Practical Sailor

AboutPressCopyrightContact usCreatorsAdvertiseDevelopersTermsPrivacyPolicy & SafetyHow YouTube worksTest new featuresNFL Sunday Ticket

A CMPower LiFePO4 battery, complete with internal BMS and color-coded cable runs, sits secured in its dedicated compartment. Before we consider the safety issues of lithium-ion batteries, we should remember that lead acid batteries are not without risk. Apart from the obvious risk of a sulfuric acid spill or exposure, there are other concerns. Under heavy charge or discharge they can give off heat and gases which can be corrosive, explosive, and poisonous in high enough quantities.

This rigid plastic pearl farm float, about 8 to 12 inches in diameter, provides just enough buoyancy to lift the chain clear of coral heads and snags without overdoing it. Anchoring in clean sand and mud is easy. But cruising takes you places where anchoring isn’t easy. To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid member. Sign in Join Practical Sailor Get full access to Practical-Sailor.com – more than 4,000 articles – for just $34. Join today and save 42% off our full price.

PS Tech Editor Drew Frye drills holes to refresh the borate rot prevention treatment(one cup Borax dissolved in a pint of warm water) in one of his jack pine totems. Wood is strong, stiff per unit weight, easy to work with, attractive, and economical. And it rots. A few special types of wood, such as teak, are highly resistant to rot, but these woods are generally heavy and almost always expensive.

The tip of Davis Instruments' 4122 telescoping boat hook. These hooks earned Best Choice in our testing. The basic design of the humble boat hook hasn’t changed much over the years, but it has seen upgrades in construction and materials, along with some minor design tweaks. For this report, we set out to determine what constitutes the ideal boat hook. We evaluated boat hooks currently on the market and took a look at some old models still in service.

AboutPressCopyrightContact usCreatorsAdvertiseDevelopersTermsPrivacyPolicy & SafetyHow YouTube worksTest new featuresNFL Sunday Ticket

The broad transom and twin-wheel cockpit reflect the builder's focus on comfortable coastal cruising over offshore passages. (Photo courtesy of YachtWorld.com) We’ve been soaked to the bone while racing Catalina’s most popular model, a 27-footer on which we crewed in a San Francisco one-design fleet. We’ve raced down the Baja coast steering a squirrelly 38-footer under a masthead kite while winning class honors in the Newport-Ensenada race.

AboutPressCopyrightContact usCreatorsAdvertiseDevelopersTermsPrivacyPolicy & SafetyHow YouTube worksTest new featuresNFL Sunday Ticket

CAD model detail showing modified tube end, 3D printed fairing piece and modified PET-P thrust washer. (Illustration/ Tom Egan) Have you ever been sailing along and thought to yourself, something just doesn’t feel right. That is what happened to me with our steering on Misirlou, our ancient but venerable 1964 Cal 40. Like the proverbial frog in the pot of water heating up on the stove, the tightness and hard spots came on gradually, without me noticing at first.

Without careful attention to bridles and snubbers, light multihulls like the Corsair 24 used in our testing can be particularly susceptible to yawing at anchor. The tri-panel riding sail from Banner Bay Marine effectively aligns the boat with the wind. A non-stretch snubber (used with a nylon rode) can help tame the sling-shot effect.