Battery management made simple, Plastic vs metal seacocks: which is best? Anchoring with shore lines explained, Tips for replacing curved windows; The appeal of the…
Practical Boat Owner
July issue – 8 May
Navigation and your fingertips: an easy guide to digital charts, plotters and MFDs, How to sail around headlands, races and overfalls, 10 ways to save…
February 2021
Practical articles and expert tips galore in the February 2021 issue of PBO as we hear from a reader struck by lightning 3 times! Plus top tips on servicing winches,…
3 great british motor-sailers: boats that you buy by the pound
Over a career spent as a boatbuilder and latterly as a freelance journalist, I have noticed that some owners of sportier yachts tend to trade up to bigger or more…
New Year, New Boat? Watch footage from 23 boats on test
Thinking of changing your boat for the 2021 season? Don’t visit your broker without first checking out PBO’s YouTube playlist of boat test footage. Although compiled some years ago, the…
Brexit for boat owners – expert advice updated
What does 2021 and beyond hold for British boat owners interested in sailing in EU waters? There are multiple permutations, exceptions, caveats and potential changes still to come, but broadly…
The year we’ll never forget – and a thank you from PBO!
Covid may have put a spanner in the sailing this year but it didn’t stop the influx of amazing stories from DIY-ers, liveaboards and cruisers across the globe. Thank you…
The worst boat I ever surveyed
Back in the 1970s I used to do a small amount of yacht surveying while working in a boat yard. Insurance companies in those days didn’t require qualifications or third-party…
How to: Service a winch
A backwinding winch can be extremely dangerous and cause serious injury, so winches should be serviced every year in order to clean the mechanism, check for damage and replace worn…
Excellent adventures – why keeping a logbook is for more than just navigation
I’ve been keeping a log almost as long as I’ve had my Offshore 8M Karima. The first entry was on 27 July 2005, heading out with Philip, my generally non-sailing…
Sailing around 200 islands in a 4m dinghy
Funny how small ideas in life often turn in to bigger ones. The Yodare challenge is definitely one of those. What started out as sailing around one solitary island in…
How we designed and built a folding dinghy for under £350
A dinghy adds an enormous amount of fun to a cruising holiday, but on a small boat there is always the problem of where to stow it. Hang it on…
Pip Hare races Vendee Globe rival Costa towards Cape of Good Hope
Pip Hare should cross the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope early tomorrow, her first of the Vendée Globe’s three Great Capes. Lying in 20th place, onboard Medallia, she’s…
Studland Bay wildlife protection orders may lead to complete boating ban in the bay
One of the South Coast’s most popular boating areas, Studland Bay, just outside the entrance to Poole Harbour, is likely to be the subject of further restrictions in order to…
Stay with the boat or take to the liferaft? Escoffier’s impossible decision
Could you describe what happened? It’s still hard for me to believe it; to believe that I broke the boat inside the wave at 90 degrees. I should have taken…
Vendée skipper Escoffier rescued from liferaft
Kevin Escoffier, the 40-year-old skipper of PRB, was rescued by fellow competitor Jean Le Cam this morning, after spending 12 hours in his liferaft off the coast of South Africa.…
Alone at sea with whooping cough
What could be safer than being alone in the middle of the ocean during a pandemic? This has been a frequent response to the news that this year’s Original Singlehanded…
How to fit a rode counter to make anchoring from the helm a reality
I often sail single-handed and after using a rode counter on another boat, I decided to fit one to my Nimbus 365. I already had markers on the chain at…
January 2021
This month we get aboard three new outboard-powered day boats – inland and coastal – plus we deconstruct the calculations that define the limits of your sailing boat's performance. And…
Self-isolation comes naturally for some of us…
Self-isolating has never been a problem for me. In fact, I’ve been following government guidelines ever since 2005, when I bought my Sailfish 18, and two months later the sheet…
How to: replace a halyard
Halyards need taking out of the mast if you’re unstepping the mast or the line needs replacing. It is pretty straightforward, but there are a few steps to follow to…
Yacht maintenance not ‘essential activity’ during second COVID-19 lockdown
Government officials have said private individuals visiting their boats for maintenance or winterisation purposes is not an essential activity, and should not be a reason for people leaving their homes