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Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner

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    An electric engine on a boat

    How I found the right electric engine for my boat after spending £25k

    a woman standing next to windvane self-steering gear on a boat

    Why rebuilding your self-steering gear will change your cruising game

    Allures 45 under sail. Credit: Peter K Poland

    The Allures 45: crawl up creeks and dry out or cruise offshore

    Two men laying a teak deck on a yacht

    How to replace a worn teak deck

    Two yacht sailed past the coast as part of a yacht charter in Europe

    I’m a commercial skipper and this is my onboard essentials list for a Mediterranean Yacht Charter

    Can VHF and AIS run on the same aerial?

    Read more top stories
    A gleaming boat propeller, dismantled for servicing

    Propeller care: everything you need to know

    Stu Davies has valuable tips on how to maintain your prop – and explains how this vital bit of kit works, and why propeller care…

    Boat owner Richard Reed with his Seven Summers, a Cruiser Kits Santa Barbara 32 on the hard

    DIY engine replacement saves boat owner £1,500

    When his Bukh DV20 engine fails, boat owner Richard Reed saves cash by installing a ‘new’ second-hand Beta 28 and doing a DIY marine engine

    The Garcia Exploration 45 aluminium hulled yacht sailing. Credit: Peter K Poland

    Garcia Exploration 45: the ultimate go-anywhere 45ft yacht?

    The aluminium-hulled Garcia Exploration 45 is the ultimate ‘go anywhere’ 45-footer, says Peter K Poland. With panoramic views onto the outside world.

    Read more

    Boat maintenance

    Propeller pitch is the key

    How I achieved optimal propeller pitch

    Before and after of rubbing strake refurbishment

    Rubbing strakes refurbishment: step-by-step guide

    Two men using a drill to fit a new toerail to a yacht

    Fitting a new toerail or grabrail on your sailboat or motorboat

    A man emptying a boat after it has sunk

    What happens to boat electrical systems and batteries if submerged?

    A boat tied to a mooring on a river

    Electric-powered boat for under £8,000

    A man replacing a hull plank on a boat

    Hull plank repair on a boat: step-by-step

    Read more how to articles...

    Maintenance

    How to fit a new cam belt on your boat engine

    A cam belt on an engine

    Stu Davies explains how he fitted a new cam belt to the diesel engine in his 1999 Beneteau 381

    Making a lifting keel easier to raise

    A man using a winch to raise a lifting keel on a boat

    After struggling with a heavy lifting keel, Brian Johnson builds a simple tackle to make light of the problem

    How to fit an adjustable backstay

    An adjustable backstay on a boat

    Bob Goode improves his Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 32’s sail handling by replacing the original fixed wire split backstay

    Coating a GRP deck with SoftSand coating

    SoftSand non-skid coating on the deck of a boat

    Genevieve Leaper and Aleko Stephan remove the old teak deck on their Nicholson 32 and renovate the original GRP with a new coating

    More

    Amazing adventures

    A sail plan for the yacht, Spray which belonged to Joshua Slocum

    Joshua Slocum: Is the Spray legend fact or fiction?

    Teddy Seymour and Bill Pinkney

    The pioneers: Teddy Seymour & Bill Pinkney

    A boat sailing by an ice berg during a high latitude cruise

    Sailing in the land of fire and ice and beyond: sailors share their high latitude cruises

    Hanneke Boon

    Hanneke Boon: Life after Wharram

    Read more

    Gear tests

    Fire crews tackle fire at boatyard in Tipner Lane, Portsmouth. Credit Ashley Simmonds

    ‘I smelled burning plastic and realised my plug was melting!’

    Boats on a different mooring at low water in a harbour

    Can I trust this boat mooring?

    Unwanted sails collected at SKB Sails in Falmouth, Cornwall as part of the ReSail project by Clean Sailors

    Where to recycle old sails and end of life kit – drop off points across the UK and Europe

    boat wiring

    Overhauling the DC boat electrics on a 38ft boat

    A Man Overboard safety device fitted to a lifejacket

    New AIS MOB device rule affecting sailors

    A person topping up a boat battery

    Boat battery care: the do’s and the don’ts

    Practical Projects

    Great tips and ideas to improve your boat from PBO readers

    A chewed hole in an inflatable tender

    Repairing an inflatable dinghy: fixing holes

    A galley box built for a boat

    How I built a galley box for my boat

    A tarnish brass lamp

    How to clean tarnished brass

    A tool being made for dinghy repair

    How I made a specialist tool to repair my dinghy

    A DIY bilge alarm

    How to make a DIY bilge alarm switch

    A stern tube on a yacht

    How to replace a stern tube on a boat

    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

    boat feet on a motorboat on the mud

    How to make boat feet to keep you level

    The forecabin of a boat

    Replacing vinyl with maple strips in a forecabin

    See more DIY at home ideas

    Latest news

    Fire crews tackle fire at boatyard in Tipner Lane, Portsmouth

    Five boats destroyed by fire at Portsmouth boatyard

    Fire investigation officers are working to establish the cause of a fire that broke out at a boatyard in Tipner Lane in Portsmouth, Hampshire, destroying five boats.

    People at the British Motor Yacht Show

    2025 British Motor Yacht Show line-up announced

    • April 15, 2025
    Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson Ltd (Imray) nautical paper charts and books

    Plan to secure future of nautical publisher Imray paper charts

    • April 8, 2025
    Boats leaving Panama bound for Fiji in the Mini Globe Race

    Next stop Fiji! Mini Globe Race skippers start Leg 2 amid gear issues

    • March 28, 2025
    The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust yacht Solent Hero

    Big worries over new MCA Sport and Pleasure Code of Practice

    • March 28, 2025
    Boats moored at Portland Marina

    Open weekends announced for Portland Marina

    • March 27, 2025
    Read more news

    Seamanship

    A man sleeping while sailing shorthanded

    How to sleep sailing shorthanded

    A yacht crossing a Traffic Separation Scheme

    How to cross a Traffic Separation Scheme

    An aerial view of marshes

    Understanding tidal streams and heights

    A painting showing a man being rescued after falling overboard

    Left for dead after falling overboard: how one sailor survived 5 hours lost at sea before rescue

    More seamanship articles

    Latest issue

    July 2025 cover for Practical Boat Owner

    July issue – 8 May

    Navigation and your fingertips: an easy guide to digital charts, plotters and MFDs, How to sail around headlands, races and overfalls, 10 ways to save fuel, spotlight on the Pointer 30, Ways to bolster your anchor chain, Tips for switching from varnish to oils and MORE! Order the July 2025 issue online now Buy a single issue delivered to your door! OR buy a single issue to download now ·…

    Promoted

    Get ready for the season with AkzoNobel’s International®

    Spring Maintenance Look after the boat, and it’ll look after you. After a winter ashore, there are some spring tasks to schedule before your boat…

    Videos

    How to get a crew place sailing around the world

    If you don’t own a boat but want to sail around the world, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), which…

    Screenshot from WindedVoyage YouTube channel, Don’t Count Out This Sailor,Season 6, Episode 39

    Channel Hopping: Winded Voyage Sailing – don’t count this sailor out

    PBO's resident YouTube aficionado Kass Schmitt begs a YouTuber she's never met to help a friend with wonderful results

    Happy reunion and podium finish for transatlantic yacht Imi Makani

    Canadian yacht Imi Makani, who PBO captured arriving in Grenada last week, was one of the ARC+ yachts to take…

    More videos

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