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Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner

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    Two men not wearing lifejackets aboard SpearFish 520 inflatable boat

    SpearFish 520: fast, efficient inflatable

    My trailer-sailer cruise in the Baltic

    A boat built by BlueTree boatbuilders being motored along a river

    Fit for the future: the pioneering boat by BlueTree

    Boats on Wheels: How we started a trailer-sailer selling business

    A DIY fridge for a boat

    How I made my own DIY fridge

    boats passing each other at sea

    Avoiding boat collisions: understanding COLREGS

    Read more top stories
    Sailors marine mooring on a yacht

    How to cope when marina berthing goes wrong

    Nobody gets every tricky marina manoeuvre right first time – but what do you do if things don’t go as planned? David Harding presents an…

    The Vega pod’s two female members, C001 and C002, spotted in UK waters for the first time, are more than 30 years old. Photo credit: Joe Pender/www.scillypelagics.com

    Orcas sighted in UK waters are ‘not from yacht-damaging pod’

    Two orcas spotted off the UK’s south-west coast are not part of the pod which is responsible for rudder interactions and yacht damage off the…

    A furling drive on a yacht

    Improving the continuous rope splice

    Roger Hughes shares his new technique for making a smooth, continuous rope splice in double-braided line

    Read more

    Boat maintenance

    How I refreshed my deck with a gelcoat spray gun

    How I installed a smart engine monitoring system on my sailboat

    Welded anchor chain

    Is it a good idea to weld anchor chain to lengthen it?

    Headsail trim on a yacht

    How important is headsail trim?

    A mainsheet traveller on a yacht

    Should I move the mainsheet traveller?

    A man using a grinder to sharpen multitool blades

    How to make multitool blades last longer

    Read more how to articles...

    Maintenance

    How to create additional berth space on your boat

    A large berth on a boat

    To make the most of available space for overnight trips, David Parker shows how he built additional cockpit berths on his Seaward 23

    Freeing a seized swivel car on foresail furling gear

    A swivel car on furling gear

    Chris Mardon fixes his jammed foresail furling gear

    How a black water pump replacement helped me narrowly avoid sinking

    Gilbert Park shares lessons learned from a messy black water pump reinstallation job that may have saved his boat during a French cruising holiday

    Industry insight: lithium marine batteries and other power options

    A lot of people are wondering whether to switch to lithium marine batteries, but don’t actually know what they should be looking for when buying…

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    Amazing adventures

    Solo sailor Ian Wyllie aboard his Vancouver 27 Trilleen

    Ian Wyllie completes round-Britain and Ireland circumnavigation in project boat

    Solo sailor Jazz Turner, first disabled person to complete a non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland, smiles at the voyage finish at Brighton Marina. Credit: Fergus Kennedy

    “I crawled 50m across rocks with an anchor on my back”: Jazz Turner’s record voyage

    Sailing in a hurricane: How I escaped Hurricane Beryl

    Craig Wood on his solo Pacific voyage. Credit: Craig Wood Sails

    Craig Wood completes solo, non-stop and unsupported Pacific voyage

    Read more

    Gear tests

    Dezincification resistant (DZR) skin fittings explained

    The Garmin chartplotter + 7 other options

    Skin fittings and seacocks explained

    A person using a chartplotter on a boat

    A beginner’s guide to the chartplotter

    A man using marine sealants on a boat

    Best marine sealants and adhesives for boat jobs

    How I switched to electronic charts

    Practical Projects

    Great tips and ideas to improve your boat from PBO readers

    Contaminated fuel problems: keeping your marine diesel clean

    A boat hatch

    Boat hatch repair: how to stop the leaks

    A boat boarding step on a yacht

    Make your own boat boarding step

    A homemade rigging vice

    How to make your own rigging vice

    Part of a boat engine

    Moving a diesel engine air filter

    A chewed hole in an inflatable tender

    Repairing an inflatable dinghy: fixing holes

    More practical projects

    PBO Project Boat

    What does a sailmaker do?

    Shortly before the Round the Island Race, one of the largest yacht races in the world, it’s all go at…

    A man inserting an adaptor in shore power supply at a marina

    Shore power: solving tripping problems

    Ali Wood gets a crash course in reverse polarity and smart charging when Project Boat Maximus’s shore power gets trippy…

    Sail design – using 3D software and laser technology to cut new sails

    During the survey of our Maxi 84, the PBO Project Boat Maximus, we were warned by a marine surveyor that…

    How to measure your yacht for new sails

    Measuring your boat for new sails is a job for the sailmaker, so when our PBO Project Boat Maximus needed…

    A man installing a restored Sailor radio on a boat

    Restoring a vintage Sailor radio

    Ali Wood’s Sailor radio is given the VIP treatment

    silicone-antifoul-review-PBO289.prac_project_boat.img_4737

    Seajet Bioclean silicone antifoul review: Our verdict after one year on the water

    Does silicone antifouling work? It’s not flying off the shelves yet, according to suppliers, but the results from our Project…

    Feeding a mast cable up a mast

    Securing mast cable on our Maxi 84

    With the help of ACM Marine, Ali Wood goes about securing mast cable on the Maxi 84 PBO project boat

    sailing safety gear - children wearing lifejackets

    Family sailing safety gear: TESTED!

    Ali Wood discusses the sailing safety gear she chose for their first family cruise on board their Maxi 84, and…

    Read more

    Read PBO on tablet · phone · computer

    Promo for PBO Digital

    Get every issue of PBO on Android, iPhone, iPad or desktop

    DIY at home

    A man repairing a hull plank on a clinker-built boat

    Clinker-built boat repair: step-by-step

    A cockpit cushion on a boat

    How to make cockpit cushions

    See more DIY at home ideas

    Latest news

    Sailor Jazz Turner at the helm of her Albin Vega 27 yacht Fear

    Next stop: The world – Jazz Turner’s new WorldStar circumnavigation plans

    Adventurer and disabled sailor Jazz Turner has set her sights on another circumnavigation, this time global – the WorldStar Race.

    Dolphins swimming beside sailboat

    Sailors urged to report collisions with whales and other marine life

    • July 15, 2025
    Jazz Turner requires a wheelchair ashore, but her adapted Albin Vega 27 gives her greater freedom at sea. Credit: Tom Pilston/tompilston.com

    Jazz Turner becomes first wheelchair user to circumnavigate Britain solo

    • June 30, 2025
    Japanese sailor Minoru Saito aboard his beloved yacht Shuten Dohji II. Credit: Takashi Ichige

    Eight bells for Japanese sailing legend Minoru Saito

    • June 24, 2025
    Fire crews tackle fire at boatyard in Tipner Lane, Portsmouth

    Five boats destroyed by fire at Portsmouth boatyard

    • April 23, 2025
    People at the British Motor Yacht Show

    2025 British Motor Yacht Show line-up announced

    • April 15, 2025
    Read more news

    Seamanship

    Manoeuvring in shallow waters with a bow thruster remote control

    A boat approaching close to shore

    Prop walk: how to use it to your best advantage

    Cruising boat racing

    Why you should race your cruising boat

    Paul Jones with his sextant watercolour painting by Claudia Myatt

    Embracing electronic navigation – one reluctant boater’s tale

    More seamanship articles

    Latest issue

    September 2025 issue of Practical boat Owner

    September 2025 issue – out 1 August

    Skills to make you more confident sailing short-handed; Rudder types and how they affect performance; How to enhance your cockpit; The must-have tools for every skipper; Tips for buying your first motorboat; Checks to save your rig; Sadler 34 and the best alternative boats; Practical tips to keep sailing as you age and more! Order the September 2025 issue online now Buy a single issue delivered to your door! OR…

    Promoted

    Navigate Your Way to Financial Freedom

    If you could summarise Raisin’s philosophy In sailing terms, then it’s about keeping a steady hand on the tiller and staying on course. Racing sailors…

    Videos

    How to get a crew place sailing around the world

    If you don’t own a boat but want to sail around the world, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), which…

    Screenshot from WindedVoyage YouTube channel, Don’t Count Out This Sailor,Season 6, Episode 39

    Channel Hopping: Winded Voyage Sailing – don’t count this sailor out

    PBO's resident YouTube aficionado Kass Schmitt begs a YouTuber she's never met to help a friend with wonderful results

    Happy reunion and podium finish for transatlantic yacht Imi Makani

    Canadian yacht Imi Makani, who PBO captured arriving in Grenada last week, was one of the ARC+ yachts to take…

    More videos

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