Quit Spending Setup Time on Turnbuckles

September 9, 2023September 8, 2023 $tingy Sailor

Turnbuckles are great for tuning your rig but they’re the least convenient way imaginable to loosen and detach the forestay and lower shrouds for unstepping the mast. I vowed long ago that I would quit wasting time on turnbuckles during setup and tear-down.

This post is a companion to my previous post How to step a mast single-handed with or without using the boom as a gin pole. I mentioned quick release levers in that post and you can also see them in use there, but they need more explanation together with the other topics in this post.

Accessories, Mast, Tips, Videos58 Comments

How to Step a Mast Single-Handed With or Without Using the Boom as a Gin Pole

August 26, 2023October 25, 2023 $tingy Sailor

How do you step the mast on your trailerable sailboat? With a gin pole? With the trailer winch? With the help of friends or family? With your fingers crossed? No single system works for every sailboat or for every skipper. If you’re new to mast stepping, you don’t like your current method, or you just want to simplify or speed up the process, this post is for you. I must warn you though, this is a long post, even for me. To make it as short as possible, I’ve included five YouTube videos that show how this system works. By the end of this post, you’ll know everything about how I step the mast on Summer Dance single-handed in minutes, even on the water.

Sails, Tips3 Comments

Use Your Boat Hook to Sail Faster Downwind

August 12, 2023August 11, 2023 $tingy Sailor

In a previous article, I described how to rig a cruising spinnaker. If you don’t have a spinnaker yet, or even if you do have one but you don’t want to raise it for short runs, one of your best options when sailing dead downwind is to set your sails “wing and wing.” That is, with your mainsail eased all the way out on one side of the boat and your headsail eased all the way out on the other side of the boat. With both sails catching as much wind as possible, you’ll achieve top speed.

Accessories6 Comments

Make a Flag Halyard to Fly Your Favorite Colors

July 29, 2023July 28, 2023 $tingy Sailor

Did you take your family out on your sailboat this summer for Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Labor Day? On those holidays, you probably saw more flags flying than usual. Sailboats flying flags evoke a different feeling than ones without. At least they do for me. Besides being patriotic, they add to a festive, nautical mood to the day.

Did you fly your favorite club burgee too? If you didn’t, was it because you don’t have a place to fly your burgee from? Adding a flag halyard is an inexpensive, easy project you can do in under an hour.

Outboard motor17 Comments

15 Outboard Motor Maintenance Blind Spots You Can’t Afford to Miss

July 15, 2023 $tingy Sailor

I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to make the time to put away my outboard motor for the winter properly. There always seems to be a dozen other chores of higher priority at the same time. Besides winterizing Summer Dance, there’s other fair weather projects to wrap up.

It’s tempting to just store the outboard as-is and deal with it in the spring. Or to just do the minimum maintenance and turn a blind eye to the rest. Procrastinating is so easy. But I know life will be just as hectic in the spring if not more so. Either I’ll forget to do those other maintenance tasks altogether or the guilt of knowing the condition I left my motor in will haunt me. So I may as well roll up my sleeves and do it. I’ll be glad I did.

Electrical, Outboard motor27 Comments

Upgrade Your Outboard Motor to Charge Your Battery

July 2, 2023July 1, 2023 $tingy Sailor

The luxury of onboard electronics and electrical devices cuts both ways. What it gives in terms of convenience, it takes in terms of a load on your battery bank that needs recharging. There are tons of good info available on the net and in books on sailboat electrical systems. I especially like Sailboat Electrics Simplified by Don Casey. The information is concise and clearly presented in a way that makes it easy to refer to when I’ve forgotten some important point. I won’t bore you by rehashing all that but instead cut right to how I solved my battery charging dilemma.

Hull9 Comments

How to Paint Cove and Boot Stripes Like a Pro

June 17, 2023October 25, 2023 $tingy Sailor

Ever wish you could repaint your scratched, faded, or worn cove or boot stripes? Have an older boat with a stripe color you don’t like and want to switch? New stripes are one of the little improvements that can make a big difference in the personality of your sailboat. You can apply them with vinyl tape, but most boot stripes aren’t the same width from bow to stern and custom cut vinyl can be expensive. Painting them isn’t as hard or as expensive as you might think. In this post, I’ll guide you through painting new stripes that look like they were done by a pro.

Outboard motor10 Comments

How to Secure Your Outboard Motor for Safe Trailering

June 3, 2023June 3, 2023 $tingy Sailor

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.

Rigging, Videos10 Comments

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Winch Maintenance

May 20, 2023May 20, 2023 $tingy Sailor

The winches on your sailboat are the workhorses of your 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.

The $tingy Sailor

DIY trailerable sailboat restoration and improvement without throwing your budget overboard

Tag: Catalina Yachts 22