The article on launching and retrieving a trailer boat in the Summer issue of PBO reminded me of the frustration I suffered years ago when I first tried to recover…
Practical Projects
Avon dinghy seat
When I recently purchased my Samphire 23, Nutmeg, she came complete with an Avon dinghy of indeterminate age, an Evinrude outboard and a stainless steel outboard bracket. However she no…
Easy-store telescopic boarding ladder
As I usually sail single-handed, I needed a safe way to get back on board my Drascombe Dabber if I ever fell over the side. Rope ladders are cheap, but…
Installing mast steps with rivetnuts
When we first launched our Leisure 27, Windrush, we noticed that the anemometer cups were missing. A few weeks later the Windex also vanished. My son Chris, a keen rock…
DIY sprayhood for a Red Fox
The Scottish scenery is fashioned by the weather so proper protection was essential for our planned trip there. However, I was quoted around £1,000 for a professional sprayhood including frame…
Make your own dinghy wheels
A 2.7m dinghy with a solid aluminium floor is great, until it comes to moving it around on land – it weighs more than 45kg and is quite a lump.…
Small boat waterproof chart holder
My 23ft Westerly Pageant does not have a navigation area, so I needed a waterproof chart holder that I could use in the cabin and also take into the cockpit…
Adding a rudder to a small outboard
Jim Miller suggests a neat way to add a rudder to a Honda BF2.3 outboard motor to aid steering at low speed
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…
Protect your transducers
The forward under-seat locker in the saloon of the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 34.2 is of a fairly generous size, but its use is somewhat restricted due to the possibility of…
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…
Keeping a cockpit locker organised
Having upgraded from a Hurley 22 to a Westerly Griffon we now have a cockpit locker that can easily swallow whatever we throw into it. The problem is, everything seems…
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…
Adding a second battery to a boat
When I bought her new, my boat had just a single 75Ah domestic battery, best described as adequate if you remained frugal with the amps. But having sunk the children’s…
Baking bread on a boat
Baking bread on a boat need not create a floury mess and produce sinkfuls of washing-up. When victualling for your cruise, pack into a sealable two-litre oblong plastic container one…
Singlehanded mooring aid
Single-handed sailing requires forethought and a little extra preparation – no more so than when coming alongside. I had this idea a few years ago which cost virtually nothing and…
A sprayhood you can reef
Ian Bray shows how he designed his replacement sprayhood to fold down and convert to a spray-dodging windscreen
Outdoor workbench tip – turn your Workmate into a bigger work surface
This might come under the heading of ‘bleeding obvious’, but I have found it to be very useful when working on my boat in the dinghy park at my local…