110 ways to save money on your boating costs, from mooring and maintenance to rigging and sails! PLUS 12 anchor designs to consider, how to…
Practical Boat Owner
June issue – out 11 April
Is it time to swap your boat batteries? We look at the pros and cons of lithium-ion vs standard, installation dos and don’ts, bust the…
The Duchess of Cambridge visits the Ben Ainslie Racing team
Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) and the 1851 Trust hosted a visit from Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge, who is the Trust’s Royal Patron.
Edinburgh Marina masterplan
Developers have submitted their masterplan for Edinburgh Marina
How to catch fish while sailing
Catching supper with hook and line is a pastime most yachtsmen will attempt at some time or other, but why do some fishermen enjoy more luck with the rod than…
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…
Stop chain jumping on your anchor windlass
Mike Bowyer fabricates a simple solution to stop chain-jumping on his windlass
How to stop a swing keel leak
John Taylor finds a car steering rack gaiter stops leaks from the lifting cable of his swing keel
See-though fiddles for flare storage
Fire extinguishers are generally fixed where everyone can see them on a cruising yacht. However, other safety gear like the flares and the foghorn are often hidden away in lockers…
How to heave to with a self tacking jib
Small modifications to his Hunter Pilot's jib track mean that Dave Young can now heave to easily with his self-tacking jib