Lining up a pair of appropriate land features or navigation marks can help keep you safe, as Dick Everitt explains
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How to make your own canvas bucket
Lin and Larry Pardey's step-by-step guide to producing a durable canvas bucket: from the January 1995 issue of Practical Boat Owner magazine.
Sharpening chisels and plane irons
Blunt tools a problem? Razor-sharp chisels and planes produce a much better job and are easier and safer to use. Julian Peckham shows how it’s done
Using a wood plane
There’s more to using a simple hand wood plane than first meets the eye. It’s not just a case of screwing a knurled knob in or out to adjust the…
New marina initiative to reduce the risk of spreading invasive species
Haslar Marina in Portsmouth Harbour has teamed up with The Green Blue to run an initiative that aims to reduce the risk of boaters spreading invasive species...
Grate blacking propeller antifouling
Does black grate polish work as propeller antifouling? This reader finds out...
DIY mooring line chafe protection
Alex Blackwell makes his own mooring chafe protectors, ensuring they're lashed to the line to stop them moving
How to deal with riding turns on a winch
Riding turns always occur at the worst possible moment - here's how to remove a riding turn and avoid them in the first place
9 ways to keep your log impeller fouling-free
We received a deluge of responses when we asked how you keep your log impellers fouling-free. Here are 9 of the best...
8 quick tips for varnishing
Some tips and tricks to get the best finish possible when varnishing your boat's woodwork
Mend your own engine sea water pump
Peter Lyle refurbishes the seawater pump on his Jeanneau 36i for a fraction of the cost of replacement or professional repair
3D printing boat parts
Much has recently been made in the papers about 3D printing, which can manufacture replacement bones, blood vessels, buildings and weapons, while NASA are even considering using it to construct…
Waterproof your trailer light plug
Boat trailer electrics, especially trailer light plugs are very susceptible to damage, either through the wires being pulled out or through corrosion. I have a sure way of avoiding this…
Build a boat from a kit
There’s a great way to own a new boat on a budget – build it yourself. We followed five builders and their projects
Antifouling – how to remember how far you’ve got
It is amazing how crew always seem to disappear when boat maintenance time comes. I always end up painting the black antifouling of my Hanse 311 on my own! If…
DIY Outboard motor lock
When I bought my new inflatable, I did some research into the different outboard motor locks available. My conclusion was that they were expensive, and many seemed likely to corrode…
DIY rigging screw covers – make your own and save money
Rigging screw covers cost approximately £10 each, so for my Westerly Centaur I would have needed to spend around £60 to cover all six. Instead, I used a 2m length…
How to improve your emergency tiller
A boat move in the marina required me to go astern the full length of a narrow fairway between two long pontoons and turn 90° to port at the very end.…
How to refurbish an old pair of oars and make leather collars
I needed a pair of oars for my 1954-vintage 12ft standing lug dinghy and managed to find a couple of old ones – although they were not a matching pair,…
How to soften LED interior bulbs using a 25p ping-pong ball
We have a 25-year-old Westerly Konsort called Flycatcher, and last year I replaced the conventional 5W bulbs in the six berthlights with LED fittings, reducing the power consumption by about…