What is the least understood, most dangerous, and pound for pound most expensive system on a sailboat? Electrical systems, without a doubt. Few DIYers understand how to work on them, they are the number one cause of catastrophic fires, and everything about them costs multiple times what the same thing does in an automobile.
Continue reading “Book Review: Sailboat Electrics Simplified”
Do you know how to reef your mainsail when the wind gets overpowering? If not, you really should learn how. If you already know, is your sailboat rigged so that you can reef and unreef quickly in high winds while underway? If not, besides a jiffy reefing line like I describe in my single line jiffy reefing article, you’re going to want to install mast gates of some kind.
I won’t get into all the nuances of reefing in this post. There are many other excellent resources for that. For a condensed, illustrated description along with many other sailing techniques, consider reading my review of Royce’s Sailing Illustrated Volume 1: Tall Ship Edition.
Continue reading “Product Review: MastGates Sail Track Gates”
2017 was another year of exciting growth here at The $tingy Sailor!
The number of pages viewed was up from last year 110% to over 410,000 views from 187 countries.
If you’re looking for gifts for that stingy sailor on your gift list or even if you ARE that stingy sailor and you need some hint-dropping ideas, let me help you out. Following are my top 10 gift ideas this year.
Continue reading “Top 10 Gift Ideas for 2017”
It’s the holy grail of sailing, the one thing that is denied every sailor, yet they yearn and struggle for it anyway. I’m talking about pointing higher upwind. No matter how good of a sailboat you have or how good you are at trimming its sails, there’s a limit to how close into the wind you can sail and that limit can affect your course whether you’re cruising or racing. On a short course, it can mean the difference between one tack and two tacks to reach your destination or between 8 tacks and 12 tacks on a longer course. Every tack you make, you lose speed and time. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, sometimes it does. Continue reading “Put That Lazy Sheet to Work and Point Higher”
2016 was another stellar year here at The $tingy Sailor!
We’ve seen incredible growth in the number of pages viewed every day—up more than 200% from last year to over 650,000 views from 176 countries. Continue reading “Top 10 DIY Projects of 2016”
I’m not a neatnik that needs everything to be squeaky clean and new. Well, maybe just a little. But if maintaining a part gets neglected to the point that it affects functionality, then the part needs to be repaired or replaced in my book. A good example of this is your sailboat’s cockpit scupper, galley, anchor locker, and other drain tubing.
In my never-ending quest to find the best storage and organization solutions for everything aboard Summer Dance, the hardest storage problems are the smallest items. Big items like life jackets and sails aren’t hard to find places to store because there aren’t a lot of options. But finding a home for little items like pens, pencils, keys, digital memory cards, maps, and registration paperwork can be tough. They need to be readily accessible yet securely stowed and water resistant. There aren’t a lot of options. Waitaminnit, didn’t I say that already?
Continue reading “Product Review: Smart Solutions Add-A-Drawer Kit”
You’ve put off replacing that threadbare old sail long enough. Or maybe it ripped during your last outing. Or maybe you just bought a used sailboat and it’s missing a serviceable mainsail or headsail. You want to buy a new sail but you’re not sure where from, there are so many choices. Being a stingy sailor, you can’t afford to just write a blank check. But you also don’t want invest in poor quality that won’t perform or won’t last.
Continue reading “Product Review: Rolly Tasker Sails”
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