Do you know where all of the ball valves on your boat are located? Are they all easy to turn? Do they seal completely? Have you ever done any maintenance to them? They’re not maintenance-free. In this post, I will dispel any mystery about how ball valves work and walk you step-by-step through how to…
Tag: sailboat
No Furler? Make a Foredeck Sail Bag
If you have a headsail furler on your sailboat, this project will probably be of little interest to you. But if you have hank-on headsails and want convenient protection for them like the sacrificial covers on furled headsails, read on. A foredeck sail bag is something of a luxury for the trailer sailor. It’s not necessary…
Convert Your Lights to LED Bulbs for More Light with Less Power
When we first started spending long weekends aboard Summer Dance, the deep cycle battery wouldn’t have enough charge left in it by the end of the weekend to power much of anything. At that time, Summer Dance had all incandescent navigation lights and only two cabin dome lights converted to LEDs. Besides the lights, we…
Lazy Jacks for the Trailer Sailor
Lazy jacks can be one of the most complicated rigging systems on a trailerable sailboat but they have a simple function. That is, to cradle the mainsail when it’s lowered so that it doesn’t spill onto the cabin and cockpit. If you usually have another experienced crew member aboard, that person can gather and tie…
Quit Spending Setup Time on Turnbuckles
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…
How to Step a Mast Single-Handed With or Without Using the Boom as a Gin Pole
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…
