Practical articles and expert tips galore in the February 2021 issue of PBO as we hear from a reader struck by lightning 3 times! Plus…
Practical Boat Owner
January 2021
This month we get aboard three new outboard-powered day boats – inland and coastal – plus we deconstruct the calculations that define the limits of…
Planning your next adventure? Here’s some inspiration from the crews of ARC 2019
Have you ever crossed the Atlantic? This month at PBO we’re focusing on Amazing Adventures. If you’re planning a passage, or just fancy a bit of armchair sailing, take a…
July 2020
Does your ground tackle pass muster? In the July issue of PBO (on sale 14 May) we offer 10 easy checks and dozens of ideas for improving your anchor and…
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…
June 2020
As the lockdown extends through the month of April, PBO brings you 100 DIY ideas you can do from home or in the workshop. See the full list online at…
DIY at home: 100+ things to do and make in the workshop at home
In normal times we cover a lot of ground every month in Practical Boat Owner – online and in the magazine – but in lockdown conditions it makes sense to…
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.…
How to make your own helmsman’s overmitten from old sailcloth
How often, when helming early in the season or on a night watch, have you had one warm hand in a pocket and one cold one on the tiller? Despite…
How to drill out and set rivets – mending a broken spinnaker pole
It was a cracking day, mid-May on the Algarve. We had sailed our Beneteau 381 from Gibraltar to Bruce’s Yard in Faro earlier on in the year, had her lifted…
Bake perfect bread on your boat in 5 easy steps
Many years ago, when we were cruising along the South West coast, we were anchored off Cargreen on the river Tamar. We’d run out of bread a couple of days…
How to make your own hammock or cockpit tent from a simple tarpaulin
You may find yourself in need of one (or all) of the following at some point: a sun awning and maybe something to keep the dew off in the evening…
DIY danbuoy flag preservation trick that costs pennies
Like many offshore boats we have a danbuoy which is mounted outboard and attached to our rescue horseshoe lifebelt. Having had to replace the flag a few times, despite having…
Basic sewing skills for boat owners to protect sails from chafe
Chafe damage has always been a problem on yachts, and owners are generally advised to preserve their sails by adding protective devices to the rigging. However, we don’t want baggywrinkles…
How to get the last of the sealant out of the tube
It’s often the case that you just want to use some sealant for a small project, which means of course that most of what you’ve paid for can get left…