I often sail single-handed and picking up mooring buoys can be awkward, so I’ve constructed a lasso line to help. It consists of a 1m length of 6mm chain with…

The Yanmar 1GM10 is a great little engine, which starts first time and runs reliably: but there are one or two design flaws. The worst is that the raw water…

IKEA hacks

Whether it's making an instrument panel from a tablet stand, turning bed slats into a dinghy floor, creating a wine rack from a book case, assisting with cockpit locker organisation…

Instrument panel from an Ikea tablet stand: Howard Bentley creates a neat instrument panel from a low-cost Ikea tablet stand. Check out the step-by-step article at https://www.pbo.co.uk/practical-projects/instrument-panel-ikea-tablet-stand-43304

Last year, having put a couple of instruments on my Christmas list – a battery monitor and a Navtex receiver – I was delighted when Santa duly delivered them in…

Find out how to thicken and sheath ropes to stop them slipping in a clutch in this extract from Splicing Modern Ropes, by Jan-Willem Polman

Here’s my solution for those who still own ancient but trusty Avon Redstart and Redcrest dinghies. I rigged this 20 years ago by fitting a pair of wheels to the…

I wanted to change my main halyard with the mast up. The halyard is inside the mast, exiting at the base and then enclosed under the hatch garage before leading…

A storm jib came with my second-hand 23ft (7m) Hunter Duette, but it couldn’t be run up the forestay because of the roller reefing headsail gear. Also, as I’m getting…