Ask a dozen boating enthusiasts what they do over the winter and you’ll get a wide range of answers. Some value the escape from the water to allow them to…
PBO Staff
Devon Yawl test sail and review
A friend and I once decided that instead of sailing, an August hike might do us good. So we took the coastal path from Branscombe to Bigbury. On the leg…
How to climb your mast and work aloft safely
As much as I love sailing, there is one thing (besides rebuilding the head) that I really have a problem with, and that is the height of the mast. No,…
Home before lockdown – 26ft classic boat delivery from Essex to South Wales
Due to family commitments I found myself having to move to Wolverhampton late last year from West Sussex. I’ve never lived far from the sea and the boat I have…
Restoring a 1950s Bembridge Scow
Few things can be more satisfying than saving an old wooden boat from the chainsaw and bringing her back to life; but this can be a very expensive exercise as…
DIY anti-surf device for towing a dinghy
I’ve owned my dinghy for 30 years and the friend who sold it to me was killed in a motorcycle accident not long after. I’ve given my son sailing lessons…
How to: service your lifejacket
Attitudes to wearing lifejackets have changed slowly but surely says offshore sailing instrucor and Rubicon 3 founder, Bruce Jacobs. As with car seatbelts, lifejackets are something that we automatically wear…
Coronavirus lockdown: English marinas and sailing clubs allowed to open today
English marinas and sailing clubs are permitted to open today following a change in Government guidance which allows people to travel to the coast and use the water. The Government…
Port hopping the north coast of Cornwall in a small boat
My wife, Sue, and I had been thinking about cruising the north Cornish coast on our trailer-sailer for the last decade, despite Mark Fishwick’s opinion in his West Country Cruising…
Slow boat around Wales – coastal and inland circumnavigation in a Vivacity 20
When we first moved to Deganwy I saw a programme on Welsh television with a couple of guys from Aberaeron who had circumnavigated Wales in a Drascombe longboat. That looks…
Wild about sailing in the wonderful Whitsunday Islands
Do you want to experience a new cruising ground, something exotic, visually stunning, an adventure with crystal clear water, interesting flora and fauna… and no crowds? I have the answer.…
British designer James Wharram’s round-the-world adventure on Spirit of Gaia
The morning breeze was just starting to fill in as we headed out of Port Vathi on board Ionian Spirit, an old Danish fishing boat converted for charter. As we…
Night watch in the North Sea – how I beat the fear by facing it head on
As I prepared myself for my first meeting with the North Sea, I thought about the legend among sailors. There is, it is said, a monster living beneath the North…
Big new small yacht: Beneteau Oceanis 30.1 tested
Thirty years ago a small boat might have been anything less than around 24ft. However, that number has since leapt upwards, with many large manufacturers paying scant attention in the…
How I built a bespoke aluminium powerboat at home
Late in 2015, just as James Oakley was finishing the hull of his home-built aluminium speedboat, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. “I’d been to see my doctor for something…
The step by step guide to dismantling a PRM 100 marine gearbox
As a boat owner practical enough to cope with most maintenance I still had to think twice before delving into the guts of my gearbox. One imagines the need of…
A new build nesting dinghy for a newlywed couple
In the days before inflatable dinghies it was common to have a hard dinghy, to be left on the mooring or hoisted onto the foredeck of your yacht, or atop…
How to polish stainless steel in the workshop at home
Once you know how to polish stainless steel from its raw milled state to a high gloss finish then it’s possible to make all sorts of trims from flat bar,…
How to make a foldaway bottle rack out of neoprene for your boat
I live in Valencia, Spain, and discovered PBO in a UK airport 15 years ago. I asked the newspaper shop near my home to order it in for me, and…
How to dismantle and repair a seized wind generator at home
I confess, I’m frequently guilty of surrendering to the old adage, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ But I got caught out in hurricane Dorian in October last year.…