Few yachts have issues caused directly by the design of the keel. Almost all the failures I deal with are from hull damage that has gone unnoticed or poor repairs…
Gear
Dos and don’ts of a yachts engine mounts
Lots of jobs on your boat are relatively straightforward and don’t need a great deal of skill. However, if you haven’t tackled a certain job before, you may not know…
How to improve power management on a yacht
I confess, I’m not a marine electrician, and my understanding of boat electronics is at best rudimentary, but I’ve now been managing my boat’s power generation and consumption for three…
How we installed a new engine on our yacht
Auxiliary engines, as they were called in the old days, were hot, noisy, smelly lumps of metal that weren’t usually powerful enough to motor into wind or tide. My first…
How to choose the right boat propeller
A well-known truism of boat ownership is that sailing with a fixed propeller is akin to towing a bucket astern. We all know that a feathering or folding propeller has…
‘Dodging ships can feel like being a chicken crossing a very busy motorway’
The North Sea at night: I love it. It can turn wild, like any mountain or desert, but that’s not all the time. When it’s calm, fishing lights appear, dodge…
Why I took my Ketch rigged yacht and turned it into a brigantine square-rigger
People have asked why I decided to change a perfectly good ketch into a staysail schooner? It’s a reasonable question. The simple answer is that I always wanted a brigantine.…
Best boat knife – 11 options tried and tested
The best boat knife will be a life saver and a constant sailing companion for years to come. Make sure you find the right one that suits you and what…
Everything you need to know about yacht solar power
Keeping your batteries topped up without having to run the engine is a continuous challenge for cruising sailors, especially those who are highly conscious of their carbon footprint or just…
How to convert a yacht to electric propulsion
There are hundreds, if not thousands of yachts still sailing with 40-year-old diesel engines emitting smoke and pollutants, so is now the time to replace them with a clean, low…