How to Secure Your Outboard Motor for Safe Trailering
A frequent question of new sailboat owners is what do with their outboard motor when trailering. Is it best to leave it on the boat or is it better to dismount it and haul it in the boat cockpit or tow vehicle? There are lots of owners in both camps. In this post, I describe the pros and cons of each method and how I prepare Summer Dance to hit the road.
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The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Winch Maintenance
The winches on your sailboat are the workhorses of its rig. They do the heavy lifting and make your job as skipper easier so you can enjoy the ride. They’re also the most expensive hardware aboard so it only makes sense to take good care of them. In this post, I describe how they work and how to maintain them in peak condition. If you’re a beginner to winch maintenance, this post will bring you up to speed with the savviest captains.
Five Swing Keel Maintenance Blunders and How to Prevent Them
Think swing keel cables rarely break? Think again. Following is a small sample of the confessions of sailboat owners in a certain online forum.
How to Make a Mainsail Cover
Summer Dance didn’t have much in the way of canvaswork when we bought her: an original mainsail cover and an old outboard engine cover that also looked pretty ghetto. Besides being 1980’s brown in color, the canvas of the mainsail cover was faded and shredded in places, much of the stitching had disintegrated, and the zipper had come almost completely loose. It was unsalvageable but it did work as a pattern to sew a new cover out of Sunbrella, the gold standard of marine canvas.
Closeout Sale On All Kits!
I’m very grateful for the modest success of the kits that I’ve offered here for more than seven years. Support from skippers all across America has been entirely positive. My biggest regret is that I couldn’t offer them economically to … Continue reading Closeout Sale On All Kits!
Install a Double Duty Headsail Downhaul
If you don’t have a headsail furler, a downhaul line is one of the easiest and least expensive control lines that you can add to your sailboat. It adds major convenience and safety for around $30. The line can be used with any size jib or genoa.
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How To Replace Your Standing Rigging For Less
When we purchased Summer Dance, the standing rigging was one system that I knew I would need to replace right away. The upper shrouds had been replaced recently with well made cables, probably from that popular online Catalina parts retailer. … Continue reading How To Replace Your Standing Rigging For Less
What To Expect From a Professional Bottom Paint Job
When Summer Dance got beat up in a freak storm back in 2014, the damage was mainly in two areas. The worst damage was the deck rim and the rub rail, for which I described the repairs in Storm Damage to Summer Dance Repaired. The collateral damage was the bottom paint, which also got hammered as you can see in the following picture. In some areas, the top layer of paint was knocked off and exposed an underlying layer of paint. In other areas, it was knocked off completely down to the fiberglass. It all needed fixed, so it was included in the insurance claim that I submitted. Our insurance company promptly paid the claim so that meant that I wouldn’t have to do all the work!
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How To Completely Rewire Your Sailboat
It’s an enduring truth that appearances can be deceiving, especially with electrical systems. When I inspected Summer Dance before buying her, the electrical system looked like one of the boat’s strong suits. It had an upgraded panel and a new battery. The wiring was all original except for spliced connections to the panel. There weren’t any added accessories so the system was simple and I expected it to be relatively problem-free. Granted, I’m no marine surveyor and if I had ordered a survey, it would have caught many of the problems that I later discovered.
