Boat Maintenance

Shedding Weight on Sailboats

Balsa and rigid foam cores. Aluminum, magnesium, and titanium alloys. Epoxy resins. Unidirectional glass, carbon fiber , and Kevlar. Builders have the most fantastic...

Leaving Your Boat Abroad Part II

In addition to the usual steps you take before a seasonal haul out at home (decommissioning the engine, storing sails, pickling systems, etc.), hauling...

Spring Inspection Checklist for Boats

Spring is here. Time to step back, put on your inspector hat, and approach the boat as an independent hired inspector would. Be prepared to...

Leaving Your Boat in a Foreign Port

A high percentage of cruisers we meet each year plan on leaving their boats in a safe place and flying home, often once a...

Not All Paint Mixers are Created Equal

If you buy your paint in summer or fall, you can often save some money, but this means you'll need to mix it well...

A Fast Bottom Paint Finish

In the quest for speed, sailors endlessly debate sail trim, the best cloth, the hottest cut, and which folding prop will do everything. In...

Choosing and Using Jackstands

Were guessing 90 percent of sailors have their boat hauled by a yard. A travel lift or crane plucks the boat from the water,...

Caulks Versus Mildew

We expect a lot from sealants. They must withstand UV, salt and cleaning chemicals, bond to everything, flex to absorb mechanical and thermal strains,...

Chlorine and Caulk Don’t Mix

While interviewing boat maintenance professionals for background information preferences, several quipped that in reality, they replace far more caulk because its mildewed than because...

Picking the Best Bottom Paint

This month's report on bottom preparation is another reminder that the most effective paint as determined by our past testing might not always be...

How to Have Happy Boat Kids from Marisa Evans on Women...

Women who sail is a great topic and raising kids on a sailboat can be a lot of fun too. From life jackets to...

Latest Sailboat Review

MacGregor 26M Used Boat Review

MacGregor 26 has been a staple in the trailerable sailboat market for decades, and company literature claimed more than 7,000 of the original model...