Boat Maintenance

Is Azek the New Starboard?

I’d heard Azek described as a low cost alternative to Starboard, but never paid much attention. I’d used a few boards around the house,...

Sailing Gear of the Year 2021

What a difference a year makes! Last year, Practical Sailor testers were holed up in their home workshops, garages, basements, and home offices, meeting...

Non-Skid Ten Years After

Boat decks take a beating from sun and salt that eventually take their toll on factory-molded nonskid. Once nonskid loses its grip, resurrecting it...

A Beach Plastic Disposal Dilemma

Ninety percent of micro plastics generation comes from laundry fibers. Fortunately, standard primary, plus secondary wastewater treatment removes 88-94 percent of this, lowering laundry’s...

Caulking Gun Shootout

Caulking guns might seem like simple implements— lever, a spring, a notched shaft, and a few extra flourishes and what was once a slab...

Wood Ash Absorbs Odors Best

The media serves several purposes in a desiccating toilet. It provides visual cover, draws moisture away from the solids (good wicking and coating are...

Exterior Wood Finish Update at 2 Years

Boxed and stored as PS went through three office moves in a short time frame, the wood samples we varnished in late 2015 finally...

Additives Fight Urine Odor

Some will claim urine is sterile and doesn’t smell. Horse hockey. No matter how careful you are, urine is loaded with nitrogen (urea) and...

DIY Desiccating Head Options

No standard dry toilet, even the CHead Shorty, would fit the available space on our Corsair F-24, so we decided to build our own....

Get a Survey, Set Priorities

Here we go again. Apparently enough time (32 years) has passed since I last bought a 50-plus-year-old boat and began restoring it that I’ve...

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...