How to Rig a Self-Tacking Jib for Free!

You may not have seen or even heard of a self-tacking jib before. They’re usually only found on luxury sailboats. But that’s exactly what one is, a headsail that sheets itself when you tack. You don’t have to cast off the working sheet and haul in the lazy sheet on every tack. In fact, after…

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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,…

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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…

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Refinish Your Interior Teak to Better Than New

One of the things about older sailboats that I appreciate most is their abundance of teak woodwork. As a woodworker, I admire good craftsmanship, creative design, and a fine finish. It’s harder to find on today’s modern sailboats. Teak is in short supply so it’s more expensive than it once was and most modern sailors…

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Sew Your Own Winch Covers From Scraps

Do you keep your lovingly maintained sailboat in a slip or on a mooring ball but want to protect your hard work from the elements as much as possible? Covers on your winches can protect the plated parts from corrosion, plastic parts from UV damage, bearings and pawls from rainwater and salt water spray, and keep…

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10 Tips on How to Make Time to Work on Your Sailboat

One of the biggest challenges that I read about in the many emails that I receive from subscribers is finding time to work on their sailboats. We all live busy, modern lives and as much as we would like to spend more time restoring and improving our sailboats, there never seems to be enough time….

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Six DIY Skills Every Skipper Should Know

If you’re a regular reader of this website, the odds are good that you’re also a do-it-yourselfer. And if you’re a DIYer, the odds are good that you have an above average mechanical aptitude. You have an instinctive curiosity for how things are made, how they work, and how to fix them when they don’t…

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How to Replace Trailer Bunk Boards

How strong is a zip-tie? Could one hold the end of a bunk board carrying a 2,200# sailboat for 250 miles at highway speeds, including over a mountain pass? Would you do it with your boat? How about two, one on each end with a rusted bolt in the middle of the bunk? Pretty strong…

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Turn a Locker Lid into a Cockpit Table

At the risk of overstating the obvious, trailerable sailboats are cramped. Some are more cramped than others. Cramped inside and cramped outside. But we tolerate the cramped conditions because they’re so much fun to sail and to camp aboard. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be made more comfortable.