance of electronics, and especially home automation, have given rise to a range of extremely powerful and affordable small…

    How to revamp your boat’s fuel system

    It’s always a good idea to take a closer look at your boat’s fuel system. After we bought Noontide, our Albin Ballad 30, in Plymouth…

    Your best biocide-free antifouling options

    Can you protect your boat in UK waters using foul-release coatings, ultrasonic or biomimetic technology? Rob Melotti investigates the antifouling options on the market.

    How to service your outboard steering

    How to service your outboard steering

    After a midnight steering failure, one boat owner learns a hard lesson about the "fiddly" but essential maintenance of remote outboard steering

    More

    Amazing adventures

    Yann Quenet at sea

    Yann Quenet: From France to Canada in a 4m boat

    Painting of Jazz Turner crawling 40m across rocks carrying two 10kg anchors, in an attempt to refloat her Albin Vega yacht Fear, after running aground near Felixstowe on UK and Ireland circumnavigation. Credit: Claudia Myatt

    Making history in an Albin Vega 27 – Jazz Turner’s story

    A drawing of a 33ft yacht caught in a Force 10 storm

    Force 10 in the Channel: ‘We took a colossal wave broadside, and the cockpit was suddenly knee-deep in water’

    Solo sailor Ian Wyllie aboard his Vancouver 27 Trilleen

    Ian Wyllie completes round-Britain and Ireland circumnavigation in project boat

    Read more

    Gear tests

    Lifespan vs. Warranty: why your liferaft is no longer serviceable

    Boats moored on a marina in the EU. Many UK citizen are taking their boat to Europe

    Taking a boat to Europe: how to avoid the pitfalls

    A boat trailer hooked up to a Land Rover

    Reversing a boat trailer: a quick guide

    Industry insight: lithium marine batteries and other power options

    Dezincification resistant (DZR) skin fittings explained

    The Garmin chartplotter + 7 other options

    Practical Projects

    Great tips and ideas to improve your boat from PBO readers

    THe inside of a Raymarine tiller pilot

    My tiller pilot went rogue: the surprising DIY repair that saved my Raymarine ST1000

    An in-mast halyard line

    How to re-reeve a halyard: If your in-mast halyard has broken here’s how to fix it

    Contaminated fuel problems: keeping your marine diesel clean

    A boat hatch

    Boat hatch repair: how to stop the leaks

    A boat boarding step on a yacht

    Make your own boat boarding step

    A homemade rigging vice

    How to make your own rigging vice

    More practical projects

    PBO Project Boat

    What does a sailmaker do?

    Shortly before the Round the Island Race, one of the largest yacht races in the world, it’s all go at…

    A man inserting an adaptor in shore power supply at a marina

    Shore power: solving tripping problems

    Ali Wood gets a crash course in reverse polarity and smart charging when Project Boat Maximus’s shore power gets trippy…

    Sail design – using 3D software and laser technology to cut new sails

    During the survey of our Maxi 84, the PBO Project Boat Maximus, we were warned by a marine surveyor that…

    How to measure your yacht for new sails

    Measuring your boat for new sails is a job for the sailmaker, so when our PBO Project Boat Maximus needed…

    A man installing a restored Sailor radio on a boat

    Restoring a vintage Sailor radio

    Ali Wood’s Sailor radio is given the VIP treatment

    silicone-antifoul-review-PBO289.prac_project_boat.img_4737

    Seajet Bioclean silicone antifoul review: Our verdict after one year on the water

    Does silicone antifouling work? It’s not flying off the shelves yet, according to suppliers, but the results from our Project…

    Feeding a mast cable up a mast

    Securing mast cable on our Maxi 84

    With the help of ACM Marine, Ali Wood goes about securing mast cable on the Maxi 84 PBO project boat

    sailing safety gear - children wearing lifejackets

    Family sailing safety gear: TESTED!

    Ali Wood discusses the sailing safety gear she chose for their first family cruise on board their Maxi 84, and…

    Read more

    Read PBO on tablet · phone · computer

    Promo for PBO Digital

    Get every issue of PBO on Android, iPhone, iPad or desktop

    DIY at home

    A man repairing a hull plank on a clinker-built boat

    Clinker-built boat repair: step-by-step

    A cockpit cushion on a boat

    How to make cockpit cushions

    See more DIY at home ideas

    Latest news

    Mercury Marine outboard

    Safety alert for some Mercury Marine four-stroke outboards

    The UK Government has issued a safety alert for certain models of Mercury Marine four-stroke outboards which do not meet the requirements of the Recreational Craft Regulations 2017

    Waves crash against the harbour wall during Storm Brian at Porthcawl, South Wales on 21 October 2017. Credit: Matthew Horwood/Alamy

    The Shipping Forecast Gets an AI Upgrade: The Met Office’s New Automated System

    • October 28, 2025
    Fishing gear entanglement on a boat

    Report lobster pot and fishing gear entanglement, urges CA and RYA

    • September 30, 2025
    Round the world yachtswoman Dee Caffari and Otley Sailing Club's Rob McCandless with a Sunsail marketing executive Lucy Castle at the Southampton International Boat Show. Credit: Sunsail

    Sunsail’s Funding the Future winner to refurbish five old Laser dinghies

    • September 22, 2025
    Excessively low water levels have left hundreds of boats stranded, including Adam McKinstry’s 45ft Oakwood at Gargrave since May – however the photo shows a silver lining, Adam has been able to 'do a bit of blacking on the bottom of the boat.'

    Crisis in the canals as drought hits boaters

    • September 18, 2025
    Ellia Hibbert wearing a red lifejacket

    Ella Hibbert: first British woman to sail the Northwest Passage solo

    • September 17, 2025
    Read more news

    Seamanship

    Preparing a small boat for heavy weather with advice from the skippers of the Jester Challenge 2025

    A boat rolling around at sea in a Force 8

    “A Force 8 gale turned the sea off Dover into a ‘cauldron of confusion’ that nearly overwhelmed our Halmatic 30”

    Quick tips to improve your boat’s performance

    What we learned picking up our first motorboat

    More seamanship articles

    Latest issue

    Practical Boat Owner December 2025

    December 2025 issue – out on 23 October

    From steering to rigging (and all the things we forget!) – the essential checks for the prepared skipper;  Displacement theory and how it affects the way your boat handles; Anchoring short-handed; Barry Perrins on his 9-year circumnavigation; Fit your own Saildrive propeller; Why you should never neglect lubricating oil; How to tow a dinghy; Lost prop replacement; Boat focus on small Westerly yachts; Making a mizzen mast and more! Order…

    Promoted

    Navigate Your Way to Financial Freedom

    If you could summarise Raisin’s philosophy In sailing terms, then it’s about keeping a steady hand on the tiller and staying on course. Racing sailors…

    Videos

    How to strip and tidy your boat deck

    How to strip and tidy your boat deck

    Discover how a boat owner uses a simple air compressor and a collection of versatile air tools to tackle a…

    A person servicing a two-stroke outboard engine

    How to service a two-stroke outboard motor

    Join PBO's engine expert Stu Davies as he demystifies the maintenance of a classic two-stroke outboard, sharing essential tips, common…

    A man cleaning an engine leg on an outboard engine

    How to revamp and protect your engine leg

    Join PBO's engine expert Stu Davies as he runs through the checks and maintenance needed to revamp and protect an…

    More videos

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