How to's


30/gen./2024

"New eco moorings protect seagrass and enable boating to continue in Studland Bay" says Studland Bay Marine Partnership chairman David Brown.

A yacht on the Studland eco moorings buoys with Old Harry Rocks behind. Credit boatfolk

A new daily £10 fee to use the eco moorings at Studland Bay in Dorset has sparked outrage among some boaters, but their view “does not represent the majority”, says the Studland Bay Marine Partnership (SBMP).

The moorings have been installed and are managed by the SBMP.

Following a successful...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

30/gen./2024

Stu Davies saves a bundle by having new acrylic windows made

Crazing in the old lenses on Stu Davies's yacht. Credit: Stu Davies

My Beneteau 381 is now 24 years old: the time has flown by since we bought her 14 years ago and things are starting to need replacing.

Among them the Lewmar portlight lenses have crazed – as they all eventually do – and look unsightly. The hatch lights are the same.

I looked at the replacement costs of the portlight lenses and found the prices to be rather horrifying: £85-ish for the smaller ones...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

29/gen./2024

British boaters who want to spend longer than three months cruising in France will still need to apply for a visa following failed attempts to amend the French Immigration and Integration Bill

If you want to cruise for more than three months in France, you will need a Long Stay Temporary Visa. Credit: Getty

Boaters and sailors from the UK will still need a French visa if they want to spend longer than three months cruising in France.

The French authorities have rejected a proposed amendment to the French Immigration and Integration...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

29/gen./2024

You want to turn one way to get out of your berth, but both the boat and the wind have other ideas – so what do you do? David Harding has some suggestions, including giving it some welly!

How do you get out of a berth when the wind and boat have other ideas?

Sometimes the position of your berth, the marina‘s layout, your boat’s prop walk and the direction of the wind conspire to make life difficult.

Either you don’t go out or you find a...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

26/gen./2024

Spinnakers can now be saved from landfill and repurposed in Cornwall, as part of Clean Sailors' ReSail initiative

The old spinnakers will be recycled into beach cleaning bags

A new spinnaker recycling campaign, which aims to save 200 sails from landfill, has been launched in Cornwall.

It is part of the ReSail initiative by the not-for-profit Clean Sailors, which aims to connect sailors and their...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

26/gen./2024

The Cruising Association is reminding sailors of its advice on orca encounters along the Iberian Peninsula, and the importance of reporting either an interaction or non-eventful passage

Most yacht crews do not encounter orcas. Credit: WaterFrame / Alamy Stock Photo

If you are sailing along the Atlantic coasts of France, Portugal and Spain and through the Gibraltar Strait, it’s crucial to be aware of the possibility and potential risks of orca encounters

Since 2020, a group of...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

26/gen./2024

For sailors, there is no hotter topic than fire on board. Sticky Stapylton looks at methods of prevention – and ways of dealing with fire should the worst happen

Fire is one of the most dangerous threats to a boat and the crew. Credit: Elizabeth Matthews / Alamy Stock Photo

Boat fire prevention: tips to stay safe

Each year there are around 100 fires on privately-owned boats in the UK, and these fires are responsible for a yearly average of three deaths, writes Sticky Stapylton.

I do not wish to be a...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

25/gen./2024

PBO's resident YouTube aficionado Kass Schmitt ponders whether a widening crack in the fibreglass hull is down to Harry Dwyer driving his RIB like he stole it...

Last time I wrote about Harry Dwyer and his eponymous YouTube channel (PBO’s September 2020 issue), he was one year and a mere 350 miles into his project of circumnavigating Great Britain on Goodwin, his 1977 Avon Sea Rider SR4 RIB, exploring the sites from Plymouth...

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24/gen./2024

PBO reader Chris Marden wants to know if he can repair the outer case of his boat heat exchanger with epoxy. Stu Davies has the answer!

The heat exchanger on Chris Mardon's Volvo Penta MD2040 engine. Credit: Chris Mardon

Can you epoxy repair an aluminium boat heat exchanger?

The Volvo Penta MD2030 and MD2040...

Font: Practical Boat Owner

24/gen./2024
A series of bad decisions leads to a potentially fatal situation. Squalls were building rapidly as Jo Beth rumbled along under engine power, some 10 miles southeast of the entrance channel at Cape May Harbor on New Jersey’s southern coast. Winds blew from the south-southwest at 25 to 28 knots, with a few lulls around 22 knots. […]
Font: goodoldboat.com

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