Are Boatbuilders Expecting Miracle Glues?
Don’t ask an adhesive to do more than it can. If a bolt breaks, we accept it as deterioration or faulty design, not a...
Bottom Paint Removal Decision Time
Tempis fugit . . . times a-waistin’ . . . fast flies the irreparable hour . . . However you choose to use your...
Bulletproof Sailboat Deck Hardware
Rock-solid deck hardware installation begins with a tightly sealed core.
Installing new hardware on a cored deck means sealing the core around every penetration. Skip...
Bottom Paints for Brackish Water
Prior PS bottom paint testing focused on saltwater locations in Florida and Massachusetts. This time we’ve moved our testing racks to the brackish waters...
PS Seeking Reports of 3M 4000 UV Failure
Six years ago (“Marine Sealant Adhesion Tests,” published November 2016) Practical Sailor began exposing samples of marine sealants to weather and sunlight to compare...
Making the Dinghy Decision
Spring and fall on the Chesapeake Bay delivers cruising at its best. Last fall, we were ready to go, the crowds were gone, along...
Binos and Aging Eyes
A dockside expert told me that larger objectives made binoculars brighter, and that his optical view was actually brighter than ambient conditions. The problem...
Folding Kayak Field Trials
Small boat sailors are plagued by a lack of storage space, and nowhere is this pinch felt more dearly than dinghy storage. Transportation to...
Deck Core Repair, from Underneath
One of the “never-evers” of boat building is to use high density polyethylene (HDPE) as a backing plate or load bearing spacer, but the...
Scrubbis Test Defies Skeptics
We like premium multi-season paints, particularly for sailors who sail year round. The copper leaches into the water more slowly than single season paints...
Jeanneau Yachts 65 Full Tour and Review
Choosing between a monohull and catamaran was already hard, but Jeanneau just made it even harder. The new Jeanneau Yachts 65 is a monumental...
Latest Sailboat Review
Islander Bahama 30 Used Boat Review
More than a few years ago my wife Carey and I were looking to move up from our O’Day 25 to something a little...