Boat owners are being urged to contact their insurers before switching to lithium batteries to check their insurance will still be valid.
Laura Hodgetts
Features editor
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“Orca damage will be covered” – Insurers reassure boaters bound for hotspot region
Sailors bound for the orca interaction hotspots of the Strait of Gibraltar and Iberian Peninsula can feel reassured that their insurance cover will not be in jeopardy.
Invasive worm species found on British boats
An invasive non-native worm species has been discovered on two boats in Ramsey, Isle of Man, and on boats at Whitehaven in Cumbria
New marking technology for protected shipwrecks
For the first time in the UK, artefacts including cannons are being forensically marked underwater on some of the 57 Protected Wreck Sites in English waters which have the highest…
Sailing the 3.3m Jack de Crow from the Black Sea to Venice
Sandy Mackinnon sailed the 10.8ft Jack de Crow across the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to fullfil his dream of sailing from Romania to Italy
November issue – on sale 28 September
The boat owner's ultimate guide to wood, the best coastal cruisers under 40ft, laying up – top tips to beat the bug, sailing around every island in England and Wales...…
Tried and tested: Stubble & Co The Adventure Bag
Laura Hodgetts tests the giant backpack that can hold as much as a suitcase, is waterproof and stowable, yet is forgettably lightweight (1.7kg)...
Boatbuilding added to ‘endangered’ craft list
Traditional wooden boatbuilding in the UK is on the ‘Red List of Endangered Crafts’, compiled by the Heritage Crafts Association.
Boat owners warned: ‘Don’t attempt a risky DIY gas bottle refill’
The UK’s largest yacht owners group, the Westerly Owners’ Association (WOA) with 3,000 members, is among those dependent on gas bottles of this size for cooking on board. In a…
September issue – on sale 3 August
Best boats to sail around Britain, buyer’s guide to portable toilets, Jimmy Cornell's secrets to a successful voyage, how to design mods for your boat, 25 pages of boat DIY…
New yellow buoys mark no anchor zones in Torbay, Devon
All six seagrass beds in Torbay, Devon are now marked out for protection by the Ocean Conservation Trust's Blue Meadows Project.
Anchoring charges and the law
Are anchoring charges fair to those sailors who do not use facilities ashore? We look at both sides of the argument
Cruising Poland’s lake district
“How do you get from one lake to another?” My brother Jack, a ferry captain, wanted to know when I said I was off to sail a cruising yacht on…
Pip Hare: ‘I now have a fighting chance for Vendée Globe 2024 success’
The six month refit aims to give Pip Hare's Imoca 60 Medallia "a fighting chance" against the 13 new-build boats, costing some £8million each, which will be joining her on…
What I learned from my Croatian family charter on a 40ft catamaran
A skippered flotilla charter on the Dalmatian Coast is a dream come true for Laura Hodgetts, but can she really relax as a (last-minute) lone parent with two pre-schoolers and…
Jester Challenge folkboat Minke is found – but sailor Duncan Lougee is missing
A 25ft yacht that disappeared whilst sailing from Plymouth, Devon to Ireland as part of the Jester Baltimore Challenge fleet has been found, but solo skipper Duncan Lougee was not…
Seadog of the Month: May the clementine thief
Standard Poodle May claimed a coveted 'Seadog of the Month' slot in Practical Boat Owner magazine – and now she's using her buoyancy aid prize on a circumnavigation of Britain
Sailing the Northwest Passage in a wooden replica Victorian cutter
Plymouth shipwright Will Stirling is attempting to sail through the notorious ice-bound Northwest Passage in a 43ft wooden ‘gentlemen’s cutter’ that he designed himself.
Sprinkling sand ‘deters orcas’ according to Cruising Association
Sprinkling sand around the rudder is now a recommended deterrence of orca – which have damaged more than 250 yachts and sunk three – in the Strait of Gibraltar since
Summer Issue – on sale 8 June
Cruising to Europe: EU regulations explained, Different rig types – the pros and cons, Become a boatbuilder - behind the scenes at the academy in Lyme Regis, Electric for beginners:…