Try This Rudder Hack for Less Weather Helm
Perfect sail trim results in maximum forward speed, minimum heel, and a neutral helm. In other words, the sails are balanced between the headsail and the mainsail and the tiller requires little to no input to hold the sailboat’s heading. But we all know that perfection is elusive and it’s a moving target. Wind and water change and sometimes we can’t or don’t want to adjust the sail trim accordingly. That can mean that the sails are out of balance and you have to apply more force to the tiller to hold your course, also called weather helm (windward) or lee helm (leeward).
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Top 10 DIY Projects of 2020
2020 was another exciting year here at The $tingy Sailor with new all-time records:
- >2,200,000 page views from 139 countries
- >50,000 monthly page views in August
- >2,800 page views in one day in June
- >200 articles, most of which are projects
- >3,300 subscribers
I’m very grateful and humbled that you have continued to visit, read, subscribe, comment, and support this website after 7 years. It motivates me to keep finding new projects and topics, write better articles, and make other improvements that I hope you’ll enjoy.
Unintimidated
What a year it’s been, right? For me, it’s gone by fast. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long since I wrote Is COVID-19 Keeping You Off The Water? In another sense, everything seems to have slowed down and some plans have been put on hold or canceled. We definitely live in a very different world now than last winter, one that nobody predicted.
18 Perished in US Sailing Tragedies in 2019
Every year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the United States Coast Guard, and the Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety publish a report of statistics about recreational boating accidents. The 2019 report was recently published and there were three more sailing deaths and 48 more injuries than last year. Continue reading “18 Perished in US Sailing Tragedies in 2019”
Why Your Swing Keel Lock Bolt Won’t Save You in a Knockdown
If you spend much time around other C-22 owners or online C-22 forums, you’re bound to hear the following myth over and over. It goes something like this…
The Catalina 22 uses a locking bolt to keep the keel down in case of a knock-down.
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Add a Solar-Powered Flood Light in Your Cockpit
This is one of those little things that I did on a whim and I didn’t think would last. But it has turned out to be so handy that I’d miss it if it were gone.
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Is COVID-19 Keeping You Off The Water?
It’s still a little early here in the northwestern US but some brave skippers are beginning to go sailing. For you folks on the coasts and more to the south, the weather shouldn’t be keeping you off the water but … Continue reading Is COVID-19 Keeping You Off The Water?
Refinish Your Swing Keel for Best Performance – Part 5: Installing
This post is the continuation of Refinish your swing keel for best performance – Part 4: Sealing and painting and the last post in the series. I describe: how to prepare the hull, tips for keeping the keel centered in the trunk, the proper method to tighten the hanger bolts, and end with a materials list and a brief project cost analysis.
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Refinish Your Swing Keel for Best Performance – Part 4: Sealing and Painting
This post is the continuation of Refinish your swing keel for best performance – Part 3: Fairing. I will describe: building a fiberglass reinforced guard on the leading edge, applying the final waterproofing coats of epoxy, bonding centering spacers on the upper end, priming with a barrier coat of epoxy paint, and applying ablative bottom paint last.
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