Sails, Rigging & Deck Gear

Mailport: Tourniquets at Sea

Tourniquets at Sea Anthony Foglio I'm an emergency medical technician with a local volunteer fire company and wanted to comment on your recent Inside PS blog...

High-Tech Anchor Rode

My primary anchor is a big hunk of steel on an all-chain rode, handled by a windlass. Secure in all bottoms, idiot proof, easy...

Fenders and Lines for Seawalls

To the lubber, tying-up to a bulkhead seems like the simplest of all docking situations. Perhaps with floating docks this is true. You just...

Dodging a Bullet When Caught on Bulkhead

The following is aimed primarily at boats that are unable to leave an alongside dock or bulkhead before wind and seas become dangerous. Any...

Make Your Own Rugged Fender Boards

We described a simple home-built version several years ago (Practical Sailor, December 2011); here we present a few simple upgrades on the same basic...

Make A Tie-down Strop

After hundreds of years of seafaring, there shouldn't be any new rope tricks. Then new high-strength materials like Amsteel came along, suggesting new applications...

DIY Fishing Gear for Sailors

We reviewed clamp-on rod holders a few years in the past, but found them expensive (see PS October 2006). Fortunately, there are alternatives that...

Simple Sail Repair

Often an old sail won't hold stitches, and some sailors hate to sew. A number of products proved strong enough and flexible enough to...

Make a Mini Dodger

A companionway slider and hatch boards are the most common type of cabin entry on sailboats. Its seaworthy, lightweight, and inexpensive. Unfortunately, you can't...

Reliable Chain Connections

We often get asked about joining two shots of chain together without compromising strength. You have a number of options-including some that are just...

Diesel Overheating Dinghy Pump Hack

Bert Vermeer tells his story of an overheating Beta Marine 20 diesel sailboat engine with clogged sail drive intake ports and how he used...
Catalina 34 Used Boat Review video from Practical Sailor

Catalina 34 Used Boat Review

Latest Sailboat Review

Caliber 40 LRC Used Boat Review

Brothers George and Michael McCreary, and Marshall Jones, formed Caliber Yachts Inc. as a backyard boatbuilding company in 1979. No strangers to the sailing...